HONEST APPRAISALS
George Gigney watches the weekend’s boxing and asks, If Haye and Frampton can’t pass their opinion, who can?
BROADCASTS
THE word “quit” is something of a lightning rod in boxing circles, prompting strong reactions on either side of whatever debate the term is used in. That was certainly the case after the weekend when Joe Joyce stopped Daniel Dubois in 10 rounds.
Dubois, his left eye swollen shut, took a knee for the full 10–count after Joyce bludgeoned him with yet another stiff jab. It was a pretty astonishing finish – the fight was fully in the balance, with either man in a position to earn victory. In fact, it was later revealed that Dubois was up on two of the judges’ cards at the time of the stoppage – one of which had him up by five rounds. The less said about that score, the better.
John Rawling and Richie Woodhall on commentary expressed their shock at Dubois’ decision to sit out the count, but also highlighted the severity of the swelling around his eye, and how the final blow landed flush on it.
However, it seems Joyce’s performance was slightly overlooked – there was a lot of focus on Dubois’ decision to remain on the floor, but little attention paid to the excellent work Joyce produced to cause the stoppage. The big man from Putney barely had a mark on him and didn’t even look out of breath at the end. A rematch with Oleksandr Usyk – who beat Joyce in the World Series of Boxing when they were both still amateurs – would be fascinating.
On punditry, Carl Frampton and David Haye went a step further and criticised Dubois, Frampton even using the Q– word. Of course, this only added fuel to the fire already spreading on social media about the fight.
Whether you agree or disagree with their comments, it should still be appreciated that they’re being honest in their analysis – after all, that’s what they’re there for, and if accomplished fighters like Frampton and Haye aren’t allowed to give their views when asked for them, then who is?
Beyond that, the fact is that – in the moment – no one knew just how much damage had been dealt to Dubois’ eye. As Frampton pointed out, he’s still very young and can rebound from this. To debate his decision is futile; what happens in his career from here on out will reveal whether it was the right one or not.
It’s also worth noting that Dubois’ eye started marking up very early in the fight
and he was clearly struggling with the swelling for most of the contest – he did well to battle through that for as long as he did.
The night before, over in America, Daniel Jacobs earned a close, contentious and utterly boring points victory over Gabriel Rosado. Besides the ring announcer’s gaffe when reading the result – which, to their credit, broadcaster DAZN leveraged for some social media content – it was the apparent disdain between commentators Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora that attracted most attention. Bizarrely, the pair kept trading digs at one another on the broadcast, which eventually became pretty distracting. Still, it was slightly more entertaining than the actual boxing – if not alarmingly unprofessional.
Triller, for their broadcast of Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jnr, embraced the madness and hired Snoop Dogg to commentate on the fights alongside UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. No, Snoop Dogg did not provide any meaningful insights nor structure to the commentary, but he was hilarious to listen to, particularly when he kept shouting at Jones Jnr to “get out of there!” Adesanya, for his part, also provided value. Many scoffed at the idea of a UFC fighter calling a boxing match, but Adesanya is a former professional boxer and kickboxer himself, and widely regarded as one of – if not the – best strikers in the UFC. Plus, this wasn’t really an actual fight, was it?
WEBSITES
With the UK government’s announcement of the new tiered lockdown system, it was confirmed that London would be placed in Tier 2, which can allow crowds of up to 1,000 people at sporting events.
This opens the door for somewhat of a live crowd at Anthony Joshua’s upcoming title defence against Kubrat Pulev – a unique experience for anyone in attendance, for sure.
In response to the news, Frank Warren also said they intend to have a crowd at this weekend’s fight between Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur, though there’ll be no tickets on sale – they’ll be allocated to key workers and Chelsea Pensioners free of charge.
It’s likely a similar gesture will be made for the Joshua fight.
After flirting with the idea of facing Marcos Maidana in a comeback fight, Oscar De La Hoya now has his sights set on Gennady Golovkin. I mean, why take on a long–retired murderous puncher when you could just fight an active one, right?
“You know how easy ‘GGG’ would be for me? Oh, my gosh,” De La Hoya told Boxing-scene. “It would be a high–profile fight, that’s for sure.
“I always took a good shot and I always took apart fighters like him. In my mind it would be that easy. I would definitely consider it, that’s for sure.”
Now, I’m not interested in De La Hoya’s actual plans for a comeback, but more so why he keeps making comments like this. There’s little to no chance a fight with Golovkin happens, so what is De La Hoya trying to sell here? Whatever it is, let’s hope it keeps him out of the ring – we need Tyson–jones to remain a one–off.
For now, it’s been confirmed that Golovkin will face Kamil Szeremeta on December 18 – one day before Canelo Alvarez fights Callum Smith. Should they both win, they’d be perfectly aligned for a trilogy fight in May of next year.