A new year brings a new dedication to planting the seeds of my wisdom all over the faltering face of boxing ignorance. So unleash my bloated, bulbous sack monster and deliver the final monetization in 2022. This week we have Fury vs Usyk related comments/questions and the inactivity of the fighter aircraft.
Rage vs Usyk
Magno.
It seems almost official. Tyson Fury versus Oleksandr Usyk in March for all belts. Who do you have and why?
– Simon
Hi Simon.
I’ve never been one to shy away from giving mixed opinions, so I’m not going to start right now. I (still) have some serious doubts about whether Oleksandr Usyk is a “legitimate” premium heavyweight. CRY. I know. blasphemy. The way the media talks about him, you’d think his bucket of spit cures cancer or something. But, yes, I still have doubts about his durability against the big boys in general and his ability to handle Fury in particular. Usyk’s skill is obvious and the man is an all-time great athlete in the cruiser class. But what I’ve seen from him as a heavyweight, so far, has me worried. I already know. He beat Anthony Joshua twice. But I see Joshua’s fights as a result of his style matching Joshua’s shortcomings perfectly. And Joshua was, is and probably always will not be able to make the necessary adjustments to get through a bad temper/style match. Anyway, until Usyk beat a half-exploding AJ, his grappling with Derek Chisora and rather bland performance against Chazz Witherspoon made up his entire heavyweight run. I think Fury will make Usyk look completely normal. Fury’s stab and his ability to move, as well as his sky-high IQ will nullify all that is considered special in Usyk. Only Fury can defeat Fury in a Usyk fight. If Tyson came into the ring balanced and focused, I feel like he would tackle Usyk decisively. Usyk has the skills to survive, but if he goes far, he will be eliminated in the second half of the battle. However, he was most likely to be stopped in the middle of the inning.
Where are they?
Hi Paul,
I know we talk a lot about Ryan Garcia and his inactivity, which I completely agree that he will NOT go up against ‘The Tank’ Davis, but there are plenty of other fighters that I do. like didn’t work:
Have the Charlo brothers checked out yet?
Chris Colbert gone?
Where’s Rolly Romero?
Feel free to add anyone else to the list and let’s hope they reappear in 2023.
happy holiday
— B.C
Hey BC
Inactive fighters have become a cause of media misunderstanding and I agree that, in an ideal world, fighters SHOULD be more active than they are in nowadays. But what the “experts” don’t understand is that this problem is not caused by lazy/cowardly or evil managers/advisors or greedy promoters/networks. This level of inactivity is a byproduct of a bad business model. Simply put, the money is no longer there to enter all these fights with boxers who were expecting a payday that is completely out of line with their market value. Today, everything is hidden behind fee walls in a desperate attempt to get the sport’s most loyal fans to pay more to make premium boxing cards really deliver. profits for the organizers. The end result is that new fans are not being created and existing fans are being weeded out and pushed away. Now, with growth stagnating and everyone trying to protect their investments, it often makes better business sense to have NO conflict. Specifically, for boxers, what is the financial incentive to take the risk of any fight other than the most lucrative one or two? What’s the incentive in getting into one or two smaller wars that could lead to injury (or unexpected defeat) and kill your chances of getting a bigger payout later? People who only write or talk about boxing, who don’t really run a business and don’t support their families in monetizing the fights, obviously won’t see it the same way. Boxers are not in the business of fighting to NOT fight. However, they must consider their own bottom line and their own business interests in a sport with no guaranteed future. There is a strange, destructive dynamic in the business right now that needs to be remedied. It’s a dynamic where, for stars, medium/low-risk battles are almost as lucrative as high-risk battles, and where “busy” fights are barely mean nothing.
Okay… the conversation is over.
It’s disappointing to not be able to see my favorite fighters. And their inactivity isn’t always about the money or the business atmosphere of the sport. There are many names that have been sidelined for a long time. I wouldn’t even try to put together a list of fighters I’d like to see more of– there are too many. But I really don’t know what to do, other than to embrace the people we MAY meet more often.
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