Ephemeral Incandescence

My prediction was wrong about every aspect of Garcia-Haney when it came to the action in the ring (fight card quality and viewership are a different story). From the highlights, it appears that Garcia took charge early and never showed signs of wilting under pressure the way he did against Davis. According to reports, the young star’s technique remained responsible throughout the duration of the fight and he managed three knockdowns in that time. It’s hard to argue with his performance, especially by attacking the quality of his opposition. Devin Haney, after all, eked out an (undeserved) decision against Vasyl Lomachenko, not to mention two victories over George Kambosos. Regarding that qualification, however, we have to keep in mind that Kambosos built his name entirely on a win over rising star Teofimo Lopez. Styles make fights, and sometimes these anomalies happen.

This weekend’s result was no anomaly for Garcia and Haney, though. In their fight, from all descriptions, Garcia outclassed the seemingly more mentally stable fighter. Haney’s defense is usually very sound, and his strategic offense doesn’t lose much steam over 10 or even 12 rounds. Apparently, that wasn’t enough to significantly slow Garcia, who was taunting and dancing in the ring, yet avoiding unnecessary risks, right up to the bell.

I still maintain that neither fighter has a future at the top, and I’ve pointed out flaws in Haney’s game before, but it just can’t be very long before Garcia’s psychological issues negatively impact his performance when he’s in a dangerous position. As his opponents increase in difficulty, any vulnerabilities will be magnified and he’ll eventually get hurt. There are many potential matchups for him that would probably produce big action in what is probably the deepest division in the sport. That being said, especially given how effective his shots were against Haney, it’s hard to say in which class Garcia will be competing. He came in more than three pounds overweight for this fight, which is why he didn’t get a title for his effort. He’s had issues in the past which, according to him, left him with blisters in his mouth from dehydration.

Garcia could have a meteoric rise in at least his immediate future, but if he really plans on moving up a division to play with the likes of Terence Crawford, things will change quickly for him. There are some interesting options for catchweight matches, but Garcia needs legacy fights against opponents at their natural weights to establish himself if he’s going to be the kind of draw he claims he can be. It’s hard to imagine his power translating in a match against someone like Errol Spence. But for now, the spotlight is on Ryan Garcia.

Contrasting Cards

The wildly varying quality between fight cards, even when broken down by access category (cable/streaming, pay-per-view), has never been more glaring than in the upcoming megafights on April 20th and (the recently announced undercard for) June 1st.

In just a few days, boxing fans will be subject to a $70 price tag to see current junior middleweight champion Devin Haney beat future-mental-patient Ryan Garcia. The undercard on that fight features Arnold Barboza, Bektemir Melikuziev and John Ramirez. Nope, I’ve never heard of them either.

By contrast, June first’s already fantastic main event between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol has just added an unheard of 5-fighter undercard tournament. Are the matchups even, the results significant? Take a look at these names and judge for yourself:

Craig Richards (Matchroom) vs. Willy Hutchinson (Queensberry)

Raymond Ford (Matchroom) vs. Nick Ball (Queensberry)

Hamzah Sheeraz (Queensberry) vs. Austin Williams (Matchroom)

Filip Hrgovic (Matchroom) vs. Daniel Dubois (Queensberry)

Zhilei Zhang (Queensberry) vs. Deontay Wilder (Matchroom)

These are undeniably excellent fights added to an already stellar main event! Granted, the cost to watch is unlikely to be any less than that of the upcoming anticlimactic Haney-Garcia farce, but it’s guaranteed to be a lot more fun and a lot more important. This will be at least one potentially perfect night in the otherwise disappointing 2024 boxing itinerary.

No Bait, No Switch

Two the biggest fights this year will be Devin Haney versus Ryan Garcia and Saul Alvarez against Jaime Munguia. I was excited to hear that Amazon Prime would begin hosting pay-per-view events because I trust their platform and, being Amazon, I thought they might have a more reasonable price tag than their competitors. I’m not totally shocked to find out that this was only wishful thinking, but I am surprised that Amazon wants to debut the service with such low-quality products (despite the fact that these fights will feature three of the biggest names in boxing).

I’m not diminishing the collected talent–even Munguia is a physically impressive athlete with a lot of technical potential and an immaculate record. Canelo is still probably my favorite active fighter, so I’m always interested in seeing him matched well, but so many of his recent fights have been pointless in terms of legacy: Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant were basically stay busy fights against big guys, Bivol was ill-advised, Golovkin (the third time) was like underlining an exclamation point, and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say both Ryder and Charlo were big wastes of time. There’s no way I’m paying 70 dollars to watch him work over a young guy with an inflated record just because they’re both Mexican. Heritage aside, you could make the case that both Edgar Berlanga and, even more so, David Benavidez, are both better opponents–in terms of marketability and legacy, even entertainment value. Once again, if Canelo wins, nothing changes, if he loses, we’re all just disappointed in Canelo.

Then there’s Haney-Garcia, and unless mental illness somehow significantly enhances Garcia’s performance, we all know how that fight will go. Garcia is going to quit in the ring again, or lose a decision, if it lasts that long. Admittedly, I think Haney is a more realistic challenge for Garcia than Davis was, but given how Haney endured against Lomachenko, the result here won’t likely be very different. The price tag for this one isn’t really inappropriate considering the importance of the fight in determining who makes money in the division, but I think knowledgeable fans see that neither one of them is an elite-level fighter. Haney wilted against Lomachenko and Garcia will never be reliable, no matter well how he bounces back from the next-level lunacy he’s been spouting on social media (not to mention the alarming complacency he displayed in his loss to Davis).

After these two money grabs, things get more interesting with a pair of competitive, if predictable fights: May 6 is Inoue-Nery and May 11th is Lomachenko-Kambosos. On May 18th, if there are no more delays, Fury will finally fight Usyk, which is a huge fight that I’ve lost my passion for due to both fighters’ recent performances. Finally, on June 1st, we’ll see a fight that should put two fighters in their rightful places among the best in boxing, when Dmitry Bivol takes on Artur Beterbiev. None of those fights is as important on paper as Fury-Usyk, but they’re all almost guaranteed to be entertaining.

Mind of Garcia

In late 2023, welterweight star Ryan Garcia had some sort of disagreement with Golden Boy and, specifically, Oscar de la Hoya. Most of it appeared to be an understandable reaction from a superstar suffering his first defeat, as well as justifiably resenting (Oscar’s business partner) Bernard Hopkins’ comment that Garcia may consider retirement immediately after the loss. At the time, I thought De la Hoya’s comments about Garcia’s mental stability were a businessman’s strategic distraction from the much simpler issues at hand, but now it’s looking like Oscar had some perspective that fans may not have.

On Saturday, ESPN posted an article describing the unusual request from the NY state athletic commission for Garcia to pass a mental health check before competing in his upcoming fight against the physically gifted Devin Haney. If anything, the article significantly downplays the issues, stating only briefly that “Garcia has made a litany of eyebrow-raising social media posts over the past few weeks, ranging from conspiracy theories to claims he has evidence of the existence of extraterrestrials,” and connecting the recent events to a 2021 incident in which Garcia withdrew from a fight citing mental health concerns. There’s also a quote from De la Hoya about Garcia being focused and in great spirits, but it all seems like an effort to brush something under the proverbial rug.

Sportingnews.com has posted a much more in-depth analysis of Garcia’s recent behavior, including many choice Twitter posts in their entirety, and more nuanced context for the timing and content of the posts. If nothing else, the wildly inconsistent language the 25 year-old fighter uses is somewhat concerning. No one expects a fighter to be Shakespeare in social media posts, but Garcia will write something like “Who else would satan support then [sic] devil haney,” and “lol you are a good one Mr Snake. Cheaters never win caca brain,” then come out with something like “I, Ryan Garcia, will not be speaking or tweeting or writing anything other then [sic] my fight ‘boxing’ and sports.” Aside from the poor spelling, a fair, if un-clinical description for the tweets would be schizophrenic. The clinical diagnosis for the fighter, himself, remains a mystery.

I’ve said before that distractions like this never bode well for a fighter, but we’ve seen recent examples that completely contradict that perspective–look at Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, both of whom suffered periods of self-described mental health crises, and now reign at the top of the sport’s marquee division. Garcia definitely should have performed better in the fight against Gervonta Davis, but he’s looked good since, and there’s no telling which version will show up on fight night. Devin Haney is a talented and naturally gifted athlete who would challenge any opponent in terms of stamina and defense. He’s shown his limitations in the fight against Lomachenko, but Garcia will have to put all of his skills on display and exhibit uncharacteristic determination in order to equal the performance that Lomachenko put on that night.

So, even if these behaviors appear to be a clear cry for help, or something worse, whatever’s causing them may not have any effect on the fight. Given Garcia’s performance against Davis, though, in addition to these recent aberrations, his chances don’t look good.

Order Restored

I lost money betting against Anthony Joshua last weekend, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to lose a bet. Francis Ngannou’s performance against Tyson Fury was humbling, as a fan of the sport. Even though the former UFC champion had some boxing experience (as an amateur) and a mythical physique, it was shocking to see Tyson Fury rendered so helpless against an opponent with no professional record. Given Joshua’s infamous history of underperforming in fights that appear to be winnable, I thought I saw an opportunity of my own–to cash in on the long odds.

As it turns out, what might be the most consistent maxim of the sport–styles make fights–applies especially to crossover fights. Fury’s light-touch, scattergun style gave Ngannou the safety margin he needed to move forward effectively with little understanding of defensive technique. Joshua didn’t afford him such luxuries, splitting Ngannou’s wide guard with straight rights almost from the opening bell. The breakdown was methodical and almost insultingly simple, which was the perfect approach for the opponent in front of him. Just the one-two, paired with moderate head movement and slight angle changes for about five minutes, were all it took to completely disconnect Francis Ngannou from his senses.

The final knockdown was unnecessary for the win to be definitive, and it’s a shame Ngannou’s corner and the referee failed to stop it sooner. In any case, the verdict is in, and boxing is, indeed, an art form unto itself. The demand for crossover fights will gradually recede to reasonable levels.

In terms of the future landscape, Fury might well lose one or both scheduled fights with Usyk–assuming there are no more delays. If he loses the first fight and Usyk chooses not to enforce the rematch clause, there’s no reason Fury couldn’t face Joshua next. There’s also the possibility that Usyk might lose and still not push for another fight, but that seems extremely unlikely given the payday he’ll be guaranteed, even in a less interesting rematch.

I was thrilled to see Joseph Parker survived two knockdowns to defeat Zhilei Zhang on points, though less thrilled that they’re scheduled for a rematch. Nobody really wants to see guys like Joyce, Zhang or even parker up against Usyk who is still the obvious second choice to natural heavyweights who are usually several inches taller. But maybe that’s a market for Wilder, now that his performances have begun a steep decline. Otherwise, I’m not all that excited to see the eventual exposure of our top remaining heavyweights in Fury, Usyk and Joshua. They all have glaring flaws in their technique that make them inevitable fodder for the next generation, but even the best of what we have now may not be up to the task with soft big men like Daniel Dubois and Jared Anderson.

Another announcement that may go a long way toward hastening the demise of crossover fights was that of the upcoming circus act between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. I don’t know who’s more likely to get hurt unnecessarily in that fight–both of them?–but it seems ill advised from any perspective.

No Fate but What We Make

This Friday’s fight card will bear the distinction of being a weekday pay-per-view event as Anthony Joshua takes on MMA champion Francis Ngannou in Riyadh. There are no titles, no championships and no mandatory-challenger spots at stake in this heavyweight showdown, yet it will be one of the most consequential matches to take place in 2024. That’s because of what happened in the same city at the nearby Boulevard Hall venue with Tyson Fury in October of last year. Ngannou showed that not only is he worthy of competing at the elite level of the heavyweight division in a sport he had never competed in professionally before, but he performed so well that observant fans have to question Fury’s competence as a champion. What, then, is at stake in this crossover clash? Only the fate of the heavyweight division, and the sport itself.

While some, especially in the Fury camp, want to downplay that result (or overemphasize the judges’ decision to score the fight narrowly for Fury), it’s impossible to deny that the sport of boxing has always leaned heavily on the star power of its heavyweight division. Most recently, that division has been composed of a group of 3-5 top athletes, at most. Consistently, Fury, Wilder and Joshua have been three of those fighters. The group of challengers has varied, but never before has it been so clear that a tidal shift may be at hand.

All three of the division’s stars have shown vulnerabilities at times, but Fury had clung to the image of himself promoted by boxing analysts that presented him as the skilled technician, so advanced that his severely inadequate physique was irrelevant to his dominance. Ngannou’s success against Fury was the first crack in that edifice, but more are soon to come. Fury was always going to be the favorite going into a fight against Joshua, and if he can’t outperform an MMA fighter with one professional fight and a 100% loss ratio, the interest in that fight will dwindle, at the very least. If Ngannou actually wins the fight convincingly, he may end up the favorite against any of these top boxers. Wilder, the third musketeer, seems to have begun his final decline already, and the hype around a showdown between Wilder and Joshua has already dissipated, so there wouldn’t be much point in putting him against someone who beat Joshua.

Tyson Fury is no stranger to underperforming, so maybe Joshua will clear up the record this Friday and demonstrate the superiority of his specialization in boxing. Whatever happens, I hope he realizes that there’s more at stake than his pride, his record, or even a future title shot. Friday night will determine no less than the fate of boxing as a major spectator sport.

Dismantling a Division

The December 23rd heavyweight card in Saudi Arabia, ostensibly a showdown between the best A- heavyweights, held some surprises for viewers. We all expected Anthony Joshua to come away victorious from his bout with Kubrat Pulev, as anyone with any sense predicted forDmitry Bivol and Lyndon Arthur (whose first name escaped me while writing this due to his notoriety). While I’ve been impressed with Joseph Parker’s development in recent years, I was one of many who were surprised that night when Wilder tried unsuccessfully to coast through his fight with the big New Zealand native, which was a must-win at Wilder’s age and (former) ranking.

On the undercard, Daniel Dubois comprehensively defeated former prospect Jarrell Miller. Miller was such a powerful, young fighter with so much room to grow, I expected him to rise to the occasion against Dubois, who was coming off a stolen decision loss to Usyk. Instead, Miller looked like an amateur with no reply to Dubois’ varied arsenal. In short, the future for Dubois is bright, if dangerous, in the position he’s put himself in terms of challenging one of the top heavyweights–Miller’s future is not. A few weeks after the loss, he went on to pummel a salesman at a car dealership, so that’s likely all boxing fans will hear from Mr. Miller in the title contention conversation.

I continue to be surprised that analysts, fans and, most of all, that Bivol, himself, thinks he’s going to be competitive against Beterbiev. That’s still being presented to the public as a potential showdown, I guess because Bivol won a points decision over Canelo. The biggest surprise, however, came after all the scores were turned in and the ring was dismantled. My prediction for the fallout was that Dubois and Joshua would sign a fight against each other, being the two best fighters still legitimately in line for a payday against Fury. Instead, Joshua has made the dangerous choice to face Francis Ngannou, the overlooked crossover MMA fighter who should have come away the winner from his fight against Tyson Fury. It’s going to be pretty impressive just seeing two physiques like that across from each other, but it’ll be even more interesting to see how Joshua’s polished but shallow skill set compares against Ngannou’s undeveloped but completely formidable abilities. Styles make fights, and if Joshua can fall back on his Olympic pedigree to land volume against a fighter who has to be careful with his output, he might just take a decision. If he’s not wary of his opponent’s power from single, simple shots, though, it’ll be a quick, decisive step to the top of the sport for Ngannou. And the end of the heavyweight division as we know it.

Day of Wreckoning

The overwrought title for tonight’s pay-per-view card is ironic in that none of the fighters featured are likely to move on to be successful in the higher-level fights they’ll earn with a victory. Things began with heavyweight mainstay Daniel Dubois facing up-and-coming Jarrell Miller. I had found Miller’s technique and power impressive in the past, so I was surprised to see that Dubois blew him out of the water with a one-sided win that ended in knockout. Unfortunately, even given the poor officiating Dubois endured in what should have been a win over Usyk, he’s just not on a level where he can compete with Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury (or Francis Ngannou). He might make a good opponent for Joshua, though, after he wins tonight.

The next big fight was the title fight between Dmitry Bivol and Lyndon Arthur. The light heavy division isn’t as deep as some others, but Arthur’s biggest fight to date was against Anthony Yarde, who beat Arthur in a rematch. This was a perfunctory competition, and it’s no surprise that Bivol won a shutout decision and even scored a knockdown. Unfortunately for him, Canelo is unlikely to grant him another payday, and he’s been talking about facing the winner of Artur Beterbiev versus Callum Smith. It goes without saying that Beterbiev wins that fight, but why Bivol thinks he can even be competitive is beyond me. I am looking forward to the style contrast when they do meet, though (and the spectators’ reactions as the inevitable plays out), with Beterbiev the stereotype of a bully brawler, Bivol the epitome of a boxer-puncher. 

Later, Anthony Joshua will take on Otto Wallin and Deontay Wilder will fight Joseph Parker. The favorites will win these fights, and the only way I’ll have missed out on anything (in skipping the fight) is if Wilder is completely irresponsible and gets knocked out by Parker. The plan is for the two favorites to meet in 2024, probably in their next match. While it’s a fight fans have wanted for years and it’s become increasingly unavoidable in determining the heavyweight rankings, I submit that neither fighter will come out in a significantly better position. Neither can compete with the top of the division (they’re one step below) and both will take significant damage fighting such a skilled, powerful opponent. Best case scenario, the winner of Joshua-Wilder would get a Tyson Fury payday, and the fans might like to see Joshua try his arsenal against the flabby Gypsy King. In both cases, they’re likely to lose, and then to face retirement after a rough defeat.

Whatever happens, the fallout from all these battles rests on the shoulders of the big Irishman, who, while holding only one of four heavyweight belts, is widely considered the true champion of the division. He overlooked his crossover fight against Francis Ngannou and embarrassed himself in what should have been a loss, after repeatedly claiming that he would be fighting a top contender (Usyk) just a couple of months later. They were supposed to be headlining tonight’s card, which had to be course-corrected after Fury’s inevitable announcement that he wouldn’t be ready by December 23rd. These filler fights will determine important matches in the near future, but for tonight, it amounts to a lot of posturing. 

Important Update: typed too soon–Wilder just lost 11 rounds to Parker, whose evolving technique and work rate were, admittedly, not to be dismissed. The verdict still stands overall, of course, as Joshua has already beaten Parker in 2018. A big disappointment for fans, too, since Wilder-Joshua is and has been in demand for some time. Wilder could still surprise us with a late knockout.

Fight of the Year 2023

It was a night of upsets, sweat, and tears split across two cards and several very entertaining fights last night. I strongly considered skipping the live watch for both broadcasts, even though I’d already invested 20 dollars in the bait-and-switch DAZN service for the month (and, gee, it’s only another 60 for the pay-per-view that you assured us would be included with the subscription, what a deal!). It had been a while since I had a double-header to watch, though, and last night turned out to be ideal for losing myself in multiple screens, thoroughly enjoying the only semi-frantic process of tracking multiple fights’ start times, arranging dinner and figuring out my predictions. As it turns out, I was extremely fortunate to be fully tuned in for the Big Drama Show (as Genndy Golovkin would put it) that transpired before me.

It’s not often you can say with any certainty that a pulse-pounding battle you’ve just watched play out inside the ring is actually as great as it feels in that moment when the decision is announced and the triumphant victor is crowned. It’s even more rare that a fan can say with certainty, “that was fight of the year.” In this case, being mid-December, last night’s epic clash between overwhelming favorite Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba and Mexico’s six-foot-one featherweight Rafael Espinoza is a lock.

On the DAZN card, the first fight was between probably my favorite active female fighter, Ebanie Bridges (ahem), and relative unknown Miyo Yoshida. Bridges is the naturally bigger fighter, but came into the ring looking somewhat uncoordinated and sluggish. She was a 7-1 favorite, but her condition only degenerated as the fight progressed, and as Yoshida piled up points with non-stop offense that knocked Bridges’ head back in almost every exchange. By the end of the fight, Bridges was slumped forward, throwing nothing but wild arm punches that looked decidedly un-champion-like. The superhuman effort paid off, with all three judges awarding the fight to Yoshida, a single mother whose young daughter was in the front row rooting for her mom as she waged war against a champion. The display of genuine joy and affection between the two was enough to have the announcing team commenting on being choked up for several minutes (and the scene likely affected many viewers the same way).

The cards progressed, DAZN showcasing young gun Bruce Carrington Jr., whose apparently impressive amateur resume belies the abrupt violence of his shocking destruction of Jason Sanchez. Given his frame and explosive punching, he’s likely to move up a class before settling, and likely with a few belts to show for it. ESPN’s showcase was for Xander Zayas, the much heralded Puerto Rican fighter who, at junior middleweight, is positioned in one of the most competitive and exciting divisions in the sport. He’s smooth, long and powerful, with the kind of hyper-coordinated frenetic style that fans fell in love with while watching Teofimo Lopez.

It all built to the two main events of the evening. I started with the DAZN card because I had paid so much for it, and the main event was starting a few minutes earlier than the ESPN headliner. I had a sinking feeling about the result of Haney-Prograis (especially when I saw Haney’s 5 inch reach advantage), and that began to play out promptly at the beginning of round two, when Haney took full control of the fight and Prograis started to look grateful to be on his feet. There was a knockdown in there somewhere, off of a glancing shot. The Crescent City native took the punch well and recovered quickly, even pushing his opponent back almost immediately, but with swarming, inaccurate punches. I had hoped that Prograis’ recently lackluster performances were more the result of ring rust than the progression of his technique, but for me, this is the suddenly clear signal that Prograis will never reach the elite level. He’s still completely flat-footed, he squares up too much, and last night he leaned for all of his biggest punches (understandable with such a reach discrepancy).

Regis Prograis’ impressively sturdy chin does nothing to compensate for his total inability to adjust throughout the fight. By the end of round five or six, it seemed that the fight was lost and I opted to switch over to Ramirez and Espinoza rather than witness the New Orleanian’s gradual deterioration. Given the underdog’s absurd physique for the weight class (6’1″, 126 lbs), I was expecting the young, energetic favorite to win by early knockout. Ramirez was choosing his shots carefully and throwing far fewer punches than Espinoza, but he was moving closer to turning out Espinoza’s lights. He flipped the switch in round 5, catching Espinoza with several devastating hooks and winging haymakers seemingly at will. Espinoza got up and only survived the round because of the knockdowns proximity to the bell.

Ramirez tired after failing to keep his opponent down and the momentum shifted for a few rounds before the tide returned to its original level in round 8. For the last three rounds, however, Espinoza’s incredible volume punching, which seemed only to increase with successive rounds, gradually overwhelmed the much shorter fighter. An absolutely epic, blockbuster-climax worthy final round saw Espinoza throw an incredible 120 punches, putting his total right around 1000 for the 12-round fight. Espinoza’s face was badly bruised as he threw these last, frantic shots, but his accuracy stayed consistent and Ramirez finally began to wilt. His guard widened just a little, his stance shifted. He stepped back more frequently and began to hunch over, back to the ropes. Suddenly, just at the conclusion of the match, Espinoza’s punches finally took their toll and crumpled Ramirez. He rose from the count in time, but was on wobbly legs and never regained his composure, much less posed a threat in the remaining seconds.

The decision went the right way, though it was closer than I had expected with both men earning knockdowns. Ramirez will be a crowd pleaser for years to come if things go as they should. He ought to move up at least one weight class, and, hopefully, will continue to develop his arsenal. “Styles make fights,” indeed.

Back on DAZN, Prograis had taken his beating but kept it interesting all the way through the final bell, with Haney, content to circle and potshot, no closer to another knockdown than he’d been in the middle rounds. He was badly bruised and looked spiritually defeated in the aftermath. I wouldn’t argue against it if his team suggested consideration of retirement. Given that he’s established his own promotional banner, though, it’s unlikely that Rougarou will make such a measured decision. Brought back a lot of memories watching that young New Orleans fighter with short arms get beaten all over the ring.

Weighing In

In a recent interview, former UFC champion Daniel Cormier laid out his perspective on the Ngannou-Fury fight and how the result reflects on boxing as a sport. As I’ve mentioned in my posts about that fight, it’s no longer debatable whether Fury is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, and because Fury was the sport’s most lauded champion, the incident exposed much more than a singular athlete, rather, it laid bare the vulnerabilities of the entire division. As a dedicated MMA fighter, Cormier’s assessment was even less generous. He emphasized that Fury was beaten by an amateur, which is mostly true. Even though Ngannou was an experienced fighter, he had never been in a professional boxing match. And even though Fury had his hand raised at the end of the contest, it’s hard to see the decision as a meaningful victory.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the authority of the discipline or the draw of the sport have been diminished by this embarrassment, though. The puncher’s chance, as many MMA fans and analysts have themselves observed, is most potent at heavyweight. The other divisions would be less accessible for an inexperienced fighter, and so would champions who routinely come into the ring in shape rather than sporting a spare tire over the top of their trunks. The fighters I’ve mentioned previously are a great representation of that premise: Teofimo Lopez, Vasyl Lomachenko, and Terence Crawford would all give any UFC fighter fits, and likely would win their (boxing) fights against anyone in their weight division. They might even have the talent to crossover and be successful in a lower level MMA fight, given their exceptional athleticism.

Cormier made another observation, though, about the relative danger of the two sports. In general, I’m of the opinion that UFC fights are more immediately dangerous (to your appearance, motor function and joint function), whereas boxing may be worse for head trauma. There is a variety of reasons behind the comparison: use of headgear in training, concentration on hitting the head, glove size and weight, and the most obvious reason–there’s no kicking in boxing. Cormier made a compelling argument, though, in that UFC fights are stopped as soon as someone loses consciousness, whereas in boxing, fighters have ten seconds to recover, and ten seconds to reconsider their condition.

Ostensibly, this allowance should give the referee, the corner team and the fighter themselves a chance to assess damage based on physical mobility and attention to instructions. But what about the underlying principle in any combat sport, the golden rule every fighter is taught in every discipline: keep fighting. Anyone training to their best ability should be experiencing frequent urges to shy away from the punishment they’re putting themselves through, and they have to ignore those instincts as a matter of course. Especially when your thinking is compromised (by one or more concussions), you rely on foundational principles more than any factual assessment. In other words, if all else fails, you stand up and put your hands up. This conditioning is both necessary for adequate training and also extremely dangerous in how it affects a fighter’s decision to continue when hurt.

To be fair, in the UFC, an unconscious fighter might be choked, kicked or punched for a relatively extended period as the referee takes time determining the fighter’s condition. That’s very unusual in boxing. They’re also allowed to attack with parts of the body that can do much more damage than a gloved hand, such as knees and elbows. At the very least, the reduction of the count is worth considering. Maybe 9 seconds of recovery time is too much for any fighter to safely continue after sustaining damage that left them unable to rise for that amount of time.

On a lighter note, the recent announcement that Showtime is getting out of the game is music to my ears. Today, PBC, one of the most significant promotional banners in the sport, announced a new partnership with a new platform. Thankfully, it’s not DAZN. Amazon has taken the reins for the next 12-14 fights from PBC, and there’s even speculation that they’ll host pay-per-view events (though these will also be sold through cable providers). Aside from the inevitability of assembling a commentary team superior to Showtime’s, the potential for more reliable, accessible (and maybe affordable?) broadcasts is mouth watering for any true boxing fan.

The sport is going through big changes, and with such changes comes opportunity. Let’s hope the powers that be will seize this one.