Fury v Chisora and the old routine

Heavyweight champions don’t always fight the opponents they should and don’t always fight the opponents they could. From the black fighters overlooked a century ago, to the missed opportunities of the 1990s and the voluntary defences even the Greatest of them all indulged in 50 years ago, a host of undeserving contenders have been blessed with title shots better men ought to have had.This weekend, the current heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, meets perennial contender Derek Chisora for the third time. It is a bout without the competitive credibility title fights should possess and is one only Derek requested.

And yet, for all the caveats and criticism, the veteran slugger has the chance to become the champion of the world, and with that people have the opportunity to place wagers with betting sites.

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November 30, 2022 0

Timeless. Priceless. Wardley guts Gorman in 3 to become British Champion

Where there's a will there's a way
Proverb

As a thick snake of blood oozed from a cut on Fabio Wardley’s busted nose, punches smeared and splattered it across his brow and cheek. His teeth grinding into his mouth piece beneath. A giant, visible to Wardley through a mask of warm claret, lumbered closer, the possessor of greater experience, heft and the initiative. The Ipswich man grimaced but chose to walk forward. Toward the tumult. Where many would hold or fold, Wardley elected to fight. Not to box, but to fight. In that distinction, in Wardley’s willingness to risk when vulnerable and hurt, the British Heavyweight title, with all its abundant history, was won.

Gorman proved unable to match or repel Wardley’s spirited response to the success he’d enjoyed in the first round and fell to defeat in the third. The white towel of surrender fluttering on to the canvas to confirm the fighter’s shallower resistance was spent. By then, Gorman had been on the floor twice in the second and once in the third.

Wardley’s youthful combination of flaws and enterprise suggest many equally entertaining nights lay ahead.

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November 27, 2022 0

Whyte returns for a sure-fire brawl

Hard pounding this, gentlemen, let's see who will pound longest
Duke of Wellington, (remarking at Waterloo), 1769-1852

Dillian Whyte is a heavyweight boxer. He is now in his mid-thirties, 35 in April. The best of him, his prime, such as it was, is now in the books. A late-starter, Whyte began with clumsy feet, peculiar habits forged in other combat pursuits, and the remnants of a boyhood Jamaican drawl to his voice. Relative success in an old-school ‘tear-up’ with a surging Anthony Joshua encouraged investment and in his fortunes. Flaws were worked on, weakness polished toward competence and natural power channelled productively.

Big Derek Chisora proved too resourceful to conquer definitively, but Whyte took the contentious decision and ran with it. He beat Helenius on one of the giant Finn’s passive evenings and survived a knockdown to beat Joseph Parker. And then there was the Povetkin year. A knockout loss. A knockout win.

His busyness, resulted in momentum and that impetus, in an otherwise slovenly field, forced him toward the top of the division. Dancing from novelty heavyweight, to contender, to avoided boogeyman through to the supposedly exposed veteran of today. All in just a handful of short years. Fury adding an exclamation mark to the current characterisation of his part in the heavyweight picture.

In Jermaine Franklin, an ill-defined, undefeated and as yet unverified heavyweight out of the Motor town of Detroit, Whyte faces a fighter with some stylistic similarities to his own. Wider stance perhaps, a right hand Franklin launches from the bleachers lacks Whyte’s explosiveness but they certainly share an appetite for a heated exchange. Whyte more concussive, Franklin quicker.

Saturday’s fight will probably lack finesse. But it might be fun. And for Whyte, defeat is unconscionable.

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November 23, 2022 0

In the footsteps of Ali. Katie Taylor eyes Croke Park crescendo

Sometimes my feet are tired and my hands are quiet, but there is no quiet in my heart.
W.B. Yeats, Irish Poet, 1865-1939

Katie Taylor answered in her characteristic manner. Certain. Humble. Promoter Eddie Hearn waxed lyrical. Ignoring the boos of progressively deeper octave; “Ireland, Croke Park. Serrano. Has to be. If not, someone else. But it is Ireland next.” Taylor’s Irish eyes smiled, warming to a familiar squint. Sweat still springs. Cheeks thickened. Her aching hands resting on silk hips. As the questions were posed and the cliches shared, hundreds still loitered among the strewn plastic cups and the Saturday night spilt at their feet. Taylor had done as expected; beating the tall, organised Argentinian Karen Elizabeth Carabajal for all the Lightweight belts by unanimous points decision. Knockouts, the violent climax ticket buyers crave still stubbornly elusive.

Still friends and strangers sway, arms entwined, a joyful scrummage. The shrewd and restless twist their necks to listen as they clambered for the exits. The nocturnes and neon of the London night, the rationed taxi cabs and their prodigal sibling of the morning’s regret quickening their stride. Irish tricolours stretch and fall. Cheers, drunk with vowels tumble down toward the ring and the garden of microphones.

Katie Taylor fills arenas. And her eyes are on the biggest of all. One with both history and meaning for the people of Ireland.

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November 11, 2022 0

Barrett falls to Rakhimov but exposes his weaknesses

Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov won the vacant IBF Super-Featherweight title in Abu-Dhabi Saturday night in the latest in a sequence of major fights to take place in the Middle East. A venue that provides convenient fight times for global audiences and inconvenient questions about money for promoters. For Zelfa Barrett, a fluid counter puncher from Manchester, the fight offered an opportunity to confirm his ability at World level. One he took, despite the disappointment of defeat in the 9th round.

Barrett’s success with left and rights to the body, stinging right uppercuts to head and body and a willingness to punch in combination despite his movement based strategy and determination to avoid short-range exchanges, brought a points lead heading toward the championship rounds.

Pressure fighters like Rakhimov don’t tend to worry about the minutiae of scorecards.

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