Boxing 2022

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2022 starts off with a decent heavyweight showdown. Luis Ortiz vs ‘Prince’ Charles Martin. Winner may get back into the bigger picture, loser is surely finished.

Like I said at the time, his talk about carrying on was post-fight bluster and bravado. I think he knew in his heart that this was the last time, and that he had nothing left.

He'd got himself into tremendous shape for the Khan fight, and it was indeed "One Last Hurrah". There's always "another fight" for any boxer approaching retirement - some go for it, and others choose the more sensible option, like here.

I think that Brook was poorly matched after his IBF win. The ridiculous mandatory of JoJo Dan and following this up with Frankie Gavin and Bizier was an insult to his ability. As Chris says, fighting someone like Thurman or Maidana would have done him the world of good. The GGG Fight was a painful lesson, and did more harm than good. Still, he only lost to GGG, Spence and Crawford, who are still the kings of their respective divisions. No shame there. And he did such a number on an admittedly shot Khan, he has nowhere left to conceivably go. A young hungry pup like Benn might do some damage, and he's already had enough of that.

Rest easy, Kell and enjoy a beer or two.

And now, thankfully, Amir Khan retires as well. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/61438871

A fighter who really split the fans, he had such a lot of talent but also a very high opinion of himself. Plus, he had that glass chin that made his fights either exciting (because nobody knew when he was going down - and he did quite a few times) or terrifying for his fans. Cruelly cheated out of the belts after his fight with Peterson, even though I didn't like him I felt he deserved more. His fight against Maidana was a classic to and fro fight. His dissection of Judah was a joy to watch. He over-reached with his attempts to beat both Crawford and Alvarez though. A good puncher with decent timing was always a nightmare for him.

As he was never a favourite of mine, I still recall my main favourite Khan moment was him wobbling all over the place after the first Prescott knockdown. Still, thank you Amir for some classic moments in your career.

I preferred Brook and always thought he was the better boxer but Khan's overall resume is head and shoulders above. Brook has the Porter win which is the premier win of the two but the overall quality is with Khan; Kotelnik (very underated), Maidana, Judah, Collazo, Alexander, Malignaggi and Algieri is a very respectable record. He made some very good fighters look ordinary with his speed.

The Peterson fight was a disgrace from start to finish; the scorecards, the refereeing and the failed drugs test has always meant i've regarded Khan as the clear winner of that one.

I will say however that I fully expect to see both Khan and Brook fight again, a big money offer will come in a few months and they won't be able to resist.

Khan was less likeable than Brook for sure...Both chased big fights with foe they shouldn't..

Strange with Khan. showed great heart fighting Canelo.. ..Great guts against Maidana and then cowered his way out Crawford...

Yet showed guts against Kell so we can forgive him for Terence..

Kudos to him for bouncing back from Prescott and Garcia....

Quality career and good luck for the future..

I don't think the difference between Khan's gutsy showing against Maidana and his much more feeble one against Crawford is all that strange, Truss. More just an indication of where he was in his career at the time of those fights. Against Maidana he was still a young gun in love with the sport, and riding the crest of the wave in that very successful first 2-3 years he had with Roach.

By the time of the Crawford fight boxing was more of a part-time or secondary interest in Khan's life, and he was more interested in just being a celebrity for the sake of it. On top of that I think he'd had quite a lot of fight knocked out of him in some of his defeats by then.

He mentioned in an interview that the Crawford fight is the only time he's ever got in the ring and realised pretty much right away that he couldn't see a way to win or outbox him, so I'm not surprised he went out like a lamb there. It was just a payday and he clearly didn't have his heart in it by then.

Been a while since I watched it back, but agree with Soul largely on the Peterson fight - I'm not even talking about the deductions or Peterson's failed test afterwards. Even with the points off, I just couldn't see a way to give Peterson the six rounds he'd need to eek out a win, which is what it would have taken considering he was knocked down early. Khan's performance wasn't great and Peterson certainly did demonstrate some flaws in his game which he was never able to shed, but when I watched it back not too long after I was still convinced that Khan should have hung on to his belts.

Maybe I should take another look as we're reflecting on Khan's career now and see if my mind has changed on that one at all, but I've always felt there was a bit of hometown cooking with that verdict.

Will be interesting to see who the fans and pundits hold in higher regard between him and Brook a few years down the line. Khan's got the deeper resume, was involved in more crackers at the highest level and pretty much maxed out his potential. But when they finally shared a ring Brook took him out easily and has always had the sympathies of the British fans much more than Khan has.

Khan was so horrendous in that fight - looked a lot of more shot than most, me included, were expecting - and I think the fight itself was so far past its best before date that the question of who the better fighter was, peak-for-peak, is still debatable, as is the outcome had it happened when it should have done around 2014/15. But in grudge matches like that context often gets ignored and the glory of winning, along with the shame of defeat, is too great to ignore for a lot of people. So have a feeling Brook might just nick it once the dust has well and truly settled on both men's careers.

Also, did anyone else watch Bentley-Udofia last night for the British Middleweight title? Really good domestic dust up with plenty of ebb and flow.

Udofia the classier boxer, but ultimately undone (if you agreed with the decision, that is) by Bentley's conditioning, resolve and good inside work. Udofia's got a good array of shots and I like the way he puts them together, but like Josh Kelly and Anthony Fowler you'd like to see some more focus on the fundamentals and discipline rather than trying to look slick and athletic at all times for the sake of appearances.

I think most had it close either way - Udofia's knee touched down (think it might have been in round eight) and though he wasn't seriously hurt he was a shade lucky not to get a 10-8 against him. He started well, lulled in the middle, re-established himself quite well late on, but then made the disastrous mistake of clowning away the last round, which cost him a draw and his unbeaten record. Very poor from both him and the corner because there's no way he should have thought he was so far ahead so as to make that last round an irrelevance.

I could see it to Udofia by a slither as many have said, but given the way he fought the twelfth and the benefit of the doubt he got with the knockdown he can't really grumble, and Bentley showed a lot of improvement from his last setback. Caught Udofia napping with that right hand lead a few times and made good use of the uppercut when they fought in close.

Good fight, will be interesting to see how Udofia rebounds from this.

Josh Taylor’s reign as undisputed 140lbs Champion is over. The Scotsman was stripped of the WBA title for failure to agree mandatory defence.
Taylor still has a WBC mandatory on the table as well.

Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis destroyed the previously unbeaten Custio Clayton in two rounds. ‘Boots’ is a big problem at 147.

Gilberto Ramirez improves to 44-0 after he beat two time IBO light heavyweight champion Dominic Boesel. Ramirez begging Bivol for a title shot. Not sure how good Ramirez really is. Previously refused to fight Beterbiev, when both where stablemates at Top Rank.

I like Ennis. Don't think he's likely to get a shot if Spence and Crawford actually get it on, but he is good and needs a step up in class to show what he can really do.

Jermell Charlo KOd Brian Castano in Rd 10 after 2 knockdowns to become undisputed at 154lbs, taking Castano's WBO belt to go with his other 3. Excellent performance from Charlo, making a real statement after their previous questionable draw.

I've said before that a focussed Ramirez is a good addition to Light-Heavyweight, and that while we're unsure how good he is due to him not getting those defining fights so far, there's clearly some talent there.

But - anyone else see that, according to the DAZN team, he was 204 lb on their fight night scale / by the time he got into the ring? In both terms of real and proportional gain that might just be the biggest increase I can remember, even bigger than when Chavez Jr used to make 160 only to blow up to c. 181 / 182 on fight night.

On the one hand, people will say that it's the same for all Light-Heavyweights and there's nothing stopping anyone else rehydrating to a similar weight, so why make a big deal of it. But someone like Beterbiev is a genuine Light-Heavyweight, who has talked about moving to Cruiser eventually and who boxed at 200 in the amateurs - yet he's only been averaging around 183 lb or so on fight night during his championship career. A guy like Tarver used to be considered huge for the weight, but even he was never more than around 188 by the time the bell rang during his pomp.

There was talk in the nineties about how the introduction of day-before weigh ins in the decade previously was changing the sport, but Jeez, some of the controversial gainers back then are small fry compared to what we see now.

I'm not sure exactly what the limit on how much weight a 175 pounder can pack back on overnight before a fight should be - but I do feel pretty sure it should be considerably less than the 29 lb of Ramirez. I also feel that the sanctioning bodies do need to get a hold of this - problem is, that would take balls and we all know they've got none. Fines and stripping titles hasn't really prevented fighters taking liberties with weight, and there's no chance they'd ever implement a blanket policy of calling off any fight at the 11th hour if some kind of fight night weight stipulation (for instance, 190 lb for Light-Heavies) wasn't met, which I think might be the only thing which would get fighters and their teams to listen.

I'm not sure if it's consistent with his previous in-ring weights since moving up to the division (although it's clear that even though he moved up he is very big at the weight), but 204 lb for a Light-Heavyweight just doesn't sit right with me.

Derek Chisora vs Adam Kownacki set for July 9. Literally the most pointless fight ever.

Also Jarrell Miller will return in June on a Triller card. Nearly 4 years out after becoming a human pharmacy.

I thought Dereck had had enough? Oh well. If Kownacki wins, he'll think he's a worthy heavy contender (he isn't), and if Chisora wins, it will be headlines about how Dereck is back and looking to challenge Usyk etc. Agree with Jeff - it is utterly pointless.

As for Miller, he's a waste. I wonder how long it will be before he's caught again??  And after he wins against a no hoper expect more ridiculous headlines...

Jeff Navarro wrote:Derek Chisora vs Adam Kownacki set for July 9. Literally the most pointless fight ever.

Also Jarrell Miller will return in June on a Triller card. Nearly 4 years out after becoming a human pharmacy.

How is Chisora the perennial loser still headlining ???

Honestly really ???..Disgrace that this guy is not only relevant in UK Boxing but that he gets paid ten times more than Boxers with talent and a future..

Joke.

Apparently the fans love him. Or are they paying to see him lose until he goes away?

Then again if people are willing to cough up for trialhorse Whyte against stinker Parker any fight could go on PPV you could probably sell oil shares on a future Blackpool beach project while you are at it...

Guess If sales are slow..Chisora can always chuck a table and let Hearn both rebuke him and pay the fine...

Former light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal returned last night from a drugs ban to beat China’s Fanlong Meng by UD. Pascal rallied in the second half of the fight.
Meng was previously IBF mandatory but the fight with Beterbiev collapsed. I don’t see the Chinese fighter getting a shot now.

Who's watching Buatsi-Richards then? Three rounds in and I've been much more impressed with Buatsi so far.

Buatsi looks good going forward. Richards hurt Buatsi to the body in round 5. Richards got the awkward style.

Very good eighth round, with both men hurt.

Buatsi stamina is pretty poor. Can only fight in bursts.

Good response in round 10 from Buatsi.

Buatsi 117-111 for me. Nothing overly impressive tbh. Poor stamina. Richards has a magnificent chin.

Official scores:
116-112 115-113 115-113 Buatsi
Bit too narrow those 115-113

Hearn talking about Bivol vs Buatsi next...Zurdo Ramirez is the mandatory for Bivol...
Hearn always trying to pull a con

I had the same score, Jeff. But it seems I was a little more impressed than you overall.

I thought he was really good rounds 1-6. Most of the rounds were competitive but Buatsi was landing the much cleaner stuff more consistently, and was doing the better inside work, too. Seemed to me that a lot of his countering was going unappreciated and though he had trouble with the Richards jab, aside from that I felt Richards was struggling to hit the target cleanly for the most part. Buatsi defended better than I anticipated.

Agree that he looked like he'd shot his bolt for two or three rounds afterwards, but in rounds ten and twelve he was still able to go to the well and make sure he didn't give the judges a reason to overlook him, unlike Udofia last week who made that fatal error by coasting late on.

I agree Chris that Buatsi in the first half was good, it’s the slight wilting down the second half of the fight.
Richards, from the fights I’ve seen from him, comes on strong down the stretch.

I think Buatsi vs C Smith could be a decent fight.

David Benavidez battered David Lemieux to win the interim WBC 168 belt. Benavidez dropped Lemieux in the second, somehow the Canadian made it to the end of the round. It didn’t last much longer as Benavidez got the stoppage in round 3.
Benavidez is now mandatory for Canelo Alvarez.

Bridgerweight silver toys r us belt last night..If Babic can start winning titles then Soccer hooligans should stop wasting their time on the terraces..

Buatsi and Richards take a bow...Good fighters with futures...

Sadly more and more Women's boxing on the bills....Pond isn't deep enough to guarantee decent matchups....Too many titles for the fighters makes it meaningless.

Joe Joyce vs Joseph Parker has been pushed back until September, as Parker’s trainer Andy Lee isn’t available for the original July date.
Both fighters seem likely to take tune up bouts.

Vergil Ortiz Jr will fight David Avanesyan in Texas on August 6. Should be a entertaining bout.

See Josh has been talking street to a young student who moaned about his chin..

Not so much the White man's friend now he is set for life..

The Bruno act is disappearing more every day.

Davis beats Romero...As I alluded to earlier the one half decent fighter on Romero's record went the distance..

Can't say I'm sorry the slime bag was slapped...Beautiful left hook.. Just like Manny v Marquez he walked on to it.

Bit of a Poopie fight, but it had a highlight reel knockout which helps Tank keep his stock high. He's got a fugazi belt at 135, and his stable is literally empty in terms competitive fights, but he sells out arenas, and gets 250-300k PPV buys in his sleep, so if he wants to, he could make $5m a fight fighting his own version of the bum of the month club for the foreseeable future.

Davis is Broner 2.0. Soon as he mans up. He gets wrecked.

Hughie Fury vs Michael Hunter - WBA final eliminator for the winner of Trevor Bryan vs Daniel Dubois(WBA ‘regular’ belt)
Not sure why they are ordering mandatory bouts for the secondary WBA title.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Derek Chisora vs Adam Kownacki set for July 9. Literally the most pointless fight ever.

Chisora vs Kownacki off

Chisora vs Pulev 2 instead now

Still a pointless fight.

Who's watching the Donaire-Inoue undercard? Inoue's brother just got a verdict in his favour which I don't necessarily disagree with him getting, but boy were those some shoddy cards. Furuhashi won at least four rounds, possibly five, but the judges gave it as a virtual shutout for Inoue.

Donaire's only hope for the main event is a KO anyway, but even more reason to be thankful that it'll probably produce a stoppage. Just never know what these judges are capable of.

The commentary for Inoue’s brothers fight was pathetic. They disregarded all of the good stuff Furuhashi did. Just continually hyping up the younger Inoue

Inoue batters Donaire second round KO. Sad end of the great Donaire

Yep, what we feared (an annihilation) took place. Hard seeing Donaire get blasted out like that, especially after such a tremendous effort in the first fight, but that losing effort would have taken a lot out of anyone, never mind someone at Donaire's stage of their career.

But Jeez, what a performance by Inoue. In terms of being the complete fighter and putting on a show I don't know if there's anyone else in his class at the top of the sport right now. He can take you apart with pure boxing, can knock you clean out and is tough and durable on top of that. Takes some 'nads hooking aggressively with Donaire at mid-range like that but he obviously had an early knockout on his mind. Just so accurate and purposeful with what he was throwing, and such a good array of shots. Power in both hands.

Is that it for Donaire? Who knows. To be honest even now I wouldn't be surprised if he came back and bagged another alphabet title somewhere. Goes without saying I want him to pack it in though. He was dangerously close to being relegated to gatekeeper status back in 2015-18 before the Bantamweight tournament breathed some life into his career again. He's in danger of being relegated back there now, which is a hard pill to swallow.

Is Donaire one of the modern day greats? Held world titles from fly to feather over three decades.

Sad way for it to end for Donaire, ten years ago I don't think Inoue stands much of a chance. He has been for me the premier sub featherweight boxer this century, from beating Darchinyan up to losing to Rigondeaux he was breathtaking.

The knockouts of Vic Dar and Montiel are right up there.

I'd say he's a modern day great, albeit I guess to could depend on where you draw the line at modern.

He was enormous at Fly and Super-Fly, and even at Bantam he seemed to carry the size and physical advantages over his opponents come fight night, so the stick his critics use to best him normally goes something like this: weight bullied his way to titles at 112-118, and once he got to 122 and couldn't do that anymore he started to look a bit more toothless and finally couldn't get away with it anymore when Rigondeaux beat him, which spelled the end of his prime years. Fell in love with his power and allowed his all-round game to deteriorate, had no plan B when he couldn't level his opponents.

Personally I'm more inclined to believe that he was just too good for everyone between Fly and Bantam during those years and that, after turning 30, he was bound to regress slightly from 2012/2013 onwards which is hardly uncommon for a little guy. Rigondeaux would likely always have been wrong for him, though.

His first win over Darchinyan was right up there with one of the best any fighter had that decade as Vic had looked pretty damn impressive to that point and still had his crowning glory to come against Mijares, and the way he cut through Sydorenko and Montiel at Bantam plus an array of belt holders at Super-Bantam mean I'm happy to class him as a legitimate top dog in three divisions to go with his interim and alphabet trinkets in another two.

Amazing longevity for a little guy, took plenty of 0s, one of the best pure knockout punchers going and never shied away from any challenge. He's a modern great for me alright.

Sad for him to lose like that, but there comes a time for all fighters, and at 39 Donaire won't be getting better.

As for Inoue, that was some finish. He is quite simply frightening.

On a separate note has to be said that Inoue is incredible, it will be long forgotten in the future but his one round demolition of Jamie Mcdonnell was mightily impressive. Mcdonnell was no alphabet champion, he was a very good legitimate world champion.

Mr Bounce wrote:Sad for him to lose like that, but there comes a time for all fighters, and at 39 Donaire won't be getting better.

As for Inoue, that was some finish. He is quite simply frightening.

Enough for Donaire now...That was painful to watch..

Seems that Inoue is targeting Butler next for the WBO and undisputed status at Bantam. Butler says he wants it (of course he does, might be his only chance to dine at the elite table and there will be no great expectations upon him), but that'd surely be a horrendous mismatch. But shouldn't turn your nose up at any unification fight, I guess.

Said it before but I'd really like to see Inoue go up to 122 for Fulton. I suspect Fulton's defence is too lax and that Inoue would get him out of there, but he does bring something different to the table which Inoue hasn't faced all that often. Very smooth combination puncher, gives unusual and unpredictable looks, enjoys having it at close quarters and has a good engine too.

Looks like bjs will be fighting again at some point this year. I think/hope he gets his weight down as far as lightheavy and fights Bivol.

Awful news confirming that South African Lightweight Simiso Buthelezi has died after suffering a bleed on the brain in his fight earlier this week. I imagine a few on here have seen the footage of him becoming very disorientated after himself scoring a knockdown, losing his bearings and throwing punches at an empty corner. He collapsed soon after and was placed in an induced coma, but his injuries were too severe.

Only 24 years old, too. So sad.

R.I.P.

Everytime I watch a SKY bill I seem to see Bec Connelly being battered by a new novice....I've seen more dangerous punch bags....

8 batterings on the bounce and I bet she hasn't won a round in any of them.

Revoke her licence please..

Joseph Parker has signed a ‘long term deal’ with Boxxer. The fight with Joe Joyce won’t be rescheduled.