‘FURY & CO MUST FLOOR YOUTUBERS’
JOE CALZAGHE has told Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury they need to get in the ring to save boxing from the Youtubers.
Britain’s most successful world champion ever reckons only regular big fights and fewer champions can divert the screenagers from sluggers such as Jake and Logan Paul.
Calzaghe, whose late dad and trainer Enzo was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame this week, went unbeaten at super-middleweight for a decade until he retired in 2009.
He saluted his father when picking up the posthumous honour. Turning to the future for boxing, Calzaghe said: “You have young fans who are not boxing fans, they are Jake Paul fans. They tune in to watch him.
“I don’t know why, but then I’m a 51-year-old and I don’t go on Youtube. I just wonder how many kids watching Jake Paul are going to then go on to watch a world-title fight?”
Welshman Calzaghe was ringside at Fury’s laboured win over MMA star Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago.
He reckons that only by Fury, Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder giving fans the fights they want to see, can real boxing grab back attention.
Calzaghe added: “On the one hand, we have unbeaten world champions who are not getting the recognition, and maybe the rewards, they deserve. On the other hand, we have Youtubers who are getting millions of pounds for fighting. Boxing has to respond.
“One problem is we have way too many world titles and people calling themselves a champion.
“In the heavyweight division, we have Wilder, AJ, Fury and Usyk – all big stars, but why aren’t they fighting each other?”