Fightful Boxing Newsletter (5/8/2020): Boxing’s Efforts To Return This Summer, Joshua vs. Fury Talks
Fightful Boxing Newsletter (5/8/2020) Table Of Contents:
- Commissions, Promotions Working To Bring Back Boxing (Page 1)
- Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury Talks Underway? Why It’s Likely Not Happening Next (Page 2)
- News And Notes From The World Of Boxing (Page 3)
- Fightful Boxing Rankings (Pages 4-5)
Commissions, Promotions Working To Bring Back Boxing:
Regardless of whether or not it is the appropriate time, the world, as well as the sport of boxing, is slowly making its way to return to normalcy, or at least what will be established as the new normal in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
April already saw the return of live boxing with fans in attendance when Nicaragua held a boxing show that was televised on ESPN Deportes in the United States. That card presented a potential blueprint in regards to boxing’s initial return with fans in attendance.
However, most of the world is still dealing with thousands of COVID-19 cases, something that Nicaragua isn’t dealing with and so the idea of staging events behind closed doors or in a studio setting remains the logical first step for boxing to return.
Initially, one could have predicted that boxing would be back by the end of the summer. But whether it is impatience, a need to deliver live sports for monetary reasons, an underestimation of the current situation, a combination of the three or more, steps are being made by various sanctioning bodies and entities to try and bring back boxing.
The WBC is recommending boxers and their teams should be based at an isolated venue for 14 days leading up to the fight, and has set out guidelines for remote judging.
Under the WBC’s plans, there is one massive change to how fights are going to be scored that is being considered. judges will score fights by watching the fight live via TV from home, logging into a WBC portal and then scoring the fight after every round. The state or national boxing commission and supervisor will then finalize the scores at the venue. While this would be a way to limit the amount of people that will be present at ringside during events, the idea of having the main judges score a fight from home, could present itself some problems.
Unless you have someone keeping a watchful eye on these judges from home, it’s impossible to truly tell if they are adequately paying attention to a fight on TV screen. Alternatively, watching fights from television certainly provides a better view of the action compared to looking up and being right next to the ring.
The issue here is that there is no precedent for this type of judging and could potentially backfire tremendously if you don’t have the proper means to regulate and monitor the judges paying attention to the fights. In the best case scenario, these judges are able to completely shut down all manner of communication and distractions except for whomever these judges have to contact to report scores, allowing them to properly do their job. It’s not totally unreasonable to expect that, but it’s also hard to envision this causing no problems whatsoever.
The WBC is emailing promoters and boxing commissions around the world with its protocol for boxing cards behind closed doors, although the governing body has no authority to enforce the protocols it sets out.
“I’ve read the plan. I think there’s some good information in the plan,” Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission, told ESPN. “We’re working with our doctors to have a viable option for promoters when the [California] government announces the Phase 3 part of the reopening. We’re gonna continue to talk about this and continue to develop it.”
Larry Hazzard, director of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, had similar thoughts when talking to ESPN about public health concerns dictating when and how to begin the process of returning to sports: “New Jersey, when we do resume our level of activity, we will be guided strictly by our medical staff, and we will go forth based upon the evidence that we get from our media advisory panel, regardless of what ideas some sanctioning bodies have — and that includes the WBC.”
The New York State Athletic Commission, meanwhile, said in the ESPN report that as the state “begins to develop a phased-in approach to reopen, the commission is continuing to monitor the situation and will work with our medical team to ensure we are in compliance with all rapidly evolving state guidelines to protect the health and safety of fighters, employees and the greater public.”
The WBC also advises measures that include a questionnaire about the coronavirus for those involved in the event, an examination of medical records, daily monitoring and three coronavirus tests, with the final one at the weigh-in.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman told a news conference on Zoom: “This is a recommendation document for promoters. The idea would be a lockdown place [venue], not open to the public. The press conference and weigh-in would have no public. The fighters and their teams would need to go through a 14-day isolation with a daily monitoring of their temperatures. This is a proposed protocol for the boxing industry to use. We understand each country has different laws and states in the U.S. have different state laws. This is a general recommendation and it’s not to do with WBC world boxing events, it’s for boxing in general.”
The British Boxing Board of Control’s most recent update on its plans are for events to start in July. Only essential officials would be allowed to enter the venue for the fights besides the fighters and their respective camps as well as any commission officials, judges and referees.
The BBBofC also made a list of people who should not attend events, which includes those 70 years or older, regardless of medical condition, those with chronic lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, heart conditions, immunocompromised, those with chronic neurological conditions, people with diabetes and people who are seriously overweight.
Boxers, referees and trainers would be required to undergo COVID-19 testing 48 hours before the event. After the tests have been administered everyone would then be required to self-isolate in a hotel, the sole responsibility of handling would be placed solely on the promoter, to await testing results with the BBBofC needing to be informed of all test results at least 24 hours before the event. Those who tested positive would obviously not be allowed to take part in any fight week/day-related events. In addition, the BBBogC will arrange COVID-19 testing for BBBofC officials and the referee.
During the event itself, boxers, referees and trainers will be transported to the venue wearing personal protective masks and eye protection and only boxers are allowed to take them off once inside the ring. Referees and cornermen will continue to wear masks.
No championship fights will be considered at first, but the decision to sanction such fights are to be determined when the time comes. The BBBofC did, however, say that each event is to have at least five fights.
Matchroom has already started to quietly move some of its shows to a later date and is considering doing them in a studio setting/empty arena. Its planned July 4 event that would have been headlined by Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin and co-headlined by Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano is now being targeted for late July/early August.
Now as commissions and sanctioning bodies worldwide are starting to make plans to return, boxing promoters have already started making moves, especially in Florida. Christy Martin Promotions announced this week that there will be a card in Saint Augustine, Florida taking place on July 11 with no fans allowed in the arena. The card is set to feature the likes of unbeaten prospect Richard “Popeye The Sailor Man” Rivera and WBO Youth super bantamweight titleholder Frency Fortunato Saya.
Bob Arum of Top Rank, meanwhile, has been doing his best to secure events starting in June, primarily targeting Florida for empty arena shows given how UFC, WWE (and by extension AEW) have been given the green light to run televised events with no fans. Arum is looking to lock down a number of fights for these events, which would run during the week and on weekends, but don’t expect the top stars on its roster to be fighting in this initial run of events.
“We are coming back in June,” Arum told ESPN. “These will be shows that will be on ESPN and ESPN+. They will take place during the week and on weekends. They’ll all be top fighters, really top fights. Will there be a [Tyson] Fury-[Deontay] Wilder? No. But they’ll be some of our top fighters, like Jose Ramirez, he’ll be in the mix, various others, Teofimo [Lopez], Shakur [Stevenson], all of them. In other words, the fights will be similar as the fights we’ve been putting on ESPN and ESPN+.”
Arum did also note that Nevada is a strong possibility to host fights as well given that Nevada’s main offices are in Nevada and it has a gym for fighters to train there. In addition, Arum said he doesn’t expect his shows to bring back live crowds until the fourth quarter of this year, which means expect empty arena shows until at least through August.
Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury Talks Underway? Why It’s Likely Not Happening Next:
Seemingly every year for the past couple of years, reports of talks of a fight between the heavyweight division’s top two stars to crown an undisputed champion. Before 2020, that was Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder given that both fighters held a majority of the titles since 2017 (and all the titles from March 2018 to June 2019 as well as December 2019 to February 2020).
Now that Tyson Fury holds the WBC title after his TKO victory over Wilder this past February, the biggest fight that can be made in the division is now Joshua vs. Fury for the undisputed WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF world titles.
Per ESPN’s Mark Kriegel, negotiations are underway for a potential megafight between the two champions in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula. Fury’s adviser, MTK, which is based in Dubai, is negotiating for Fury on behalf of his co-promoters, Top Rank and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions. MTK is awaiting an offer from promoters in Saudi Arabia, a country that has taken a major interest in hosting international sporting and entertainment shows.
Already, Saudi Arabia was able to secure Joshua’s most recent fight back in December when he defeated Andy Ruiz Jr. to win back the WBA, WBO and IBF titles. In addition, MTK and Top Rank have been able to hold cards in the Middle East since last year, which makes the idea of another mega event taking place in the region all the more credible.
The reason MTK is negotiating the fight for the Fury side instead of Bob Arum specifically or perhaps more notably, Frank Warren, Fury’s British promoter. Joshua is promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and both Hearn and Warren have been at odds with each other for years as the two biggest boxing promoters in the United Kingdom.
Interpromotional fights between the two is exceedingly rare, which is why a fight between Demetrius Andrade and Billy Joe Saunders set for last October in Boston (which ultimately fell apart due to Saunders failing a drug test in the UK) was so notable because Andrade and Saunders were promoted by Hearn and Warren, respectively, at the time.
But as nice as a potential fight between both champions sounds like, the reality here is that the fight is unlikely to happen any time soon.
Putting aside the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic, a major roadblock to making the fight happen, or at least making the fight for the undisputed championship (which does add to the luster and intrigue of the fight), is the mandatory defense problem that Joshua has. Before these reported talks with Fury’s party began, Joshua had previously signed on to defend his titles against Kubrat Pulev in June at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Pulev is the mandatory challenger to the IBF title that Joshua holds and has been the mandatory challenger since October 2018.
The only hope for Joshua to fight Fury next and appease Pulev with a big step aside fee that would allow Joshua to keep the IBF title. Pulev’s team has already said they are not doing and are actively pursuing a fight against Joshua. Should Joshua reject a fight against Pulev next, there’s a strong possibility that the IBF would strip Joshua of the title, as it has done in the past with Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin when they each declined to defend their respective middleweight belts against their mandatory challengers.
As for Fury, there’s still the contractual obligation to have a third fight against Wilder and the two were going to have a third fight in the summer (then tentatively moved to the fall due to the coronavirus) but that fight was never formally announced. There’s a very small chance that Wilder would ever agree to step aside for Joshua vs. Fury to happen next and even Shelly Finkel, Wilder’s advisor, said the plan is still for Fury and Wilder to fight next.
“As far as we’re concerned, the next fight [for Wilder] is the third fight [with Fury],” Finkel told ESPN.
When it comes to Joshua vs. Pulev, there are active discussions between the two sides to try and get the fight to be made as soon as possible. This means the potential of having the fight take place outside of London and even outside the United Kingdom.
Pulev’s manager Ivaylo Gotsev told local Bulgarian media that Croatia is a possibility. The country doesn’t have major issues with coronavirus cases as there have been 2,125 confirmed cases with only 86 deaths, significantly down from the 200,000+ confirmed cases and 30,000+ deaths in England alone.
Given how Nicaragua, a country where the coronavirus has barely touched, has already experimented with doing boxing shows with limited attendance and Poland holding a card in June, it’s not unthinkable to think Croatia is being seriously considered.
“For our part, we are discussing Croatia. There is a unique Roman stadium ‘Pula Arena’ and we are in active conversation. We like this variant because it is in Europe, in the middle of the continent. The arena itself predisposes to an unprecedented event in our times,” Gotsev said.
In fact, don’t expect Joshua vs. Fury to happen anytime within the next 12 months for that matter for a couple of reasons.
On the Fury side, not only does he have to contend with the contractually obligated third fight against Wilder, even if Fury wins that fight, there’s the matter of his eventual mandatory challenger. When the WBC and UKAD wrapped up its conclusion into Dillian Whyte’s failed drug test from this past summer, the WBC reinstated him as champion and then ruled that it will order a fight between Whyte and the champion in February 2021. Of course, there’s no telling what the timetable is due to the pandemic, but as it stands, Whyte is still the mandatory challenger for the WBC title come next February.
Joshua, meanwhile, not only has to contend with the IBF mandatory in Pulev, but also the eventual WBO mandatory in Oleksandr Usyk, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion. Although there is no real idea as to when the WBO would strictly enforce a fight between Joshua and Usyk, there is an understanding that the WBO would want to make that fight happen after the Pulev bout if there’s no immediate agreement for an undisputed championship fight against Fury.
Technically, the WBA could have someone in line to fight Joshua and Robert Helenius did win a WBA title eliminator in March, there was no consistent and concrete way to distinguish which WBA title the eliminator was for. All that was said was for the “world” title, which could easily be either Joshua, or Mahmoud Charr, who holds the “Regular” belt (or “World” title which the WBA sometimes and incorrectly calls). However, given how incredibly lax the WBA is with its mandatory challenger situations sometimes, it’s not really a concern at this present time or even in the future.
While it’s unlikely to see an undisputed champion in 2020, the fact that there are talks about making Joshua vs. Fury is promising for down the road. But Joshua and Wilder’s camps were also negotiating a fight on and off for years and that went nowhere. There’s no guarantee that it will be the same for Joshua vs. Fury.
News And Notes From The World Of Boxing:
– Jimmy Glenn, who was known and loved by many in the boxing community, passed away at the age of 89 due to complications caused by COVID-19. Glenn, who was hospitalized in New York City for the past few weeks, was the owner of Jimmy’s Corner in Times Square and a friend to many in the sport after decades of being involved in numerous ways. Glenn was also a trainer and cutman for decades, having worked with notable boxers such as Floyd Patterson, Howard Davis Jr., Jameel McCline, John Meekins and more. Glenn trained boxers for years, helping plenty of people off the streets with his kindness and knowledge of the sport. Jimmy’s Corner was a favorite spot for many in the boxing community with its walls adorned with boxing memorabilia and rich history. Glenn was inducted into the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002. He also was part of the New York Boxing Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2012. Glenn is survived by his son, Adam, a Harvard Law graduate and former corporate attorney who now runs Jimmy’s Corner.
– Showtime announced it will air replays of Keith Thurman vs. Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman vs. Danny Garcia on May 8 starting at 10 p.m. ET. Both fights are notable for different reasons. Thurman vs. Porter was an excellent fight that some deemed a “Fight of the Year” contender back in 2016. As for Thurman vs. Garcia, that fight was solid, but it was perhaps more notable due to the massive television viewership it garnered at the time in 2017. That fight drew more than three million viewers on CBS and peaked at more than five million viewers, which made it one of the most-watched boxing fights in U.S. television in the 2010s.
– For anyone wondering what is the status of IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin’s next fight, it likely won’t be against Canelo Alvarez as some may have initially believed. Golovkin told Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated that he still plans to fight mandatory challenger Kamil Szeremeta next. The two sides were planned to have a fight this spring, but it was never formally announced. Golovkin said, “I made a commitment before all this situation with coronavirus happened. I’m talking about my fight with Szeremeta. I intend to keep my word. Once the situation changes, as soon as everything is back to normal, I intend to have this fight first.”
– Former unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. is now being trained by Eddy Reynoso, who also trains Canelo Alvarez, Ryan Garcia, Julio Cesar Martinez and Oscar Valdez. Reynoso is one of the best trainers in the world, especially when it comes to instilling discipline in his fighters, something that Ruiz struggled in the buildup to his rematch against Anthony Joshua last year in Saudi Arabia. Reynoso has already done well training Garcia, who has quickly emerged as a contender in the lightweight division, despite many seeing him as an overhyped prospect prior to joining up with Reynoso. There’s no word on when Ruiz will fight again, but before the coronavirus pandemic, he did say his plan was to return in August. That date can be thrown out the window for obvious reasons.
– The WBC recently announced that Devin Haney, who was previously designated as WBC “Champion In Recess,” is back as full champion, ending a saga surrounding the title that began last year. As part of the ruling, Haney will be allowed to make a voluntary title defense before having to make a mandatory title defense. The WBC also announced that it would sanction a fight between Javier Fortuna and Luke Campbell for an interim title where the winner would face the winner of Haney’s voluntary title defense next. Originally, Haney won a fight against Zaur Abdullaev in September to capture the interim WBC title. Once Vasiliy Lomachenko, who also holds the WBA and WBO titles, was elevated from WBC champion to Franchise Champion, Haney was then elevated as the sole titleholder. Since then, the WBC looked to name a new mandatory challenger to the title. At first, the WBC sanctioned a title eliminator between Fortuna and Jesus Cuellar in November, which Fortuna won. A month later, Haney was named “Champion In Recess” due to being injured and unable to face Fortuna. That’s when the WBC decided to sanction a fight between Fortuna and Campbell for the now-vacant title that was supposed to take place on April 14. The fight never happened due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and on April 8, Haney’s team provided documentation showing that he is fully healthy and ready to fight whenever, requesting to be reinstated as champion as no new titleholder was named in his absence.
– Appearing on the Fightful Boxing Podcast, WBA “Regular” super flyweight champion Andrew Moloney said his sights are now on a potential legacy-defining bout against WBA “Super” champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez if he doesn’t fight Israel Gonzalez next. Moloney said, “Firstly, the whole reason I wanted to fight Kal [Yafai] was because he held the [WBA] title. I had been working my way up the WBA rankings and I was so confident I could beat him. After watching the ‘Chocolatito’ fight, I’m even more confident that I would have done the same thing. So, I’m disappointed that fight never happened, but now I have the chance to potentially fight ‘Chocolatito’ who is a legend in the lighter divisions and a legend in the sport. Most people think he’s the best fighter of the last decade. That’s a dream come true for me to fight him. To become a legend, you have to beat a legend and this would be an unbelievable opportunity for me to fight him. We’ll see what happens after all this if I can go straight into that fight or I have to go through Israel Gonzalez first, but I’ll leave that up to my management and Top Rank. That definitely excites me and one that I am confident in winning. I think everyone agrees that ‘Chocolatito’ is heading towards the end of his career and I’m getting better every day so there’s no reason to think I can’t win that fight.”
– Here’s an interesting fight scenario that is being mentioned by Frank Warren: Deontay Wilder vs. Daniel Dubois. Warren recently appeared on The Lockdown Lowdown and said, “If Daniel comes through with his fight against Joe Joyce, [against Wilder] at the end of the year then yeah.”
– There were rumors circulating about a potential fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Adrien Broner, but Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe shot down those rumors, saying, “whomever is spreading this nonsense it’s an outright lie.”
– The WBA Academy will hold its first online seminar for judges and referees on Saturday, May 9th. Through the Moodle platform, several of the best specialists in the world will conduct the seminar called “How to score a round and refereeing procedure”, which will begin at 2:00 p.m. in Colombia and Panama and at 3:00 p.m. ET. Raúl Caiz Jr., José Roberto Torres, Luis Pabón, Gustavo Padilla and Octavio Rodríguez, all of whom have extensive experience in world championship fights, will be in charge of delivering the different presentations in what the WBA calls a “dynamic and easy-to-understand format.”
Fightful Boxing Rankings:
The Fightful Boxing Rankings are compiled by lead boxing writer Carlos Toro.
Pound-for-pound
- Naoya Inoue
- Canelo Alvarez
- Vasiliy Lomachenko
- Terence Crawford
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Juan Francisco Estrada
- Artur Beterbiev
- Gennadiy Golovkin
- Errol Spence Jr.
- Tyson Fury
Heavyweight
- Tyson Fury
- Anthony Joshua
- Deontay Wilder
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Dillian Whyte
- Andy Ruiz Jr.
- Joseph Parker
- Luis Ortiz
- Kubrat Pulev
- Michael Hunter
Cruiserweight
- Mairis Briedis
- Yuniel Dorticos
- Ilunga Makabu
- Krzysztof Glowacki
- Kevin Lerena
- Arsen Goulamirian
- Thabisu Mchunu
- Lawrence Okolie
- Noel Gevor
- Michael Cieslak
Light heavyweight
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dmitry Bivol
- Gilberto Ramirez
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk
- Sergey Kovalev
- Jean Pascal
- Eleider Alvarez
- Marcus Browne
- Badou Jack
- Joe Smith Jr.
Super middleweight
- Canelo Alvarez
- Callum Smith
- Caleb Plant
- David Benavidez
- Billy Joe Saunders
- John Ryder
- Chris Eubank Jr.
- Lionell Thompson
- Anthony Dirrell
- Avni Yildirim
Middleweight
- Canelo Alvarez
- Gennadiy Golovkin
- Demetrius Andrade
- Daniel Jacobs
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Jermall Charlo
- Jaime Munguia
- Ryota Murata
- Matt Korobov
- Jeff Horn
Junior middleweight
- Jermell Charlo
- Jarrett Hurd
- Tony Harrison
- Erislandy Lara
- Jeison Rosario
- Julian Williams
- Brian Castano
- Patrick Teixeira
- Liam Smith
- Sergio Garcia
Welterweight
- Terrence Crawford
- Errol Spence Jr.
- Manny Pacquiao
- Keith Thurman
- Shawn Porter
- Danny Garcia
- Yordenis Ugas
- Sergey Lipinets
- Mikey Garcia
- David Avanesyan
The rest of the rankings are in the next page.
Junior welterweight
- Regis Prograis
- Jose Ramirez
- Josh Taylor
- Ivan Baranchyk
- Maurice Hooker
- Kiryl Relikh
- Jack Catterall
- Jono Carroll
- Jose Zepeda
- Viktor Postol
Lightweight
- Vasiliy Lomachenko
- Gervonta Davis
- Teofimo Lopez
- Richard Commey
- Robert Easter Jr.
- Devin Haney
- Luke Campbell
- Anthony Crolla
- Rances Barthelemy
- Zaur Abdullaev
Super featherweight
- Miguel Berchelt
- Leo Santa Cruz
- Joseph Diaz Jr.
- Jamel Herring
- Oscar Valdez
- Carl Frampton
- Tevin Farmer
- Rene Alvarado
- Andrew Cancio
-
Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov
Featherweight
- Josh Warrington
- Gary Russell Jr.
- Shakur Stevenson
- Xu Can
- TJ Doheny
- Tugstsogt Nyambayar
- Kid Galahad
- Joet Gonzalez
- Jessie Magdaleno
- Jhack Tepora
Super bantamweight
- Daniel Roman
- Emanuel Navarrete
- Rey Vargas
- Guillermo Rigondeaux
- Brandon Figueroa
- Isaac Dogboe
- TJ Doheny
- Ryosuke Iwasa
- Stephen Fulton
- Tomoki Kameda
Bantamweight
- Naoya Inoue
- John Riel Casimero
- Nonito Donaire
- Nordine Oubaali
- Guillermo Rigondeaux
- Zolani Tete
- Emmanuel Rodriguez
- Juan Carlos Payano
- Jason Moloney
- Richard Espinoza
Super Flyweight
- Juan Francisco Estrada
- Roman Gonzalez
- Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
- Jerwin Ancajas
- Kazuto Ioka
- Andrew Moloney
- Kal Yafai
- Aston Palicte
- Carlos Cuadras
- Francisco Rodriguez Jr.
Flyweight
- Artem Dalakian
- Moruti Mthalane
- Julio Cesar Martinez
- Charlie Edwards
- Ryoichi Taguchi
- Daigo Higa
- Junto Nakatani
- Cristofer Rosales
- Wulan Tuolehazi
- Giemel Magramo
Light flyweight/Minimumweight
- Wanheng Menayothin
- Hiroto Kyoguchi
- Kenshiro Teraji
- Elwin Soto
- Carlos Canizales
- Pedro Taduran
- Hekkie Budler
- Wilfredo Mendez
- Felix Alvarado
- Knockout CP Freshmart
