I hope DAZN forces the promoters to actually make fights with each other. And that Top Rank doesn’t weasel out like they always do by complaining that DAZN is “trying to play matchmaker.”
Weasel out? They've already had fighters from the Top Rank stable in against Queensberry and Matchroom guys recently, all on DAZN. Abdullah Mason won a FOTY contender against Sam Noakes, Muratalla handed Andy Cruz his first pro L and Vaquero pieced up Sugar Nunez. So I'd expect it will just be more of the same, but perhaps more frequently.
I hope DAZN forces the promoters to actually make fights with each other. And that Top Rank doesn’t weasel out like they always do by complaining that DAZN is “trying to play matchmaker.”
Weasel out? They've already had fighters from the Top Rank stable in against Queensberry and Matchroom guys recently, all on DAZN. Abdullah Mason won a FOTY contender against Sam Noakes, Muratalla handed Andy Cruz his first pro L and Vaquero pieced up Sugar Nunez. So I'd expect it will just be more of the same, but perhaps more frequently.
I have a problem with the lack of exposure, primarily through network television, in today's boxing landscape, and the fact that they are putting far too many events on as pay-per-view, but I disagree with the sentiment that there is a lack of magnetic personalities or big fights. I guess it depends on what you are looking for.
You've already led into your post with the most obvious way that Wardley can win, but there are other avenues to a potentially razor thin decision win, if the fight plays out similar to how Parker/Zhang did; granted, Parker won that one, narrowly, in a MD, BUT he did have to pick himself up off the canvas twice en route to a close victory. Wardley is younger and faster than Zhang, so I could see a scenario where Parker outboxes a majority of the rounds, but also has a couple of 10-8's sprinkled in from the result of a couple of knockdowns, and Wardley gets the nod. It wasn't heavyweights, but look at how the rematch of Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan played out. I think most fans would agree, Paddy should have won that fight, and he outboxed and won more rounds, but those knockdowns and aggression from Crocker, were enough to sway the judges. Just food for thought.
In some ways I think that too but then ask myself is it the case or are things a changin and I'm a few stops into my journey leading to codgerville where I am yelling at clouds?
Nah, it's not that. HBO and Showtime getting rid of boxing dealt a major blow to the sport. Both of those networks were boxing institutions for roughly the last 40 years.
Everything seems scripted and controlled now, there are no unscripted moments like Jones getting KOed by Tarver
Idk what you mean by there are no unscripted moments, as several fairly recent ones come to mind. Andy Ruiz knocking out Anthony Joshua in his U.S. debut at MSG, pretty much everything that Usyk has done since moving up to heavyweight, for most of the reasons that Tyson Fury tried to explain as to why he wouldn't face him in the first place (too small, poor English, not a Western fighter, not marketable, etc), the powers-that-be would have much rather had AJ or Fury with those belts, but Usyk upset the heavyweight apple cart by schooling the both of them anyway. They also probably didn't want AJ getting absolutely knackered by Dubois, but that still happened. The egg slap heard 'round the world at the Benn/Eubank presser didn't seem scripted, either (albeit the grand arrival of his estranged father on fight night DID feel scripted, I'll give you that one). Bivol was supposed to be a cherry pick for Canelo, he beat the Mexican from pillar to post. The Tank voluntary knee not being scored as a KD, Teo beating Loma only to turn around and get upset by George f'n Kambosos, Ryan Garcia knocking Haney down multiple times when everyone assumed he was going to get shutout, because all he had was a telegraphed left hook that Haney would nullify, Crawford annihilating Errol Spence, Bakhram destroying Tszyu, Brian Mendoza starching Fundora....there are a ton of recent examples that don't seem "scripted" to me, but like I said before, I guess it depends on what you are looking for.
And fools with "disposable income" will gladly throw money at these shltshows and cry about it the next day.
I can't blame the fighters
It's free money
Key word here being "fools." These types of exhibitions have long since jumped the shark for me. I wouldn't pay a dime to see this garbage. I didn't even want to watch RJJ/Tyson back during Covid, but I had a buddy drop by who insisted, and we were just starved for "entertainment" at that point, so I went for it to appease him, but after watching it, we both agreed that Snoop Dogg's commentary was the highlight of the evening.
Tank's game is to get paid top dollar whilst minimizing any risk inside the ring. He probably won't ever face any top tier champions in their prime. He is who he is.
A "huge" reason why the div is pure shlt
Too much blubber
Calling it "pure shit" might be a bit of reach. It's nowhere near the golden era, but the last several years have been pretty kind to us fans, in general. There have been some fun matchups, first undisputed champ in Usyk (since Lennox) some 25 years ago, the Wilder/Fury trilogy (it was great, c'mon, admit it), AJ getting upset by Ruiz in his MSG debut on US soil (at the time, that was a real shocker), and even somewhat of the passing of the torch moments involving Wladimir Klitschko against both Fury and AJ, albeit the former was atrociously boring, the latter was a FOTY contender/winner that year. Several others that I'm missing, but you get the point. The consensus top 10 are all pretty formidable in their own right, and we have an interesting crop of new faces on the horizon, with a young prospect in Moses Itauma that we haven't seen since the days of the Dynamite Kid. Pure shit? Nah.
I think you misunderstood that episode of Seinfeld. Jerry wasn't the fastest. He got a head start that led to him wining the race. That's why he chose not to run again, because he didn't want to be exposed as a fraud.
Nah
it's straight up kahkah
Force the behemoths to make wright like everyone else
Just curious, as I wouldn't know the answer off the top of my head, but how many current heavyweight contenders would this even impact? Fury, who may possibly stay retired, probably would struggle to get down to 260, but wouldn't most still be able to fall under that line? Doesn't seem like it would make a huge difference, if it would only weed out a handful of heavies, with only one of that group being relevant.
Pretty Boy Floyd to Money Mayweather? Does that not qualify as a "heel turn" as you call it? Call it what you will, but Floyd certainly profited more by becoming a "villain" of sorts.
No. The heavyweight division has always been the open class of boxing, you should be able to weigh whatever you want. From 100 lbs to over 260 lbs.
And live with the consequences.
Is it truly "open" now, though? I thought you had to be over 200 lbs to compete in the heavyweight division?
This type of thing is nothing new, especially considering the caliber of main event talent. I don't fully understand how all the finances work, but surely there is only so much money to throw at this card, with the lion's share going to Canelo and Crawford...normally, I'd be bummed, but hey, it's "free" on Netflix to its regular subscriber base, so no harm/no foul there.
This is a solid "next step" matchup for Moses, to get him in there against a Ring and/or TBRB top 10 guy, but I'll go on record as saying that Hrgovic gets stopped in this one, if the fight indeed does happen. Hrgovic gets hit too much, and I also find him to be slow and plodding, even by heavyweight standards. Moses's combination of speed and power will overwhelm the Croat.
I met Butterbean 20 years ago. He's obviously nowhere near as popular or famous as many of the boxers previously mentioned, but he's the only one that I've ever met. It was a pleasant experience. Great dude.
I'd say Fury losing to Usyk, given the size discrepancy, the smack that Fury talked beforehand, and the fact that Fury is still in "denial" about those losses, is way more embarrassing than anything that Canelo endured last weekend.
GGG isn't known by enough by the mainstream fans that would tune in for a Jake Paul fight, so I doubt there would be any interest there from MVP to put that on. Jake Paul would go after someone like RJJ (which I know he won't) before he'd go after a GGG. Not to mention, there would be too much risk involved. Jake wants fights with big names, that won't return fire. I'd think GGG still has enough in the tank to mop up JP, and JP and his team know this.
Only three guys in the history of the sport have been lineal champ in 4 different divisions...Mayweather, Pacquiao, and now Bud. That's it. Make of it what you will, but he will always have a place in history among the all-time greats for that achievement alone.
I like tuning into these Salita Promotions cards because I love the commentary team of Raul Marquez, Al Bernstein, and Cory Erdman. If anything turns out in the ring, that's just an added bonus.
I don't see anything wrong with this fight. It's okay to have some fun, meaningless matchups like this every once in awhile. And by meaningless, I mean that neither of them are serious boxers at this point, so why not have them duke it out?
Hasn't Dana White been doing this type of thing for a long time now? It might be new to Raskin in the boxing realm, but it should come as no surprise that Turki and Dana share the same vision when it comes to silencing critics in an attempt to control the narrative.
I fully feel that Parker should win this on cruise control, BUT, the whole "levels" thing doesn't really even apply here, because I think everyone knows that Parker is the superior boxer, as was Justis Huni, until he made one mistake. That's the beauty of this matchup. Parker can be winning every round handily, but one mistake, one opening, and that right hand from Wardley can change everything in an instant. Wardley has a shot...because he only needs one.