Sizing Up the Two Fascinating Heavyweight Contests in London This Weekend

Published

6 years ago

July 10, 2019

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This Saturday night in London’s O2 Arena, two heavyweight clashes of no small matter are set to unfold under the Frank Warren Promotions banner. Daniel Dubois, 6’5, 240lbs, aged 21 with an unbeaten record comprised of eleven victories and ten knockouts is set to take on Nathan Gorman, 6’3, 250lbs, aged 22, also unbeaten, 16-0 with eleven knockouts. At stake is the British heavyweight title and much more.

George Orwell once expressed the opinion that journalism is merely printing what someone else does not want printed and everything else is just public relations and it is possible to paraphrase him in relation to boxing: the best fights are the ones that scare promoters. Frank Warren did not want this fight to take place. In fact, he tried to persuade both men, each of whom he represents, to pull out. Neither would. Fight fans are the winners.

Warren has also noted, correctly, that a loss here will cause neither man irreparable damage but for the loser, there is a certain price to pay. A backwards step will be difficult to sell; for the triumphant heavyweight bigger fights loom.

One of which is almost certain to be the winner of Joe Joyce versus Bryant Jennings, the second heavyweight clash from this card. I named Joyce perhaps the most interesting of all the current heavyweight prospects earlier this year. The reason: he is a man in a hurry. 6’6″ and 255lbs, Joyce has gathered less professional experience than either Gorman or Dubois, but his other vital statistic is the key one: Joyce is 33 years old. This final number gives context to the name of the man in the other corner, former world championship challenger Bryant Jennings.

Jennings, who stands 6’3″ and weighs in at 225lbs, is at the other end of his heavyweight adventure having been last legitimately ranked as a contender in early 2016 after his troubling defeat at the hands of Luis Ortiz. His loss to Ortiz (by TKO7) was in and of itself a crossroads fight, Jennings having most recently been defeated by champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Joyce Jennings face off

His 2017 comeback was comprised only of crossroads fights denoting him as something of a gatekeeper, and when he eventually lost one to Oscar Rivas in January of 2019, his status was arguably reduced further, to that of journeyman. Jennings has journeyed to London to face Joyce, an underdog against a fighter with a third of his experience, unproven and flawed but a massive heavyweight with a massive punch. It’s an uncomfortable assignment for the 34-year-old Philadelphian, but a victory would re-elevate him.

Playing the long game is hard in the twilight of one’s career, but as Tony Thompson found out, it can be a profitable one.

And Jennings, for all that he is an underdog, is a very, very live one. The American always struck me as a cerebral fighter. He’s had to be, given the fact that he took up the sport late and jammed a lot into a relatively short run to the title. Criticized for standing in front of Wladimir, he stayed slippery, threw plenty of power punches and even managed to occasionally engage in the pocket where the champion held remorselessly – held so often that he was docked a point.

So while the champion was the clear winner Jennings discomforted the bigger, heavier puncher enough that he made errors in strategy and technique, despite the fact that in addition to the described physical advantages he was also the more seasoned fighter.

Joyce has those same physical advantages but he is far and away the less experienced. If Jennings is capable of confounding (but not beating) a competitor like Wladimir, what, then, of a pup like Joyce?

The big Englishman, to be fair to him, has been moving in circles that make Jennings only a minor step up. He most recently blasted out two familiar names to heavyweight fight fans, brutalizing Deontay Wilder victim Bermane Stiverne in six rounds this February and savaging the enormous Alexander Ustinov in three rounds this May. He has been moved along and, on paper, Jennings is not out of keeping with the class of fighter he has been mixing with.

On paper.

In reality, Stiverne was pitifully out of shape at over 270lbs, and Ustinov’s best, too, was far behind him. More than that though, each man had a problem in common: they are slow of hand and foot.

Joyce, too, has problems in this department. He appears, at times, to be punching in treacle and in these two most recent matches, the speed of thought and exchange seemed at times almost comical. Make no mistake about Joyce: he is a born puncher. In this more than any other division, that is boon. He is also capable of work and he has good accuracy.

Size; workrate; targeting. Give this combination to any trainer of note and he will bring you a heavyweight prospect. But that dearth of speed is a problem and it may be one Jennings can take advantage of.

When a new man meets a former world-title challenger, the only question, in the end, is what does the veteran have left? Jennings was badly beaten by another coming man this January in the shape of Oscar Rivas. Rivas hurt and dropped Jennings in the twelfth and then finished him on his feet via bombardment, but take note: had Jennings won the twelfth instead of being stopped he would have escaped with a draw. That would have had ramifications. Oscar Rivas probably wouldn’t have landed his money fight with Dillian Whyte later this month and Jennings might have found himself in a role other than that of opponent.

These are fine margins and alarm bells are ringing for me. When slow meets skilled the outcome can be definitive in favor of the slicker man. In the end though, I think the most likely outcome is a re-run of the Rivas fight. Jennings will not be a pushover. He will win rounds and make things difficult for Joyce – but Jennings has been hit and hard by Wladimir, Ortiz and Rivas, all punchers and in the case of the first two certainly slower of hand than he. Joyce to stop Jennings in a close fight is the sensible pick.

Frank Warren’s wishes to the contrary, this may land Joyce in the ring with the winner of Dubois and Gorman. This fight, if anything, is even more fascinating than the first.

Dubois is devastating in his silence. Reluctant to speak, smiling, quiet, he has let everyone from Frank Bruno to Frank Warren do his talking for him in a series of interviews for which he has barely been present. The needle that exists between he and Gorman, supposedly dating back to a brief stint as roommates during their amateur days and in some tasty sparing sessions since, probably makes him uncomfortable.

Gorman, who is related to Tyson Fury, is far more comfortable in executing his media duties. He is also overweight at 250lbs and cuts a far less impressive figure than his muscular opponent, something we saw recently in the shape of Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz; but the comparisons between the two contests don’t end there.

Like Ruiz, Gorman has a reach far shorter than his taller opponent and like Ruiz his reputation going in is that of a lesser puncher. Bringing pressure against a longer opponent who can punch is one of boxing’s toughest assignments because the toll is set. Moving a fighter out of position by swarming him is natural when you have the longer jab but when you have the shorter one, you buy your range with pain and points. Gorman is going to get hit.

But once more Britain has produced an Adonis who has yet to answer questions about his gas tank. Think Frank Bruno or Joshua and think Dubois, perhaps. In his last contest Dubois was drawn into a thrilling shoot-out with a wild Ghanaian by the name of Richard Lartey. Dubois, unimpressed, was ultra-aggressive from the off, swinging two-handed but from the very beginning he had the appearance of a fighter that was uptight, blowing hard through his cheeks while throwing an odd mixture of stiff and limber bombs. Capable of speed on some punches, others appeared to be from the Joyce play book in that they sought to travel the furthest possible distance at no great speed. It made him vulnerable to counters.

Dubois took instruction well and shortened up his punches as he went, webbing his tiring opponent in an ever-decreasing circle, but he also showed a certain raggedness in his own work apparently born of fatigue. This may be an over-analysis; Dubois after all expected an easy knockout and after some fireworks, he got it, and with some rather pretty punches, too. But he also hinted at a blueprint for his own destruction: could Dubois perhaps be countered and outlasted? And if so, is Gorman the man to do it?

The bookies favor Dubois but there is a gathering sense on social media that Gorman can out-fight him. I think it boils down to a matter of technique and punch resistance which is saying nothing, really, as almost every boxing match does to one degree or another. But if Gorman has the technique to buy real estate without absorbing too much punishment, I think he will win the exchanges that result. This is the very key to this style clash revealed by Andy Ruiz: throw with the puncher and back yourself to land first. Gorman can beat Dubois to the punch often enough to amass enough points to take a hard-won decision. Doing it will be a matter of overcoming both a style and size advantage though, and that is a tall order that requires the right strategy and definitive technical advantages.

The balance here tips back towards Dubois because like his taller opponent, Gorman is unproven. The small matters that determine fights, that determine whole careers, will decide where the argument resides.

Either way, two fringe contenders are sure to emerge from Saturday night’s fights. This is the prediction that matters, and it is a sure one.

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“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

Published

14 hours ago

May 8, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.

It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.

In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.

Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.

It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.

“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.

Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.

Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.

Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.

We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.

Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”

But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.

“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”

Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.

Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”

If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38^th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.

Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”

Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.

Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.

On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.

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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

Published

3 days ago

May 6, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Arne’s Almanac: The Good, the Bad, and the (Mostly) Ugly; a Weekend Boxing Recap and More

It’s old news now, but on back-to-back nights on the first weekend of May, there were three fights that finished in the top six snoozefests ever as measured by punch activity. That’s according to CompuBox which has been around for 40 years.

In Times Square, the boxing match between Devin Haney and Jose Carlos Ramirez had the fifth-fewest number of punches thrown, but the main event, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, was even more of a snoozefest, landing in third place on this ignoble list.

Those standings would be revised the next night – knocked down a peg when Canelo Alvarez and William Scull combined to throw a historically low 445 punches in their match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 152 by the victorious Canelo who at least pressed the action, unlike Scull (pictured) whose effort reminded this reporter of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – no, not the movie starring Paul Newman, just the title.

CompuBox numbers, it says here, are best understood as approximations, but no amount of rejiggering can alter the fact that these three fights were stinkers. Making matters worse, these were pay-per-views. If one had bundled the two events, rather than buying each separately, one would have been out $90 bucks.

****

Thankfully, the Sunday card on ESPN from Las Vegas was redemptive. It was just what the sport needed at this moment – entertaining fights to expunge some of the bad odor. In the main go, Naoya Inoue showed why he trails only Shohei Ohtani as the most revered athlete in Japan.

Throughout history, the baby-faced assassin has been a boxing promoter’s dream. It’s no coincidence that down through the ages the most common nickname for a fighter – and by an overwhelming margin — is “Kid.”

And that partly explains Naoya Inoue’s charisma. The guy is 32 years old, but here in America he could pass for 17.

Joey Archer

Joey Archer, who passed away last week at age 87 in Rensselaer, New York, was one of the last links to an era of boxing identified with the nationally televised Friday Night Fights at Madison Square Garden.

Joey Archer

Archer made his debut as an MSG headliner on Feb. 4, 1961, and had 12 more fights at the iconic mid-Manhattan sock palace over the next six years. The final two were world title fights with defending middleweight champion Emile Griffith.

Archer etched his name in the history books in November of 1965 in Pittsburgh where he won a comfortable 10-round decision over Sugar Ray Robinson, sending the greatest fighter of all time into retirement. (At age 45, Robinson was then far past his peak.)

Born and raised in the Bronx, Joey Archer was a cutie; a clever counter-puncher recognized for his defense and ultimately for his granite chin. His style was embedded in his DNA and reinforced by his mentors.

Early in his career, Archer was domiciled in Houston where he was handled by veteran trainer Bill Gore who was then working with world lightweight champion Joe Brown. Gore would ride into the Hall of Fame on the coattails of his most famous fighter, “Will-o’-the Wisp” Willie Pep. If Joey Archer had any thoughts of becoming a banger, Bill Gore would have disabused him of that notion.

In all honesty, Archer’s style would have been box office poison if he had been black. It helped immensely that he was a native New Yorker of Irish stock, albeit the Irish angle didn’t have as much pull as it had several decades earlier. But that observation may not be fair to Archer who was bypassed twice for world title fights after upsetting Hurricane Carter and Dick Tiger.

When he finally caught up with Emile Griffith, the former hat maker wasn’t quite the fighter he had been a few years earlier but Griffith, a two-time Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the BWAA and a future first ballot Hall of Famer, was still a hard nut to crack.

Archer went 30 rounds with Griffith, losing two relatively tight decisions and then, although not quite 30 years old, called it quits. He finished 45-4 with 8 KOs and was reportedly never knocked down, yet alone stopped, while answering the bell for 365 rounds. In retirement, he ran two popular taverns with his older brother Jimmy Archer, a former boxer who was Joey’s trainer and manager late in Joey’s career.

May he rest in peace.

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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Published

4 days ago

May 4, 2025

David A. Avila

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Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.

Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.

“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.

Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.

After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.

Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.

One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”

Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.

“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”

Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.

A real fight was happening.

Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.

Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.

In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.

“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”

Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.

In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.

“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”

Espinoza Wins

WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.

“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.

Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.

Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.

It was Espinoza’s third title defense.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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