Canelo to eek out the win?

Article first appeared at AndysBetClub

On Saturday night at the Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 63-2-2, will box Terence Crawford, 41-0, in a contest rich in both potential and purse. Netflix will broadcast the whole event.  

Bookmakers are offering markets on the matchup between these two future Hall of Famers and unsurprisingly, given the quality of the pairing, margins and certainty are hard to find. Study of the under card will offer opportunity to improve returns. 

Continue reading “Canelo to eek out the win?”

Battle for the Ages. Usyk and Dubois meet again

Article first appeared at AndysBetClub  

Saturday, Wembley Stadium. A fight for the undisputed Heavyweight title. Is there a more tantalising prospect in sport? 

On the night, the brilliant Ukrainian Oleksander Usyk, 23-0 (14ko) will seek to confirm his status as the King of the division and the master of his generation by defying the hard-charging Brit, Daniel Dubois, 22-2 (21ko). 

An intriguing battle of styles is promised; the guile and precision of Usyk versus the brawn and aggression of the revitalised Dubois.  

At 38-years-old, Usyk can no longer be regarded as being in his physical prime. However, his efficient style and life-long dedication to the sport coupled with faultless technical prowess are extending his currency and his reign. 

For Dubois, once troubled by inertia, nerves and an apparent lack of certainty in how best to deploy his obvious gifts, he has now matured into an exciting, aggressive puncher – trading shots with opponents with the confidence of a man suddenly aware of his own power. 

Continue reading “Battle for the Ages. Usyk and Dubois meet again”

Taylor and Serrano. The inevitable trilogy

Article first appeared at AndysBetClub

On Friday night, in one of boxing’s oldest and most storied colosseums, Madison Square Gardens, New York, Katie Taylor will meet Amanda Serrano for the third and probably final time. It is a venue dripping in history – from LaMotta versus Robinson, Louis and Marciano to Lewis and Holyfield and the fight of the century, Ali versus Frazier in 1971 – ‘The Garden’ has seen it all.  

The trilogy bout between the two veterans is likely to confirm their own place alongside those illustrious pairings. Taylor and Serrano first boxed in 2022 in a fight widely considered one of the greatest contests in women’s boxing history at this same venue and their rematch in late 2024 was equally compelling and ferociously fought. A ferocity that made this trilogy bout inevitable and hotly anticipated. 

Markets are available for those looking to profit from the action and the fight, promoted by Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions, will be freely available to Netflix subscribers. 

Continue reading “Taylor and Serrano. The inevitable trilogy”

Can’t Fight Won’t Fight.

Jake Paul battles Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

 Article first appeared on AndysBetClub

Speculating on outcomes for fights involving Jake Paul can feel like a type of betrayal. First to the sport he subverts with these pseudo-exhibition bouts and secondly, because his opponents often appear inhibited, inept or both and uniformly unable to punch the self-styled ‘Problem Child’ in the face.

This weekend, the 28-year-old with the huge social profile will again employ that notoriety to headline as a boxing attraction in Anaheim, California versus the rotting carcass of the former WBC Middleweight Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Like his predecessors as Paul fall guys, Mike Tyson luminous among a parade of otherwise unknown stuntmen, Chavez has the usual impediments required to secure the lucrative pay day.

Continue reading “Can’t Fight Won’t Fight.”

Last Orders. Fury and Usyk rematch in Saudi

Article first appeared on AndysBetClub.com

At a time ironically close to ‘last orders’ on Saturday night, Tyson Fury will stride across the ring in Saudi Arabia looking to avenge his only career defeat in a hotly anticipated rematch with nemesis Oleksander Usyk.

The arena will be devoid of liquor, atmosphere and history and as such, is an entirely unbefitting back drop for a match as good as this one. Unquestionably, the two best heavyweights in the world will pit their remaining motivation, boxing acumen and the glowing embers of their physical primes against one another.

It is a fight likely to anoint the victor as the consensus king of a decade the pair have shared with Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. An era that began when a youthful Tyson Fury befuddled a creaking Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf in 2015 and will either draw to a close on Saturday or, entirely conceivably, in the beguiling, if competitively spoiledfinancial feast of Fury v Joshua in 2025. Irrespective of the outcome this weekend.

Continue reading “Last Orders. Fury and Usyk rematch in Saudi”

Rusty Iron Mike faces Problem Child Jake Paul

Article first appeared at AndysBetClub.com

At the AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas on Saturday night, heavyweight legend Iron Mike Tyson will box Jake Paul in a fully sanctioned contest to determine who the bigger fool is; the 58-year-old Tyson clambering back between the ropes, the 27-year-old You Tube star Paul daring to tangle with even a decrepit husk of the once impervious former champion or we the viewing public simply for tuning in.

For those willing to indulge this circus as the boxing match it proports to be, finding value, form and the advantage one may hold over the other – in the way conventional fights are analysed and previewed – is further complicated by the unknowns of Tyson’s inevitable decline and Paul’s peculiar path to this bout.

Bookmakers are in consensus that Jake Paul is the favourite – widely available at around 4/9 for the OUTRIGHT WIN, with Mike Tyson therefore available as a 2/1 underdog.

This conclusion is broadly drawn on one single metric. Youth.

Continue reading “Rusty Iron Mike faces Problem Child Jake Paul”

BIVOL AND BETERBIEV CLASH FOR UNDISPUTED TITLE

Article first appeared on AndysBetClub.co.uk

On Saturday night in Saudi Arabia, the opening night of the new Riyadh season, two of boxing’s most gifted fighters are in pursuit of the first undisputed Light-Heavyweight title since 1999.  

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol also put on the line long unbeaten records in their quest to secure a career defining victory in a bout that is both hotly anticipated and the culmination of a decade as rivals. 

Beterbiev is EVENS with BetFair, Bivol a narrow 4/5 Favourite on Outright markets. Odds reflective of how closely matched the two men are. 

For those inclined to bet on boxing, the show features a raft of British interest on the under card. Here are four picks to consider. 

Continue reading “BIVOL AND BETERBIEV CLASH FOR UNDISPUTED TITLE”

Old man Wilder will ‘find’ Parker, eventually

Eventually, boxing always returns to the big men. Heavyweights transcend the traditional boundaries of boxing in ways Middleweights and Welters never can. Enthralling the masses; from trailblazer Jack Johnson, to Jack Dempsey, from Joe Louis to Mike Tyson and of course the greatest of them all, Muhammad Ali too.

On Saturday, the boxing circus will pitch tents in the sand and insanity of Saudi Arabia as the nation continues its sponsorship of sporting events to distract from the sadism and impossible affluence of its ruling class.

All eyes will be on a pair of heavyweight attractions sitting proudly on top of the deep and intriguing Day of Reckoning bill. American Deontay Wilder faces New Zealand’s Joseph Parker in a battle of former belt holders that functions as a qualifier to box the winner of Anthony Joshua and Otto Wallin.

There is much at stake here.

Continue reading “Old man Wilder will ‘find’ Parker, eventually”

Joshua can continue knockout form

Article first appeared at gambling.com

Joshua to WIN 2/7 BETFRED

Joshua to WIN by KO 13/2 William Hill

Much is written about whether Anthony Joshua, 26-3 (23ko) is the same fighter he was in 2016 when first exploding on to the world-scene as an aggressive, come forward puncher. Either by evolution, or as a result of the trauma of boxing at elite level with thunderous men like Wladimir Klitschko, the master craftsman Oleksander Usyk or the deceptively quick Andy Ruiz, he is much changed.

No other prizefighter, probably since the various reincarnations of Mike Tyson, is challenged on his own form, style or ability to recreate the past and whether he is as good as he once was like Joshua. Questions often posed alongside queries on his own ‘mentality’. The latter a response to the confused ramblings he offered in the aftermath of the Usyk losses.

In pre-fight media obligations for his weekend fixture with Sweden’s capable Otto Wallin, Joshua has bristled at even rudimentary questions. Responses that have fanned rather than extinguished the eternal debate; ‘where is Joshua’s head at?

All the leading Bookmakers are keen to offer markets for this heavyweight feature.

Continue reading “Joshua can continue knockout form”

Dubois can expose the Miller myth

Article first appeared on Gambling.com

Dubois to win by decision 15/8 with BETVICTOR

On Saturday in Riyhad, Saudi Arabia, amidst the huge Day or Reckoning card, Daniel Dubois arrives at a crossroads in his boxing career. Triumph, and some of the lustre lost in defeat to Joe Joyce and Oleksander Usyk will be restored, defeat, and the suggestion Dubois lacks the ability and resolve to succeed at world-level will be confirmed.

Now aged 26, Dubois, 19-2 (18ko), was long-marketed by Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren as the future of the division. The heir to the throne variously occupied by Fury, Joshua and Usyk.

The defeat to Joyce back in 2020, a knockout loss in which Dubois suffered a broken orbital bone around his eye and opted to kneel and take the 10-count when ahead on the cards, curbed excitement about his prospects. Warren too, seemed discouraged. It posed the question; is Dubois willing to risk, in the way the greats often must, to land the prize?

Continue reading “Dubois can expose the Miller myth”

Don’t call it a comeback. Garcia faces Duarte on return

Article first appeared on gambling.com

Describing the first fight after the loss of a pristine record as a ‘comeback’ is problematic but nevertheless commonplace. It is one of the many tenants of the modern cult of the unbeaten fighter. An ideology with far fewer followers in bygone eras when activity was king. 

Ryan Garcia, 23-1 (19ko), is the latest to find himself cast in role of the comeback kid. His matinee idol good looks, fast hands and a flair for social media launched the now 25-year-old into PPV level fights at an early age. His last fight, a loss to Gervonta Davis, LKO7, in which Garcia was knocked down twice, was a gargantuan feature bought by more than 1.2 million households in the US. The fight grossed in excess of $100 million in gate and broadcast revenue alone. 

The ‘star’ was the match-up, but Garcia proved his own box office potential. 

No surprise then that leading bookmakers all offer markets for his return against Oscar Duarte and favour Garcia strongly, 1/4 with UNIBET the best available on the Outright Win, but he isn’t quite the overwhelming favourite he would’ve been before that defeat. The inevitable question, how has Garcia digested defeat, is an intangible in predicting the outcome. Only the isolation of the ring in the Toyota Centre, Houston on Saturday night can now provide the answer.

Continue reading “Don’t call it a comeback. Garcia faces Duarte on return”

Andrade and the quest for respect

Article first appeared on gambling.com

Demetrius Andrade, the 35-year-old from Rhode Island with an unblemished 32 (19ko) – 0 record and an unrequited  longing for fulfilment, has finally secured the marquee match missing from his 15-year career. 

He will box the giant American Super-Middleweight David Benevidez, 27 (23ko) – 0, at the Michelob Arena, Las Vegas on Saturday night. A fight broadcast by Showtime. This will be the organisation’s final night in the boxing business and all the leading betting companies carry markets for this elite match up between two unbeaten fighters. 

Continue reading “Andrade and the quest for respect”

Ball and Dogboe face off in crossroads contest

First published on Gambling.com

In Manchester this Saturday, Liverpool’s ‘Popeye piranha’, Nick Ball will attempt to leap several spaces on boxing’s uniquely chaotic hierarchy of ladders and snakes when he boxes Isaac Dogboe in a WBC Featherweight eliminator.

The event is staged by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions and will be broadcast live by TNT, formerly BT Sport, in the UK. For those inclined, leading betting companies offer markets on this fascinating and potentially thrilling crossroads bout.

Continue reading “Ball and Dogboe face off in crossroads contest”

Wood and Warrington battle to stay in the game

Article first published on gambling.com

This weekend’s WBA World Featherweight title bout between current champion Leigh Wood, 27-3 (16ko) and former IBF title holder Josh Warrington 31-2 (8ko) at the Sheffield Arena is one rich in competitive promise.

Flawed and feisty, the pair share much but arrive in Sheffield in wildly divergent form.

Continue reading “Wood and Warrington battle to stay in the game”

No choice for Joyce in Zhang rematch

Article first appeared on gambling.com

This Saturday at London’s OVO Wembley Arena, lumbering Brit Joe Joyce, 16-1 (14ko), will seek to reclaim that which he lost in defeat to Zhilei Zhang, 25-1-1(20ko) earlier this year. The Chinese big man not only broke Joyce’s unbeaten record and claimed the WBO Interim title Joyce had held since beating Daniel Dubois, he also wrecked the promotional narrative of Joyce as the division’s boogeymen.

Repeat or revenge themes are common in boxing. Historically, the original victor triumphs again and often more definitively. Such was Zhang’s dominance in the first encounter that a clearer conclusion in Saturday’s rematch is hard to conjure but more troubling for Joyce’s advocates is; how does Joyce correct the conspicuous defensive deficiencies Zhang exposed?

Continue reading “No choice for Joyce in Zhang rematch”

Smith looks to dominate Eubank again

Article first published at gambling.com

Liverpool’s Liam Smith is seeking to confirm his superiority over Chris Eubank Jnr. this weekend at the Manchester Arena in a clash between two veterans in the Middleweight division. It will be a rematch of their fiery contest earlier this year in which Smith upset the odds to break Eubank down and stop the 33-year-old in the 4th round.

Bookmakers view their prospects differently in light of the surprise outcome and Smith, the former WBO Light-Middleweight belt holder, is now a 4/6 favourite to win again and Eubank 7/5 to reverse the result.

Continue reading “Smith looks to dominate Eubank again”

KATIE TAYLOR VS. CHANTELLE CAMERON – FIGHT NIGHT PREVIEW

First published at Bookmakers.com

Ever since Katie Taylor, now 22-0 (6ko) and the undisputed champion of the Lightweight division, first put on a headguard and ducked between the ropes, the then-12-year-old girl from Bray, County Wicklow, has been liberating women’s boxing from the restraints placed upon it by the vagaries of tradition and misogyny. 

She began by overcoming the resistance to her participation, boxing first as a ‘boy’, and then in the first sanctioned female bout to take place in Ireland, aged 15. Taylor would win Gold at the Olympics in 2012, the debut for women’s boxing, and took that acclaim and five Amateur World Championships to begin the journey towards the all-time sporting great she has subsequently become.

Her bout with Chantelle Cameron on Saturday night is the latest chapter in a storied career that has trampled on the established notions that women cannot sell tickets, deliver TV audiences or headline major events. The fact it may yet prove to be the toughest fight of Taylor’s six-year career only adds to her legend and reflects on her self-belief and a willingness to take risks to achieve her goals. 

Continue reading “KATIE TAYLOR VS. CHANTELLE CAMERON – FIGHT NIGHT PREVIEW”

GERVONTA DAVIS VS. RYAN GARCIA – FIGHT NIGHT PREVIEW

First published at Bookmakers.com

There are still fights in boxing that draw the attention of general sports fans. Full stadiums and multiple broadcast partners illustrate boxing’s enduring attraction. Certain fighters continue to transcend that boundary between the ardent follower and the casual. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Anthony Joshua are two giants of the boxing sphere who have generated extraordinary interest and built global brands that reach far beyond the limits of the sport in which they excel.

Boxing can still create superstars and while they have both fought a range of distinguished opponents, the need to box the toughest opponents isn’t as insistent as it once was, and far too many necessary fights remain stubbornly unmade.

It is a truth that makes this weekend’s clash between Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and ‘King’ Ryan Garcia at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, especially appealing to fight fans and will, by the weekend, thanks to an intense media slog to which Garcia appears born, become a must see for general sports fans too. 

Continue reading “GERVONTA DAVIS VS. RYAN GARCIA – FIGHT NIGHT PREVIEW”

Joshua’s fighting for a future

Article first appeared on Bookmakers.com

There will be a moment on Saturday night, beneath the ‘big tent’ roof of the 02 Arena, London, when the bookmakers‘ favorite, and former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will discover whether his appetite for boxing truly remains. The platitudes of those leaning from the windows of the gravy train will evaporate beneath the glare of the lights and he will be alone, the superficiality of his latest reinvention and the whispers of the fortune he has compiled questioning his desire. His magnificent physique will offer little beyond a chiseled defence against a tide of self-doubt and ebbing motivation but is still expected to prove sufficient to overcome Jermaine Franklin and secure a lucrative, perhaps era-defining fight with Tyson Fury. If such seemingly Utopian narratives are to be indulged. 

Fans hope Joshua will be able to rediscover a lost purpose and unfurl his natural, aggressive style from the layers of over-observed psycho-babble he has subverted it with. His opponent does not represent his toughest test, either proportionally or in terms of talent but such is the enigmatic form Joshua has displayed over the past four years, that every fight carries more risk than resumes and reputations insist they should.

Continue reading “Joshua’s fighting for a future”

Boxing gargoyle. Jake Paul finally faces Tommy Fury

Article first appeared at Bookmakers.com

On Sunday, beneath the warm Saudi Arabian sky of the nation’s original capital, Diriyah, restored and repurposed as an international destination rich in history and the amenities the wealthy demand, populists Jake Paul and Tommy Fury will attempt to substantiate their credentials and disproportionate public prominence as professional prizefighters. Against each other. 

Betting sites are struggling to separate them on the betting line. 

The bout is scheduled for eight rounds at an approximated Cruiserweight limit of 185 pounds. 10 pounds higher than Light Heavyweight, the division Fury appears to consider his home, but 15 beneath the current maximum for the division. 

These sojourns to the Middle East have become a customary fixture in the boxing calendar, and the region is jostling for position with many of the traditional venues in the West. Diriyah is a location in keeping with the contrived nature of the contest. There is incontrovertible opportunism in the construction of this fight. 

Continue reading “Boxing gargoyle. Jake Paul finally faces Tommy Fury”

Wood chooses to Dance with the Devil

Post first appeared on Bookmakers.com

Nottingham’s Leigh Wood, 26-2 (16ko), will attempt to defend his WBA Featherweight title on Saturday night against dangerous Mexican Mauricio Lara, 25-2-1 (18ko), in a bout initially scheduled for the Autumn of last year. Billed as ‘Dance with the Devil’, to reflect the danger Lara represents, this will be Wood’s second fight as belt holder following an upset victory over Can Xu in 2021 to win the Interim championship and a thunderous, rousing knockout of Ireland’s Michael Conlon, again as the underdog, in the British fight of 2022.

And arguably the toughest assignment available in the division.

Continue reading “Wood chooses to Dance with the Devil”

Yarde pursues another Russian hitman

Article first appeared at Bookmakers.com

Artur Beterbiev is a name not known to all sports fans. Those who dip in and out of boxing, as the pay-per-views come and go, may not appreciate his value or be aware of his brilliance. For regulars who live and breathe in the mad, mad world of boxing, the Russian-born Canadian national, is renowned for his thudding punching power and the measured brutality of his 18 victories, all achieved inside the distance. The competitiveness of his fight with Anthony Yarde hinges on an assessment of whether Beterbiev, who turned 38 last week, remains within that punishing prime, or has age and modest activity eroded his fearsome tools? 

There are large rewards for Yarde if he can do it, and lengthy odds at many of the leading betting sites for those who indulge the apparent fantasy.

Continue reading “Yarde pursues another Russian hitman”

Chris Eubank Jr. tackles blue-collar veteran Liam Smith

Article first appeared at Bookmakers.com

Most of Chris Eubank Jr.’s career has been spent in a quest for authenticity. To prove himself worthy of the name he inherits from a legendary father and to garner respect as a serious contender in the Middleweight division. There have been high points where he has legitimised the hyperbole projected before him, and there have been fallow periods in which his career has stagnated and the whisper of cynicism that haunts those with illustrious predecessors has grown ever louder. 

On Saturday night at the Manchester Arena, he faces Liam Smith, a decorated member of the famous Smith boxing family and, superficially at least, the antithesis of everything that Chris Eubank Jr. represents. This contrast isn’t a new narrative. Eubank is always boxing someone hoping to knock him off the pedestal he adopts, and the one he is presumed to sit upon. Boxing thrives on these types of storylines and makes wagering on them at betting sites all the more popular. 

It is the white and black Stetsons of the great Western films and helps build rivalries and ticket sales. Of course, the nature of humans, and of fighters, is never so binary. Nuance exists in both Eubank and Smith. But nuance doesn’t sell. Good guys and bad guys do. 

Continue reading “Chris Eubank Jr. tackles blue-collar veteran Liam Smith”

Nostalgia for sale. Benn and Eubank Preview

Article first published at Bookmakers.com

There will be a different type of atmosphere in the O2 Arena, London, this weekend when the British pairing of Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn march toward the lights. Memories will be stirred. Emotions and glasses will be charged. 

Fans of their fathers, Chris Sr. and Nigel, two warriors of the 1980s and ‘90s, will recall the febrile nature of their great rivalry and those who watched as children, or were not yet born, and suckled on tall tales of Eubank and Benn fights, will grasp tightly the chance to experience those golden days via the proxy of their fighting sons. Those feelings, of a deeply rooted affinity to a fighter, are harder to muster among the inactivity and sprawling labyrinthian reality of boxing in the 21st century. 

Rivals all too rarely fight. 

Saturday’s headline contest boasts this once common intensity, inherited though it may be, and is a refreshing fixture even as a catchweight contest. 

Continue reading “Nostalgia for sale. Benn and Eubank Preview”

Golovkin chases the debts of the past, Canelo credit for his own

First published at bookmakers.com

This Saturday, fans of boxing and the wider sporting world will turn their gaze away from the heavyweights and toward the unfashionable trappings of the Super-Middleweight (168lb) division. Two luminaries of the modern age; Saul ’Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin, face each other for the third, and in all likelihood, final time. Los Angeles’ T-Mobile Arena will provide the stage for the concluding chapter in their bitter and controversial rivalry.  

For each combatant, the customary collection of belts will be at stake, alongside lucrative purses and, most cherished of all, the chance to establish definitive superiority over the best of their contemporaries. There are a host of variables to navigate in predicting the outcome. Age, form, activity, location, weight. Proposing opportunity for punters but complicated by the interpretations applied to their significance and to whom they offer advantage. The enduring injustice which hung over the verdicts awarded in their first two contests, an unjustified Draw and a barely conceivable Majority Decision for Canelo, is an additional factor which could influence markets and conceivably create margins for those who invest unemotionally.  

It is a feast of tangibles and intangibles.   

Continue reading “Golovkin chases the debts of the past, Canelo credit for his own”

Beyond reasonable doubt. Usyk chases confirmation, Joshua redemption

Article first published at Bookmakers.com

“Doubt … is an illness that comes from knowledge and leads to madness.” ― Gustave Flaubert 

Saturday’s heavyweight rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksander Usyk, a bout awash with possibilities and drenched in the oily wealth of its hosts, will anoint Tyson Fury’s successor following the Gyspy King’s insistence he has now retired. Other shiny and glib garlands will be draped about the victor of course but in the old money of boxing, either Joshua or Usyk will become, the man. 

Continue reading “Beyond reasonable doubt. Usyk chases confirmation, Joshua redemption”

Posturing, greed and the loss of Fury v Joshua

By Hector T. Morgan

Anthony Joshua’s humbling defeat to Oleksandr Usyk didn’t steal a unification bout from him, or his contemporary, Tyson Fury despite the persuasive narrative that it did. Boxing’s usual follies and the greed of one or both parties deprived the fans of the most enticing fight available several months ago. The two protagonists will one day look back wistfully to the moment, or moments, when they allowed the fight to slip away in the pursuit of an ever larger purse they will never have time to spend. Hipsters will point to the overdue Welterweight pairing of Errol Spence and Terence Crawford as the bout boxing actually needs the most, and there is merit in the argument, but heavyweights remain the premier attraction and the measure by which most eras are judged.

A fact that informs the greed that enveloped the potential fixture and permitted the contracted trilogy bout between Fury and Wilder to encroach and supersede the richest fight boxing could make.

And though fans may one day witness the two face each other, it will forever be diminished by the passage of time and the two defeats Joshua has now collected.

Continue reading “Posturing, greed and the loss of Fury v Joshua”

“I coulda had class”. Fighters, films and the fix

For cinema goers, the image of a boxer being coerced into losing a fight or consoled in the aftermath, is all too familiar. A convenient vehicle deployed by film makers, since the advent of ‘talkies’ in the 1920’s. From John Wayne to Charlie Chaplin, actors have been knitting their brows as earnest pugs buckling beneath the guilt that ensues. Electing to forgo the integrity they cherished, in exchange for easy money or the promise of richer fruit down the line, is a choice much easier to reject in theory and detached from the starkness of life as a prizefighter from the 1930s to the late 1950s.

As Brando immortalised in The Godfather, fighters, like others in position of influence and value, were made offers they couldn’t refuse.

Continue reading ““I coulda had class”. Fighters, films and the fix”

Undisputed Heavyweight Championship clash close to becoming reality

By Hector T. Morgan

Fantasy fights have long been a source of debate among boxing fans. Cross generational contests divide followers; Ali and Tyson, Mayweather and Leonard, the idea never ages, the passions evoked never cool. In the modern era, a time of fewer fights between the sport’s great and good, boxing fans are often left with only the fantasy debate to decide who is the best between two fighters who co-exist. Politics, money, broadcast platforms, sanctioning bodies, fear, they all play their role in keeping the best prize fighters apart.

The news Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, the best two heavyweights active today, are on the brink of signing to box each other this summer is, therefore, a subject of both excitement and cynicism among those same boxing fans. Excitement about the contest, the all too uncommon clarity it will provide for the heavyweight division duels with the enduring suspicion that fate or politics will intervene once more.

It is a tantalising fight, but dare we believe?

Continue reading “Undisputed Heavyweight Championship clash close to becoming reality”

Warrington steps down in pursuit of step up.

It is folly to expect men to do all that they may reasonably be expected to do.

Richard Whately, Philospher, 1787-1863

Lurching from the absurd to the ridiculous, from the passing Neon brightness of Leon to the deadly dark of the Panorama expose, boxing will be glad to get back to the business of, well, boxing this weekend. Even if it is the peculiar reality of Josh Warrington fighting an opponent who has a whiff of the unwanted mandatory about him, despite the absence of a world title belt to demand one.

The year begin, and remains, in the grip of a pandemic, but with every jab dispensed the sport, like the wider populous, is loosening its collar and daring to peak out at the Spring yet to come. British boxing’s self imposed hiatus, to relieve pressure on the health service, draws to a close and the popular Leeds born fighter will kick off the high profile schedule.

Of interest, despite the anonymity of the opponent, will be assessing whether Warrington can recapture the momentum lost due to inactivity.

Continue reading “Warrington steps down in pursuit of step up.”

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