Ring final bell on the crass crossovers

WHERE does boxing’s carnival of horror end? The increasing number of crossover fights between elite boxers and MMA fighters does absolutely nothing for the sport and, rather than increase interest, it actually degrades boxing. Riath Al-Samarrai wrote an excellent, excoriating column in these pages on the subject last weekend. It was a total evisceration of these fights and I agreed with every word. It’s sad for Mike Tyson, a legendary fighter, to be in a situation where he’s giving this Sideshow Bob character Jake Paul an opportunity to make more money. I watched the whole spectacle in the build-up to Anthony Joshua’s fight with Francis Ngannou and it was laughable. If these supposedly elite heavyweights are as good as they say they are, then Ngannou shouldn’t get anywhere near the top fighters. That’s not because he can’t take a punch or isn’t a combat fighter, but because they are massively different disciplines. It would be the same if you put boxers in the octagon, they wouldn’t last five minutes. Tyson Fury’s earlier fight against Ngannou was awful and damaged the credibility of heavyweight boxing. Thankfully, AJ singlehandedly re-established it. He set the record straight and did what an elite heavyweight should have done, which is swiftly knock out Ngannou. I understand that it is entertainment and therefore becomes a different dynamic with different expectations but it’s one thing on the periphery of the sport but another at the elite end of it. There is nothing about these crossover fights that benefits boxing. It benefitted MMA, Ngannou and the Saudis who hosted the fight but I see no benefits for boxing.

But unlike Fury, Joshua did his job, did it well and by showing the world how an elite heavyweight should handle such a novice, catapulted himself back into national treasure status.