pound 4 pound ireland: Recent Episodes
None
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Terence Crawford
4. Artur Beterbiev
5. Dmitry Bivol
6. Jesse Rodriguez
7. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
8. Kenshiro Teraji
9. Gervonta Davis
10. Junto Nakatani
- His repeat win over Tyson Fury cements Oleksandr Usyk as one of the best fighters of recent decades and, yes, an all-time great in the sport (despite some of the strange, America-centric discourse that has emerged online in the wake of Usyk-Fury II).
- Usyk is the undisputed pound for pound king, and the strongest holder of the top spot since Floyd Mayweather.
1. Katie Taylor
2. Claressa Shields
3. Chantelle Cameron
4. Amanda Serrano
5. Yokasta Valle
6. Dina Thorslund
7. Mikaela Mayer
8. Natasha Jonas
9. Sandy Ryan
10. Gabriela Fundora
1. Katie Taylor
2. Claressa Shields
3. Chantelle Cameron
4. Amanda Serrano
5. Yokasta Valle
6. Dina Thorslund
7. Mikaela Mayer
8. Natasha Jonas
9. Sandy Ryan
10. Gabriela Fundora
- Somehow, Taylor and Serrano do it again, delivering one of the best fights in women’s boxing history two years on from their first epic.
- Serrano will feel hard done by to lose again in a decision that could have gone either way.
- Taylor reclaims the #1 spot over an inactive Claressa Shields (who is also struggling to find credible opposition in between her MMA sojourns).
1. Claressa Shields
2. Katie Taylor
3. Chantelle Cameron
4. Amanda Serrano
5. Yokasta Valle
6. Dina Thorslund
7. Mikaela Mayer
8. Natasha Jonas
9. Sandy Ryan
10. Gabriela Fundora
- A belated update sees Gabriela Fundora replacing Gabriela Alaniz at #10 after defeating her to claim undisputed flyweight gold. I wonder might we someday see her brother, Sebastian, fight Terence Crawford for the crown at 154lbs?
- It’s a big fight Friday night, as Taylor-Serrano II is the co-feature to the freakshow to end all freakshows, Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson on Netflix.
1. Claressa Shields
2. Katie Taylor
3. Chantelle Cameron
4. Amanda Serrano
5. Yokasta Valle
6. Dina Thorslund
7. Mikaela Mayer
8. Natasha Jonas
9. Sandy Ryan
10. Gabriela Alaniz
-
4 Seniesa Estrada chooses to retire as undefeated and undisputed strawweight champion. I salute her on an excellent career.
- Dina Thorslund rises to #6 after another comfortable defence of her bantamweight titles.
- Unified flyweight titlist Gabriela Alaniz enters at #10 ahead of her undisputed title fight with Gabriela Fundora next weekend.
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Terence Crawford
4. Artur Beterbiev
5. Dmitry Bivol
6. Jesse Rodriguez
7. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
8. Kenshiro Teraji
9. Gervonta Davis
10. Junto Nakatani
- Artur Beterbiev jumps to #4 after an exciting and, ahem, disputed win over Dmitry Bivol for undisputed light heavyweight supremacy.
- If he’s undisputed champion, then what’s all the fighting for? A rematch is a must. Bivol drops only to #5.
- Multi-division ass kicker (and cat fancier) Kenshiro Teraji shellacks fringe contender Cristofer Rosales en route to a belt in a third weight class at 115 lbs. His overall resume means he jumps over Davis to #8.
1. Claressa Shields
2. Katie Taylor
3. Chantelle Cameron
4. Seniesa Estrada
5. Amanda Serrano
6. Yokasta Valle
7. Mikaela Mayer
8. Natasha Jonas
9. Sandy Ryan
10. Dina Thorslund
- Mikaela Mayer jumps from #10 to #7 after finally coming out on the right end of a close decision over Sandy Ryan to win a title in a stacked welterweight division.
- Ryan slides to #9, below Jonas, who owns a contentious decision win over Mayer.
- Consideration was given to putting Alycia Baumgardner back in the rankings after she returned to the ring (following a failed PED test) in an unfortunately cut-shortened no contest versus Delfine Persoon. She will have to wait though.
- Baumgardner, of course, is the other major rival of Mayer dating back to their first meeting a couple of years ago. Perhaps a rematch can be put together at some point, especially now that Baumgardner is supposedly a promotional free agent.
1. Claressa Shields
2. Katie Taylor
3. Chantelle Cameron
4. Seniesa Estrada
5. Amanda Serrano
6. Yokasta Valle
7. Sandy Ryan
8. Natasha Jonas
9. Dina Thorslund
10. Mikaela Mayer
- A belated update, with both Alycia Baumgardner (under a PED cloud) and Savannah Marshall (more focused on her MMA career) exiting due to a year of inactivity with no fight scheduled.
- Mikaela Mayer re-enters at #10 ahead of her challenge of Sandy Ryan.
- Unified bantamweight titlist Dina Thorslund fills the #9 slot.
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Terence Crawford
4. Dmitry Bivol
5. Jesse Rodriguez
6. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
7. Artur Beterbiev
8. Gervonta Davis
9. Kenshiro Teraji
10. Junto Nakatani
- Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez gatecrashes the top 10 at number 5 after crushing future hall of famer and pound for pound fixture Juan Francisco Estrada over seven exciting rounds. Bam claims the lineal 115lb. title in the process. The hardcore four’s Grim Reaper has well and truly cleaned out the old guard.
- Shakur Stevenson exits for now. Stevenson fights next week but against such an uninspiring opponent it’s hard to see him back in the top ten for a while.
Congratulations to Tralee Boxing Club:
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerry/tralee-news/tralee-boxing-club-will-have-a-home-of-its-own-at-long-last/a993125102.html
If the latest freakshow, Amir Khan vs. KSI, actually materialises, then I expect the Youtuber to win.
KSI nearly beat an area level cruiserweight in Tommy fury, what do people think will happen if he fights a shot, retired & tiny Khan?
I now doubt that we ever see Jake Paul-Mike Tyson.
It’s for the best. Let it go the way of Oscar De La Hoya-Vitor Belfort.
We all set for Broner-Cobbs tomorrow night? #OnlyInAmerica
https://x.com/HappyPunch/status/1798066442103119982
Will Madonna be rocking up to Selhurst Park next week for some world title action?
39 year old Marco “Captain” Huck hasn’t fought since 2020 and is without a significant win since 2016.
Nevertheless, he’s coming back later this month in Germany.
Maybe that means there’s still hope for that Felix Sturm-Arthur Abraham fight I always wanted. I miss the heyday of big time German boxing.
Everybody has a price…
Broner is showing up!
https://x.com/owen02_/status/1793039943738024280
That’s my headline…
It seems like everything in boxing revolves around Saudi Arabia these days.
Don King was all set to bring boxing back to the fans last month with The Quest for the Best. And all for the low, low price of 28 euro, or 35 euro if you purchased through the Triller TV app.
But now it’s been pushed back to June 7th and merged into Fists of Fury.
Imagine what craic this is going to be…if Broner shows up that is.
Tris Dixon on what it’s like to cover a major Naoya Inoue fight in Japan:
https://www.boxingscene.com/tokyo-diary-what-its-like-cover-naoya-inoue-fight-japan–183374
One reflection from the Ryan Garcia drug testing scandal is that it seems that VADA no longer conduct CIR testing for synthetic testosterone on all samples, instead using it just as a confirmatory test.
The purported Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz exhibition in Mexico in August is a rematch 13 years in the making.
Hopefully Brandon Rios is on standby as a replacement in case anything goes awry. How much to get Larry Merchant on commentary?
With Jake Paul-Mike Tyson being sanctioned as a pro bout (albeit with two minute rounds and larger gloves), I am reminded not only of the ill-fated Evander Holyfield-Vitor Belfort Triller exhibition, but also the fact that the Indiana Gaming Commission allowed Albert Hughes Jr. to ‘fight’ and win at 70 years old in 2019.
The contest itself was about as legitimate as a Mickey Rourke contest: https://tinyurl.com/alberthughes
Taylor-Serrano II, Floyd Schofield-Ashton Sylve and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Darren Till on the Paul-Tyson undercard makes this a must see event for both boxing fans and freakshow lovers alike.
https://x.com/JJCCAA_/status/1792643287225942462
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Terence Crawford
4. Dmitry Bivol
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Artur Beterbiev
7. Gervonta Davis
8. Kenshiro Teraji
9. Junto Nakatani
10. Shakur Stevenson
- My July 2018 prediction that Oleksandr Usyk would one day rule at heavyweight came true Saturday night, as he dramatically bested Tyson Fury to become undisputed champion.
- As I wrote then: “[Against Gassiev], everything came together and his potential appears limitless, even in the land of the giants. Usyk is the best cruiser since Holyfield, and there were many doubters of his chances at heavyweight too. It’s a bold prediction, but I think that not only will Usyk win a title belt at heavyweight, but he will be the divison’s number one someday.”
- He vaults to pound for pound number one once again, and the top three look to be head and shoulders above all others.
Vasiliy Lomachenko: Boxer, soldier, believer, traitor?
Vasiliy Lomachenko is one of Ukraine’s greatest boxers ever. But some of his countrymen see him as less than a patriot during their time of crisis.
In this Sunday Long Read original, Sean Nam explores Lomachenko’s relationship with his country and with Russia.
1. Naoya Inoue
2. Terence Crawford
3. Oleksandr Usyk
4. Dmitry Bivol
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Artur Beterbiev
7. Gervonta Davis
8. Kenshiro Teraji
9. Junto Nakatani
10. Shakur Stevenson
- Canelo solidifies himself in the top 5 with a comprehensive, and at times punishing, boxing display to defeat Jaime Munguia.
- Inoue retakes the top spot, overcoming the first knockdown of his career in the opening round to demolish Luis Nery in six rounds.
- Inoue’s activity is too much to deny, but Crawford will have his chance to respond when he debuts at 154 lbs. versus Madrimov in August.
Ryan Garcia is the megastar that boxing deserves: as American as apple pie, and automatic weapons for sale at Walmart.
The freakshow fights keep on coming: Adrien Broner-Blair “The Flair” Cobbs topping a Don King card, Rampage Jackson-Shannon Briggs in Qatar and Jake Paul-Mike Tyson on Netflix.
Briggs is 52 and hasn’t fought since 2016, but I remain surprised, failed drug test aside, that his social media antics in that phase of his career never landed him a big fight.
ICYMI, former 2 division titlist and heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek, inactive since a 2018 loss to Jarrell Miller, returned in February to stop a MMA fighter in 3 rounds of a boxing contest staged inside a cage.
What a time to be alive.
The WBA are bringing regular titles back, baby.
David Morrell moves to 175lbs. to pick up a second regular belt so that Gilberto Mendoza can double dip on Riyadh $eason once Beterbiev-Bivol is over.
The wait for Manny Charr’s first defence of the WBA regular heavyweight title he won in 2017 continues.
Only in boxing would you see someone conducting an interview to promote a fight they know is already called off:
https://boxingnewsonline.net/the-beltline-interviewing-a-boxer-about-a-fight-the-boxer-knows-is-no-longer-happeningWe are closer than ever to the return of pro boxing to Kerry:
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerry/sport/other-sports/kerrys-fitzgerald-stadium-in-the-running-to-host-major-boxing-event-for-conlan-boxing/a633290643.html
I must end on a somber note by mentioning the tragic death in February of bantamweight Kazuki Anaguchi.
I highlighted his December fight with Seiya Tsutsumi as one of the best of 2023 in a recent post:
January 14th’s Random Boxing Rants
Rest in peace, warrior.
1. Terence Crawford
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Oleksandr Usyk
4. Dmitry Bivol
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Artur Beterbiev
7. Gervonta Davis
8. Kenshiro Teraji
9. Junto Nakatani
10. Shakur Stevenson
-
7 Devin Haney loses to an over-the-weight Ryan Garcia in a stunning upset to tumble out of the top 10.
- Shakur Stevenson re-enters at #10 but will need to perform a lot better than his last bout to retain his place.
1. Claressa Shields
2. Katie Taylor
3. Chantelle Cameron
4. Seniesa Estrada
5. Amanda Serrano
6. Alycia Baumgardner
7. Yokasta Valle
8. Sandy Ryan
9. Savannah Marshall
10. Natasha Jonas
- Estrada rises two places after defeating Yoka Valle in a high quality fight to claim the undisputed 105 lbs. title.
- Valle was strong in defeat so does not drop.
1. Claressa Shields
2. Katie Taylor
3. Chantelle Cameron
4. Amanda Serrano
5. Alycia Baumgardner
6. Seniesa Estrada
7. Yokasta Valle
8. Sandy Ryan
9. Savannah Marshall
10. Natasha Jonas
- Welterweight titlist Sandy Ryan re-enters at #8 after battering two weight beltholder Terri Harper in four rounds.
- Mikaela Mayer exits for now.
February 2nd – Legally deaf “Quiet Storm” Julian Smith upset Cuban prospect Orestes Velazquez after a dramatic nine rounds at jr. welterweight.
Ref Massimo Montanini incorrectly ruled a third round knockdown scored by Smith as a slip and also missed a knockdown from an uppercut during a wild round eight.
I hesitate to be too critical of Montanini in a hard-to-officiate fight. He correctly deducted a point in the eighth for excessive holding, and scored a knockdown against Velazquez in an untidy exchange as both men landed and fell to the floor.
The conclusion to the fight was chaotic with Velazquez bring dropped twice more in the ninth. Then with ten seconds left, the bell sounded early and Velazquez went down again on a shot that landed a fraction of a second after the early bell. This knockdown wasn’t counted, but the fight was stopped anyway in the corner before the final round began.
February 7th – Another Tanzania Professional Boxing Regulatory Commission (that’s a mouthful) gem courtesy of Tim Boxeo:
https://x.com/TimBoxeo/status/1755348280731476254?s=20
If you’re going to quit after 30 seconds of your debut when hardly a punch has been thrown, then what’s the point?
February 8th – Steve Weisfeld continued his trend of awful scorecards in the Teofimo Lopez-Jamaine Ortiz fight, helping Lopez to his latest fortunate win with a laughable 117-111 tally.
On the undercard, Weisfeld also turned in an inaccurate 76-75 card for the Rene Tellez Giron-George Acosta bout.
As Naz might say, I think he should finish.
February 10th – Ex-prospect Qais Ashfaq was stopped in five rounds by Masood Abdulah.
Kieran McCann missed a knockdown on a fatigued Ashfaq towards the end of round four.
February 15th – Joseph Diaz- Jesus Antonio Perez Campos could have gone either way.
Perez Campos came away with the split decision, but Lou Moret’s 99-90 card was nonsensical.
On the undercard, Tiffany Clinton somehow scored Jorge Chavez-Diuhl Olguin 60-54, despite Chavez being floored in the first round.
February 16th – Sergio Chirino Sanchez stopped Dennis Contreras in three rounds at super featherweight.
Emigdio Nicolas administered a very long count to Contreras in round one. There was also no hint of a point deduction or hard warning as the referee leisurely gave Contreras extra time to put back in the mouthpiece that he had blatantly spat out in front of him.
In New York, there was a farcical refereeing display from Shada Murdaugh during the Guido Vianello-Moses Johnson heavyweight bout.
Firstly, the ref incorrectly ruled the first knockdown from two clean right hands as a rabbit punch. The fight should have been over there and then. Instead, it continued for a whopping four further knockdowns until Johnson was finally left crumpled on the canvas at round’s end.
February 24th – Shakhram Giyasov laboured to a technical decision win over Pablo Cesar Cano in a fairly competitive fight.
Judges Dave De Jonge, Tina Griffith and Michael Tate (all 99-109) gave the veteran Cano zero credit.
February 28th – In Florida, Alvaro Rodriguez’s 99-91 card for Najee Lopez in his win over Marcos Escudero did not accurately reflect a fight that could have been scored either way.
In Japan, Kosei Tanaka continued to make a Hall of Fame case by winning a fourth division world title versus Christian Bacasegua.
In round eight, Tanaka pushed Bacasegua into the ropes after hurting him with a body shot. This was incorrectly ruled a knockdown by Bence Kovacs.
1. Terence Crawford
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Oleksandr Usyk
4. Dmitry Bivol
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Artur Beterbiev
7. Devin Haney
8. Gervonta Davis
9. Kenshiro Teraji
10. Junto Nakatani
- Japan has more than one monster. Nakatani enters at #10 after winning his third world title across as many weights in short order. An eventual fight between him and Inoue may be as good a contest as boxing can offer.
- Shakur Stevenson exits after the worst performance of his career so far last time out.
Kevin Cronin will be making his American debut in Massachusetts on March 16th.
Tickets still available via the following link:
https://www.whatsapp.com/product/24805983525713265/353892191609/?app_absent=0
Q: Obviously the big news is you signed with Conlan Boxing. You’re going to be managed by Michael Conlan. Tell me how that came about.
What sort of opponents are we looking at for that first fight in March? It’s not Craig McCarthy. Are you looking for a serious opponent?
KC: Yeah, look, now I can finally say, I leave this in the hands of my team. Like, it was me and my coach looking: oh, who’s there? What can we do? That’s what it’s been all along, but now we can say, it’s in my team’s hands. So look, I go back to how it started and we’ll get into that.
So yeah, that Jamie fight in Galway. We went back to the hotel afterwards. As upset as I was, I couldn’t just go to my bed. I’d a big gang that came up from Kerry so I went down to them. They were down in the hotel bar and I just said I’d sit down with them for the night. My coach/manager at the time, Jonathan Lewins, came into the bar to me and said the Conlans are after coming over here and want to have a word with you.
We had a general chat about the fight. They said we had to come over here and just apologise to you that this happened on our show because we had you winning that fight, and we had you winning it wide. They were just saying that it was very impressive. They said we think you should just get down to super middleweight, and you can do some serious damage and go far at super middleweight.
I took all that on board. They did show a little bit of interest, but I suppose I just, if it was a normal day, I would have pushed it a bit more with them at the time. Maybe tried to see how interested they were, but I wasn’t in the headspace that night to do it.
They kind of just started talking about a night in Kerry and all that, it’d be unreal, we’d love to do something like that. I was just kind of, yeah, look, we’ll see. In my head, I was like, Kerry mightn’t happen. I mightn’t be here to box in Kerry. Like, you know, this might be it for me in my own head. But I took all that on board anyway, and my coach took it on board. When he came to me with that one, Cork in a few weeks, he said we’re going down in weight. We didn’t want that last fight at 175, we’re going down.
Because I had got to 168 before, and I was a beast at it, sparring, and then it fell through the week of the Cork show a year before that.
Q: So you actually feel stronger down in weight?
KC: Yeah, it’s strange saying that, because I’m definitely stronger there, right? But people are going to say, how are you stronger when you’re lighter? I think it’s these very fine lines in boxing. That little bit of extra weight can make a big difference and I think it’s the resistance. I feel snappier with my shots. I feel like even when I’m sparring, even though I’m obviously over light heavyweight when I’m sparring, there’s a bigger confidence in me as well going in at 168, which means I’m willing to maybe exchange a bit more, even with the bigger guys there.
I know how strong I am at the weight and I know I have the resistance. I know I can take anyone out at the weight. Like even the journeymen I fought, I’ve been fighting durable journeymen knowing they’ll take me to rounds. If I get them out of there, it just looks good again. It’s just been a pity about the stop-start career, but again, that’s down to me and my team. We’re not signed to no one. We don’t have a promoter. We don’t have this, we don’t have that, but now I do.
Going on from that, the RDS was meant to be a Conlan show, they straight away wanted me out on it. They touched base, they said, yeah, we’re getting you on it. They knew Craig was being complicated at that time and so they ended up getting onto me again, they said “look, Kevin, do not worry, if Craig is gonna continue being just complicated, we will still have you on the show”. So I was happy enough, I was in camp. They did well to get him over the line, I don’t know how they did it. They got him into accepting the offer.
It was kind of winner goes on and progresses on and maybe gets another shot on a Conlan show. That’s what I picked up from it. But when that didn’t happen, then I was thinking, feck it anyway, because I was out to impress Conlan. They were promoters I wanted to work with because we loved dealing with them.
They’re good people. Look, if you haven’t talked to them, I don’t think you realize how nice they are until you actually talk to them. Above in Galway, there was a ticket situation where there was a problem with the tickets on the last day and they went above and beyond, and they got my friends in there even though there was this issue. They worked it out: they got more seats in, they made room. They didn’t need to. I wasn’t signed to them. They could have just said, you know, it is what it is, you’re still fighting tonight. But no, they went above and beyond and I have to respect that. I do respect that.
I’ve been approached over the last two or three months by a few different promoters, smaller hall promoters, some kind of midway. My interest was in the Conlans. I did think they were interested in me. So I wouldn’t say I ignored them, but I tried playing it off a bit, hoping I’d get approached. I was sparing with Padraig McCrory then. There was another Irish promotion that showed their interest in me.
I thought maybe someone’s waiting for someone to deal the first card. So I just said it straight out to the Conlans. I said “look, I do not know if you’re interested in me. I have been trying to impress you. To me, I’m saying this because I feel like you’ve been showing a bit of interest in me, but I’m not actually certain. So I said, take no notice of me. I said I’ve been approached by promoters the last couple of months just so I let you know just in case you were showing interest”. I said because the way my career is now, I need to be tied down to a promotion to have a bit of stability in my career and just a bit of structure.
Then I had no reply for like three weeks. I was like, oh well yeah, look, that answered my question for me. I was still just training away in camp and stuff. I just got a call from Jamie on a Monday saying “sorry, we just had a bit going on there the last few weeks”. He said we’ve wanted to sign you. I think it was just a case of maybe it was going to be after the RDS show. I was going to get the offer, but then that fell through.
Maybe it was going to be if I’d got the nod over Jamie, I was going to get the offer. They were just hoping for the McCarthy fight maybe to happen to pick up the Irish title or something. That’s just me thinking in my own head, but look, it is what it is.
I met with them then. They brought me and my coach up to the Mick Conlan fight [versus Jordan Gill]. We would have been talking to them that night, but unfortunately things didn’t go Mick’s way, but that’s boxing. We ended up having that chat a couple of weeks later, just before Christmas. Look, there’s loads in the pipeline. We have a fight date.
I had a chat with them and they did say they’re big fans of me as well as being promoters. They said that’s that’s half it too, and Mick just got into the Galway thing. He said we’re really, really impressed and you can progress big time at 168. That’s the plan and Jamie said they’ll both be guiding me. Mick will be my manager. We were happy with that and love working with both fellas. In my eyes, they’re basically both my manager, though Mick’s my official manager. Two good guys, they set a pathway out. Activity was one of the first things. They said, there’s no more stop start.
It’s a year round camp for me for the rest of the year. I’m in the gym for all year round and that’s it, I gotta live the life. I love living the life. I’ve been living the life the way it is, so now I can officially live the life with fights. The big thing is fights, and fights on good stages now. So maybe the small hall days, I’m not gonna say they’re behind me, but they might be.
I know this is gonna be a pretty epic card to get out on, the first Conlan show. It’s gonna be it’s gonna be cool, so I think this could just be my first step into the ocean. It’s class for me to be honest with you and I love working with the boys.
Opponents-wise, look I’m not sure, maybe we get Craig in the first one. Maybe they want me to just get active again, I don’t know. I’ll be chatting with him soon in Belfast anyway.
Q: Emmett Brennan is out there, Jamie Morrissey trilogy. Obviously because of the first two fights, how good they were, how controversial they were: it’s always gonna be there.
KC: Yeah, just you’ve Craig, you’ve Emmett, you’ve Jamie, there’s names there. It’s great to have options. At the end of the day, my priority is the title. Be it Craig, be it Jamie, be it Emmett, be it probably the other ten fellas in the weight. Some names go under the radar, so you just don’t know what’s going to happen in this weight.
Q: In terms of overall goals for 2024, so: Irish title, activity…is Kerry realistic for this year?
KC: Yeah, I think we could probably say now Kerry will happen this year. Kerry will happen this year. Look, we’ve talked about it, but we just can’t overlook that I’m going to have tough fights before it. So I can’t say “oh yeah, it’s happening in June”, but I’ve four tough fights before it then where anything can happen.
I’m not saying it’s happening in June, I’m just throwing that out there as an example. But yeah, I think Kerry will happen this year, but it’s just going to happen on a bigger scale than what would have happened previously. So maybe it’s a gift that mightn’t have happened yet.
But yeah, my goal for the start of this year: the lads want me active. I want that Irish title. People are gonna call me mad. I want to be challenging for that European title by the end of the year. I just want it to get bigger and better. And I wanna go to Kerry, maybe do the INEC. And I want to be coming in to challenge for a European title. Or with the European title and be talking a stadium rather than the INEC. You know, I wanna give Kerry big time boxing. It’s never had that, and it’s about to have it.
Q: Finally, obviously you’ve sparred Padraig McCrory in the past, you’re now going into camp with him for the Edgar Berlanga fight.
It’s a great camp to be a part of. What can you say about your experience sparring him before, and even just any other sparring you’ve done in the past 12 months if anything stands out?
KC: I’ve never been hit by a train but I’m presuming it’s the nearest thing to how hard Padraig McCrory hit, so yeah I was sparring him a couple of weeks ago to start his camp and I’m gonna be sparring him now towards the end of his camp again.
Padraig is a good fella. Gentleman, great team, like myself obviously, because we have the same team! But yeah, look, they’re good people, very good to deal with. They bring me up, they look after me. You know, you’re not just brought up for a spar and fuck off, they’re just good people.
Now getting into the fight, Barlanga is a massive name in the super middleweight division. Someone’s knocking on the door for Canelo. That’s what I think. That’s in my head. I think the winner can get Canelo and if there was anyone in Ireland that I would say will cause the upset with Berlanga it would be Padraig McCrory. He hits that hard. I’ve sparred some top, top fellas. I’ve traveled to England sparring only recently against top names as well. I sparred Hosea Burton over there.
But when you get hit by Padraig, his fists are absolute rocks and I don’t think anyone realises ’til you get in with him. I think he’s the type of guy you can watch as much tape as you want, but it’s different when you get hit. Like Mike Tyson says, everyone’s got a plan until they get hit in the face, you know? That is the case with Padraig. And it’s the fight where I think someone’s getting knocked out. Both guys want the knockout. Both guys get involved in exchanges. Who’s gonna land first, I think, is the big one.
Kerry boxer Kevin Cronin’s 2023 was the most significant of his career so far, being denied the Celtic and Irish titles in two controversial battles with Jamie Morrissey before ending things on a high by signing with Conlan Boxing.
I recently spoke to him as he looked back on the year that was and ahead to new challenges in 2024.
Q: The first Morrissey fight in Belfast, it was a big step up and what you had been looking for all the time, your first title fight.
At light heavyweight as well against a really big guy. I think you started a little bit slowly but came on and took control as the fight progressed. It was a very good fight, how did you feel it unfolded and your thoughts on the controversial outcome at the end too?
Full Fight Video – Kevin Cronin vs. Jamie Morrissey
Kevin Cronin: I was very confident of winning that fight. Probably what ended up happening was my lack of professional boxing experience affected things. Jamie had two domestic title fights before, one in Scotland and one with Robbie Burke.
We were lined up for the Burke fight before. We had Jamie in our sights but were thinking let’s gain a little experience now of the domestic fight feel before we go into that tougher one. I was still confident going into it. The start was probably just a bit startled by what was going on around me with the whole crowd, everything like that. So yeah, it started slow, turned into an absolute classic.
Just a small ring, small venue, very hot. Two big fellas that just ended up standing there banging the heads off each other. Like the early rounds, Jamie done very well. The second half of the fight, I started breaking him apart and that was the story of it. He won by one point in the finish, 77-76.
Yeah, we felt a little bit of grief and hard done by. We were scoring it in the corner and thought we had it by two. If one round went the other way and it ended up being a draw, like I said, I wouldn’t have kicked up a fuss or argued. Now, I didn’t kick up much of a fuss after it. Everyone around me did, a lot of publicists and stuff did but that’s boxing.
Everyone has their say. We ended up getting the rematch and so it is what it is. I won’t be looking too much back at it anymore.
Q: Obviously, there was kind of that media fuss and that was definitely a disappointing result for the Celtic title, but then the whole controversy of everything led to the bigger opportunity with the Irish title. 10 rounds, immediate rematch, same guy, chance to right the wrongs: I suppose it ended up being the domestic fight of the year, unanimously.
But again: same referee, controversial judging, holding, mouthpiece issues, no point deductions, which I think is fairly questionable, and you ended up with a draw in a fight that a lot of people felt you clearly won, so how was that experience?
Full Fight Video – Jamie Morrissey vs. Kevin Cronin II
KC: Yeah, so if I start that one from the start, coming out the end of the first fight: I was upset after the fight. I was thick, but I wasn’t put down. I was ready, I really wanted it again.
We knew they were talking about the rematch, there was just a few fine lines that needed to be sorted out. We wanted it at 168. We knew I had no business at 175 for about a year. It was just a little bit of inactivity. The BUI would only sanction the first one at 175, because I hadn’t fought 168, even though I was down at 170 at one stage.
So we were trying to get that second one at 168, because I feel like an animal at that weight, but it was just a few little back and forths. It wasn’t a hard fight to make. We both said ‘yeah, look, we’re taking this fight’, we just wanted to try to get the weight class right. We knew it was going to be a Conlan bill in Galway anyway. I was still pushing, me and my coach, we were kind of sticking by our guns to get this at 168. We just have got to push a bit harder for it.
Now, I don’t wanna be bringing this into it, but my grandmother passed away. I was at her funeral, and I got a phone call that day about it again, and I’m saying, okay, we have to kind of make a decision. And I just said like, in my own head, this is not the day for it.
So I just said to my coach: “tell him we’ll fucking fight him at 175”.
He was like “you sure now you don’t wanna wait a few hours”. And I said “I’m gonna beat him at 175. Let’s just do it again”. So we signed for it at 175. Deal done.
Jamie’s a great guy, easy guy to make a fight with. No shit attached, we were just two fellas that wanted a fight. We wanted to win the title. We’re pure boxing people and that’s about it.
I went into that fight, felt good at 175, even weighing in, to be honest with you, for the first time in a long time. The first time I felt a bit sluggish on the scales.
I was coming off a camp straight into another camp. We upped the sparring levels, which you could see in the fight later on, and I ended up being in good nick on the scales. I didn’t think I’d get into that shape at 175.
The fight happened, good start by Jamie. I wouldn’t say it was experience this time. I went in thinking right, came out all guns blazing the first one, but then slowed very quick thinking ‘oh maybe I’m going too fast’. So I said I’d settle into this one and just move my head a lot and that’s what I started doing.
I know a lot of people gave Jamie the earlier rounds but if you watch that first round back it was very, very close. I slipped most of the punches he threw. That first round was very, very close but look I just gave it to Jamie anyway to be safe in the corner. Definitely lost the second and third round.
The fourth round I thought I definitely won. I started catching him. There were a couple of flurries in that fourth round where I was catching him with huge shots. He didn’t do much in it. Fifth round he started well and I copped the changes happening when we got in close. The ref said break, we both looked at each other and knew it was break and then I got one down below the belt.
So I went back to the corner and the ref said “do you want a minute?” I said “no. I’m good”. I knew that this was the turning point in my own head and then the end of that fifth round I put it on him for the rest of the round and went back to the corner. I saw just at the end of the fifth round, he started kicking up his leg and when you watch it back, the commentators are saying he’s showboating. I remember going back to my corner and I said to my coach “his leg’s cramping”.
He was lifting his leg. He was trying to stretch that leg and he was trying to hide it. So then you’d see from the sixth round on, I started putting pressure on him and giving zero respect. Now I thought I had four and five, so I thought I had two rounds won going into the last five anyway. And then from there on, I just thought I broke him apart. Six, seven, broke him apart. Started picking him off a bit.
The eighth round just turned into a whole different ball game. I think I just, in the nicest way to put it, I bashed him up. I picked him apart at ease. Round nine, I actually took my foot off the gas, but still picked him apart. Round ten, I actually thought I was gonna get him out of there. My corner had me up 6-3 going into the tenth. We had me 7-3 at the finish, thinking that we’d actually get the 10-8 round as well in the last round.
You could more or less say I had him out of there and then every time I had him in trouble, the gumshield was coming out and I was being grabbed and pulled in. I can’t blame Jamie for that. If I was in his shoes, I would have done the same. Anything to stay in a fight but that’s where the ref’s meant to come in and take control of the fight. I can’t be blaming Jamie. Jamie’s team can’t be blaming anyone. Bar some poor decisions by the man in the middle, I think that told the story of the fight.
Then, look, someone gave it a draw and someone gave it to Jamie which ended up making it a draw because I got it from Emil Tiedt. It got booed, really booed, the place echoed. I was very upset after that fight. How would I say it? Yeah, it was a different feeling. It was a more difficult one, right? Because when I said I lost the first one, I was upset. This one, I genuinely, I broke down in the dressing room. That night, I was in my own head. I was saying, what am I meant to do now?
I knew, obviously I wasn’t thinking my career was over, but in my own head, I didn’t want to be involved anymore. I got over the first fight a few days later. This went on for a good while. I was thinking: I’m putting so much time, so much money into boxing for these nights. Why should I continue doing this?
To me, my break was to beat him there and push on towards that European title, get the backing of a good promoter. It was actually my coach who might have copped it. We’ve never actually talked about it, but I think he might have copped it and snapped it out of me a bit because I wasn’t firing on all cylinders in my own head. Not going to mental health thing or anything like that but I fell out of love with boxing after that. No, I’m sorry, I’m wrong saying that, I was in love with boxing, I fell out of love with being involved in boxing.
I think my coach copped that because he just started pushing me saying “come on, there’s this fight in Cork in three or four weeks time, let’s get you out”. He got very pushy and I think he knew what was going on. Look, he’s experienced, he’s boxed, he’s kickboxed, he’s been there, he’s done that. I think he knew what was going on. It’s a good thing he did. I was still in my own head for a lot of that.
It was a quick turnaround. I chopped down the weight, I got out at super middle weight. I wasn’t happy with how I performed. That fight got a bit of backlash I suppose, but actually it was funny because it got backlash from people who weren’t involved in boxing saying “oh geez, he was poor”, but there was nothing wrong with that guy when he was bringing some big names the distance.
He’d brought Germaine Brown and Padraig McCrory the distance.
Q: Former world titleholder Kiryl Relikh as well.
KC: There was no backlash about that. When I made him look very poor in there and ended up blitzing him on my bad day, it got a bit of that but I didn’t care.
Then you had the new Celtic champion [Craig McCarthy] hopping in the ring wanting me for the Irish. It got sanctioned. I was happy enough to do that. In my head, I’m better than you, so I’m just gonna beat you.
That fight got made after a long time trying to make it. It was a big difference from the Jamie fights. Jamie, it was a phone call: “yeah, we’ll fight, let’s just sort the weight. Yeah, that’s good, let’s go”. So this twice, to going into a guy that wanted specific money for an Irish title in specific terms and certain cards.
I was happy to jump on the Irish title for a ticket deal because I know the Irish title is a stepping stone. If you win the Irish title, you’re on to the next thing, you can start getting good pay days. You’ll have promoters looking at you.
Now, look, if I was going to get ten or twelve grand for the fight, I’d happily take it if I thought it was there. But when I know you’re not gonna get that for a certain fight, I was just happy. The Irish title was my priority. Look, that fell through last minute. I think it was just something that happened between one of the promoters and the BUI. I don’t know fully what happened so I’m not gonna get into it. All I know is the fight was off and that was that.
That was a brilliant camp. I had a ten week camp for that. I was in the shape of my life. My last three spars were 12 round spars because I was pushing the pace and I wasn’t feeling the pace at ten rounds, so I was just pushing in that extra two. I was very happy. I wouldn’t say I was cocky, but I was very, very confident going into that.
Q: Was that the first time you were really able to train to get properly down to the weight?
KC: Yeah, I would say that was the first time I trained like I was fighting for a world title. Not saying I didn’t train hard for the Jamie fights, but that was the first time I said, right, this one’s leading to big things. I can’t let what happened stop me, so I’m going to train like this is the way I want to train for the rest of my life. I want to be doing this full time. I did that. I had some great sparring partners. Every spar consisted of minimum of three or four sparring partners. I was ready for that fight.
What happened happened. We tried on, I think it was two, maybe three occasions, getting onto Team McCarthy to say this show has popped up, let’s try and get on it.
Now, obviously, there’s not much love between me and Craig, but it wasn’t us talking to each other anyway, it would have been our managers trying to get something on. But again, it was trying to make the Irish title worth something it’s not.
Q: Where does it sit with the BUI now? Are they still trying to make that fight?
KC: Where does it sit with me even? I don’t care about that fight anymore. I do not care. I’m not going wasting my time on it. I know I’m fighting in March. I’m gonna let the promoters do the announcement for that, but hopefully that’ll get done next week, I think they said they’re trying to tie it down.
It’s a good card. We hope they might give him an offer, but no one wants to work with that guy, he’s too complicated. If he’s not given an offer, I can 100% understand that. The only thing he holds right now is being sanctioned for the Irish title. He’s the Irish title to me. That’s it. That’s all he is to me. He’s just a guy now that I don’t want to get too much more involved with because there was a lot that went on in this thing. I don’t want that holding back my career, if you get what I’m saying. I want to progress. If it happens, all well and good. If it doesn’t, I do not care.
It has since been announced that Kevin will make his American debut on March 15th in Massachusetts. (Incidentally, Craig McCarthy will also fight in America against Tommy Hyde on March 16th)
More on this, Kevin’s other hopes for 2024 and his new promotional team in part II of this interview, coming tomorrow.
- Terence Crawford 2. Naoya Inoue 3. Oleksandr Usyk 4. Dmitry Bivol 5. Juan Francisco Estrada 6. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 7. Gervonta Davis 8. Artur Beterbiev 9. Devin Haney 10. Shakur Stevenson
An important series of articles here from the LA Times’ Melody Gutierrez on boxing pensions in California: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-31/california-boxers-pensions https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-11/alex-ramos-boxing-california-pension-plan-struggles https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-11/how-to-claim-california-boxing-pension One of my personal highlights of recent times was attending the tremendous European light welterweight title fight between Franck Petitjean and Samuel Molina in Paris in June. Repping @TimBoxeo at the #PetitjeanMolina European title … Continue reading →
- Naoya Inoue 2. Oleksandr Usyk 3. Dmitry Bivol 4. Juan Francisco Estrada 5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 6. Gervonta Davis 7. Terence Crawford 8. Artur Beterbiev 9. Devin Haney 10. Shakur Stevenson
- Claressa Shields 2. Chantelle Cameron 3. Katie Taylor 4. Amanda Serrano 5. Alycia Baumgardner 6. Seniesa Estrada 7. Savannah Marshall 8. Jessica McCaskill 9. Yokasta Valle 10. Mikaela Mayer
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Dmitry Bivol
4. Juan Francisco Estrada
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Gervonta Davis
7. Terence Crawford
8. Artur Beterbiev
9. Devin Haney
10. Shakur Stevenson
-
6 Errol Spence and #10 Jermell Charlo both exit due to inactivity of over one year and without a fight scheduled.
- Devin Haney re-enters at #9 off his disputed win over former number one Vasyl Lomachenko. Shakur Stevenson enters at #10.
1. Claressa Shields
2. Chantelle Cameron
3. Katie Taylor
4. Amanda Serrano
5. Alycia Baumgardner
6. Seniesa Estrada
7. Jessica McCaskill
8. Yokasta Valle
9. Mikaela Mayer
10. Jessica Nery Plata
- Chantelle Cameron rises three places to number 2 after spoiling pound for pound queen Katie Taylor’s homecoming in Dublin with a brilliant majority decision win. Credit to both women for putting it all on the line and daring to fight the best.
- Cameron will be firm favourite in a rematch but, whether at 140 or 135lbs. or whether at Croke Park or not, it will be a fascinating return.
- Claressa Shields is the new number 1 and right now, lack of competition in her weight divisions aside, it’s hard to see her being knocked off the top.
10 rounds for the vacant Irish super middleweight title.
Posted by the fantastic Boxing Fights Videos 2.0 account on Dailymotion.
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Dmitry Bivol
4. Juan Francisco Estrada
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Errol Spence
7. Gervonta Davis
8. Terence Crawford
9. Artur Beterbiev
10. Jermell Charlo
- It would be easy to overreact to Gervonta Davis’ stirring 7th round knockout of Ryan Garcia in last night’s super fight. After all, King Ry is a star but who has he ever beaten? However, Davis’ evident talent, huge punch and impressive activity level (especially in contrast to the lack of ring time from many of the top names in the sport) deserve recognition at the top level of the sport. He enters at #7.
- Devin Haney exits for now but will have his chance to rubber stamp his resume when he takes on former pound for pound number one Vasyl Lomachenko next month.
On April 1st in Dublin, a new name from Kerry joined the pro ranks with a first round stoppage: 21 year old light welterweight Paddy Walsh.Here he is profiled for irish-boxing.com: https://www.irish-boxing.com/introducing-paddy-walsh/Paddy is the older brother of 5-0-2 light middleweight Liam, who notched his second stoppage on the same card. Keep a look out in the future for an interview with Paddy here on the site.That Dublin show was the first of three to take place in the Republic this month, alongside a Neil Power bill in Waterford and tomorrow’s Conlan boxing show in Galway.It’s exciting times, and next up to bat is Tommy Hyde for his belated pro homecoming to Cork city in June. Speaking of that Conlan boxing show in Galway, it will be streamed in this part of the world free on YouTube by Boxing Social:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeD1kG6ezS4&list=WL&index=5The highlight for me is Kerry boxer Kevin Cronin’s crunch rematch with Jamie Morrissey for the Irish super middleweight title. Win or lose, I’ll be catching up with Kevin post-fight here soon.So with Alberto Puello the latest boxer to fall ‘fowl’ of, ahem, contaminated eggs, it looks like Rolly Romero, fresh off a viral video of getting knocked out in sparring, will be an unlikely 140lb. world titlist.That’s because his new opponent for the belt is likely to be 4o year old Ismael Barroso, a full 7 years after he was stopped by Anthony Crolla and having lost twice more in the interim. Only in boxing.Wishing a great retirement to Bilbao’s action warrior Kerman Lejarraga. It’s apropos that a Brit Basher Hall of Fame nominee should have his career ended by Liverpool’s James Metcalf. ‘Big Bang’ Zhang versus ‘The Juggernaut’ Joe Joyce was as fun as we could have hoped for. Chinese Power won out for a memorable upset, and, while a lot of criticism has been levied at Joyce for his weaknesses being exposed, I prefer to focus on the positive. We went into the fight with one must-see heavyweight to focus on, and emerged with two. I can’t wait to see what both men do next. Orale Guatemala!
Tomorrow the people of Chivarreto, Guatemala hold their yearly Good Friday bare-knuckle boxing festival where the locals gather to beat the shit out of each other.
Whole thing streams on FB at 3:30pm ET: https://t.co/rkkJ37R3Yy https://t.co/JJd8FihXVq
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) April 6, 2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivarreto_boxing
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2023/apr/01/eddie-hearn-conor-benn-and-the-poison-at-the-heart-of-british-boxing?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
1. Katie Taylor
2. Claressa Shields
3. Amanda Serrano
4. Alycia Baumgardner
5. Chantelle Cameron
6. Seniesa Estrada
7. Jessica McCaskill
8. Yokasta Valle
9. Mikaela Mayer
10. Jessica Nery Plata
- Estrada rises one place after unifying titles at minimumweight.
DK and AB — Only in America.
It’s weird to see Teddy Atlas pivot so strongly towards MMA, a sport he knows little to nothing about from a technical standpoint.
It would be like a top soccer manager suddenly fashioning himself into a tennis pundit.
I’m trying to to stay positive.
I think Fury-Usyk happens someday when they can schedule it in $audi, and Fulton-Inoue should be rescheduled without much fuss.
I’m also really excited with one month to go until Tank Davis-Ryan Garcia, a super fight I did not think would get made at this stage of their careers. I’m so glad to be proven wrong.
I spoke again with 20 year old Kenmare boxer Liam Walsh (4-0-2 record) ahead of his fight on April 1st at the National Stadium. His will be a key undercard bout on a show headlined by the homecoming of former world title challenger Jason Quigley.
Tickets remain available at: https://www.elitesportspromotions.co/
Q: We last spoke almost a year ago. I wanted to go back and cover the fights that you’ve had in that time where you gained a lot of experience and moved on to six round level.
Last May, you fought an experienced journeyman, Vasif Mamedov, in Doncaster. What can you tell me about that fight? It was obviously the toughest of your career up to that point.
Liam Walsh: That was a tough fight I took. It was very good for learning because he came at me and gave me a good fight.
The first two rounds I thought I was comfortable, winning, and then at the end of the second he caught me with a very good body shot. I came back to the corner and I told Tony [Davitt] that it sunk in, and I’m finding it hard to breathe. He said just to work behind the jab, keep him away from you because obviously he was already coming forward. He could see that I was backing off and slowing down, and put more pressure on me. In a way it taught me how to look comfortable but survive in the ring for the last two rounds, which I had to do. That’s why it cost me a draw.
Q: From my perspective on the fight, you were controlling it with your boxing early on, very similar to the first few pro fights you had. He got buoyed by the body shot and got on top of you then. By getting into a much more physical fight like that, would I be right in thinking you picked up a lot of experience by facing that adversity for the first time?
LW: Yeah, definitely. Even going back sparring, it was with high level boxers and being toe to toe with them, taking away from that fight with the hands up and getting used to taking shots on the gloves…it was definitely a valuable experience and in a few years I’ll be looking back and saying ‘that fight turned my career’.
Q: You next fought a similar guy to Mamedov, Martin Shaw, another experienced journeyman, in Leicester last September. That was another physical fight.
LW: Same, it was another test. Like I’ve said before, I’m not afraid to take testing fights even though I’m so young. I got offered it and I said ‘yes, that’ll be no problem’. He came at me straight away. He said to me and Carl [Greaves] after that he wasn’t getting beat by a kid.
He came at me and we had a good war. It was four rounds of toe to toe action which was great for me to learn, again, fighting on the inside. When I want titles, I know that the opponents, 50-50, aren’t going to back off so it’s all experience is how I’m looking at it.
Q: It’s a good perspective to have. Then you had the first fight in Ireland, the first six rounder. What can you tell me about that whole experience? Had you had many fights at the National Stadium in your amateur career?
LW: Yeah, I had a good few fights in the amateurs there so I knew all about the Stadium. I knew the ring was a full sized ring. My opponent [Attila Dobolan], he kept running away.
What I brought away was how to cut him off because I had to keep chasing him which is wrong and I needed to cut him off more so we’ve been working on that straight after that fight. It’s good to be learning even though I put him away in the fourth. We can still take things away. I need to learn how to cut the ring off with my feet. It’s not all about the punching.
Q: I’ve seen all of your pro fights, it was the first one I saw in person but, to my eye, it looked like your best performance. You got the stoppage. You did manage to cut off the ring and corner him. Did you feel it was your best performance or how would you classify it?
LW: It was definitely up there for one of my best performances boxing-wise and it looked good to watch. I think my best performance so far would probably be against Seamus Devlin [a 40-36 win in November 2021]. I was a bit busier because I only had four rounds. I did enjoy that one with Seamus but for getting the stoppage, for looking comfortable and picking my moments when to throw punches, I did that correctly in this one.
You have to do that in six rounders, it can’t be all action. I have to pick when I’m going to throw six, seven punches. I just would have liked it to be a little bit more in the first two rounds. I think I was a little bit slow looking back and I think I could start a bit faster in the future.
Q: How much do you go back and look at footage of the old fights? Or do you prefer just to think about it and train based on that?
LW: I always go back and look. I’m quite hard on myself when I watch fights back. I like to pick out what I should’ve done better. I like to look at what I did right as well, but I like to correct things.
Q: Your dad, Barry, is involved in the promotion of the last show and the one coming up. Not a lot of fighters experience that.
What’s it like fighting on your dad’s shows? Is that extra pressure? Does it take pressure off that you have these guaranteed fights and you’re able to fight in Ireland in front of maybe more of your own fans too?
LW: Having my dad do the promoting is good for me because I get to fight in Ireland and I do like having my own crowd there. I have a big enough crowd. I really appreciate everyone who buys tickets and comes to support me. Having my dad bring it back to Ireland was great.
Having him a part of it was no different because of my amateur career. He’s been in my corner since I was eleven. It’s different to when I was going over to Carl Greaves’ shows. I have to perform a little bit better because I’m the promoter’s son. I have to have a little bit more pressure on my shoulders but pressure isn’t a big deal to me. I’m more focused on just my own fights.
Q: Speaking of trying to be focused on what you’re doing yourself, there’s now the added element of your brother Paddy turning pro on the upcoming show. What will that be like for you and, as far as you know, what are his boxing aspirations?
LW: He’s a very good boxer so having him in the camp with me, having someone to push me even harder…I’m standing next to him every day in the gym and it’s making me train harder because, it’s not rivalry, but I know he’s going to put on a great performance. In a way, I want to put on a better performance. I want to hold my name up there the same as it is already. It’s good because we’re training very, very hard. Having him at my side is very good for me.
Q: Currently you’re scheduled to box Michal Slavik. What do you know about him and how much do you pay attention to the opponents you’re fighting at this stage? Do you pay much attention to their record or find out what they do stylistically?
LW: I’ve seen a few videos of him. He likes to take centre of the ring. It’s going to be a strong opponent coming forward. I want a fella who’s going to stay and give me six rounds. If I get him out of there before, that would be great as well. It looks good and obviously everyone wants to see a stoppage. Let’s hope I can do that on 1st April but, if not, it’s going to be a great fight.
Q: Are you expecting a good crowd to come up again like the last time?
LW: I’ve sold all my ringside tickets and there’s only gallery left from mine. There’s not many left. I’d say definitely over 120 people already and we’ve still got three weeks to get tickets out.
I’m very excited. I feel like this will probably be my best performance yet. The training camp’s gone very good. We’ve done seven or eight weeks training flat. We’re doing really well. I can’t wait to get in the ring to be honest. We’re going to put on a great performance. Everyone that’s bought tickets already and will be going to support other people, we appreciate it a lot.
Q: Do you have a goal in mind for 2023? You’ve moved up to six rounders now as you’ve gained experience. Do you see eight rounds as something that’s there to accomplish soon? What’s the goal in terms of number of fights this year?
LW: I definitely want four fights this year. Last year I was very busy and got six fights. Hopefully, if we can keep them at six rounds, and gain the experience of that distance, it would be great.
We’ll see with eight rounds. I’m only young. I’m still only 20. If we go to next year, 21, I can look for the eight rounds even. I’ll see how I’m feeling in the fights, talk to my manager Carl, my dad and see how everything’s going. If we feel that I’m going well and Tony feels that I’m improving enough to step it up: it’s all down to them really.
I just let them decide because they know by looking in the ring how I’m feeling. I always tell them the truth. If I’m feeling ready for a step up and they feel I’m ready too, then I’ll take that no problem.
Q: Has anything changed in your training set up lately now that you’re doing six rounders or is it much the same as it was? The fact that they’re over in Ireland too when you would have previously both trained and fought in the UK.
LW: Obviously I’m still training in Tony’s gym. The only difference is the rounds really. I’m sparring eight rounds. I’m going a few more rounds sparring, more rounds on the pads and bags. The training schedules that we had in the other camps are the exact same now. It’s the same type of training.
In boxing training there isn’t too much different in anything. It’s bags, pads, sparring, running, strength and conditioning. You don’t really do anything else. We go for swims and stuff, but it doesn’t change just because of the rounds.
Q: Have you done any sparring in other people’s camps or is it always the case of people coming to your gym to spar you?
LW: We travel as well. We were down with the Donovans [Paddy and Edward] in Andy Lee’s gym sparring them, which is great experience for me. They’re very good, high level amateurs and now they’re doing very good in the pros as well. For my brother as well to be sparring them straight off, before his debut, is a big thing. Everything’s going well.
Q: Are there any other notable names around Ireland or the UK that you would’ve sparred in the last couple of years?
LW: I sparred the likes of Stanley Stannard, Tom Cowling, and, last year, Gary Cully, Sean McComb, and I did a few rounds with Tommy McCarthy, who are big names in Ireland. It was good to get rounds with them. They’re huge names and a lot more experienced than me so getting in with them, learning things with them is huge. It brings it in to my game then.
Q: Sometimes there’s a difference between more full on sparring and technical sparring. What do you find more useful? When sparring the likes of Tommy McCarthy, would that have been open sparring given that he’s so big?
LW: No, in a way it was full on but he definitely wasn’t hitting full power because obviously he was a bit heavier than me. The likes of Gary Cully and Sean McComb would have been full power. They’re at a high, high level already in the pros so learning off them, it’s huge.
But technical sparring, I do a bit of that with my brother, Paddy. We don’t go full out or we’d end up killing each other. The technical side is very good because you’re practicing things slowly and when you see it in an open spar, you throw the shots naturally.
So soon to be 41 year old Gennady Golovkin has vacated both of his middleweight titles, making the almost 40 year old Erislandy Lara a full beltholder.
Lara probably will have to defend first against his mandatory, former stripper and Kell Brook victim from 2018, “Pretty Boy” Michael Zerafa, but the rumoured fight which is targeted by PBC is Lara versus former 140lb. champion and 147lb. titlist Danny Garcia.
Garcia hasn’t had a high level win in 7 years and has boxed above welterweight just once. The notion of him boxing for a middleweight title in 2023 makes me laugh but I’m rather perversely interested.
Another rumour, KSI vs. Joe Fournier on DAZN PPV, is peak boxing in 2023.
Tyson Fury’s travel ban from the USA due to his links with narco-terrorist Daniel Kinahan is conspicuously never mentioned these days, when the USA not being an option as a site for Fury-Usyk is a big part of the bout not yet being made.
Happy Paddy’s Day to all the readers and boxing fans out there.
Today marks a century since Clare’s Mike McTigue beat Battling Siki (real name Louis Mbarick Fall) to win the world light heavyweight title in Dublin.
100 years ago today, 'Bold' Mike McTigue defeated Battling Siki in the last 20-round championship contest to win the world light-heavyweight title, the fight taking place alongside a raging Civil War in Dublin
Pic @irelandincolour pic.twitter.com/cGt5JPHiKe
— Kevin Byrne (@KevByrneBox) March 17, 2023
February 2nd – Erik Bazinyan won a close fight against Alantez Fox by majority decision, not reflected by the 98-92 cards of Guy Girard and Marie Josee Guerin.
February 3rd – Emanuel Navarrete moved up in weight to claim a title in dramatic fashion over the visiting Liam Wilson.
There had been controversy pre-fight with allegations from the Wilson side of tampering with the scales to allow Navarrete to make 130lbs. Regardless, the bout went ahead.
The fourth round was a mess with referee Chris Flores losing all control.
Wilson dropped Navarette and Flores allowed him to land the most damaging shot of the exchange while Navarette had two gloves on the canvas, which went unacknowledged. 27 seconds then elapsed from the time Navarrete went down until the action resumed. Navarrete spitting out his mouthpiece accounted for some of that extra time, but there was no hint of a point deduction for this delay tactic.
Eventually the thriller ended in round nine but we’ll never know what might have happened had round four been handled correctly.
February 4th – In a classic German robbery that brought to mind the nation’s boxing glory days, Timo Schwarzkopf scored a knockdown in round eight but was largely outboxed by the perennially unlucky veteran Miguel Vazquez.
Schwarzkopf got the decision unanimously from Goran Filipovic (95-94), Adrian Laschescu (95-94) and Rustam Rahimov (an outrageous 98-92).
At MSG, Alycia Baumgardner scored a pair of knockdowns on the way to a wide decision over Elhem Mekhaled to win the undisputed super featherweight title.
Ref Eric Dali missed a clean uppercut knockdown in round ten that should have been her third.
In the main event, Amanda Serrano took the decision in a close fight versus Erika Cruz for all of the 126 lb. gold.
Cruz’s efforts in this war were not rewarded by the judges, particularly the insulting 98-92 totals of Frank Lombardi and Steve Weisfeld.
The cherry on the shit sundae was having to watch three NYSAC officials peering over the ropes at Cruz’s hairline cut on several occasions.
THIS just sums up the New York athletic commission to me. Overkill and government waste. And not focusing on improving judging and refereeing. https://t.co/kg9OZV3IFE
— Guillermo Rigondeaux Tweeting I'm Back after a KO1 (@BoxrecGrey) February 5, 2023
February 17th – Ardreal Holmes took a split decision over Ismael Villarreal in their Shobox battle of unbeatens.
Karen Holderfield’s 94-96 card was way off.
February 18th – I found the criticism of Ben Davison for saving Leigh Wood from further punishment versus Mauricio Lara strange.
There were ten seconds remaining in round seven when referee Michael Alexander motioned for the fight to go on. That’s plenty of time for Lara to land a few more concussive shots, and if Lara had been the one dropped so heavily, you can bet Alexander wouldn’t have let it continue (nor should he have).
February 25th – Elvis Rodriguez edged Joseph Adorno over ten rounds, aided by a blown call by Jon Schorle with 20 seconds left in the fight.
Adorno went down from a slip on the wet canvas in one of the corners and it was ruled a knockdown.
February 26th – Perhaps it’s only right that the new spiritual home of boxing seems to be Saudi Arabia…sorry, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
What better main event to top their latest sportswashing extravaganza than Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury?
Ref Hector Afu seemed to want to make the most of his moment in the sun, deducting points with little to no warning from Paul and then Fury in rounds five and six for phantom fouls. This brought to mind Jack Reiss’ typically stupid handling of the Logan Paul-KSI influencer fight in 2019.
A dark (but funny) day for boxing was only made worse by the eventual outcome of a Tommy Fury split decision win, which only accomplishes the goal of Fury piggybacking off Paul for his own undeserved notoriety. They’re multiplying like Gremlins.
God help us all. I love you too man.
Ramla Ali 99-91 Avril Mathie
Skye Nicolson 99-91 Tania Alvarez
Amanda Serrano 96-94 Erika Cruz
Alycia Baumgardner 97-91 Elhem Mekhaled
Adam Azim 100-89 Santos Reyes
Zak Chelli 98-92 Anthony Sims Jr.
Tommy Fury 75-74 Jake Paul, officially SD
I found the criticism of Ben Davison for saving Leigh Wood from further punishment versus Mauricio Lara strange.
There were ten seconds remaining in the round. That’s plenty of time for Lara to land a few more concussive shots, and if Lara had been the one dropped so heavily, you can bet the British referee wouldn’t have let it continue.
Thanks to Davison’s compassion, Leigh Wood can come again (Jade can’t).
That said, rematch clause notwithstanding, Wood is realistically probably done winning big fights now, though he’s been viewed as a busted flush before.
What a surprise late career run to world level and a title. He is a real fighter for taking on such a tough voluntary defence.
Lara is a quality fighter and has proved himself fully now. He ranks at the top of a presently thin featherweight pile.
On top of that, Lara must be up there with the biggest punchers pound for pound.
A rematch win over Wood or trilogy win versus Josh Warrington would warrant entry into the Brit Basher hall of fame.
Whether his plaque would hang in the Canelo or Linares wing of the place is up for debate.
11-5-1 Eliot Chavez is the man you often hear about stopping Lara in the first round with body shots in 2018.
Imagine my surprise when I learned this was the same guy who was disqualified last year for incessant fouling against Harlem Eubank on Channel 5.
Frank Warren’s prospect cards on BT have lasted about as long as his Box Academy series did on Boxnation.
I predicted this 18 months ago:
August 9th’s Random Boxing Rants
Speaking of BT, it is soon to be rebranded (along with Eurosport) as TNT Sports:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/21/eurosport-bt-sport-disappear-tnt-rebrand-tv
Jake Paul-Tommy Fury headlining a pay per view in Saudi Arabia is a good look at boxing’s dystopian future.
Look for Paul to win fairly comfortably, snagging his second WBC belt and a cruiserweight world ranking in the process.
It was a privilege to be live at the arena for the light heavyweight championship fight between Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde at Wembley Arena.
Beterbiev is showing some signs of wear and tear, despite his continued excellence, and I would make him an underdog were he to fight Dmitry Bivol.
Yarde now looks to be one of the best at the weight, however, I think there’s a danger in overpraising him in defeat. It’s a fool’s errand to rate someone based on their losses and Yarde is still a man without anything approaching a defining win. He is now 1-3 in significant career fights, the sole victory his rematch thrashing of Lyndon Arthur.
The undercard of the show, however, was a different story.
I must admit I was entertained by the Jake Paul-Tommy Fury WWE style face-off, the Karol Itauma upset loss and Moses Itauma’s debut, but the rest of the bouts were fairly turgid.
The rest gave a new meaning to the old boxing cliche of the ‘learning fight’. I learned to turn off the TV the next time a couple of those boxers come on the air.
For me, Joe Markowski of DAZN is an increasingly unlikeable character.
This interview from Pro Boxing Fans is the only one I’ve seen where someone on that side of the fence is truly pressed about the DAZN 30 day cancellation policy in the wake of the recent steep price increase.
It takes people outside of boxing, or on its fringes, not reliant on its incestuous ecosystem to ask questions without fear of being blackballed.
Markowski’s “people can do their own homework and maths on what content they want to watch” evasiveness when pressed about the certainty that large numbers of subscribers who don’t cancel on the same day they subscribe will find themselves double charged is risible.
This Youtube comment illustrates the confusion:
It’s also fairly galling to hear Markowski say “we have subsidized [hardcore boxing fans’] content consumption for a long time”.
The spin is nauseating when we all know the aim is to rinse the casuals with the higher monthly price, as well as the discerning hardcores who don’t trust that they’ll get value for money every month. DAZN is coming perilously close to earning its “dead zone” nickname.
The sad reality is I don’t see value for money anywhere currently, on either side of the Atlantic, when it comes to fans subscribing to a service/channel with the primary objective of watching top tier boxing.
Francis Warren when dapper George takes over from Big Frank:
When is Kinahan going to give up already?
MTK v3.0 is here, ladies & gents #boxing https://t.co/LmeDAlIQW1 pic.twitter.com/WjxlrT2H8P
— BOX.LIVE (@boxIive) February 14, 2023
https://boxingzombie.uk/2023/02/02/article-ped-tests-in-boxing-why-isnt-failing-enough-anymore/Can you actually fail a Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED) test in boxing anymore? Or has it become easier to talk your way out of it, offering a range of bewildering excuses, refusing any and all accountability and weaponsing your popularity against those attempting to keep the sport clean and fair?
January 7th – In the first big card of the year in Washington, big punching Brandun Lee battered the overmatched Diego Gonzalo Luque for a facile fourth round stoppage.
Brent Bovell did not call a knockdown on Luque late in the third round when he was clearly held up by the ropes.
Malik Waleed missed a flash knockdown scored by Demond Nicholson over Demetrius Andrade in the fifth round during what was an otherwise easy win for Andrade in his typically competent but forgettable manner.
In the main event, Gervonta Davis closed the show impressively, as he usually does, in turning back the challenge of Hector Luis Garcia.
Garcia was ahead to my eyes at the time of the corner retirement and certainly it had to be close. The official cards were a classic case of the A side fighter getting every benefit of the doubt imaginable: Dave Moretti (78-74), Steve Rados (79-73) and Wayne Smith (79-73).
January 21st – Joseph Parker put in his latest disappointing performance versus British level cruiserweight Jack Massey, however he did win virtually every round in doing so.
Phil Edwards (96-93), Howard Foster (97-92) and Victor Loughlin (97-93) all gave too much credit to Massey for a safety first survival mission.
January 28th – I was fortunate to be live at Wembley Arena, London to see the excellent Artur Beterbiev-Anthony Yarde light heavyweight title fight.
Thank god there was a definitive stoppage to end things as Jun Bae Lim (65-68) and Robin Taylor (66-67) were on their way to robbing Beterbiev in a fight, as exciting as it was, that the Russian was generally piling up the rounds in.
Further solace could be found in Yarde trainer Tunde Ajayi thankfully jumping to the apron to stop the fight after ref Steve Gray unwisely allowed a disoriented Yarde to continue after rising on shaky legs from the heavy knockdown in round eight.
Of course this was only after Gray had given the home boxer a suspiciously convenient extra few moments to recover after the knockdown, something I can’t see being afforded to Beterbiev had the roles been reversed.
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Dmitry Bivol
4. Juan Francisco Estrada
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Errol Spence
7. Terence Crawford
8. Artur Beterbiev
9. Jermell Charlo
10. Devin Haney
- Artur Beterbiev turned back a tough challenge from Anthony Yarde to defend the light heavyweight crown and keep his 100% knockout record. He deserves pound for pound recognition and enters at #8.
- Roman Gonzalez exits as a result.
- The only fight we need to see next is Beterbiev versus Dmitry Bivol.
Joseph Parker 99-90 Jack Massey
Tre’Sean Wiggins 100-90 Nigel Fennell
Jonathan Guidry 99-91 Bermane Stiverne
Ian Green 95-95 Alexander Castro, officially Green by SD
Live at the venue: Artem Dalakian 116-112 David Jimenez
5-0 Kerry boxer Kevin Cronin has his biggest fight yet on February 4th, facing 4-0 Jamie Morrissey for the Celtic title in the main event of a Mark Dunlop promoted show, televised live on TG4.
Limited tickets are still available at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/professional-boxing-europa-hotel-tickets-488124101327
Q: We last spoke back in March last year. At that time you were scheduled for a fight in Cork on a card that ended up falling through in April. I know that was one in a long line of fights that weren’t happening, opponents pulling out and things that were out of your control. I know you were looking forward to fighting again in Ireland.
What can you tell me about that experience?
Kevin Cronin: Yeah, look, it is what it is. It was a bad buzz really there for a couple of months. You just get down and get on with it. There was no point in feeling sorry for myself. That one in Cork was a real disappointment because it was a few days out, and there was a lot of tickets gone and a lot of people heading up. That was a sick buzz.
It is what it is. I don’t even know how many fights fell through that time. There was definitely five or six anyway. Look, we got on with it. I’m just trying to think of where I fought since then. I think it was Manchester that was after that.
Q: I suppose even leading into Manchester, obviously you had been inactive for a while. Around that period you had a change in management/promoter. Can you tell me about that?
KC: Yeah, Boxing-Ireland had left the scene. I was getting offers to sign with different management and I was looking into them. That’s when I found out that they were actually leaving. They said it’s ok to chat away with them, that they don’t have me tied down to anything. They kind of let me know that they were leaving the scene then.
I had as good as signed with CM Sports. We took a bit of a U-turn then and I decided to sign with my own coach [Jonathan Lewins]. I just signed with him as my manager and we wanted to keep it in-house for a little while and get a few wins, and hopefully pick up titles on the way, then watch some hopefully big offers come in. Then I won’t be tied down to anything when it comes to a decision.
Q: Obviously it was key to get active then and you had the fight near Manchester in September against an experienced guy in Ryan Hibbert.
KC: Yeah, it was fine. I had a fight about two months before this that was the only fight out of all of them that I had to pull out of myself. I had a shoulder injury. Then the Ryan Hibbert fight was coming up. I actually injured my shoulder again about ten days out from that fight. I think it was my last spar, my second last spar. I went into that fight then with a very bad right shoulder injury.
Look, it is what it is. We had a good camp. I was sharp enough that my jab was able to keep control of Ryan for six rounds. I let a few right hands go. Nothing really bothered my right arm in there but I just wasn’t taking any chances by letting it fly because obviously I had a title fight lined up after. I had an injury in that fight, but it was probably one of my best performances really because I kept good control of the fight.
Q: Around November then, pro boxing did finally come back to the Republic for the first time in a few years and there was a show in the National Stadium. I know initially you were meant to be on that card too. What can you share about that not panning out?
KC: I suppose I can share whatever on it. Just before the Ryan Hibbert fight, the promotion that ran the show offered me to fight Robbie Burke for the Celtic title once I came through Hibbert successfully. It was deal done really. A few bits went on behind the scenes. To be honest, I still don’t have the full understanding of it. It kind of got swept from under Robbie really. They just got told ‘Robbie you can’t fight for the Celtic title’, so it was all a bit of a mess.
I kind of pulled myself completely from that show then. I was getting other offers to fight on other cards and one of the offers was actually against Jamie Morrissey to fight on the Michael Conlan undercard. We said that’s a far better option for us and far safer because of how the other one was going about really. So we said we’d go with that one. But then something happened with Jamie in the background that he couldn’t fight on that Conlan undercard so they said it’ll have to be early this year. We said that was fine. We nearly had a fight in December but just couldn’t get it.
Look, my last fight’s more recent than Jamie’s [last one] anyway so I’m happy enough. To get out in December would’ve been a nice touch but, again, it is what it is. We have a good fight coming up.
Q: In general, before we talk more about the Jamie Morrissey fight, what’s it like as an athlete who wants to focus on the boxing, training and improving in the gym, but to have to handle all of these things that small hall boxers especially face out of their control with shows and fight dates falling through? Is that really frustrating or something you’re totally used to now?
KC: It’s something I’m used to. It’s frustrating at the same time but there’s nothing I can do about it. I just try to get over it. For me, I’ve had my few fights in England and I’ve had a few scheduled fights in England that were out of my control and haven’t happened. I’ve built some good contacts there so I’m actually in a very good place now.
I can be as active as I want to be from here on out. If this Morrissey fight didn’t happen, we had a fight scheduled for Sheffield, or somewhere like that, that we got an offer to fight on. There’s loads of fights there for me in England whenever I want them. There’s guys that have been in contact with me as well about some fights in Ireland, again, after this Morrissey fight. All I’ve got to do is be successful here and it’ll be a very, very busy year regardless. I just can’t look beyond this fight anyway.
Q: I know it’s always what you’ve been looking for. It ticks a lot of boxes: an 8 rounder, it’s for a title, it’s going to be televised by TG4 on February 4th. All of those things must be very exciting to finally get that big fight that you’ve probably had delayed a bit by Covid, but it’s come around.
KC: I’m delighted. It’s a good opportunity as well for me. As much as I think Robbie Burke would’ve asked a couple of questions of me, I think I would’ve been too much probably for Robbie. No disrespect to Robbie, we’re probably going to end up fighting in the near future anyway. I just think this is a way tougher ask for me. Obviously Jamie beat Robbie, on a couple of days’ notice even.
I’m not just looking at it as an 8 rounder or my first title. I’ve got to look at it as bigger than that at the minute because it’s a tough, tough fight. A new style in front of me. An awkward style in front of me, that’s what I’ll say. There’s going to be questions asked of me on the night and if I don’t answer those questions, it won’t be enough. It’s a good, good fight, a great card and a good opportunity.
Q: One thing I’m curious about too is while the rest of us are having a great time over Christmas, obviously you had to keep the head down. What was it like to train for such a significant fight over Christmas and how has the preparation gone?
KC: Preparation’s been brilliant. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a tortuous couple of months. A tough Christmas obviously because obviously I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as usually you’d be able to. I’m in Dublin three or four days a week and the days I’m not in Dublin, I’m either travelling for sparring or getting my training down here, or someone coming down here sparring me.
It’s only been about eight or nine weeks but to me it feels like a lifetime, there’s been so much work gone in. We’ve had good, tall sparring partners, which we needed, longer range than me sparring partners, all a good level. I’m more ready than I’ve ever been for a fight so preparation has been absolutely brilliant.
The Jonathan Guidry-Bermane Stiverne snoozer will go down as one of the worst heavyweight fights of the year.
It is an appropriate way to (I know I say this every time) possibly end the career of Don King the promoter.
The Ian Green-Alexander Castro fight at middleweight saved the card itself from being a write off. What a slugfest.
The highlight of the show for me was Don King’s incoherent 6 1/2 minute rant upon being given a paperweight souvenir by a bemused rep for a Ukraine children’s charity.
This was, after all, “The Fight for Ukraine’s Freedom and Peace”.
I have taken the time to painstakingly transcribe King’s diatribe here verbatim. Enjoy:
“Thank you, Charles. This is very important to me, to be a recipient of an award for the Ukraine children.
However, the award is for fighting against anti-freedom and what has been happening in the Ukraine today by Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is senseless and a needless war that’s now evolved into a war against the Ukrainian public and the civilians, in spite of fighting with the defence army of Ukraine.
I just want to wish president Zelensky and the brave, courageous and bold Ukrainian people that echoes a thing we had in the Thirteen Colonies: ‘Give me liberty or give me death’. He says: ‘Give me freedom and peace or give me death’.
You know what I mean, so this is a remarkable thing which was totally underestimated by Vladimir Putin. He thought that they would sacrifice their freedom, their peace, their independence, their sovereignty, just as Afghanistan did when president Joe Biden of United States made the incompetent and egregious troop withdrawal commitment saying that he would not leave no Americans behind in Afghanistan and he would not leave any of the Afghanistan allies that were working side by side with the Americans fighting the Taliban, that he would not leave them behind, and that he would not leave women to be the pawn of the Taliban law.
Well, all of these things he lied about, you know what I mean. But it hurt America’s credibility and the legitimacy to all of America’s allies, all feel questioned whether America would keep it’s word under these circumstances when you have a person like Vladimir Putin who has a bruised ego because of the rejection and refusal of the Ukrainian people not to accept his invitation to restore the Soviet Union as it was before, not recognizing and realizing the fact that the Soviet Union lost more casualties in World War II than in any other country, and so therefore they were fighting for freedom, justice, equality and independence, you know what I mean, in World War II.
So now, Ukraine was part of that Soviet Union, and so denying the same thing that they fought for and died for in 1944, 1945, they end up going to be taken away from them by Russia, who was they ally, and he was to be the father of the Soviet Union. So I’m just very pleased and proud to have an opportunity to be able to stand up and let the world see that America has not went blind and the cries: ‘Victory, victory, hear our cry. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y’. You know, victory for the Ukraine, you know what I mean, because if it wasn’t Ukraine, it’d be the next one.
So therefore we got to be able to fight and stop this before it evolved into a World Nuclear War III which would decimate the whole planet Earth, you know what I mean.
So, John F. Kennedy told us that in 1963, you know, in his speech with the American university in Washington, and he let us know that you cannot afford to have a conflict between nuclear powers. Well Afghanistan is not a nuclear power but Russia is. Alright, so that difference of what opinion would be, he keeps prolifically threatening to use nuclear weapons and if he does that we’re gonna end up with a World War III, a nuclear World War III.
So what we want to do is protect our standing, all the freedom loving people of the world, and NATO, America, G7, all of them, the United States, the United Nations, the UK. All of them have to join hands and convince and persuade Vladimir Putin to stop this senseless killing in the Ukraine and the Ukraine is not going to give in, they’re not going to give up and they’re not going to quit. It’s going to be victory or death. So let us stop this massacre that’s taking place in the world, and we must do it ‘inmediatamente’, if you speak Español. And, you know, ASAP, as soon as possible, if you understand English.
So what we got to do is to let them know that we are united and that nothing is going to separate us and now that you’ve really strengthened me with your resolve to give me this for the children, but to the Ukrainian people, ‘freedom’ is the cry. You know, ‘peace’ is the cry. Independence and sovereignty and prosperity of fighting for the humanity of our society and the worldwide, and the women’s rights of equality.
So therefore I’m just delighted and very thrilled that we put ourselves on the line and to be able to deal with this in a manner of unification just as our great governor Ron DeSantis did in the hurricane that took place. He united all of the enemies and the foes, friend and foe alike I should say, to come in and try to help those who were under the depression and oppression of what’s going on. But now we got to use that type of thinking in humanity to stop what Putin is doing so dastardly and terrorism. You know what I mean, there’s no way that we can live with ourselves if we don’t stop this killing and this massacre of Russia collectively together and exist.
So thank you, god bless you and god bless the Ukraine, and the Ukraine, Zelensky and all the brave and courageous and bold Ukrainian people, the army and the civilians that in the war now. So we want everybody in the world to know that we got to stop this senseless killing and needless war and that’s why I’m dedicating this fight: a fight for freedom for the Ukraine. And we want the world to know we stand beside and behind and in front with the Ukraine for freedom and peace. God bless you and god bless America and god bless the Ukraine”.
Alrighty, then…
The broadcast claimed that King donated some clothing and a wheelchair to the cause but it’s unclear if he gave them more than he handed out to his ring card girls during the weigh in.
Like a dictator presiding over the final days of a failed state, Don King puts on another card tonight at Casino Miami and on FITE TV PPV.
Lost in the midst of the denouement of King’s promotional career, complete with the standard sanctioning body controversy, PPV buys in the hundreds and live attendance in the dozens, is the story of a shrimper turned unlikely fringe heavyweight contender.
Jonathan Guidry is an easy fighter to root for.
Check out this Ted Lewis piece on him post-Trevor Bryan loss for Nola.com:
https://www.nola.com/sports/article_a0074ab2-8227-11ec-99fa-277b713bd080.html
Guidry actually bounced back with a decent win over unbeaten Dacarree Scott and probably enters as favourite versus the shell of ex-titlist Bermane Stiverne this Saturday.
I’ll be in attendance for Artur Beterbiev-Anthony Yarde in London on January 28th.
What a treat it’s going to be to see the feared Russian live and in living colour. I suspect it will take more than lions in the camp and Dev Sahni social media trolling to slow Beterbiev’s roll.
The pro debut of teenage heavyweight Moses Itauma on the undercard is a bonus.
Another big fight for Frank Warren looks set to be announced for April 15th.
“Juggernaut” Joe Joyce versus “Big Bang” Zhang Zhilei is one of the most fun fights you could make at heavyweight.
While not confirmed yet, the signs are good for Stephen Fulton against Naoya Inoue to happen next.
I am pleasantly surprised and keeping everything crossed that it’s not too good to be true.
1. Katie Taylor
2. Claressa Shields
3. Amanda Serrano
4. Alycia Baumgardner
5. Chantelle Cameron
6. Jessica McCaskill
7. Seniesa Estrada
8. Yokasta Valle
9. Mikaela Mayer
10. Jessica Nery Plata
- Jessica Nery Plata unifies belts at 108lbs. and bumps out Delfine Persoon for the number 10 spot.
Founded in October 2011, Boxnation, for years the best thing in boxing on these shores, quietly folded on December 15th.
In recent years, since Frank Warren made his stable exclusive to BT Sport, the channel has shown fewer and fewer live cards and the end seemed inevitable. We are left with the memories of countless hours of chat and entertainment on the couch with Steve Bunce, Steve Lillis, Barry Jones and others.
In happier news, Daniel Kinahan-linked promotional outfit Probellum appears to be going bust, joining MTK on the scrapheap.
The BBBofC are being legally challenged by perhaps the world’s most terrible official, Ian John-Lewis, because he was finally binned in the wake of one of his more publicized fuck ups.
I guess this is what the British board gets when they try to do something constructive. Jeff Hinds is also challenging the old boy’s club over a separate issue.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-11604157/British-Boxing-embroiled-TWO-legal-battles-referees.html
David Haye is living the dream in retirement.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/boxing/david-haye-throuple-healy-osborne-28886990
In case Haye needs any protection, Zab Judah has you, ahem, covered.
A reminder that “indefatigable advocate for peace and women’s rights” Don King, now devoid of Trevor Bryan’s WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight strap, is supposedly promoting another PPV show in two weeks.
For those who don’t know, it’ll be headlined by the delicious matchup of 44yo Bermane Stiverne, winless since 2015, versus fellow Trevor Bryan victim Jonathan Guidry.
I guess what better fight to headline a card themed around the war in Ukraine.
A cruiserweight title bout between Ilunga Makabu and Noel Gevor was initially announced for the show but is now pulled, likely because, as Grey Johnson of Boxrec put it, “King probably never had fight made”.
The promo video is available but unfortunately does not feature Howard Wear this time, though it was posted by him to Itube247.com, “where you are the ‘I’ in Itube”.
Don King’s Fight for Freedom -Clash of Champions Promo
Corrie Sanders vs. Hasim Rahman
May 20th 2000
Full Fight Video: https://tinyurl.com/sandersrahman
Forgotten in the mists of heavyweight ghosts past is this minor classic from the year 2000, screened as part of HBO’s Boxing After Dark series. It was not even the main bout of the Cedric Kushner promoted bill (a “Heavyweight Explosion”!), serving as co-feature to Oleg Maskaev stopping Derrick Jefferson in four rounds. The venue was Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City — hey, remember when fights were held there?
Upon watching the contest, one immediate takeaway is the gravitas that the HBO presentation and the voices of Larry Merchant, Emanuel Steward and Jim Lampley lend to proceedings. That is one subtle thing missing from boxing nowadays, where it’s all self congratulatory promotion and hyping of the house fighters.
Coming in, Sanders had wins over Johnny Nelson, Bert Cooper, Carlos De Leon and Bobby Czyz, but was viewed as far from a world beater despite only one defeat on his record at that point. Rahman had a win over a faded Trevor Berbick but had been knocked out in both of his biggest tests versus Maskaev (his career bogeyman) and David Tua.
Scheduled for 12 rounds because Sanders’ lightly regarded (described by Lampley as “off off off brand”) WBU belt was on the line, the pace was furious for heavyweights in the early stages. Both men threw full blooded, energy sapping power punches. Rahman came in heavier than usual for the bout and Steward remarked on commentary that this might work against him, lending a speed edge to southpaw Sanders, who won the first.
Round two was where things heated up, Sanders hurting Rahman, who seemed to have little defence for the straight left. Rahman might have been saved by the bell. A massive uppercut dropped Rahman with a minute left in round three, leaving him draped over the top rope and protesting the referee’s call. As Sanders came in for the kill, Rahman landed a counter right that dropped him in return. A round of the year candidate was in the books.
Thirty seconds into the fourth came a Rocky moment, as a slugfest broke out and both went down simultaneously in what should have been a rare double knockdown call. Instead, Rahman managed to hold himself up by the ropes and ref Eddie Cotton erroneously called the knockdown against Sanders alone. As the round continued on, Sanders began to look glassy eyed and gassed. Sanders’ punch output had dwindled from 70 per round in the first two to 38 punches in the fourth.
The fifth was the quietest round of the fight with Rahman looking as tired as Sanders and both men probably glad for the break in the action. Vintage Larry Merchant on commentary: “the fan who boos this fight ought to be throttled. They’ve earned the break.” In the sixth, both men resumed trading punches, with Sanders worryingly upright when taking some of Rahman’s rights flush in the face.
As the commentary pointed out during round seven, Rahman’s greater body work may have been a key difference maker, as suddenly he unleashed a sustained barrage. Sanders never went down but retreating to a shell defence on the ropes while absorbing approximately thirty flush or partially blocked shots before Cotton stepped in to say ‘enough’. Sanders never thought to grab hold and try to survive. What a goddamn fight.
Few would’ve predicted what both Sanders and Rahman would go on to achieve after this war, but maybe the heart, resilience and raw power they showed on this night should have been a clue that they were far from done.
Jim Lampley even read out a requiem of sorts for Sanders’ career, but just three fights later, Sanders would famously shock Wladimir Klitschko with a second round knockout to win a heavyweight title, and follow that up with a spirited defeat to big brother Vitali. Tragically, Sanders would die aged 46 from a stray bullet while shielding his daughter, seen at the Rahman fight ringside as a three year old, during an armed robbery at a restaurant in 2012. It is worth noting that Rahman survived five bullet wounds from an incident in his misspent youth in the drug trade.
Rahman would briefly win the lineal heavyweight crown two fights later in one of the decade’s biggest shocks, knocking out a distracted Lennox Lewis in South Africa. It was a short reign, and his success afterwards was scarce, although he did briefly hold one of the titles four years later when the division was again fractured.
People often talk of the forgotten generation of 90s heavyweights who either didn’t win or briefly held versions of the world title, and these two came to prominence at the tail end of that spell. When they clashed, it was an absolute banger, and makes you wish there was more of this sort of heavyweight matchmaking today.
Fight of the Year
-
Leigh Wood-Michael Conlan
-
Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano
-
Kosuke Saka-Tsubasa Narai
https://ok.ru/video/4372279986860
Knockout of the Year
- Oleg Fomichev ko5 Ramil Baygin
Ramil Baygin LKO Oleg Fomichev (25.11.2022) Moscow pic.twitter.com/2W03Pt7xqV
— Permante (@PermantexG) November 25, 2022
-
Andy Hiraoka ko10 Cristiano Aoqui
-
Frank Gore ko4 Olaseyinde Olorunsola
Round of the Year
-
Kosuke Saka-Tsubasa Narai Round 5
-
Sam Gilley-Drew Brown Round 8
-
Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano Round 5
Prospect of the Year
-
Keyshawn Davis
-
Jared Anderson
-
Xander Zayas
Upset of the Year
-
Dmitry Bivol UD12 Saul “Canelo” Alvarez
-
Lucas Browne ko1 Junior Fa
-
Francisco Pedroza Portillo UD6 Rau’shee Warren
Trainer of the Year
Derrick James – for his work with Jermell Charlo, Errol Spence and Frank Martin
1. Katie Taylor
2. Claressa Shields
3. Amanda Serrano
4. Alycia Baumgardner
5. Chantelle Cameron
6. Jessica McCaskill
7. Seniesa Estrada
8. Yokasta Valle
9. Mikaela Mayer
10. Delfine Persoon
- With women’s pro boxing growing year on year, it’s time to keep tabs here on who the best are in the sport in my view.
- Taylor edges Shields for the inaugural top spot and there’s a gap between those two and the rest. Amanda Serrano will hopefully get another shot at Taylor, after she goes for undisputed glory at featherweight, and the best challenges for Shields right now might be down at 154lbs.
Boxers who are dead to me, meaning I cannot muster any interest in the remainder of their careers:
Dillian Whyte, Daniel Jacobs and Danny Garcia.
What is going on at PBC with the slew of chronic inactivity?
Almost all of their big names fought just once in 2022, and so many of those were behind a PPV paywall.
If you have a spare hour or so, I highly recommend checking out this forgotten heavyweight title bout between Lamon Brewster and Luan Krasniqi from the mid 2000s:
https://tinyurl.com/brewsterkrasniqi
This Rafe Bartholomew piece for The Athletic is also worth reading for added context:
https://theathletic.com/1181044/2019/09/03/legendary-nights-for-all-the-wrong-reasons-lamon-brewster-luan-krasniqi-and-the-night-of-the-17-second-count/
The turd of a referee, Jose Hiram Rivera, is still working to this day and recently reffed the Brandon Glanton-David Light fight.
Looking back at my monthly Judging the Judges pieces from 2022, the question emerges of who were some of the worst repeat offenders of the year?
Donovan Boucher and John Latham share the unenviable #1 position amongst referees & judges with the most total citations for poor officiating.
Steve Weisfeld (can we stop pretending he is one of boxing’s best judges now?) and Victor Loughlin were close behind.
Dishonourable mention must also be made of:
- Obvious fixed fights in Ghana, and a case of boxer identity fraud facilitated by a Ghana Boxing Authority official (possibly a Callum Simpson bout in February) resulting in a BBBofC ban.
- The German Boxing Association and Albanian Professional Boxing Commission for licensing 49 year old Danny Williams to box in 2022.
- Adalaide Byrd still out there fucking up scorecards.
- Carlos Padilla admitting he gave a slow count to Manny Pacquiao when he was dropped by Nedal Hussein in 2000 and the WBC making excuses for him.
- The BDB, German Boxing Association, Polish Boxing Union and the Czech Union of Professional Boxers for sanctioning the likes of Pavel Siska, who has 50 knockout losses.
- The Tanzania Professional Boxing Regulatory Commission for myriad unsafe ring conditions and other sanctioning gaffes.
- Ian John-Lewis, after nearly 30 years as one of the worst officials in world boxing, for finally been shamed into obscurity after his Josh Taylor-Jack Catterall 114-111 scorecard in February. He has now left the BBBofC and joined fringe governing body BIBA.
How did my prospect of the year picks for 2022 perform?
Pound4poundireland’s 2021 Fight, Knockout, Round, Prospect, Upset and Trainer of the Year
Jesus Ramos Jr. had two fights by May, but has been inactive since. Those wins were solid however: a stoppage of Vladimir Hernandez (who had recently beaten Julian Williams and Alfredo Angulo) and wide decision versus Luke Santamaria (holder of wins over Mykal Fox, Devon Alexander and Abel Ramos).
Ginjiro Shigeoka notched two wins over nondescript opposition to advance to 8-0 while picking up the Japanese 105lb. title. His D-day is three days from now when he fights Daniel Valladares for a world title.
Top pick Conor Benn had an absolutely nightmarish year. He started off by destroying Chris van Heerden, only to see his domestic super fight with Chris Eubank Jr. cancelled at the eleventh hour due to multiple failed drug tests. It’s still unclear how long he will be banned for, if at all.
9 of the 13 potential bouts I highlighted for 2022 took place, which is a surprising number for a year which has often felt like a down one for the sport.
Fights to look forward to in 2022?
November 5th – Some belated additions to November’s slate from a show in Abu Dhabi:
Luis Pabon missed a third round knockdown scored by Jerald Paclar in Kal Yafai’s stuttering comeback win.
Gary Kitanoski’s 96-95 card for Gohan Rodriguez Garcia in his split decision loss to Galal Yafai was nonsense.
Same goes for the 96-94 cards of Stanley Christodoulou and Deon Dwarte for Chantelle Cameron’s dominant win over Jessica McCaskill.
December 3rd – Daniel Dubois was a lucky boy in his fight with Kevin Lerena.
First, an early bell saved Dubois in the first round after he had been dropped three times. Fortunately for him, the BBBofC disregards the WBA’s customary three knockdown rule.
By round three, Dubois had gained control but the stoppage by Howard Foster (most famous for his premature stoppage of Froch-Groves I) was completely bogus, made with Lerena still on his feet at the end of the round and the last two shots landing after the bell.
The main event of this show, Tyson Fury-Derek Chisora III, was a mess from the very beginning, and Victor Loughlin should’ve stopped things several rounds earlier than he did.
In Arizona, Julio Cesar Martinez took on Samuel Carmona at flyweight.
After round 7, ref Wes Melton chastised Carmona for “running”, which is completely uncalled for, especially after a round he won to my eyes. It was prophetic of the outcome, however, as Javier Camacho’s ridiculous and biased 117-111 card denied Carmona by majority decision in a bout that could’ve gone either way.
Elsewhere on the card, idiot ref Tony Zaino was about to let Ricardo Luna continue after the third knockdown he suffered in round two versus Diego Pacheco.
December 10th – Astonishing footage from Vietnam of a doctor trying to put a plaster over the cut of a boxer mid-fight:
The ringside physician in Vung Tau, Vietnam attends to a cut on the eyelid of Paisal Panjaitan during his bout with Van Hai Nguyen during the 2nd round & the doctor may misunderstand what his role is here pic.twitter.com/0XLPrrx8pl
— Tim Boxeo (@TimBoxeo) December 10, 2022
In Leeds, there were a couple of 77-75 scorecards from John Latham which were far too close, for Shannon Courtenay-Gemma Ruegg and Felix Cash-Celso Neves.
In South Africa, Mmoledi Molokoane turned in a patently absurd 98-97 card for Akani Phuzi’s win over Johnny Muller in their third fight.
In New York, a bullshit Pasquale Procopio tally of 97-92 played a part in Teofimo Lopez squeezing by Sandor Martin and avoiding a huge upset.
Ref Ricky Gonzalez also missed a knockdown scored by Martin in round 7 and this may have prevented a draw on the cards.
Finally, the Nebraska Athletic Commission made a huge error in allowing Terence Crawford to box on after the end of the 5th round with tears in each glove and padding protruding.
Crawford brutally stopped David Avanesyan in the 6th and for all we know, the state of the gloves contributed to this. An appeal from Team Avanesyan is ongoing.
December 17th – Robert Hoyle missed a knockdown scored by Vincent Astrolabio in the opening moments of his upset win over Nikolai Potapov.
December 25th – In Malaysia, Muhamad Farkhan was given a gift decision over Yousof Mohammadiosmanvandi. Visuth Yingaupagarn missed a knockdown scored by the visitor and the judges were Ebrahim Bin Tating (96-94), F.S. Cheng (95-95) and Chainat Hanwiset (96-94).
December 31st – There was shocking refereeing in Texas from Tyrone Parker in the Dionardo Minor-Luis Miguel Valera bout. Parker did not so much as deduct a point for two brutal fouls committed by Valera: an intentional headbutt, and an elbow to the head right in front of the referee which should have been a disqualification.
Minor ended up winning over the six round distance.
And to cap 2022 off, some madness in Uganda, highlighted by Tim Boxeo:
We are live on Kampala, Uganda thanks to stream @Warek201 and we may need Egyptian rugs to tape down to the ring mat. Please standby for updates. pic.twitter.com/1BFX429LCh
— Tim Boxeo (@TimBoxeo) December 31, 2022
Not sure how to recap this bout between Frank Ngobi (0-3) & debutant Sowedi Mudehere – but I think after about 30 seconds the referee had decided he'd seen enough of this middleweight bout from Kampala, Uganda
Narabox TV pic.twitter.com/XDIVF8P2Xb
— Tim Boxeo (@TimBoxeo) December 31, 2022
It’s fair to say the ‘professional’ in Uganda Professional Boxing Commission is not an entirely accurate description.
1. Dmitry Bivol
2. Kenshiro Teraji
3. Hector Luis Garcia
The Eastern European boxers that have gained prominence in the USA over the past decade have tended to come from the aggressive, power punching mould. Think GGG, Kovalev and lineal 175lb. king Artur Beterbiev.
However, it is Beterbiev contemporary and hitherto underappreciated boxer Dmitry Bivol that claims Fighter of the Year honours for 2022.
Bivol is capable in the puncher department too, but it’s skills that have paid the bills since he moved on to world level. Bivol had a strong resume coming into 2022 but it was his perhaps unexpected meeting with Canelo Alvarez (last year’s Fighter of the Year) on Cinco de Mayo that would solidify Bivol at a new level and near the top of the pound for pound rankings.
Savvy observers knew going in that it was probably Canelo’s toughest fight on paper since Golovkin II, but Canelo was a wide bookies’ favourite, perhaps owing in part to the difficulty several have had in getting a decision over the Mexican in close fights. As it played out, Bivol consistently offset the smaller Canelo with an effective jab and good defence en route to a well deserved unanimous verdict. It was a memorable moment when Bivol gestured to Canelo after the fight, pointing at his bruised arms and shaking his finger ‘no’.
Bivol followed this up with another strong win over 44-0 Gilberto Ramirez, a giant of a light heavyweight, winning almost every round in what amounted to a bit of a boxing lesson.
In his prime at 32, the future is bright. My hope is that 2023 brings either a Canelo rematch or, the preferred option, an undisputed light heavyweight title fight against Beterbiev.
Unified jr. flyweight titlist Kenshiro Teraji had the best comeback year in the sport and claims runner-up honours.
First, he avenged his only career loss to regain his title by violent 3rd round knockout over Masamichi Yabuki. Then, in just the second-ever unification bout between two Japanese, he overcame some rough moments to largely dominate unbeaten Hiroto Kyoguchi and stop him in seven rounds.
Third place goes to 2022’s surprise package, Dominican Hector Luis Garcia.
Having finished 2021 fighting in 8 rounders, Garcia came in as a late notice opponent for unbeaten Chris Colbert. He dropped and dominated Colbert in a major upset to set up a shot at 130lb. titlist Roger Gutierrez, whom he defeated in similar fashion.
All this has led Garcia to an unexpected opportunity in four day’s time, when he will take on Gervonta Davis at lightweight in a PPV headliner.
Josh Kelly 119-109 Troy Williamson
Austin Williams 100-89 Simon Madsen
Cristofer Rosales 97-93 Joselito Velazquez
Julio Cesar Martinez 114-114 Samuel Carmona, officially Martinez by MD
Juan Francisco Estrada 115-113 Roman Gonzalez (trilogy bout), officially MD
Luis Alberto Lopez 115-113 Josh Warrington, officially MD
Sandor Martin 96-93 Teofimo Lopez, officially Lopez by SD
Joshua Franco 115-113 Kazuto Ioka, officially a DRAW
1. Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk
I said one year ago: “Here we are again, and we’ll probably be back saying the same thing this time in 2023.
If common sense prevails, we should have an undisputed heavyweight champion this year but it’s doubtful.”
And so here we are again…
There’s talk of the fight in March and negotiations seem to be smooth so far. I’m hopeful it happens by the early summer.
2. Deontay Wilder-Andy Ruiz
With Wilder back and Ruiz (unconvincingly) edging an ancient Luiz Ortiz, this is the PBC PPV endgame and is a really interesting fight. Wilder is probably the single most exciting fighter in the sport.
It would also function to set up a strong number one contender for a Fury-Usyk winner, or else fill a title vacancy in a division that will probably soon be fractured.
3. Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol
I’m unconvinced this bout happens due to the toxic combo of lack of demand and promotional battlelines. That said, it’s clearly one of the most compelling fights in the sport and a true pick ’em. The winner is a hall of famer for sure.
4. Dmitry Bivol-Canelo Alvarez II
Another possibility is Canelo looking to avenge his recent defeat to Bivol and have another go at light heavyweight. Canelo looks set to take an easier fight in the interim as he recovers from hand surgery, so this seems more likely for September or later.
Might this fight even take place down at 168 lbs. for all of Canelo’s gold this time?
5. Canelo Alvarez-David Benavidez
If Benavidez takes care of Caleb Plant to finally add a big win to his resume, then this is the only fight that really matters for Canelo in the current 168lbs. landscape.
6. Natasha Jonas-Terri Harper II
God love women’s boxing for the ease at which the biggest fights get made and undisputed champions are crowned.
The first Jonas-Harper fight down at super feather was terrific and ended even. A rematch for all the titles at 154lbs. is a natural fight and all that is standing in the way is Boxxer/Matchroom/Joe Gallagher ego.
7. Errol Spence-Terence Crawford
Last year I wrote: “This is another fight that is at risk of going past its sell-by-date and there is absolutely no reason now that it should not happen in 2022 if Spence, and perhaps Crawford, win their fights in the first half of the year.”
Not a lot has changed save for an embarrassing and protracted failed negotiation, and another Spence injury sustained in a car accident (that threatens to keep him out until the summer).
With Crawford aligned with upstart BLK Prime (we still don’t know the full story there) and Spence probably headed towards a Keith Thurman fight, I doubt we see this in 2023.
8. Regis Prograis-Teofimo Lopez
While Josh Taylor, for now, maintains a tenuous hold on the reigns of 140lbs., the belts have fractured and a lost-looking Lopez now sits as the mandatory for the belt held by Prograis.
This would be the perfect litmus test for where both men are right now: a chance for redemption for Lopez post-Kambosos, and, belatedly, another big fight for Prograis.
It doesn’t bode well that Lopez’s own promoter, Bob Arum, has been quoted as saying he doesn’t fancy his guy’s chances in this fight, however.
9. Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano II
It happened in 2022 and it was glorious, the biggest fight in women’s boxing history somehow also being perhaps the best. The signs are good so far that we’ll get the rematch in Croke Park and Katie will finally return home a conquering hero.
10. Devin Haney-Vasyl Lomachenko
This is one fight that is tentatively set to take place in the first half of 2023.
Again, it’s the classic high-stakes crossroads bout. Can Loma show that he’s not a busted flush at elite level and what of a Haney that has beaten Kambosos twice but not yet faced anyone like the box of tricks that is the Ukrainian maestro?
One wonders if Haney’s big edge in size could be the main difference.
11. Haney/Lomachenko-Shakur Stevenson
Speaking of size, Stevenson has outgrown 130lbs. and will debut at lightweight in 2023. In a perfect world, especially given they are all with the same promoter, Top Rank, he would face the winner of Haney-Lomachenko with little fuss.
It’s a fight that’s more likely for 2024 but I hold out some hope.
12. Murodjon Akhmadaliev-Naoya Inoue
Now the undisputed champion at bantamweight, Inoue has signalled his intention to move up to jr. featherweight.
Stephen Fulton-Inoue would be the better fight but that seems less likely given promotional divides and plans for Fulton to perhaps rematch Brandon Figueroa at featherweight. Akhmadaliev has a pair of belts and fewer options (although one overdue mandatory is looming). It would still be a mouthwatering matchup for hardcore fans especially.
13. Juan Francisco Estrada-Kazuto Ioka/Joshua Franco/Roman Gonzalez
The joyous Estrada-Gonzalez III bout had the feeling of the final chapter in the book of the hardcore four. But who would say no to a fourth?
Frankly, that’s my preference, but unifications with Ioka (another future hall of fame entrant) or Franco would also be most welcome.
Dmitry Bivol 118-110 Gilberto Ramirez
Chantelle Cameron 98-92 Jessica McCaskill
Kal Yafai 96-93 Jerald Paclar
Galal Yafai 97-93 Gohan Rodriguez Garcia, officially SD
Natasha Jonas 98-92 Marie Eve Dicaire
Dillian Whyte 114-114 Jermaine Franklin, officially Whyte by MD
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Dmitry Bivol
4. Juan Francisco Estrada
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Errol Spence
7. Terence Crawford
8. Jermell Charlo
9. Devin Haney
10. Roman Gonzalez
August 20th – A rematch was ordered of the super flyweight women’s title fight between Micaela Lujan and Irma Garcia because of the poor scorecards.
Silvio Alassia (97-93) and Nestor Savino (98-92) awarded the win to home boxer Lujan in Argentina.
November 1st – Shokichi Iwata was given no credit by Danrex Tapdasan (111-117) in his close loss to Jonathan Gonzalez.
November 4th – Increasingly unsteady prospect Justis Huni was dropped in round 4 by Kiki Toa Leutele but was spared a knockdown by ref (and former world titlist) Phillip Holiday.
Huni ended up winning comfortably over ten rounds.
In Tanzania, Fadhili Majiha (best known here for knocking out Harvey Horn) received a gift decision over unbeaten Manyo Plange at bantamweight.
Kulwa Makalanga (78-74), Rajabu Mhamila (80-72) and Pembe Ndava (78-74) were the offenders.
November 5th – Without wishing to name the referee so as to avoid piling on at a time when such a serious injury has occurred, Aidos Yerbossynuly should have been saved earlier than the 12th round against David Morrell.
Yerbossynuly was put into a medically induced coma after a brain injury, and while he is thankfully now discharged from hospital, the road to recovery will be a long one.
November 6th – Another bizarre snapshot of African pro boxing in the clip below from Tim Boxeo:
Richard Egowa (11-0, 11 KO's) keeps his perfect record intact with a KO-2 victory over Basil Osigwe (11-13) in their light heavyweight bout from Lagos, Nigeria
Golden Media TV pic.twitter.com/RzUGRHMVLX
— Tim Boxeo (@TimBoxeo) November 16, 2022
To quote from Boxrec: “The manner in which this bout ended was highly unsatisfactory with the losing boxer seemingly throwing himself to the canvas after receiving only the lightest of touches to the body. The losing boxer, now 43 years old, has now failed to reach the final bell in his last eleven contests and has not won a bout since 2001”.
Don’t expect the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control to look too deeply into this one.
November 12th – Zhanibek Alimkhanuly was pushed harder than expected by Denzel Bentley in a middleweight title fight.
Steve Weisfeld did not reflect this on his 118-110 card.
Tyler Denny upset Bradley Rea in Manchester over 10 rounds but was nearly denied by the 95-94 cards of Steve Gray and Marcus McDonnell.
In Cleveland, one of the year’s strangest endings to a bout occurred when Montana Love was disqualified in round 6 for shoving Steve Spark over the top rope.
Firstly, I must commend David Fields for making the right call and throwing Love out. He has faced unfair criticism in some quarters, not least from promoter Eddie Hearn.
But what deserves further scrutiny is the ringside doctor (who I believe to be Jerome Williams) allowing Love to continue at the start of round 6 when Love had plainly said “I can’t see” due to a head clash. Dr. Williams weirdly said he was going to see how things go “for a minute” and sent him back out there moments prior to the ensuing drama.
November 19th – Ray Moylette versus Ivaylo Boyanov in Dublin had a strange ending.
As I wrote in my ringside report from the show, “once ‘Sugar’ Ray turned things up in the fourth, the fight was over in a hurry but the finish itself was a mess.
Boyanov was bleeding from the nose and went down to a delayed reaction shot. Moylette then clearly hit him when he was down. Referee [David] Irving acknowledged this, but chose to basically ignore it as a factor in issuing his count as normal and waved off Boyanov when he rose before ten”.
This was ironic given that Irving was involved in a similar incident earlier in the month when Delfine Persoon lightly hit her overmatched opponent when down, but that one ended in a no contest after the opponent swan-dived.
In Belfast, Colm Murphy comfortably outboxed Liam Gaynor in the main event on TG4, only to have to sweat when ref Padraig O’Reachtagain’s 77-75 card was read out.
In Telford, the BBBofC timekeeper fell asleep at the wheel during the Jamie Stewart-Owen Cooper bout, the first bout of the TV broadcast no less.
The bell was mistakenly rung after 1 minute 40 seconds of round one. The referee had the boxers resume the round and then there was no bell until long after three minutes.
Topping a card in Austin full of influencers-playing-boxer improperly sanctioned by the Texas Combative Sports Program, Hasim Rahman Jr. suffered his latest indignity, losing to ex-UFC/NFL athlete Greg Hardy.
Jon Schorle missed what should have been a knockdown in round three when Rahman Jr. was held up by the ropes.
November 26th – Jon Latham missed the same potentially crucial call in the final moments of Dillian Whyte-Jermaine Franklin, with the ropes holding up the American.
Whyte won a close decision anyway so thankfully this did not play a role in the outcome.
Charles Conwell beat Juan Carlos Abreu over ten rounds but Ron Scott Stevens threw a turd of a 95-95 card into the mix.
Yokasta Valle-Evelin Bermudez was the first title fight in the US that Adalaide Byrd had been assigned to score since Canelo-Golovkin I.
You’ll never guess that happened…
Valle was the rightful winner but Byrd’s 99-91 was a joke.
Carlos Padilla, who refereed Manny Pacquiao versus Nedal Hussein in 2000 and was also responsible for one of the three scorecards, has admitted to giving Pacquiao a prolonged count in round four and then adjudging the head clash that caused the cut that stopped Hussein as a punch.
One of those 'only in boxing' moments… A referee who has recently been inducted into the Navada Boxing Hall of Fame casually explaining how he once broke rules to allow Pacquiao to win. https://t.co/tKqCDcSdqa
— Riath Al-Samarrai (@riathalsam) November 28, 2022
Thankfully, Padilla retired from refereeing before the end of the year after just two more fights. He would only act as judge one further time.
Don’t worry everybody, the WBC is looking into it:
https://wbcboxing.com/en/the-wbc-and-carlos-padilla/
Between Fury-Chisora III, the failure to make Spence-Crawford & Fury-Joshua, and the Conor Benn doping debacle, I can’t help but feel as disillusioned about boxing lately as I’ve ever been.
The contrast between last Saturday’s major shows, Fury-Chisora III and Estrada-Chocolatito III, illustrated in one night the good, bad and ugly of the sport, as well as the cynical business that underpins it.
Who is sabotaging their career more lately: Jaime Munguia or Demetrius Andrade?
Hopefully the latter lands a meaningful fight of some description next year with PBC.
Gervonta Davis amuses me on Twitter but he needs to stop with the tweet & deletes.
It’s a quite remarkable story that 40 year old Nina Hughes has won a world title at bantamweight in her fifth fight and less than a year after turning pro.
Making it more impressive, though perhaps demonstrating the lack of depth in women’s boxing still, she only began boxing aged 25 and has accomplished her world title win after a hiatus to have two children.
Now Hughes is in line to fight the winner of Ebanie Bridges-Shannon O’Connell in a unification.
Speaking of ageless wonders, 91 year old Don King put a big smile on my face today by announcing that he will put on another show on January 21st.
It will take place at The Casino Miami, presumably the same airport hangar where about 100 people saw Daniel Dubois run through Trevor Bryan: Let Freedom Ring, Jonathan Guidry vs. Bermane Stiverne.
Now just watch DK somehow make this about the war in Ukraine, and/or Jeff Bezos and Dolly Parton.
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Dmitry Bivol
4. Juan Francisco Estrada
5. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez
6. Errol Spence
7. Terence Crawford
8. Jermell Charlo
9. Devin Haney
10. Roman Gonzalez
- What a pleasure it was to watch Juan Francisco Estrada, for the second time in succession, narrowly outpoint the great ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez to remain at the pinnacle of 115 lbs. As with the last one, this fight could have gone either way but, to these eyes, Estrada was the worthy winner and looked to be the boxer with more left in his tank, and legs. As a result, Estrada climbs to #4 (once again duelling with Canelo for the honours as boxing’s top Mexican) and Gonzalez falls to #10.
- Consideration was given to reinstating Tyson Fury in the top 10, but the completely facile nature of the Chisora debacle makes that a no.
https://www.boxingscene.com/estrada-gonzalez-glory-greatness-ringside-afterthoughts–170934
After a gap of over 3 years, plus the usual fits and starts of cancelled shows, pro boxing made a long awaited return to the Republic of Ireland with last Saturday’s ten fight card at the National Stadium, promoted by the trio of Tony Davitt, Carl Greaves and Elite Promotions. After spotting Greaves counting wads … Continue reading →
How great is it to see pro boxing back on Irish tv courtesy of TG4? For me, Padraig McCrory has been the highlight so far, winning away from home in Germany. How many years can it have been since television here covered a pro show from foreign soil? Sad to see Zolani Tete, long … Continue reading →
October 8th – Jack Reiss, increasingly a poor referee, thought it would be a good idea to warn Carlos Ocampo at the beginning of round 9 versus Sebastian Fundora that he needed to “show me something” when he was fully in the fight. Absurd. October 15th – Footage below of Benjy Esteves making an … Continue reading →
September 3rd – The Nebraska Athletic Commission saw fit to sanction the below as a pro bout: My main event of the weekend – Dad battle in Nebraska on Saturday. Messageboard era oldheads on here will be pleased to know Blevins and Chris Ray are relics of the Stacy Goodson era. Blevins is coming off … Continue reading →
August 5th – Another Tanzania Professional Boxing Regulatory Commission special here, featuring as obvious a dive as you’ll ever see in a boxing ring. Debutant Boniface Chabuda (1-0) with the TKO-2 victory over Samson Itimaya (0-6) in their light heavyweight bout August 5th from Bagamoyo, Tanzania pic.twitter.com/qJESqMbLak — Tim Boxeo (@TimBoxeo) August 18, 2022 Strangely, … Continue reading →
Shakur Stevenson 118-108 Robson Conceicao Luis Ortiz 113-112 Andy Ruiz, officially Ruiz by UD Yokasta Valle 100-90 Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen Adelaida Ruiz 99-92 Sonia Osorio (rematch) Mark Smither 100-90 Andy Almendras Gavin Gwynne 115-113 Craig Woodfuff, officially a DRAW Ali Akhmedov 100-90 Gabriel Rosado Austin Williams 96-93 Kieron Conway Jesse Rodriguez 118-109 Israel Gonzalez … Continue reading →
Live at the venue: Claressa Shields 97-93 Savannah Marshall Skye Nicolson 100-89 Krystina Jacobs Devin Haney 118-110 George Kambosos (rematch) Ellie Scotney 99-91 Mary Romero Katie Taylor 98-92 Karen Carbajal Jake Paul 78-73 Anderson Silva Vasyl Lomachenko 115-113 Jamaine Ortiz William Zepeda 119-109 Joseph Diaz Jr. Live at the venue: Mikaela Mayer 97-93 Alycia Baumgardner, … Continue reading →
Sandy Ryan 98-93 Erica Anabella Farias (rematch) Jordan Thompson 97-92 Vasil Ducar Michael Conlan 99-88 Miguel Marriaga Marlen Esparza 98-92 Eva Guzman Blair Cobbs 97-90 Maurice Hooker Alex Martin 95-95 Henry Lundy, officially Martin by UD Oleksandr Usyk 117-111 Anthony Joshua (rematch), officially SD Badou Jack 96-94 Richard Rivera, officially SD Filip Hrgovic 114-113 Zhilei … Continue reading →
- Oleksandr Usyk 2. Naoya Inoue 3. Dmitry Bivol 4. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 5. Errol Spence 6. Juan Francisco Estrada 7. Roman Gonzalez 8. Terence Crawford 9. Jermell Charlo 10. Devin Haney
Bill Phillips tells Matt Lawton about banquets in saunas, envelopes full of cash and why he cannot bring himself to watch Olympic boxing. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-said-no-to-the-hooker-so-they-sent-me-two-ex-official-lifts-lid-on-corruption-psmj9b62f#Echobox=1664482374
Over four days in Seoul Matt Lawton hears Ho Kim’s compelling testimony about corruption at the heart of the Olympics. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/534cdf6a-3907-11ed-a8ae-d2d57cd0511a?shareToken=ed6742c8443b42acb193d7da09078bb2
- New guest column from Kevin Carmody, @Jacktor2013 on Twitter – https://twitter.com/Jacktor2013 As is often the case in boxing, activities going on outside the ring can be more interesting than the actual fisticuffs. It remains to be seen whether Eddie Hearn made the right decision leaving Sky for DAZN. The purse-strings from his DAZN … Continue reading →
July 2nd – Journeyman Serge Ambomo gave prospect Mickey Burke all he could handle, but Victor Loughlin made sure Burke had nothing to worry about with a 60-55 scorecard. Howard Foster (ironically, most famous for his premature stoppage in Carl Froch-George Groves I) was late stopping Zolani Tete-Jason Cunningham, allowing the former two-weight titlist … Continue reading →
Jai Opetaia 115-113 Mairis Breidis Derek Chisora 114-114 Kubrat Pulev (rematch), officially Chisora by SD Caoimhin Agyarko 99-91 Lukasz Maciec Oscar Collazo 120-108 Victorio Saludar David Jimenez 113-113 Ricardo Sandoval, officially Jimenez by MD Alexis Rocha 100-90 Luis Alberto Veron Lamont Roach Jr. 117-111 Angel Rodriguez Josh Kelly 98-92 Lucas Brian Ariel Bastida Danny Garcia … Continue reading →
Documentary covering the build-up to the famous Naseem Hamed-Marco Antonio Barrera showdown
Bad times for the crooked WBA. First, Manny Charr adds the sanctioning body to his lawsuit against Don King after being royally screwed by everyone concerned over the years, alleging that King regularly bribed the WBA through a third party ‘lobbying’ group to get his way with rankings and title shots: https://www.badlefthook.com/2022/7/14/23219157/mahmoud-charr-accuses-wba-conspiring-don-king-boxing-news-2022?utm_campaign=badlefthook&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter Then, another lawsuit … Continue reading →
June 5th – Devin Haney had ice water in his veins, coasting to an easy win over George Kambosos to become undisputed champion at lightweight in Australia. Zoltan Enyedi and Benoit Roussel (both 116-112) were much too kind to Kambosos. June 10th – In Mexico, Anthony Herrera was held to a surprising draw by … Continue reading →
May 7th – While most scored the fight wider, credit must go to Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld (all 115-113) for doing what several judging panels have failed to do in the past, rightly scoring Canelo Alvarez a loser to his less celebrated opponent, Dmitry Bivol. Canada’s Ryan Rozicki was beaten all … Continue reading →
April 1st – In Barcelona, Kyle Lomotey was beaten by local boxer Jhon Jader Obregon over 8 rounds. Ref Raul Gonzalez penalized Lomotey with two harsh point deductions for perceived head work, and conversely missed a knockdown scored on Lomotey at the end of round 2. Francisco Sedano (71-80) gave the Brit no credit on … Continue reading →
Nic Pizzolatto out (and Cary Fukunaga cancelled), unified 140lb. titlist Kali Reis in: ‘True Detective’: Kali Reis Joins Jodie Foster In Season 4 As It Gets HBO Greenlight While Errol Spence and Terence Crawford hopefully sort out their super fight for the autumn, 25yo Jaron Ennis continues to serve notice that it may actually … Continue reading →