Tag: News

Hrgovic wins IBF title, frowns through Itauma’s impudence to win in 9

Conquer we shall, but first we must contend,

Tis not the fight that crowns us, but the end

The End by Robert Herrick, poet (1591-1674)

Felipe Hrgovic’s victory over Moses Itauma in the 9th round of their IBF World Heavyweight title fight owed much to a stubbornness he is not famed for, conditioning he had previously only partially conquered and a stout chin. His own offence was modest and timidly applied in the early going. Winning rounds was not the game plan. Staying vertical until the second half of the Queensberry Promotions bill-topper was paramount.

The notion, the theory beneath the shellacking he withstood in those first six rounds being that Itauma would tire. Once spent, Hrgovic’s aim was to capitalise on Itauma’s lack of seasoning as a distance fighter – he had never fought beyond the 6th – and the complimentary assumption that the 21-year-old upstart would start fast. Burning fuel he didn’t have the experience to know he would need later.

Continue reading “Hrgovic wins IBF title, frowns through Itauma’s impudence to win in 9” →
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Emotional transference. Benn, Hearn and all that shit

“I’ve been fucked so many times. I don’t even get upset about it. Boxing is one of the worst businesses in the world.” Eddie Hearn speaking to GQ in 2022.

Perhaps it says more about the writer than the protagonist that news of Conor Benn signing with Zuffa Boxing drew a wry smile. The schadenfreude of it all. Eddie Hearn, the sport’s most lusty chapman, with the film star crop and the double breasted roll neck and white pimp soles, betrayed by the fighter he stood by in his darkest moments.

And to Hearn’s newest nemesis. Dana White. A challenge even to boxing’s loquacious Lex Luthor – and if early interviews are a guide – the disbelief appeared to be winning.

Continue reading “Emotional transference. Benn, Hearn and all that shit” →
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OTD 1908 Jack Johnson wins the Heavyweight title

Article first published at Roundtable Boxing

Australia is rarely the epicentre of the boxing world. It has had its heroes of course, from the relentless Jeff Fenech in the 1980s who tackled the great Azumah Nelson, Bantamweight Lionel Rose in the 1960s – the first indigenous Australian to win a world-title, thundering Jeff Harding and adopted Aussies like Light-Welterweight king Kostya Tsyzu, Vic Darchinyan and the nomadic Joe Bugner. A century or more ago, when fighters boarded ships to travel the world in pursuit of new challengers – to prey on the whimsy of wealthy men willing to back their local contender or opportunists seeking to capitalise on a scrap of land to pitch a ring – Australia had its share of illustrious visitors.

The Boxing Day fight between Jack Johnson, the challenger, and Tommy Burns the Champion, was a long time in the making but does represent one of the few occasions Australia became the centre of the boxing world. Hugh Macintosh promoted a fight which brought together two men with a genuine dislike for each other. A heady brew brought on by contrasting personalities, the colour bar which ran between them like a line in the sawdust in a saloon and Burns’ insistence on a $30,000 purse to step across it. A fee that would usurp any other fee he’d commanded during his reign.

Continue reading “OTD 1908 Jack Johnson wins the Heavyweight title” →
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Eubank Jr., ageing and depleted, faces Benn once more

Article first appeared at Roundtable Boxing

The long shadow cast by Chris Eubank Jnr’s father, the indefinable Chris Eubank Snr., has proven to be a heavy one during his career as a professional fighter. Like so many sons of famous father’s he has been offered opportunities and renumeration beyond the scope of his ability but equally, has had to fight hard to distinguish himself from the collective memory of Senior’s accomplishments.

Continue reading “Eubank Jr., ageing and depleted, faces Benn once more” →
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OTD Cassius Clay debuts versus Tunney Hunsaker

Article first appeared at Roundtable Boxing

When Tunney Hunsaker, a much loved 30-year-old police office from Fayetteville, West Virginia with hands so large his Mother would compare them to an elephant’s feet, stepped in to the ring on the 29th October 1960 it is hard to imagine any of the 6,180 people in attendance could have predicted that his opponent, Cassius Clay, would go on to become the most transcendent sports figure of all time.

Continue reading “OTD Cassius Clay debuts versus Tunney Hunsaker” →
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Dave Allen. Good fighter.

First published at BigFightWeekend.com

Inside Dave Allen, he of the self-deprecation and tales of humility, regret and over hand right, lives a capable heavyweight. One of much greater boxing acumen than his lack of preparation invariably exposes to the watching public. Much of his enduring box-office appeal is founded on whimsical charisma, improbable durability and, well, man-child Yorkshireness. An area of England known for its grit, community and truculence.  

The son of a professional fighter, Allen has grown up in the shadows of a punch bag. He has seen all that the sport can offer and steal away; the broken promises, the sweat, tears, success, the failures, the damage and the indifference of everything in between. 

This weekend a refined, more physically prepared incarnation of Dave Allen the fighter, tackles the man mountain Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Sheffield Arena over 12 rounds. It won’t be the first time the Doncaster born slugger has been presented with an opportunity to catapult himself from the comedy fringes toward more significant opponents, but it may be the first time he’s appropriately prepared. 

Continue reading “Dave Allen. Good fighter.” →
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Money. Lewis, Usyk and Jeremy Bates

Article first published at BigFightWeekend.com.

Usually, it comes down to money. That is the ‘why’ of every fighter’s inability to retire at the zenith of their respective careers, with their personal peaks, however modest, conquered. Pugs and champions in their thirties and forties have always scrambled to resist the slope that waits beyond that crescendo since first they donned gloves.  

Lennox Lewis spoke to Sky Sports this week about his hope that Oleksander Usyk would follow his own rare example and depart the sport at the very top.  

“When a guy retires, it’s really down to him. He’s got to feel that push that he wants to retire.” Adding, “I would say to him to retire at your own time but retire on top. Like I did.” 

Continue reading “Money. Lewis, Usyk and Jeremy Bates” →
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Fury and Five historic Heavyweight title rematches

Article first appeared at BigFightWeekend.com

Tyson Fury’s attempt to recapture the heavyweight crown from Oleksander Usyk on Saturday is the latest in a series of rematches that have illuminated the legend of the title the two will contest. 

He isn’t the first to seek redemption through a rematch but if he is successful, he will join an exclusive band of fighters.  

Applying metrics to determine the best of more than a century of heavyweight title rematches is a complex endeavour. Is it the entertainment value of the fight? The historic significance? Or the quality of the two fighters? An amalgam of all? 

In short, conjuring a top five is a merely opinion and the following selections could be largely interchanged and there were many worthy contenders not included too: 

Continue reading “Fury and Five historic Heavyweight title rematches” →
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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” →
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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” →
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Spoiling for a fight: The Arv Mittoo story

Article first appeared in Boxing News (£) 30th May 2019

There are no easy lives in the boxing business. Even among those changed for the better, the ones saved, the ones directed away from the darkness, from the cells, from the ground. Every professional fighter complicit to boxing’s unspoken truth; that something of themselves must be sacrificed, perhaps only temporarily, perhaps permanently, in order to access the financial and emotional benefits derived from success, however modest or fleeting they may be.

This grittier reality swiftly overwrites those cinematic show reels, composed in the imaginings of their adolescence, that novice professionals may still cling to when they enter the paid ranks. The dream is nevertheless important, prizefighters are not enticed to lace up the gloves as willowy ten-year-olds, or encouraged to punish and curate their bodies into adulthood, with the expectation of losing or moreover, choosing to, being paid to.

But losing is half of the boxing story. Continue reading “Spoiling for a fight: The Arv Mittoo story” →

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No electricity like Tyson electricity

miketysonblackandwhite2During the dim days of his post Buster Douglas career, I would maintain in the face of often fervent opposition that Mike Tyson was over-rated. That he succeeded in a weak era and through the many attempts to recycle the myth he tip toed around any of the risk-laden contenders of the 1990’s. Fighters like Ray Mercer, George Foreman, Shannon Briggs, David Tua were all punchers and held a shot** – Tyson wasn’t allowed near them. Evander Holyfield and latterly, Lennox Lewis further undermined the theory in emphatic triumphs over the ageing former champion. Continue reading “No electricity like Tyson electricity” →

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