Welcome to day 204 of Saudi Arabia saving boxing by smothering the life out of the American boxing scene.
If it feels prefer it’s been ages since we had a high quality high-end home present within the States, that’s as a result of it HAS been ages. It’s been since June 15 and the Tank Davis/David Benavidez double-header, to be precise (204 days in the past), since we’ve had a giant present put collectively by an American promoter, in the USA.
So, yeah, Turki and the Saudis are saving boxing.
However I digress.
There isn’t a boxing to talk of nowadays and nothing actually noteworthy till the January 24 Naoya Inoue slaughter of Sam Goodman. And if we’re speaking an precise aggressive combat, then you definately’d have to attend till David Benavidez vs. David Morrell on February 1, delivered with a rattling positive Brandon Figueroa vs. Stephen Fulton 2 prelude.
For now, boxing followers don’t have anything to speak about past social media gossip and reminiscences of higher days.
In that spirit of nothingness, listed below are my ideas on a couple of issues of (my) curiosity these previous couple of days:
– Per social media rumblings, Devin Haney is making ready for his comeback. And so fucking what?
Haney will at all times bear a scarlet letter for me because the man whose lack of preparedness and common over confidence allowed Ryan Garcia to change into a boxing major stage presence like stinkweed rising between the cracks of a sidewalk.
For as a lot as I admired Haney’s enterprise moxie in taking quick cash to get the Kambosos fights that may permit him entry to a next-level alternative, I acknowledge that the whole lot after that has been lower than scintillating.
Yeah, he twice outclassed a really simply out-classable George Kambosos. He adopted that up by barely shedding to (in my view) a considerably smaller Vasiliy Lomachenko after which decisioning a dead-legged Regis Prograis.
His subsequent whupping by a sloppy-as-hell Ryan Garcia was prodigious in terms of a loss in opposition to a 6-to-1 underdog. It was the sort of worldwide de-pantsing that saps a younger man’s confidence and, in lots of followers’ minds, turns him into an afterthought. Garcia testing constructive for the banned substance ostarine appears to have supplied Group Haney with false confidence, however, imagine me, Haney is shook and his “shookness” will current itself the primary second he finds some actual resistance in a stable opponent.
– It’s disgusting how dismissive some folks have been in terms of the profession and achievements of Claressa Shields, simply because they “don’t love her persona.” Some boxing folks must develop the fuck up.
I keep in mind a number of years again, when Shields was turning professional. I used to be virtually laughed out of the room by some boxing outdated timers after I stated that Shields and feminine boxing generally had been going to change into a draw within the coming years. Effectively, I used to be proper.
Girls’s boxing remains to be suffering from the shortage of a deep expertise pool, however that is simply, actually, the primary technology of feminine boxing being a legit companion to males’s boxing. Women like Shields, Amanda Serrano, and Katie Taylor are inspiring women to select up the gloves and we should always see extra depth within the years to come back.
As for Shields– what else does she must do to earn respect? She’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a four-division world champ as a professional, with undisputed 4-belt champ standing in two of these divisions. She’s fought who’s on the market and has by no means even come near shedding in fifteen fights.
Once more, boxing folks must develop the fuck up. This ain’t a “let’s be buddies” recognition contest. Give the lady her due.
– Have you ever observed that there’s been zero “what number of buys did it get” speak in terms of the December 21 Usyk-Fury 2 pay-per-view? I ponder why that’s, whereas choose different exhibits appear to be suffering from gross sales queries beginning the Monday after the occasion. It couldn’t have something to do with paid-for narratives being pushed on-line…
– Effectively, FFS, there’s actually not quite a bit fascinating occurring. There’s so little of observe that I’ll shut this week’s Notes from the Boxing Underground column with a private follow-up on final week’s column the place I brazenly debated leaving this boxing world behind.
And, nicely, I nonetheless don’t know if I needs to be accomplished with it.
All the things inside my mind tells me to ditch this rotten mess and the individuals who exit of their technique to attempt to starve me out of the enterprise. There’s a bit of spot in coronary heart, although, that desires to maintain combating. Once I see the normalizing of boxing historical past and journalism being co-opted by a murderous monarchy for the aim of hiding bloody fingers moderately than cleansing them, it hits me proper within the intestine. After which seeing a few of these wildly compromised media folks on social media really bragging about how wealthy and highly effective their “excellency,” Turki is? Yeah. Anybody who’s even half-a-man and one-quarter invested in issues like ethics and morals needs to be cringing.
The reality is that if I am going away, there IS no voice of dissent to all of this. And, finally, these things turns into customary, normalized, and legitimized. Even WITH me round, that is sure to occur, although, as a result of the large media voices have far more attain than me. However at the very least somebody, someplace will probably be pushing again.
It doesn’t matter what I determine within the coming days, my love for the game stays intact.
I wish to thank those that’ve reached out to me over the past week and have supplied variety phrases, inspiration, and a few concepts on how one can proceed. I respect your enter. We’ll see how this goes.
Received one thing for Magno? Ship it right here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.
