Two Big Fights Across the Pond Go Head-to-Head: Better Get Used to It

On Saturday, there are big fights in Manchester and London. The featured bout on the Manchester show, a Frank Warren production, sees Josh Warrington defend his IBF world featherweight title against former two-division world title holder Carl Frampton. The London show, an Eddie Hearn production, is topped by the rematch between Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora.

Both fights are PPV events in Great Britain. In the United States, Warrington-Frampton will air on ESPN+ and Whyte-Chisora on Showtime. They will go off simultaneously, a slap in the face to serious boxing fans but a development certain to become more common in the next few years. (For the record, Frank Warren’s show was locked in first, preceding news of Eddie Hearn’s show by seven weeks. And yes, you can bet that Warren, who has been promoting fights since 1980, is pissed off.)

The deals carved out in recent months between live-streaming platforms and the sport’s leading promoters obligate the promoters to create more content than has been their norm. DAZN, which is aligned with Hearn’s Matchroom operation and with Golden Boy, promises more than 100 shows a year between MMA and boxing in their ads for new subscribers. Top Rank’s deal with ESPN , announced in August, calls for 54 live boxing events annually, including fights outside the U.S. for which Top Rank will acquire the U.S. broadcast rights. Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, which partners with Showtime and Fox, just announced a new affiliation with British broadcaster ITV.

Boxing is bursting out all over and we haven’t yet seen the full extent of it.

The Warrington-Frampton fight in Manchester has a much stronger undercard, but the Whyte-Chisora fight in London will inevitably attract more eyeballs. Casual fans are enamored of heavyweights and the first meeting was a humdinger.

Whyte-Chisora I was contested two years ago in Manchester. It was bombs away as the two Londoners, one born in Jamaica (Whyte) and the other in Zimbabwe traded haymakers from start to finish. “Chisora or Whyte may never become world champions,” wrote Forbes contributor Brian Mazique, “but they could become the Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti of the heavyweight division. I’d pay to see them clash again.” Whyte emerged victorious by the narrowest of margins, winning a split decision.

The first Whyte-Chisora fight was preceded by an ugly press conference in which representatives of both camps scuffled after Chisora picked up a table and threw it at Whyte. Things were relatively subdued this time around until Friday’s weigh-in when another scuffle erupted.

Both fighters appeared on the same show on July 28 and scored mild upsets. Whyte (24-1, 17 KOs) overcame a big scare in the 12^th round to win a narrow decision over former WBO heavyweight title-holder Joseph Parker. Chisora (29-8, 21 KOs) stopped Carlos Takam in the eighth round.

The main undercard fight pits Cristofer Rosales (28-3, 19 KOs) against Charlie Edwards (13-1, 6 KOs). The oddsmakers opened this fight in the “pick-em” range, but the odds quickly shifted in favor of Nicaragua’s Rosales who will be making the second defense of his WBC world flyweight title.

Warrington-Frampton

Josh Warrington (27-0, 6 KOs) scored a big upset in his last start while shearing the IBF title from Lee Selby who came in riding an 18-fight winning streak and was making his fifth title defense. In the process, Warrington became the first fighter from Leeds to win a world title. He had the advantage of fighting on his home turf on the grounds of the Leeds soccer club, but he out-worked Selby across the 12 rounds and there was nothing tainted about the split decision that went in his favor.

Now he once again sees himself cast as the underdog. Lee Selby was generally regarded as a domestic level talent. Carl Frampton (26-1, 15 KOs) is a cut above. His lone defeat came in his second meeting with Leo Santa Cruz, a fighter whose name appears on a few pound-for-pound lists, and he’s won three straight since that setback including a wide decision over Nonito Donaire.

Four former Olympians, including gold medalist Billy Joe Saunders, will appear on the undercard. Saunders, unbeaten as a pro, has been out of action since outclassing David Lemieux in December of last year. In the interim, he was fined $100,000 by the British Boxing Board of Control for actions that “brought the sport into disrepute” and was stripped of his WBO world middleweight title after testing positive for a banned stimulant. Saunders is matched against a 41-year-old man from Ghana in a bout slated for eight rounds,

Rising heavyweight contender Nathan Gorman is also on the Manchester undercard, as is Tommy Fury, younger brother of Tyson, who will be making his professional debut. Fury’s opponent, a Latvian, has lost 24 straight and 110 overall.

Dueling fight cards televised on rival networks with fight fans forced to choose which one to watch live. It’s an irksome situation, but we had better get used to it. It’s the downside to the sudden efflorescence of boxing.

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