By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart
An opinion piece from the only Donald worth listening to…
Full Stop – In British English grammar a full stop is a lengthy pause, in the US, you call it a period. In the UK that tends to suggest feminine products. Here it means a period of time where I look at something in boxing in a little more depth. I am typing from my perspective of a fan who watches the sport closely. It’s an opinion. It is my opinion. Don’t like it? There are other opinions out there but if you don’t like it then good, debate and democracy are a good thing. If you do like it, feel free to spread the word.
What defines a golden age?
Just a week or so ago, there was a press conference where three world titles were announced on the same card. Headlining that event is the IBF heavyweight battle between Daniel Dubois and British boxing’s poster boy, Anthony Joshua. It is a heavy weight title on a heavy weight card. The headlines were all about big time boxing coming back to the UK and this version of the heavyweight title is joined by Anthony Cacace taking on former two weight world champion Josh Warrington for the IBF super featherweight title and Joshua Buatsi facing Willy Hutchinson for the WBO interim world title at light heavyweight. To complete the bill, the European middleweight belt is on the line for Tyler Denny’s first defense of it facing the youthful and dangerous Hamzah Sheeraz. There are also a couple of other really decent and noteworthy fights on the card, including Mark Chamberlain stepping up and the intrigue of Liam Smith facing Josh Kelly at light middleweight.
It will come as no surprise that it is all down to Saudi money that this cracking card has been delivered as the CEOs and Chairs of rival promoters, Boxxer, Matchroom and Queensberry sat up on the dais to announce it.
It is a fantastic evening of boxing between some of the boxers for whom big questions need to be asked. But, most importantly, it is filled with 50/50 fights. The same was said about the 5 x 5 battle in Riyadh between Matchroom and Queensberry which was a whitewash for Frank Warren, but the headlines belied the event – it was a massively competitive night. These are fights that the punters want to see, for which there is a massive audience. There are people already working out how to get tickets to Wembley Stadium on the 21st of September to see their favorites and the biggest fights of their careers. Headlined by AJ guarantees a decent crowd; 50/50 fights guarantee a buzz.
Now, I shall put aside my own feelings that the money from Saudi is tainted, due to abuses in the country, and keep it to boxing. I shall similarly not mention that an event outside of Riyadh for the Riyadh season seems odd, but here we have it.
The question it raised with me, as it has with others is, does this period of the top fighters facing the top fighters, make this a golden era for boxing?
Well, aside from relishing the contests above, we have had some cracking fights this year already and match ups that suggest we are seeing promoters, at least in the UK getting their heads banged together to get the best fights on and happening. We can all start to wonder if Gervonta Tank Davis shall take on Teofimo Lopez, which Lopez is keen to do, whether Devon Haney shall recover from being beaten illegally by Ryan Garcia to find what is next and if Trenece Crawford can shine against Israil Madrimov whilst the hope is that Jaron “Boots” Ennis manages to show his skills against late replacement David Avanesyan. And then Inoue, the monster – who is next and at what weight?
But match ups at the top level seem to be possible. We are no longer hiding in the shadows wondering if Tyson Fury will ever face Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed – he already has. If the light heavyweight undisputed between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol might get over the line – it did and then fell through because of injury and is again rescheduled.
But phase one is making the fights, phase two is making them good.
There is little point in getting Mayweather and Pacquiao in a ring when they are past their best and having that as your benchmark. Fights need to be competitive and not shutouts like Lopez v Steve Claggett. There needs to be a real clamor for a rematch and not a clause in the contract guaranteeing it. And to be fair, there have been some cracking fights this year – including Haney /Garcia, until it all fell out the pram.
It also requires that fighters are not just pound for pound kings of their era, but their achievements and their fights are seen as timeless. If AJ blasts Dubois out the ring in three rounds, then it is not a fight for the ages. If Cacace takes out Warrington and shows that Warrington’s best days are behind him or Smith cannot keep up with Kelly, then we shall debate the merits of each fighter fairly and unfairly, hoping for better. But the best had off days too. The greatest fighters of any time cannot be at their best in every single appearance. And so, for me, this is an era where we should strap in and enjoy rather than over analyze. But any sports fan will tell you – firstly their opinion, and secondly why yours is wrong. And so, golden age or not, this is remarkably the one era worthy, in recent times, of having the debate. And for me, that makes it a golden era all by itself.
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