I see no point in doing Warren vs Hearn again. First of all, it was a conclusive victory for Queensberry and secondly they’re clearly cool now, there’s no real rivalry between them like there once was.
What I’d much rather see is promoters who actually have beef with each other square off. I’d do Warren vs Shalom, and Hearn vs De La Hoya. There’s no love lost between those guys and they’d love to get one over on each other.
Queensberry vs Boxxer
Sheeraz vs Eubank Jr
Yarde (WC) vs Buatsi
Zhang vs Bakole
Okollie vs Riakporhe
Cameron vs Whittaker II
Matchroom vs Golden Boy
Stevenson vs Zepeda
Ennis vs Ortiz
Opetaia vs Zurdo
Pacheco vs Munguia
Catterall vs Ramirez.
I'll take that golden boy vs matchroom all day.
I have zero interest in that Queensbury/boxxer 5 vs 5
It is a rather hard topic. The greatest boxer in Japanese history ever vs the greatest kickboxer in Japanese history ever who converted to boxing who's both still young (enough) at age 31 vs age 26 now fighting in the same field (boxing). His popularity in a way is like a position where Cryan Garcia was before he lost, without the drug antics but a significantly better resume in another combat sport.
As a boxing match it won't be competitive at all, but as much as I personally don't like it, there is a reason why Tenshin's catchweight non-title match gets the semi-final match in a card sandwiched by multiple world title matches for a reason. Tenshin just got his regional WBO-AP on his last fight (yeah, not that impressive, but still a step necessary), and he's probably doing like 2 more step ups in the Spring and Summer and hoping for a world title match in the end of the year. Outside Inoue, he's probably the only other boxer in Japan that can fill 5 digit in arenas, and as crazy as it may sound if Yoshiki Takei (who's also a former kickboxer and rival of Tenshin that converted to boxing a few years prior) manages to keep his 118 WBO title until the end of next year, there is a legit possibility that Tenshin's first world title challenge will be against none other than Takei in Tokyo Dome. I mean, Tenshin already fought and filled Tokyo Dome against his eternal kickboxing rival Takeru for his last kickboxing match before converting, no reason he can't fill it with a bigger boxing boom going on now than before against another Japanese champion with background rivalry.
Takei's been fighting decent opposition but there is a reason Ohashi is absolutely not wanting to let Takei face a certain loss against Nakatani before that. In fact I'm sure the close Higa match gave him a near heartattack. Same reason Honda (Teiken) is not discussing Takei as a potential opponent for Nakatani, because he also wants to get a piece of the Tokyo Dome Tenshin-Takei.
Quite crazy that Inoue vs Nery this year was the first boxing match in Tokyo Dome in over 30 years since Tyson vs Douglass, but since then within 2-3 years span there is a possibility that they can have 3 more with Inoue vs Nakatani, Tenshin vs Takei, and Inoue vs Tenshin. No, if the last one occurs it definitely will not be competitive in any way but it is a financial dream scenario that still gets thrown around. If Tenshin gets a world title against Takei, the casuals will certainly flock to it.
In a way, I guess its like a Fury vs Joshua where at this point Fury will win 120% but the popularity of Joshua is high enough that Wembley will still be sold out?
Yeah I get the impression it would generate massive interest in Japan. Especially in this modern era where crossover matchups seem to generate buzz regardless of how one sided they might be.
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