That is half three of a four-part collection. For the primary two installments, click on right here for half one, and right here for half two!
(M) is for MISFITS BOXING
KSI. Salt Papi. Swarmz. FaZe Temperrr.
I get fairly used to receiving DAZN emails with the names of those characters included.
However the chilly exhausting proven fact that the MF x DAZN collection of YouTuber fights is gathering tempo is tough to disregard. With an countless pool of combatants to select from with zero capability wanted, we’re certainly going to see these Misfits playing cards turn out to be increasingly more frequent. Primarily, it’s a freak present. However freak exhibits are fashionable.
The argument that it brings wider eyes to the game of boxing as an entire is a little bit little bit of a muddied level — I suppose time will inform how these occasions will, if in any respect, have an effect on the professional sport going ahead.
(N) is for NAOYA INOUE AT 122 LBS
Now that the Japanese “Monster” has cleaned up the 118 lb division, it’s onto larger fish at junior featherweight.
Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Stephen Fulton Jr are the plain targets for the pound-for-pound star if he’s to turn out to be a four-division world champion.
How do you beat Naoya Inoue is a query the complete boxing world continues to ponder, and with the 24-0 celebrity nonetheless solely 29, we can have a couple of extra years to attempt to discover a solution.
(O) is for OIL MONEY
Increasingly more sports activities are having their heads turned east because the lure of cash tramples on any morality.
Boxing has by no means been, or by no means will probably be, identified for upholding an ethical stance on societal points and this isn’t anticipated to alter in 2023.
The FIFA World Cup heading to Qatar this previous winter has given the inexperienced gentle for anybody to fill their boots in these Gulf states, following on from the variety of high-profile bouts now we have already seen staged in Saudi Arabia.
“Sports activities-washing” will as soon as once more show a preferred time period this 12 months because the Human Rights information of those international locations are ignored.
(P) is for PAY-PER-VIEWS
Didn’t pay-per-view die a few years in the past?
Effectively, Eddie Hearn and DAZN had been fast to back-peddle on that opinion as their platform launched a PPV service to their streaming app.
And it gained’t cease there. It’s a must to pay £19.95 in the UK to observe Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith this Saturday evening on Sky Sports activities, a home conflict that might by no means have been thought of for added fee a couple of years again.
Certain: for those who don’t need to pay for it, don’t purchase it, however that perspective will proceed to see boxing regress as a sport as followers are priced out.
(Q) is for QUESTIONING JUDGES/REFEREES
Reviewing incompetent judging must be addressed in boxing.
If referees and judges aren’t allowed to talk with the media and withstand scrutiny after fights, then there must be a system applied inside boxing commissions to grasp these selections.
(R) is for RINGSIDE CHARITABLE TRUST
I’ve misplaced depend of the variety of boxers that I’ve spoken to who declare to have been thrown on the scrapheap after retiring.
Extra help must be out there to ex-pros who will inevitably endure, bodily and mentally, after retiring from such a demanding sport.
Ringside Charitable Belief hopes to alter the best way we take care of our boxing household. The imaginative and prescient for the house is to incorporate medical assist and amenities for ex boxers to be cared for each brief and long run.
(S) is for SEBASTIAN FUNDORA
I’ve made no secret of my Sebastian Fundora fandom.
The “Towering Inferno” is the politest fighter on the planet and is on the verge of being one of the crucial thrilling.
He’s nonetheless unbeaten as he continues his assault on the junior-middleweight division and remains to be doubling down on his insistence to battle contained in the pocket regardless of dwarfing most of his opponents by half a foot.
He’s from humble beginnings, surrounded by a preventing household and it’s not possible to not root for him as he goals for the very prime.
Lewis Watson is a sports activities author from London, UK, and a member of the BWAA. Observe or contact him on Twitter @lewroyscribbles
