Will Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif become a professional boxer?
Imane Khelif was one of the stories of 2024 – and she could become the talking point of 2025 if she’s successful in her bid to turn professional.
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Biography
Matt Christie, a lifelong fight fan, has worked in boxing for more than 20 years. He left Boxing News in 2024 after 14 years, nine of which were spent as editor-in-chief. Before that, he was the producer of weekly boxing show “KOTV.” Now the co-host of “The Opening Bell” podcast and regularly used in the UK as a pundit, Matt was named as the Specialist Correspondent of the Year at the prestigious Sports Journalism Awards in 2021, which was the seventh SJA Award he accepted during his stint in the hot seat at Boxing News. The following year, he was inducted into the British Boxing Hall of Fame. He is a member of the BWAA and has been honored several times in their annual writing awards.
Area of Expertise
Investigations, features, previews, columns, chronologies
Interests
As a young boxing fan, I attended the first Chris Eubank-Nigel Benn fight with my father in 1990
Career Background
Although I’d had a few boxing articles published in local newspapers over the years it was 2005 before I got my first full-time gig with KOTV, a weekly British TV show. My earliest memories involve boxing: Watching it on TV, reading about it in books and magazines, attempting to write about it and listening to my grandad, who boxed in the army, educate me on the history. Why am I still here? I used to think I could make a difference, that I could make people listen, that I could play a part in the sport eradicating its flaws. Now I know the flaws are too ingrained. But boxers remain my superheroes and the sport still fascinates me. Above all, even though I really had no idea what the life of a boxing journalist would entail, it’s exactly what I always wanted to be.
Awards & Honors
British Boxing Hall of Fame inductee; 7 Sports Journalism Association SJA Awards (including Specialist Correspondent in 2021); Multiple BWAA writing awards; Reg Gutteridge Media Award 2018; Ring 8 Sam Kellerman Media Award 2018.
Articles by Matt Christie: page 21
Craig Houk, Hector Camacho, and the eight seconds of greatness
The sliding doors moment came for Craig Houk, not at the start of his career but right at the end, after 108 fights and 37 losses, when he dropped Hector “Macho” Camacho in the opening round.
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BoxingScene Round of the Year: Abdullah Mason-Yohan Vasquez, Round 1
Abdullah Mason did what everyone expected him to do for 40-odd seconds, then Yohan Vasquez suddenly did what nobody saw coming – and so began the BoxingScene Round of the Year.
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WBA credits sanctioning fees and Saudi sponsorship for boost in finances
The WBA's revenue has nearly doubled over the past year, with three-quarters of that coming from sanctioning fees and Riyadh Season.
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Big-fight preview: Will it be repeat or revenge when Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury collide again?
When Tyson Fury steps into the ring today, against the only boxer to ever beat him in a prizefight, there is more at stake for the Englishman than mere titles and glory. A second consecutive defeat to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia, particularly a more convincing one than the first, could leave the 36-year-old Fury’s career at the crossroads – and his life irrevocably different.
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Experienced Steve Weisfeld set to replace ESPN’s Fernando Barbosa as judge for Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury II
New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld looks likely to step in for Miami’s Fernando Barbosa as a judge for the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury rematch
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Tyson Fury doesn’t throw a punch at open workouts as his trainer hints at absentee in corner
Tyson Fury didn’t throw a punch at tonight’s open workouts in Riyadh ahead of Saturday’s rematch with world heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk. Instead, he repeatedly mouthed the words “pain” and “damage”, then disappeared, but attempting to read too much into Fury, or indeed these promotional workouts, is largely pointless.
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Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury officials: Roberto Ramirez Jnr gets the nod from Middle Eastern commission to referee; judges revealed
The Puerto Rican referee Roberto Ramirez Jnr will referee the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury on Saturday night in Saudi Arabia. The three scoring judges are Gerardo Martinez, also of Puerto Rico, Chicago’s Pat Morley, and Miami’s Fernando Barbosa
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Undisputed chaos: A heavyweight timeline from Mike Tyson to Oleksandr Usyk
A timeline of significant happenings in the heavyweight division starting with Mike Tyson and bringing us to Oleksandr Usyk and Saturday's undisputed fight and rematch between Usyk and Tyson Fury.
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Kubrat Pulev-Jarrell Miller in works for Saudi Arabia – unless Michael Hunter request is granted
Kubrat Pulev-Jarrell Miller in the works and could take place in Saudi Arabia
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