Beyond Boxing

Moses Itauma’s defeat on Saturday raises a question that is impossible to ignore: who is actually responsible for what happened? There are really only two possibilities. Either Ben Davison and his team had the right game plan, understood exactly what was happening in the ring, knew what Moses needed to do, and Moses ignored them. Or they didn’t have the answers. They gambled on Moses knocking out his opponent early and, when that didn’t happen, there was no Plan B. And if either of those scenarios is true, Moses has a serious problem. Because if he ignored the right instructions, then he may be surrounded by people he doesn’t respect enough to listen to. And if the instructions weren’t there, then he may be surrounded by people who simply aren’t capable of taking him to the level he wants to reach. Either way, something has to change. Moses is only 21. He has plenty of time to rebuild, learn and come again. But if he wants to become a world champion, and stay there, he has some brutally difficult decisions ahead of him about the people he trusts with his career. The question isn’t simply “Why did Moses Itauma lose?” The bigger question is: “Is Moses Itauma surrounded by the right people to become a world champion?”

In boxing, nothing beats experience. Nothing beats that feeling of knowing you’ve been there before, knowing you’ve overcome it before, and knowing exactly how to do it again. Moses found that out the hard way. A decade after winning Olympic bronze, Filip Hrgović showed the value of taking the hard road to success. When the pressure came, he remained composed, focused and committed to his objective. Eventually, Moses wilted and fell. Is it time for a change in Moses’ career? Potentially. But that depends on how badly he wants to become great. Because Filip Hrgović is proof of what happens when you don’t just wait for success, you actively chase it.

Will Claressa Shields ever get the test her career deserves? Will she ever get the test that cements her greatness? It seems that she’s so far ahead of everybody else in boxing that she could almost retire, Go and do the Olympics with a third gold medal, come back and be undisputed all over again and if that is the case, what does that say about the quality of women’s Boxing overall?

BEYOND BOXING EP311 - ONE FOR THE DIPSH*TS by Highfield Boxing

For over a decade, boxing fans have waited for Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to finally meet. In heavyweight boxing, 10 years is an eternity. It’s the difference between your prime and your decline. Fast forward to 2026, and last weekend made one thing painfully clear: both men are in rapid decline. Neither looks capable of competing with the elite anymore. At this stage, it feels as though they’re both searching for one final payday before walking away. The biggest irony? I don’t think the Joshua–Fury fight happens at all.

What a career Errol Spence Jr. has had. When history judges him, I think he’ll be remembered as one of the rare elite fighters who took on every challenge. No ducking, no waiting for opponents to age, no protecting an unbeaten record. He fought virtually everyone there was to fight at welterweight, and fought almost all of them in or around their prime.

Changing the manager will not fix anything. The England football problems are the same as the British boxing problems. We have a society that are not mentally resilient but what is even worse is that we have very few, if any internal drivers to be great collectively. How do we fix this?

Boxing loves to shoot itself in the foot. How can we go from Jaron Ennis and Xander Zayas giving us one of the best fights we’ve seen in the last 10 years to having to deal with Tyson Fury fighting Mariusz Wach. With him then offering his fig leaf of charitable donations when he could easily cover the charitable donation on his own, But once again, he just wants to milk the fans for what he can. I guess this is kind of Boxing’s version of the sublime they’re ridiculous

It’s notoriously difficult to get removed from a no-entry or travel prohibition list. In Tyson Fury’s case, how he’s managed to do so remains unclear. Whether additional concessions were required is anyone’s guess. What does seem possible is that he may have had to cooperate with certain interests along the way, and perhaps that’s simply how the world works. If there’s one sport that prepares you for the murky realities of politics, it’s boxing. The sport has always been filled with backroom deals, conflicting agendas, and missed opportunities. The reality is that an Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury fight now seems increasingly unlikely. Not only has the chance to create a truly global event slipped away, but public interest has faded as well. Anthony Joshua doesn’t appear as invested in boxing as he once was, and Fury hardly seems fully committed either. Both men often seem more focused on building their brands than delivering the fight fans have wanted for years. As boxing fans, we’re left with a familiar feeling: watching the biggest fights fail to materialize until they’re well past their prime, only to be asked to pay premium prices for what remains. A contest that could have defined an era now risks becoming just another example of boxing’s talent for squandering its biggest opportunities.

They really had John Fury out there running about like Uncle Albert?

You can’t help it feel that watching the Zuffa card was like watching a Boxxer card from 2023. So, if you’re Ben Shalom you must be sat at home raging that the fighters you help build have just been taken from you, and put in exactly the same place you left them, and you received no compensation. No thank you no reward no nothing. That must really hurt.

Last night’s main event had all the ingredients of a defining moment—but instead, it left us debating the referee. As Rico Verhoeven pushed himself against the elite pedigree of Oleksandr Usyk, the fight was hanging in the balance. He was under pressure, no doubt, but still on his feet and within touching distance of the bell. And that’s where the controversy begins. Should the referee have stepped in when he did? Or should Verhoeven have been given the chance to make it back to his stool and reset? In combat sports, referees walk a tightrope between protecting fighters and allowing contests to reach a natural conclusion. Get it wrong, and the story shifts, from the athletes in the ring to the official in charge.

What are we just seen? Seriously? What have we just seen? We have seen the most dramatic world title fight we’ve seen in the UK for a long time. We saw two men put their bodies and literally their lives on the line, and you wonder if either Man will be the same again. In a perverse way, that is exactly why we love the sport of boxing.

Time to remove more frauds from the game.

Doping is a serious problem in boxing. Whether the sport is dirty, or people are sailing too close to the wind, something has to change. We also need to look at why VADA is catching everyone and UKAD is catching nobody. What of VADA did other sports, what would they find?

When we hit the milestone episodes, you know I have to go back to the essence - where it all started. So today, i am joined by martin and Andi, the legends that built the New Age Boxing podcast, father to much of what came after. Not sure what we did today, but we had fun writing a few wrongs and poking a few bears. Enjoy.

The fun and games of a boxing weigh-in.

Without doubt, Moses Itauma is a special talent and you sense his moment will arrive soon. The hope is that his career lasts a long time and that means he has the pressure of remaining hungry, dedicated and in love with the sport. What a good feeling it is to see big shows, in big arenas, in the UK. You cannot beat that atmoshere.

Geopolitics have really accelerated the boxing recession. Everyone is fighting for the last few dollars left on the table, but the fans aren't buying into all of it this time.

The fact that Mayweather-Pacquiao II is the biggest fight in boxing says everything about the mess boxing has become since they left the scene. Had we had the fights we deserved, maybe we wouldn't be watching this. But, respect to both men for never letting their standards drop and still being legitmate top 10 welterweights at their age.

Boxing is dog-eat-dog. Not many boxers get the opportunity to do the eating, but Conor Benn did. Watch the Matchroom Mujaheddin start attacking Conor, for their heroes and masters...

There’s clearly a lot more to this Conor Benn and Matchroom relationship than we are being led to believe because Conor would’ve made good money with Matchroom, and so for him to leave and move to Zuffa, and essentially relocate his whole career to the United States tells us that maybe the garden wasn’t as rosy as people made out. You never saw them being particularly close which is always a red flag. It’s the same with Anthony Joshua so you feel like Conor Benn moving to Zuffa Boxing has left Match very exposed and very devoid of star power in the UK.

It’s very hard if not impossible to to fight someone you’ve looked up to for a long time and Teofimo Lopez faced that challenge against Stevenson. He had to fight someone he knew was more skilled more experienced and an all-round better fighter. The sad part about it is he did nothing different to what he would’ve done had he fought anybody else a mistake that Stevenson prayed upon and that mistake made the fight very easy for Stevenson. People will now think less of Teofimo, but he remains a good fighter. It is just in the big moments, he’s not able to maximise his talent and that’s something he has to address.

The grass is rarely greener than where you are right now. Daniel Dubois has perhaps learned that lesson. In life, there is value in committing and building partnerships and legacies, which Daniel and Don Charles have a chance to do.

Dalton Smith has brought hope to Sheffield and this could be a new dawn for Yorkshire boxing. But... the big story is the fall-out from the movie Giant. Whichever side you go for just know that these relationships are more complex than we can ever learn from video interviews. What we can say is that both men will look at that period and know they could have handled the whole situation better.

The UK-Africa boxing experiment has been a disaster. It smells of colonialism, or at bet, a cynical cash-grab without having to invest in UK fighters. But, it points to the desperation these promoters have to make money at all costs, no matter how much damage it does to the brand.

When you carry on like Andrew Tate and you say the things that he says, the only way you should ever lose a fight is on your shield. You can never go out soft, the world will not allow you to go out soft after everything you have said. On Saturday night, we saw Andrew Tate go out soft he looked very hollow looked very weak, looked very human, very average and all he did in fighting Chase Demoor that way was give all of his opponents the ammunition they needed. Probably wasn’t the smartest decision.

When it’s all said and done, moments like this Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua circus will be the moment Boxing lost it soul. For generations, we were able to tell the public that the sport was so hard you had to be a specialist in this thing we called Boxing. We told people it took years of mastery. It took a very tough human being. It took a very special individual to be able to compete in Boxing and I think in the space of seven years the influencer community is showing us that actually it doesn’t. Boxing is not that special and once Boxing lost that tag of being special, the commercial opportunity started to filter away because it just became a murky corrupt sport where people seem to want to launder money in and out of the sport…and now we’re here.

That Monaco show was disastrous for a few prospects who will clearly never be world champions now. It also gave Eddie Hearn a chance to clear some. Deadwood out the stable.

When someone like Jeami TKV upsets the odds, we should celebrate it because it is a chance for them to change their lives because that is what this sport is about. We need more warriors like him and Frazer Clarke to take the sport forward.

When you hear that theme music, you know it's serious. Boxxer blew threw an estimated £32m of our money to give us a worse stable than they started with. This BBC deal feels like the last days of Boxxer. Can anyone see them turning it around? You cant have a circus bear dancing around before a fight against a nail technician. It degrades the sport.

Anthony Yarde has to be the best managed boxer in recent British boxing history. The young man is a millionaire. He’s fought for world titles three times against three people who will definitely be on the ballot for the Boxing Hall of Fame and he’s been able to secure endorsement deals and hopefully secure future for himself and his family But none of that should mask over the fact that this weekend is revealed how poor the standard of British Boxing actually is we are in no position to call ourselves of global force when it comes to Boxing.

This fight is crazy, but I’m here for it…if it happens.

Conor Benn may not be the most talented, but he is determined and you can see the progress he has made in the last 5 years. Whatever people say, the kid is a contender in three weight classes.

BEYOND BOXING EP281 - EDDIE ASAMOAH HEARN by Highfield Boxing

It’s been a crazy year for Anthony Joshua and you have to suspect that there are problems for him in the ring and there are problems for him outside the ring. What those problems are, not many of us know but we know that there are problems, and it seems that is the reason he’s no longer in the UK. Now, what that means for his career very hard to say but it’s very strange that none of the media outlets are asking the right questions.

BEYOND BOXING EP279 - WHEN ZACH PARKED THE BUS by Highfield Boxing

When two men go to war like Fabio Wardley and Joseph Parker did, there are no losers. What a fight and what a story Fabio Wardley’s career is becoming. Rocky really lives amongst us. The man’s life is a movie.

A long time ago I said Turki and the Saudis saw boxing as a tool, not a passion project. Wardley-Parker is proof that they won't burn cashon fights that do not serve their aims. For those fights, the fans have to pay.

Dave Allen’s spirited effort just wasn’t enough to overcome the power and precision of Arslanbek Makhmudov. Despite coming off a huge knockout win over Johnny Fisher back in May, Allen fell short on the scorecards, with all three judges giving the fight to the Russian, even after Makhmudov had two points deducted for holding. Where does Dave go now, and is this down in the hole Matchroom are now?

There is no doubt that Crawford is the best of this era, but we have to stop with the Floyd comparisons because he was one of one. Crawford winning against Canelo has disrupted the boxing money train temporarily as he will not find an opponent to give him the payday he wants. Boers on OnlyFans....stop please.

Ricky Hatton, known as “The Hitman” and beloved by legions of fans, passed away on 14 September 2025 aged 46. Born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, Hatton turned professional in 1997, going on to carve out a storied career in the light‐welterweight and welterweight divisions. He captured world titles, most memorably defeating Kostya Tszyu in 2005, and amassed an outstanding record of 45 wins in 48 fights.  Hatton’s appeal transcended his ring achievements. His ferocious, all-action style won him dedicated fan support, tens of thousands followed him even across oceans.  Afterwards, he was open about life’s battles: depression, substance abuse and the challenge of life once gloves were off. His frankness on mental health made him a powerful figure of empathy in British sport.  Ricky Hatton’s legacy will endure, as a warrior in the ring; an everyman who made the extraordinary seem within reach; and a voice for those whose fights happen outside it.

Canelo Álvarez, dominant at super-middleweight, brings size, power, and championship pedigree into his defense against Terence Crawford, the undefeated tactician jumping two weight divisions. Canelo’s physicality, granite chin, and ring experience give him clear advantages, but Crawford’s timing, adaptability, and counterpunching make him a live threat. The fight represents a clash between natural strength and pure skill: can Crawford’s precision offset Canelo’s size? The bout could redefine pound-for-pound supremacy and boxing history.

The story is the story. No answers to any questions.

In today's news... Moses won - first round stoppage. Frank won - he got to see one of his enemies humbled by a 20 year old. Dillian won - He was paid handsomely at a time when he was on the outside of boxing looking in. However, this week, Don Charles lost. He paid a heavy price for trying to manage an unmanageable situation. A good man, done wrong.

Dillian Whyte stands in the last chance saloon if he wants one last run at glory. Blocking his other is Moses Itauma, a young man in a rush towards greatness. Can Dillian upset the odds and add one more chapter to his storied career?

Ben Shalom has faced a rough start to 2025. But, it looks like life is a bit more stable for him with the announcement of a deal with the BBC. The real question is whether Ben can bring the glamour back to boxing on mainstream TV.

Who doesn't love a party? Definitely not boxing fans. They had done it before and it worked, but they confused luck with destiny and paid a heavy price. Whatever we say about partygate, there wasn't a version of Daniel Dubois that would have beaten Oleksandr Usyk.

You can't promise history and then expect us to praise effort. This whole Usyk-Dubois experience has felt like a massive ponzi scheme, with only the boing fans losing out again... My sense is that Usyk learned from the first fight, make adjustments based on what he saw and felt, delivering a completely different performance. We saw the Same DDD two years later, maybe at a lower level. We have to ask why.

Usyk is the greatest heavyweight of this generation and maybe the greatest boxer of this generation. That’s the headline.

Boxing is a cruel game, made even worse when you. Arty the burden of the family name on your back. But, we are now seeing that you cannot escape the fundamentals of boxing - sacrifice, skill, strength and grit - no matter who your dad is. For My two oence, I think Campbell Hatton had the hardest job, replacing a man that many still remember fighting and the first Brit to have their career enshrined on social media. It was always going to be hard.

Benn-Eubank II and Canelo-Crawford are cartoon fights. These are fights that are just there to keep revenue ticking over. These are not fights the fans really care about - maybe the hardcores at a push, but that's about it. Boxing will struggle until boxing fans demand real fights over action movies.

You can’t say you’re a free agent on your promoter’s show. It was a poor decision by Richardaon Hitchins and maybe it reflect the overall lowering of standards in boxing.

The Fabio Wardley fairytale continues. The Callum Simpson trim nearly detailed Boxxer are set for a full reboot. …Only in boxing

https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing The main question this pod is…WHO IS RUNNING BOXING?

Boxing is such a cruel sport. By winning. Dave Allen has increased his earning potential significantly and in losing Johnny Fisher has very tough career choices to make. It is a reminder that as much as Boxing is something that we has fans look at as fun, to those in the ring it is deadly serious and because it is deadly serious it is very important to have the right team around you. That includes your trainer and in many cases, and it’s not just Johnny Fisher, boxers have been trained by people who will never be good enough to help them fulfil their potential and maybe that is the biggest danger we face in boxing right now.

Did the pandemic of 2020 do more to hurt boxing than simply deprive boxing fans of fights that they wanted to see? As time goes on it’s clear that there’s a lost generation within Boxing a group of amateurs who missed 2.5 years of vital development that would’ve helped their career immeasurably. As a result what we’re seeing amongst this generation is many of these boxes trying to play catch-up without being given the opportunities to catch up.

Make sure you listen to EP258 first. There is only so much money you can throw at boxing before you get diminishing returns. At the moment, it looks like boxers are just boxing to get paid, and have no desire to entertain the fans. The contrast between Eubank-Benn and the boxing in New York, Vegas and Saudi Arabia couldn't be more obvious. I think we will see the Saudi's focus on the fighters that entertain and not the ones with the names. They are determined to maximise their value from boxing.

Eubank-Benn gave boxing one of its truly great moment. But, as is the case with boxing, we end up with drive-thru boxing at Times Square. It feels like Turki Alalshaikh is realising how challenging boxing can be at times. It is a lesson, we cannot always chase our wins in boxing.We have to let the sport ebb and flow naturally, without too much interruption.

There’s nothing a son treasures more than the bond with his father, the love, the validation, and that bond can drive a man to extraordinary heights. On Saturday night, we witnessed Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn do exactly that. Driven not just by their own ambitions, but by the legacy of their fathers, and by the love and validation of the British public, they gave us one of the great nights in British boxing. Two men, laying everything on the line. Two men, fighting for more than just victory. And in doing so, both earned something far greater, the admiration and love of the public, after years of chasing it. The shame is, nights like this are rare. Boxing can deliver stories like these again and again… but too often, the sport takes the easy road, chasing quick money rather than building the deep, powerful narratives that make nights like this so special. Tonight, we dive into why Saturday mattered, and what boxing needs to learn from it.

Sunday night was a defining moment for Ben Whittaker, his career was on the line, and he delivered. In what was his first big test under real pressure, he showed composure, skill, and raw emotion. The post-fight antics? That’s just the relief and passion boiling over. Cut the kid some slack, he’s a huge talent, and this is only the beginning. Let’s break it all down.

Chris Eubank Sr has been vocal about his concerns regarding his son Chris Eubank Jr's upcoming fight with Conor Benn. He is worried about the weight disparity between the fighters, calling the fight a "disgrace" and a "farce." Eubank Sr emphasised the risks involved, particularly with Eubank Jr having to drop weight and Benn moving up two weight classes, which he believes could endanger both fighters

Carl Froch started off as the hardcores’ spokesman, but he has slowly turned into another tool of the machine. Maybe it’s hard to leave the limelight after being such a great fighter, but surely integrity has to mean something The Conor Benn interview did everything it wasn’t meant to do but gave fans nothing of what they need. In doing that, they have shredded the. Skye and credibility of the Froch on Fighting channel.

The partnership between Queensberry Promotions and DAZN has been met with enthusiasm from boxing fans and industry insiders. Frank Warren, the head of Queensberry, expressed excitement about the collaboration, highlighting DAZN’s commitment to boxing and its ability to provide a one-stop platform for fans. The deal ensures that Queensberry’s fighters, including Tyson Fury, Moses Itauma, and Fabio Wardley, will now be showcased exclusively on DAZN. The move is seen as a major shift in boxing broadcasting, consolidating top-tier talent under DAZN’s umbrella alongside promotions like Matchroom and Golden Boy. Fans have welcomed the convenience of accessing multiple promotions in one place, while Warren emphasized the global reach this partnership offers.

We are seeing the early signs of a boxing recession. The money coming into the sport is falling and the sources of those funds are reducing. For too long, people took from boxing without putting in, and now people are seeing the result of that, with the talent pipeline looking weaker every year. maybe this is what boxing needs. Dance Under The lights Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTFJgjTotZw&pp=ygUfZGFuY2luZyB1bmRlciB0aGUgbGlnaHRzIGJveGluZ9IHCQlRCQGHKiGM7w%3D%3D Sharp Betting Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xbIXpXsGjw&t=1s

The Saudi-backed boxing league faces an uphill battle to succeed. What can Dana White do that Al Haymon, with a stable of generational talents, plus $500m in capital do? It feels like Turlki Alalshaikh is now serious about making a profit from boxing, so expect purses to fall but activity levels are about to rise.

BEYOND BOXING EP250 - DIMITRY BETTERS ARTUR by Highfield Boxing

EGGSELENCE OF EGGSECUTION by Highfield Boxing

We have a rematch that might be the end of one elite career. Both Beterbiev and Bivol had to dig deep into their reserves of courage and heart to survive. Have they got enough left to go again? This Saturday we will find out.

Boxing such a cruel sport. Due to the nature of the sport it’s very important to get your first step perfect. Too many times we see boxers get their start in the game completely wrong and they never get that moment back, and they never get the momentum back, which means they never fulfil their potential. If you are a boxer, be very careful about making that first move because you never get a second chance.

Derek Chisora is proof that Boxing is really about hard men. Hard durable men last the longest in the world of Boxing and it’s good to see him have this Indian summer to his career.

Who is Conor Benn really and does he even know? Sometimes it is easier not to pretend and I’m trying to be Nigel Benn II, maybe Conor is hurting his career. April 26th will tell us a lot more.

Does boxing really need its own Oscars night? Have they really given the fans all they want? or, is this another chance for more back-slapping? these sort of events are great for the camera and microphone jockeys and not that great for the fans. But...when you are a promoter with your own show on the same night, where should you be?

IF WE CAN DO 300 TICKETS WE'LL DO A LIVE SHOW I promise, there is really good boxing content in this episode, when you get to it. It was good to finally get back with the guys and record. We give our take on the last year in boxing, and in life, picking up on the bigger themes that are shaping boxing as a sport. There's more we could have covered, but there are only so many hours in the day. Enjoy this episode and if you like it, please share and subscribe.

There are three things that make a boxer elite: The ability to control any opponent and take away their strengths The ability to impose your will on your opponent and The focus required to do those two consistently for 12 rounds. On Saturday night, one man did it, and rightly won, and the other just couldn't. These fights are always about the finest f margins and Usyk had all of those.

A short discussion on what both Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have to do to win on Saturday night. Honest views from a podcast that cares.

The more I've read and listened to info on the Conor Benn saga the more I think this is a cover up about the failings at UKAD. Nobody has challenged the validity of the VADA tests and now that the process is over, Conor Benn is unwilling to talk on the subject. It feels like UKAD need him to be silent, more than he needs to share his side of the story. There are huge issues here that need clarifying.

If we didn't have Frank Warren domestic boxing in the UK would be fried. How did it get so bad? As fans we either get historic fight cards, or really bad fight cards, with no in-between. What we saw this weekend was a dark omen for what is to come if we don't start addressing things now.

Galal Yafai shocked British boxing with a one-sided demolition of Sunny Edwards. The odd thing about the fight was how easy it was. At that level no boxer should be able to tee off with bagwork combinations. it was like watching somebody doing padwork on another human body. Hopefully, this is the springboard to success for Galal Yafai.

It's a worrying time when you see Eddie Hearn using the tactics he used to laugh at other promoters for using. But it goes to show how far the pendulum has swung away from Matchroom in the last 3 years. Also....NOBODY ASKED FOR CHISORA V WALLIN!!!!

For anyone that can help Christian Allcorn, you can contact him on Twitter - @ChristianAllco1 Or Linkedin -https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-allcorn-87057023/ Many will be disappointed with this fight, but I am proud of Mike Tyson. It takes real heart to wake up at 58 years old, as a millionaire, and find it in you to train for a fight. He may never be what he was, but that warrior spirit never leaves you. Only casual fans can be disappointed with what they saw. What did they expect a 58 year old man to do? As for Jake Paul, he cracked the boxing matrix - getting rich with no risk and no CTE. Netflix got 250m streams of fight that was pantomime, at best. Everyone is a winner.

6 1/2 years after Eddie Hearn, proclaimed DAZN was the home of Boxing. Frank Warren has made the zone, the whole of Boxing 6 1/2 years of tools and insults a decade of his integrity being questioned BoxNation being questioned, and now Frank Warren seems to be the senior partner in the Suzanne situation and look this has been for years in the making maybe a bit longer and you have to respect Frank Warren for playing the long game while Eddie Hearn was burning up his his capital looking for short-term returns, but the most exciting thing the thing that put a smile on my face is the realisation that that Matchroom

A decade ago a group of young boxes including Ohara Davies, Anthony Yarde, Craig Richards and a few others became the first bridge between conventional media and social media. They were the first generation that proved you could demonstrate marketability through social media and while many others had social media before nobody utilised social media in such an effective way. They were almost the influencers of their day, and you wonder if the opportunity been available a decade ago would these guys are promoted their own shows. Would they have become KSI of the Jake Paul’s of their era? As we sit on the verge of watching this generation slowly work their way out of Boxing it might be time to give them their 💐.

Be there for your people, with love, when they are winning and when they are losing.

When the two best fight to be #1 in their division, you expect it to be close. So, when it is close, you can’t be surprised at the result. Beterbiev and Bivol gave their best, and now, we should let them go their separate ways and allow the division to freshen up.

Beterbiev versus Bivol, is the Hardcore’s dream matchup, but this fight doesn’t seem to have gathered much traction in the mainstream media. Is this is down to the effect of Anthony Joshua versus Daniel Dubois, and the kind of emotional fatigue that boxing fans will have after such a big event? It poses a question, are we having too much boxing in a short space of time, and not giving fans the opportunity to appreciate what could be a historic era in Boxing?

With Anthony Joshua versus Daniel Dubois now complete. We have an opportunity to reflect on what was one of the most spectacular seven days in British boxing history, and the big winner in the last seven days have been Don Charles, with his reputation, greatly enhanced, and many of the things he’s been saying for years finally vindicated. For many others, it means a reassessment of careers and in the case of Josh Warrington, we get to say goodbye to a British boxing legend.

Wow! Just wow! These are the times you live boxing.

We’re so close to fight night, and this week has been a week or so many plot lines. From the status of Don Charles being debated to the tension between Willy Hutchinson and Joshua Buatsi, and the weigh-in on Friday was kind of a good moment to bring everything together. Fans were in good spirit. The promoters in good spirit. The boxers were clearly focused and energised, and it made for a great spectacle. Boxing wouldn’t get this kind of spectacle without the Saudi money being involved and at some point, we have to accept that their money is just as good as anyone’s money.

There is no question that Anthony Joshua is a massive favourite in this fight against Daniel Dubois. From his experience, power, size and strangely enough skill, he has a lot of things over Daniel, but the real test is whether he still has the desire in his mid thirties to to be the man in the division again. To do so he’ll have to stop Daniel Dubois in an emphatic performance in order for us to believe that he could beat Usyk or Tyson Fury. But, there are many ways that Joshua can win and in this episode, we will focus on some of the keys to victory for Anthony Joshua.

There is an argument to say that Daniel Dubois has not lived up to the potential he had as a as an 18 or 19-year-old making his way in the professional ranks. But, he has shown his resilience and ability to fight back from setbacks to finally become a world champion. On September 21 he has the opportunity to cement his reputation as a genuine world Champion by beating Joshua, easily his hardest challenge. Here’s how he can do it.

Does a promoter have the right to recoup their investment costs from the fighters? Matchroom have spent a lot of money promoting Joe and get him to world title status and it looks like now Eddie is in for a cash out mode and Joe Cordina, while not necessarily happy with it, has to accept that this is just how it works in boxing.

This is a great opportunity to shake off some ring rust, and kind of feel my way back into recording. Boxing is in a really interesting place. There’s a lot less money in boxing than there used to be and as such, you have more people chasing less money and we are starting to see the effect of that on both international and domestic boxing.

In August 2024 everybody is an expert on gender. Everyone is quick to the label someone as trans when we don’t even have a workable definition of gender for sport. We lack a workable test with workable thresholds. People talk about these matters like XX versus XY is that simple when, as a human race, we haven’t gender tested at scale ever and now were literally about to start gender testing women just to prove they are women. Is there anything more degrading than that? Deep down a lot of the men defending women in this case do so because of a sexist view of how fragile women are.

While there is juice in the lemon we will keep on squeezing. I guess that’s the philosophy of boxing for where we are in 2024. As long as these ageing stars can give us entertaining fights they will keep creating entertaining fights because the new generation it doesn’t seem that there up there yet and so I can understand the value in a Joe Joyce versus Derek Chisora.

Is Boxing in South London working? Now, we have seen so many boxers from south London Chamberlain, Riakporhe, Azeez, Bentley, Cheeseman all winning titles, but we’ve never felt confident that, at the top level, we had guys that can do it. In fact we haven’t had a guy we felt confident a boxer could dominate since David Haye. Is that a sign that is the problems run deep in South London Boxing, I think so.

So the Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney saga continues. It now looks like both guys could be on the shelf for a whole year with Ryan Garcia serving a drug ban and Devin Haney, seemingly needing to get his whole life correct before he boxes again. The sum total of it is, in the 140 pound division we’ve got chaos where we thought we were getting close to order and so for the next year we are going to get inundated with flights that we didn’t ask for but we’re going to get anyway.

Boxing is such a hard way to make money, but it’s an even harder way to build a singular proposition. What Turki is proposing to do in buying up promotional companies to create a boxing league is commercial madness. It taps into the ongoing boxing saga of finding rich men and separating them from their money. The shameful thing is that people don’t see it coming. Boxing is so good at massaging egos, boosting peoples self-esteem, and then making them pay for the pleasure.

A man should be able to have a beer in peace without the media watching and reporting on it, but when it comes to Tyson Fury and his history with substance abuse and depression, it’s always a worry to his fans and those that care about him. When you dig deeper, and you look below the surface. You remember that this is the guy who, as much as he tells you that he’s a fighting man in his heart and soul he’s not a born fighter. He’s a guy that had to learn how to be a fighter and that can play well for the public, but in reality, if that’s not who you are it could cause problems for you further down the line.