British Boxing 2022 Year in Review

Published

1 year ago

December 28, 2022

For British boxing, it was a good year.

Here I select four categories: the British Fighter of the Year, fairly self-explanatory; the British Fight of the Year, that is the best fight contested by two men from the United Kingdom; the British Breakthrough Fighter of the Year, that is, the British fighter who breaks into the divisional top-ten for their division, often unexpectedly; and finally the British Prospect of the Year, that is the fighter who has boxed fewer than ten professional contests at the end of 2022 who I think will be worth watching in 2023.

Remembering the last time British boxing didn’t have a great year is becoming more and more difficult.

British Fighter of the Year: Joe Joyce

Tyson Fury, Sunny Edwards, Leigh Wood, and John Ryder might all be seriously considered for the British fighter of 2022 but in the end, Joe Joyce was the name I returned to. His April destruction of Christian Hammer had an almost routine feel to it, a step down after his 2021 ruination of Carlos Takam and Daniel Dubois – but in September, Joyce turned in a performance of genuine pre-eminence, bettering Anthony Joshua by becoming the first man to stop the New Zealander Joseph Parker. It took eleven rounds, but despite Parker’s excellent chin and competent boxing, there was an air of inevitability about this stoppage early and that is what “The Juggernaut” really had to prove: that he could bring the same ceaseless pressure against quality opposition that he could against fellow prospects and slipped contenders. The answer was a resounding “yes.”

See Parker attempt to bomb his apparently slower opponent early in the first. Joyce’s frame is immutable, he holds steady, his massive arms are set in place as Parker punches on and around them. Joyce can ride punches, not the same as defensive soundness in a sport that is scored by judges, but something more fundamental, an ability to avoid the worst attentions of an opponent he wants to punch at him – if Joyce can make opponents routinely exchange, he would expect to win.

And, of course, when someone get through, that chin, a mandible unshaken by the 250lb Parker landing a flush straight-right at the end of round three that Joyce didn’t really seem to notice. Joyce is huge at 6’6 and 270lbs, has an elite engine, astonishing for his weight and range, hits with power, has serviceable footwork that leaves him routinely in a position to punch, which makes his pressure style so allowable at the highest level. Tyson Fury greeted both Oleksandr Usyk and Joe Joyce at ringside after his most recent victory and it was Joyce who caught the eye of Fury’s father, John, who predicted that Fury would lose “at 98%, he’d need to be 100% for that fight” while Usyk would be too small. I agree. Suddenly, Joyce seems the most dangerous man in the heavyweight division.

A final thought: it’s completely unproven at this point and will never be settled completely but it is possible that in Joyce and Deontay Wilder the heavyweight division has the greatest chin and punch in all of history. How tragic it would be if the two never met – but don’t be surprised if they do not. Wilder is no coward, but Joyce is rapidly becoming the problem the division does not need.

British Fight of the Year: Leigh Wood vs Michael Conlan

Usually, identifying the British Fight of the Year is a glorious charge down this year’s memory lane but for 2022, this was not a requirement. The British Fight of the Year is also the fight of the year anywhere, Leigh Wood’s astonishing twelfth round knockout of Michael Conlan is a lock.

Conlan, out of Belfast, was a storied amateur, and were it not for Katie Taylor, he would have likely been the definitive Irish amateur of the modern era. He turned pro with much fanfare after expressing doubts about the amateur code in which he had become a world champion, and sure enough was fast-tracked to a minor alphabet strap in just fifteen fights.

Wood meanwhile, was in a strange twilight zone between never-would and sort-of-has, returning from a loss of his European featherweight title to surprise in picking up his own minor strap against Can Xu in the summer of 2021. Xu was a prohibitive favourite but was out-boxed for stretches and behind after twelve rounds when Wood stopped him – Conlan, then, was warned.

He posted a warning of his own on the bell of the first round, dropping his man with a winging left-hand creating absolute bedlam at the Nottingham Arena, but Wood seemed clear-eyed despite the close attentions of referee Steve Gray. Wood needed that clarity because the beating he absorbed in the second was substantial. He was battered, moved, and his legs seemed about to leave him. He survived and he chose a range just outside Conlan’s jab and he held it, moving competently, controlling his opponent’s offence, but all while losing rounds. He swallowed slingshot lefts from Conlan all night and somehow boxed his way back into the contest. His watch word was professionalism – Wood was a better professional. He never went away – he stayed in the fight and kept the fight in Conlan’s face. It is worth noting, also, that even in the second round when Conlan thrashed him, Wood insisted on continuing to target the body.

Wood won the tenth; in the eleventh he was hurt to the body by sickening punches but continued to try to position his left foot inside Conlan’s southpaw right and with forty-five seconds remaining the Northern Irishman took his dominance as a signal to make war. This was a mistake. Seconds from the bell, Conan found himself on the ground looking up, immediately insisting he had slipped, but only after having been driven back by that never-erring two-handed attack of Wood.

The roof nearly lifted at the beginning of the twelfth. Let it drown out the “boxing is dead” doomsayers. Wood went one better in the final round, knocking Conlan unconscious and out of the ring.

“I can’t really remember [the knockdown],” Conlan said after the fight. “I’ve got to watch it back. Hopefully it was a good fight for tv.”

It was the best fight fought in Britain since the first Chris Eubank-Nigel Benn contest from 1990.

British Breakthrough Fighter of the Year: Liam Davies

At the beginning of 2021, Liam Davies was a six-round preliminary fighter, blowing out professional losers in what barely passed for a workout. By the end of the year he was fighting over ten rounds and had selected his alphabet on-ramp – now, as 2022 comes to a close, he is the British and European 122lb champion and ranks the tenth best fighter of his weight class in the world according to TBRB. Marc Leach was a significant favourite over Davies when they met this summer over twelve, a first for our British Breakthrough Fighter of the Year, but he looked huge in the ring, dwarfing Leach and apparently stepping into the ring closer to the lightweight limit of 135lbs. Davies looked for the one-two from the first and flashed Leach after mere seconds to take a lead he never surrendered. All three judges made him the winner. Davies boxed through some serious blood after a cut caused by a clash of heads, and although there was a move in some quarters to diminish the significance of this result after what was seen as an unrepeatable lightning start, Davies dispelled these notions by getting back in the ring just a few months later against Ionut Baluta.

Baluta is a well -known name on these shores for his performances against Michael Conlan (a narrow decision loss) and Brad Foster (who he beat over ten in May). It is fair to say that Baluta represents the style that most troubles Davies, a swarming, aggressive, brawling attack that introduces chaos and uncertainty against a fighter who wants to control distance. The result was a lo-fi classic of hard exchanges and urgent tactical tussles but Davies, despite ceding the territory often, won exchanges with speed, quality and composure, to take a clear decision and become perhaps the world’s most unlikely ranked fighter. He currently has nothing slated, but 2023 will be a huge year for him one way or the other.

British Prospect of the Year: Ben Whittaker

There is a fascinating rematch in Ben Whittaker’s future.

Now 2-0 as a professional light-heavyweight, it was in the 2021 Olympic finals of the same weight-class that the twenty-five-year-old ran up against the legendary Cuban amateur Arlen Lopez. Lopez, already an Olympic and World champion, added a second Olympic title and both men turned professional, perhaps to contest the big prizes in the paid code at some point in the future.

That Olympic final exposed Whittaker’s two great weaknesses. Accurate, quick of foot and hand, tall for the weight-class at 6’3”, he was criticised during his amateur career for a low workrate, preferring to admire his work or await a countering opportunity when his natural distance gives him a chance at a lead-jab. If he slips behind, as he did against Lopez, Whittaker has a dearth of power that may prohibit any come-from-behind dramatics, whatever the ruleset.

That’s plenty for his training team to be going on with, but the training team is headed by the man who turned Tyson Fury from a slickster seeking a decision to a monolith who dominates opponents with meaty punches, SugarHill Steward. “I don’t need a yes man,” Whittaker commented on Steward’s appointment. “He’s a teacher of the sport.”

“I like what Ben wanted,” is Steward’s own comment. “He wanted the hard road. He wants to be taught; he wants to learn…I believe this man is going to be a superstar.”

For now, Lopez will have to wait, and has his own progress to worry about, his professional record also just 2-0. If both he and Whittaker keep winning though, these two may meet as superstars somewhere around 2025.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 277

Matt McGrain

Up Next

Avila Perspective, Chap 218: Looking for Mr. Good Year

Don't Miss

Dmitry Bivol is the TSS 2022 Fighter of the Year

Avila Perspective, Chap. 281: The Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia Show

Published

11 hours ago

April 18, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-281-The-Devin-and-Ryan-Show

Over the years bouts between old foes such as Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia tend to be surprising.

Yes, both are only 25 but have known each other for many years.

When undisputed super lightweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) steps into the prize ring at Barclays Center to meet challenger Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) on Saturday, April 20, fans will be witnessing the continuation of a feud that began more than a decade ago.

And though the champion is a heavy favorite, familiarity is Garcia’s best weapon heading into their fight on the Golden Boy Promotions card that will be shown on PPV.COM with Jim Lampley and friends. DAZN pay-per-view is also streaming the card.

In many ways Haney and Garcia have ventured down the same path. From amateur sensations to fighting in Mexico while teens to asking for the biggest challenges available.

“Whichever version of Ryan shows up on April 20, I will be ready for him. Ryan Garcia is just another opponent to me,” said Haney who holds the WBC super lightweight title after his win over Regis Prograis.

The first time I saw Haney as a pro he battled the dangerous Mexican contender Juan Carlos Burgos at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula. It was an impressive performance against a fighter who fought three times for a world title.

Haney was 19 at the time.

My first look at Garcia as a pro was in his first bout in the U.S. when he met Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Cruz at the Exchange in downtown Los Angeles. The Boricua looked at Garcia and tried intimidating him with stares, taunts and the usual patter. During the fight both swung and missed until the second round when Garcia zeroed in and took him out.

Garcia had just turned 18, the legal age to fight in California.

Both fighters did not have the Olympics credentials that lead to fame. But their talent has allowed them to fight through the dense smoke that is professional boxing.

Haney has defeated numerous world champions such as Prograis, Vasyl Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr., while Garcia has stopped champions Javier Fortuna and Luke Campbell.

As amateurs, Garcia and Haney battled six times with each winning three.

“They know each other very well,” said Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions. “Ryan is going to beat Devin Haney.”

Haney has a buttery-smooth style with one of the best jabs in boxing. He’s very adept at keeping distance and not allowing anyone to fight him inside. His reflexes are outstanding, yet he seldom fights inside. That’s his weakness.

Garcia fights tall and has superb hand speed and a lightning quick left hook. Though his defense lacks tightness his ability to rip off three-punch combinations in a blink of an eye pauses opponents from bullying their way inside.

“These guys always just look at me and look at me like I don’t know how to box,” said Garcia on social media. “Why was I one of the best fighters in the amateurs. Why was I a 15-time National champion…why did I beat everyone I came across.”

Haney is a strong favorite by oddsmakers to defeat Garcia. But you can never tell when it comes to fighters that know each other well and are athletically gifted.

When Sergio Mora challenged Vernon Forrest he was a big underdog. When Tim Bradley fought Manny Pacquiao the first time, he was also the underdog. And when Andy Ruiz met Anthony Joshua few gave him a chance.

Haney and Garcia have history in the ring. It should be an interesting battle.

PPV.COM

Jim Lampley will be leading the broadcast on PPV.COM for the Haney-Garcia card at Barclays and texting with fans on the card live. He will be accompanied by journalists Lance Pugmire, Dan Conobbio and former champion Chris Algieri.

The PPV.COM broadcast begins at 5 p.m. PT. and is available in Canada and the USA.

Other News

MMA stars Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal will be holding a media day event on Friday, April 19, at NOVO at L.A. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Diaz and Masvidal will be boxing against each other in a grudge match on June 1 at the KIA Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The two MMA stars met five years at UFC 244 with Masvidal winning by TKO over Diaz due to cuts.

This is a grudge match, but under boxing rules.

Fight card in Commerce, Calif.

360 Promotions returns to Commerce Casino on Saturday April 20 with undefeated super lightweight Cain Sandoval leading the charge.

Sandoval (12-0) faces Angel Rebollar (8-3) in the main event that will be shown live on UFC Fight Pass. Also on the card are two female events including hot prospect Lupe Medina (5-0) versus Sabrina Persona (3-1) in a minimumweight clash.

Doors open at 4 p.m.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 199

Boxing Odds and Ends: The Heavyweight Merry-Go-Round

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Boxing Odds and Ends: The Heavyweight Merry-Go-Round

There were few surprises when co-promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren and their benefactor HE Turki Alalshikh held a press conference in London this past Monday to unveil the undercard for the Beterbiev-Bivol show at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 1. Most of the match-ups had already been leaked.

For die-hard boxing fans, Beterbiev-Bivol is such an enticing fight that it really doesn’t need an attractive undercard. Two undefeated light heavyweights will meet with all four relevant belts on the line in a contest where the oddsmakers straddled the fence. It’s a genuine “pick-‘em” fight based on the only barometer that matters, the prevailing odds.

But Beterbiev-Bivol has been noosed to a splendid undercard, a striking contrast to Saturday’s Haney-Garcia $69.99 (U.S.) pay-per-view in Brooklyn, an event where the undercard, in the words of pseudonymous boxing writer Chris Williams, is an absolute dumpster fire.

The two heavyweight fights that will bleed into Beterbiev-Bivol, Hrgovic vs. Dubois and Wilder vs. Zhang, would have been stand-alone main events before the incursion of Saudi money.

Hrgovic-Dubois

Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 13 KOs) and Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) fought on the same card in Riyadh this past December. Hrgovic, the Croatian, was fed a softie in the form of Australia’s Mark De Mori who he dismissed in the opening round. Dubois, a Londoner, rebounded from his loss to Oleksandr Usyk with a 10^th-round stoppage of corpulent Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller.

There’s an outside chance that Hrgovic vs. Dubois may be sanctioned by the IBF for the world heavyweight title.

The May 18 showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury has a rematch clause. The IBF is next in line in the rotation system for a unified heavyweight champion and the organization has made it plain that the winner of Usyk-Fury must fulfill his IBF mandatory before an intervening bout.

The best guess is that the Usyk-Fury winner will relinquish the IBF belt. If so, Hrgovic and Dubois may fight for the vacant title although a more likely scenario is that the organization will keep the title vacant so that the winner can fight Anthony Joshua.

Wilder-Zhang

The match between Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) and Zhilei Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs) is a true crossroads fight as both Wilder, 38, and Zhang, who turns 41 in May, are nearing the end of the road and the loser (unless it’s a close and entertaining fight) will be relegated to the rank of a has-been. In fact, Wilder has hinted that this may be his final rodeo.

Both are coming off a loss to Joseph Parker.

Wilder last fought on the card that included Hrgovic and Dubois and was roundly out-pointed by a man he was expected to beat. It’s a quick turnaround for Zhang who opposed Parker on March 8 and lost a majority decision.

Other Fights

Either of two other fights may steal the show on the June 1 event.

Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) meets Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) in a 12-round featherweight contest. New Jersey’s Ford will be defending the WBA world title he won with a come-from-behind, 12th-round stoppage of Otabek Kholmatov in an early contender for Fight of the Year. Liverpool’s “Wrecking” Ball, a relentless five-foot-two sparkplug, had to settle for a draw in his title fight with Rey Vargas despite winning the late rounds and scoring two knockdowns.

Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15 KOs) meets fellow unbeaten Austin “Ammo” Williams (16-0, 11 KOs) in a 12-round middleweight match. East London’s Sheeraz, the son of a former professional cricket player, is unknown in the U.S. although he trained for his recent fights at the Ten Goose Boxing Gym in California. Riding a skein of 13 straight knockouts, he has a date with WBO title-holder Janibek Alimkhanuly if he can get over this hurdle.

The Forgotten Heavyweight

“Unbeaten for seven years, the man nobody wants to fight,” intoned ring announcer Michael Buffer by way of introduction. Buffer was referencing Michael Hunter who stood across the ring from his opponent Artem Suslenkov.

This scene played out this past Saturday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It was Hunter’s second fight in three weeks. On March 23, he scored a fifth-round stoppage of a 46-year-old meatball at a show in Zapopan, Mexico.

The second-generation “Bounty Hunter,” whose only defeat prior to last weekend came in a 12-rounder with Oleksandr Usyk, has been spinning his wheels since TKOing the otherwise undefeated Martin Bakole on the road in London in 2018. Two fights against hapless opponents on low-budget cards in Mexico and a couple of one-round bouts for the Las Vegas Hustle, an entry in the fledgling and largely invisible Professional Combat League, are the sum total of his activity, aside from sparring, in the last two-and-a-half years.

Hunter’s chances of getting another big-money fight took a tumble in Tashkent where he lost a unanimous decision in a dull affair to the unexceptional Suslenkov who was appearing in his first 10-round fight. The scores of the judges were not announced.

You won’t find this fight listed on boxrec. As Jake Donovan notes, the popular website will not recognize a fight conducted under the auspices of a rogue commission. (Another fight you won’t find on boxrec for the same reason is Nico Ali Walsh’s 6-round split decision over the 9-2-1 Frenchman, Noel Lafargue, in the African nation of Guinea on Dec. 16, 2023. You can find it on YouTube, but according to boxrec, boxing’s official record-keeper, it never happened.)

Anderson-Merhy Redux

The only thing missing from this past Saturday’s match in Corpus Christi, Texas, between Jared Anderson and Ryad Merhy was the ghost of Robert Valsberg.

Valsberg, aka Roger Vaisburg, was the French referee who disqualified Ingemar Johansson for not trying in his match with LA’s Ed Sanders in the finals of the heavyweight competition at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Valsberg tossed Johansson out of the ring after two rounds and Johansson was denied the silver medal. The Swede redeemed himself after turning pro, needless to say, when he demolished Floyd Patterson in the first of their three meetings.

Merhy was credited with throwing only 144 punches, landing 34, over the course of the 10 rounds. Those dismal figures yet struck many onlookers as too high. (This reporter has always insisted that the widely-quoted CompuBox numbers should be considered approximations.)

Whatever the true number, it was a disgraceful performance by Merhy who actually showed himself to have very fast hands on the few occasions when he did throw a punch. With apologies to Delfine Persoon, a spunky lightweight, U.S. boxing promoters should think twice before inviting another Belgian boxer to our shores.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 768

Anderson Cruises by Vapid Merhy and Ajagba edges Vianello in Texas

Published

5 days ago

April 14, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Anderson-Cruises-by-Vapid-Merhy-and-Ajagba-Edges-Vianello-in-Texas

Jared Anderson returned to the ring tonight on a Top Rank card in Corpus Christi, Texas. Touted as the next big thing in the heavyweight division, Anderson (17-0, 15 KOs) hardly broke a sweat while cruising past Ryad Merhy in a bout with very little action, much to the disgruntlement of the crowd which started booing as early as the second round. The fault was all Merhy as he was reluctant to let his hands go. Somehow, he won a round on the scorecard of judge David Sutherland who likely fell asleep for a round for which he could be forgiven.

Merhy, born in the Ivory Coast but a resident of Brussels, Belgium, was 32-2 (26 KOs) heading in after fighting most of his career as a cruiserweight. He gave up six inches in height to Anderson who was content to peck away when it became obvious to him that little would be coming back his way.

Anderson may face a more daunting adversary on Monday when he has a court date in Romulus, Michigan, to answer charges related to an incident in February where he drove his Dodge Challenger at a high rate speed, baiting the police into a merry chase. (Weirdly, Anderson entered the ring tonight wearing the sort of helmet that one associates with a race car driver.)

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, a battle between six-foot-six former Olympians, Italy’s Guido Vianello started and finished strong, but Efe Ajagba had the best of it in the middle rounds and prevailed on a split decision. Two of the judges favored Ajagba by 96-94 scores with the dissenter favoring the Italian from Rome by the same margin.

Vianello had the best round of the fight. He staggered Ajagba with a combination in round two. At the end of the round, a befuddled Ajagba returned to the wrong corner and it appeared that an upset was brewing. But the Nigerian, who trains in Las Vegas under Kay Koroma, got back into the fight with a more varied offensive attack and better head movement. In winning, he improved his ledger to 20-1 (14). Vianello, who sparred extensively with Daniel Dubois in London in preparation for this fight, declined to 12-2-1 in what was likely his final outing under the Top Rank banner.

Other Bouts of Note

In the opening bout on the main ESPN platform, 35-year-old super featherweight Robson Conceicao, a gold medalist for Brazil in the 2016 Rio Olympics, stepped down in class after fighting Emanuel Navarrete tooth-and-nail to a draw in his previous bout and scored a seventh-round stoppage of Jose Ivan Guardado who was a cooked goose after slumping to the canvas after taking a wicked shot to the liver. Guardado made it to his feet, but the end was imminent and the referee waived it off at the 2:27 mark.

Conceicao improved to 18-1 (9 KOs). It was the U.S. debut for Guardado (15-2-1), a boxer from Ensenada, Mexico who had done most of his fighting up the road in Tijuana.

Ruben Villa, the pride of Salinas, California, improved to 22-1 (7) and moved one step closer to a match with WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas with a unanimous 10-round decision over Tijuana’s Cristian Cruz (22-7-1). The judges had it 97-93 and 98-92 twice.

Cruz, the son of former IBF world featherweight title-holder Cristobal Cruz, was better than his record. He entered the bout on a 21-1-1 run after losing five of his first seven pro fights.

Cleveland southpaw Abdullah Mason, who turned 20 earlier this month, continued his fast ascent up the lightweight ladder with a fourth-round stoppage of Ronal Ron.

Mason (13-0, 11 KOs) put Ron on the canvas in the opening round with a short left hook. He scored a second knockdown with a shot to the liver. A flurry of punches, a diverse array, forced the stoppage at the 1:02 mark of round four. A 25-year-old SoCal-based Venezuelan, the spunky but out-gunned Ron declined to 14-6.

Charly Suarez, a 35-year-old former Olympian from the Philippines, ranked #5 at junior lightweight by the IBF, advanced to 17-0 (9) with a unanimous 8-round decision over SoCal’s Louie Coria (5-7).

This was a tactical fight. In the final round, Coria, subbing for 19-0 Henry Lebron, caught the Filipino off-balance and knocked him into the ropes which held him up. It was scored a knockdown, but came too little, too late for Coria who lost by scores of 76-75 and 77-74 twice.

Suarez, whose signature win was a 12^th-round stoppage of the previously undefeated Aussie Paul Fleming in Sydney, may be headed to a rematch with Robson Conceicao. They fought as amateurs in 2016 in Kazakhstan and Suarez lost a narrow 6-round decision.

Photo credit: Mikey Willams / Top Rank via Getty Images

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 975