BOXING
Boxing, derided in recent years as a brutal blood sport, is regaining popularity, writes
The internet resurrects a savage sport
You may or may not have noticed but something odd is happening. People are starting to like boxing again. Not the salt and peppery men who gush over Sugar Ray Leonard with pedantic lust or frat bros whose interest in combat sports is inversely proportional to the junk in their trunks or even people whose hatred of Floyd Mayweather smacks of a blood feud. No, boxing is increasingly becoming interesting for regular salt of the earth folk who enjoy watching people try to give each other concussions. Not since the days of Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones Jr and Mike Tyson has boxing been this popular and, as with most things these days, the internet has a lot to do with that. Cast your mind back to the Dark Ages of boxing, the Klitschko era. Brothers Wladmir and Vitaly dominated the heavyweight division, typically the most fan friendly, with fighting styles and personalities reminiscent of a Thabo Mbeki speech. They were good but academic. Floyd Mayweather was operating at this time and bringing in tons of eyeballs but he was all personality and no panache. His boxing ability was unparalleled but my grandfather has unparalleled knitting skills and no one wants to watch him do that for an hour. People watched Floyd because they hoped someone would beat the humility into this hyper uppity little black man with more money than Crassus.
Fortunately, the world has changed and dragged boxing with it. The resurgence of the heavyweight division, a greater availability of truncated fight clips and boxers with actual personality who routinely knock each other out has made boxing fun again. Then there is also the out-of-the-ring drama. It all reads like a soap opera with X boxer calling out Y and Z pugilist accusing both of being scared of him while C combatant laughs from the sidelines. So next time you are on YouTube, these are some of the names you should type into your search bar should you wish to slake your thirst for blood and potential brain damage:
Anthony Joshua, heavyweight
Currently the holder of three of the four major heavyweight boxing titles, Joshua is a big part of the reason why heavyweight boxing is back again and arguably the most famous person in boxing right now not named Mayweather. He is impressively pretty, eloquent and has a propensity for violence that 20 of his 21 opponents have not been able to handle. Before his fight last year with Wladmir Klitschko, Joshua had been quietly injecting life back into British heavyweight boxing. Those in the know knew he had something special but he had yet to be properly tested. Those outside the know still viewed his sport as a refuge for people with gambling addictions. The latter opinion changed after the young Brit came through a thunderous fight with Klitschko that saw him knocked down, get back up and beat the Ukrainian like a communist drum. His most recent fight was a much more drab affair in which he won a points decision against New Zealander Joseph Parker but one suspects it was simply a tune-up fight for his impending brawl with American heavyweight Deontay Wilder.
Deontay Wilder, heavyweight
The Scaramanga to Joshua’s Bond, this 32-year-old Alabama native is arguably one of the most entertaining fighters to watch in the sport right now and the prospect of a matchup between him and Joshua has many a boxing lover’s pants tightening in anticipation. Wilder AKA the Bronze Bomber, holds one of the four major boxing titles and a fight between him and Joshua that didn’t end in a draw would see the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis. Wilder is brash, loud and rambunctious. If they were dinner guests Joshua would be the one that bows to his host and uses his cutlery properly. Wilder would start a food fight and invite strippers. Their fighting styles are also polar opposites. Where Joshua is more technical and precise, Wilder has built a fabulous highlight reel out of simply flattening his opponents with insane haymakers. Recently Wilder knotted a bunch of knickers when he said in an interview that he wanted to “catch a body” in the ring. (Catching a body means to kill someone.)
Vasyl Lomachenko, lightweight
Virtually every fight Lomachenko participates in ends with commentators waxing lyrical about how unique he is. Watching him fight is like watching someone try to punch an eel that’s dancing. Despite his relative inexperience Lomachenko has already captured a world title. Part of what makes him so fan friendly is his ability to toy with his opponents — even going as far as to walk into the corner and invite his opponent to try to hit him only for that opponent to hit nothing but fresh air.
Genady ’GGG’ Golovkin, middleweight
Golovkin probably has one of the most impressive and entertaining highlight reels in boxing today. Known for his ring generalship, immense punching power and granite chin, the Kazakh known as triple G went through a years-long streak of putting his opponents to sleep in ways that have kept jaw doctors across the world gainfully employed.
His mega fight with Saul Alvarez last year ended in a mildly controversial draw and the rivalry was supposed to reach a more satisfying conclusion in May but Alvarez tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, leaving GGG to scramble for a replacement opponent.