Beyond Boxing

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.

Top-level, Boxing is a rough rough spot. The one thing you should never do is deviate from who you actually are in a boxing ring. On Saturday. We saw Deontay Wilder, try and be somebody he’s not. Now, the real questions to ask did that win over Robert Helenius and the effect it had on him post fight, did that change his outlook on knockouts or was the Tyson Fury fight so traumatic to him that he’s never been the same? Maybe we will never know the answers, but the question do need to be asked

The waiting is over we finally get Matchroom versus Queensbury five versus five supposedly the best versus the best If we are being honest, we know there is a large amount of politics at play here and if you’re being transparent Eddie has probably sent the B team out and Frank has sent his A team. As great a card as this is we don’t feel that it’s as competitive as it would’ve been four years ago when there was supposedly real animosity between Matchroom and Queensbury this feels like forced niceness and the fans we have to ask whether they are being taken for a ride.

I was wrong about Usyk I can hold my hands up. I was 100% wrong about the man. He showed on Saturday night what it is to be truly elite In a fight that was going against him for the first seven rounds, for him to turn it around, shows the mark of the man and shows why he’s a champion. We have to see him as a great now.

We're finally here. We finally get one face, one king of boxing. Now will it be Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk? I don't think the answer is obvious, but I hope the analysis here helps.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget how dangerous boxing is. No parent should ever have to bury their child and this weekend was a reminder that for all the things we say, all the issues we talk about in boxing, boxer safety should always, and I mean always, remain top of that list. We may not be where we want to be but we are further ahead than we were a decade ago. However, that doesn’t ease the pain for the family of Sherifdeen Lawal. That doesn’t ease the pain for those who trained with him those who fought against him and those that knew him more widely. These events are heartbreaking because we promise to keep your kids safe in our sport and when we can’t it hurts. RIP SHERIFDEEN LAWAL. 

So Ryan Garcia fails a drugs test. He failed for Ostarine and he failed for nandrolone and these are worrying substances because no boxers should really have them in the system. We’ve been through this so many times with boxers that it’s no longer a joke and everything that Larry said it’s turning out to be correct. Now that Boxing has a massive drug problem and this drug problem is allowed to happen because of the cracks between the lack of a governing body. weak sanctioning bodies, promoters and TV networks who all incentives to make sure that the show goes on regardless of failed drugs tests?.

As always, click the link for everything. https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing We’ve all been able to witness the Ryan Garcia’s victory tour and as much fun as it has been and as interesting as it has been, I think we’re at the point now where those close to Ryan Garcia need to put their arms around him and bring him back down to earth, getting back in the gym and getting back training. The scandal around Team GB selecting Amy Broadhurst to represent them in the final Olympic qualifier might just be the biggest story in boxing this year.

When two people spend their formative years as rivals, it is hard to understand how intense a fight between them as men can be. Add to that, the eyes of the boxing world, and you have something that has the capacity to bend minds and upset odds. Ryan Garcia surprised the world in beating Devin Haney, despite the antics leading up to the fight. In truth, if someone was going to expose Haney for the man he is, it was always going to be Ryan Garcia.

We finally get the Queensberry v Matchroom clash we were promised in the pandemic – only took us one vaccine and 4 boosters to get there. As boxing fans, we should be happy that we have a big card, which has meaning, supported by 5 really strong fights. The only dark cloud is whether we are running this Saudi experiment at the expense of our domestic British boxing product. In terms of British boxing, the decline of London amateur boxing has been hard to take. We have become so smug, stealing ideas off the internet, and sharing clips of things we cannot do, or teach, that our boxers are suffering. Until we can bring hard work back into our gyms. Until our coaches can emphasise their own skills, we will remain behind the rest. We could learn a lot from The North right now.

What is going on with our promoters? It seems like chaos in the worlds of Hearn, Warren, and Shalom. It’s a great soap opera for men that like to be the little spoon, I guess. However, it doesn’t help make the sport stronger. The sad bit is, now that Eddie and Frank are forced to be cool, Eddie has taken to bully Ben Shalom. Yes…this is really how a middle-aged man is behaving.

Before anything, a few ‘thank yous:’ Alfie Warren - @alfieRwarren Warren Boxing Management - @warrenboxingmanagment Hannah Rankin - @team_rankin Rival Boxing Gym - @rivalboxinggymkingsx Amy Andrew - @amyandrewboxing Human Hussain - @numan007hussain Masood Abdulah - @mas_masood1 Steve Broughton - @sb_boxing_ We are in the era of boxing where we have media created personalities that seem to be everywhere in the sport. media personalities that end up training fighters, managing fighters, and promoting fighters, without them having worked their way up the ladder. With Alfie Warren you have someone who is really from the sport, his bloodline is boxing. Boxing is what he knows and through that he’s been able to come up the right way and now with his brothers and Warren Boxing Management, they have an opportunity to show the public what they can do. Hopefully, you enjoy the first outside recording in over 300 episodes.

The world needs more superheroes… It’s very rare that you get a British title fight where two men leave everything in the ring, where two men go to places they’ve never been before, and where they find out things about themselves that they never knew. It is so rare to see that Sunday’s fight between Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke, even though it ended is a draw, elevated both men to a new level of love and affection from the boxing fans and hopefully, to a new level commercially. If only we had more of these fights in the United Kingdom, because we’ve got enough names and enough talent to do so. If only we were able to get more of these fights on television more more often we could grow the sport of boxing to a new level. 

At some point, British boxing has to address its issues around doping. Doping in Boxing has massively watered down the credibility of the sport and left us in a position where we don’t believe results anymore. We don’t believe fighters are clean and we don’t believe our boxes are competing with honour. UKAD and the British Boxing Board of Control won their appeal against the National Anti-Doping Panel, which means one of two things is true: 1. Conor Benn will hold his hands up and take his punishment then we can move on or 2. The Board. will simply say he is not welcome back in a British ring. However it goes, we need a line drawn under the situation as fast as possible. 

What do you do if you’re Canelo? Do you chase legacy or do you chase money, or do you chase safety? It seems clear that Canelo is at the point in his career where he is chasing safety in terms of safe paydays and low risk fights, as if he’s built his legacy and has nothing further to prove. But, is this good for boxing when the main man in the sport, the money man in the sport, is not really trying to elevate anybody else and what future is there for boxing if the superstars are not prepared to give opportunities to up-and-coming stars?

For as long as the Saudi Arabia money flows into boxing Frank Warren won’t put any of his A team in a UK ring. So, what we going to get on TNT sport and in UK venues will be Frank’s B team, and on Saturday we got a glimpse of that and based on Saturday it’s not too promising. Nathan Heaney showed that, without enough of those serious fights against your rivals, it becomes harder and harder to defend your title . Credit to Brad Paul’s for a hell of a performance but he also suffers from the lack of big fight experience, but he is slowly building that up and hopefully both men are better for this experience.

You can define being a professional as, the ability to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, in the way that it needs to be done. Anthony Joshua is the best example of being a professional from rarely being out of shape to very rarely being out the gym, he stays focused on his craft in a way that many of his rivals do not. What we saw against Francis Ngannou was the ultimate professional performance and maybe this marks the changing of the public’s relationship with Anthony Joshua and maybe this is the moment when Anthony Joshua becomes a national treasure.

Why is boxing on the decline in the West? Part of it has to be the lack of genuinely competitive and interesting 'big men.' It seems that there is a dearth of real talent in the bigger weight classes, allowing other nations to dominate. In the UK is it a question or 'rubbish in, rubbish out' as many speculate?

In this episode I give a quick(ish) rundown of the things I missed between episodes 199 and 200. Boxing is in a perilous place right now, but the promoters are happy to ignore that as they do their pilgrimage to the bottomless pit of money. It cannot last forever and when it ends, will that be boxing done?

It is incredible that this version of the pod has made it to 200. 100% of that is down to you guys. You are the best audience anyone could hope for. As a group we punch well above our weight and we will only get stronger. There are also others I need to thank for where the podcast is today: Martin and Andi – No idea why Andi hasn’t just changed it to ‘Y’ already, but these two are the reason I’m doing this. Riku – Always being a voice of reason and a genius when it comes to the art of communication. Greg Hackett – Added so much value with his USA perspective on boxing and his really simply but powerful way of explaining boxing. Umar Sadiq – Through the pod we got to witness how cruel boxing can be. But, it was also goo to know the Umar is enjoying his new life in Los Angeles. Isaac Chamberlain – It is so good to see him up where he belongs. Few have worked as hard as he has to get there. Donnall Smith – a man who gave a lot in his episodes. He still has his greatest nights ahead of him. Denzel Bentley – One of the classiest men in boxing. A man who I still believe will be a world champion. Larry Olubamiwo – The man, the episode…then the other episode. Shakiba Moghadam – An incredible woman who has done incredible things, and continues to do so. Dan Azeez – The man that climbed the mountain, and will do so again. One of the sport’s true gentlemen. There are so many others that support behind the scenes and I would run out of characters thanking them all, but they are so important in keeping me where I am in terms of the podcast and in terms of life. It’s been a hell of a ride and we are finished yet.

Joshua, Yoka, Dubois, how have three gifted athletes and boxers fallen so far below expectations? Also, will Day of Reckoning cut through beyond boxing ciricles?

Sometimes you watch a unification fight and expect a battle of equals. We didn't get that on Saturday. The gap in class surprised everybody and British boxing has to ask whether it builds boxers that are really good enough. At the moment, the answer is no.

Finishing off what I started on Saturday...like Jordan Gill

The Conor Benn saga reappears. The Board are taking a strong stance on Conor Benn boxing in the UK. Is it 'better late than never for them to be taking such a strong stance and can Matchroom find a way though?

Boxing has a handful of people, men and women, that actively shape the lives of our young. Some of those are also able to create some of the best boxers this country has seen. Mick Carney was one of those guys. 12 years later, we still miss him just as bad. A man that helped us become better, a man that brought us together under the banner of Fitzroy Lodge, will never be forgotten.

https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing So, we got all the boxers we wanted to see this year, but none of the fights we wanted to see. However, all is not lost because the card on December 23rd will be a lot better than Carry on Camping and Bambi on ITV2.

https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing The battle for the worst weekend in boxing intensifies. Lat weekend's action is right up there in the trash stakes. The Newcastle show was interesting as it was a reminder that the talent pool in British boxing is poor and has been for a while.

What you do outside the ring will show in the ring as Andre Sterling once said. What we saw from Fury was a man struggling to cope with the realities of his physical condition, and a man out of love with boxing. When you love boxing you are faithful to it, loyal to it and the rhythms and routines it demands. Fury faced a man in Francis Ngannou who had a real point to prove, and my goodness did he prove it. Last night showed that Hard work is the match that lights up the talent.

If anyone has had a harder 5 years in boxing than Isaac Chamberlain, please send them my way. Watching him win the British and Commonwealth was the definition of a feel-good story and what we watch boxing for. In contrast Jack Catterall is sill waiting for his fairytale moment and it is likely that wait will continue well past his retirement. (0% of boxing is making the public care about you. You do that in the ring.

Tonight, we have two boxing shows that are a hard sell individually, and a hard sell collectively. As much as we are happy the boxers are getting paid, the fans should see some value for their time and expenditure. Until promoters, managers and boxers understand this, we are digging our own grave for boxing. As fans we also need to do better and stop watching things we don't think are good enough. At a time when the cost of eating and living is going up, the sport we love is not delivering the feel-good moments we need.

Say what you want but KSI has built a boxing business without having to work with the boxing business. He is proof that, in todays era, you need to be interesting more than you need to be talented. Until boxing realises that, the sport will continue to decline as it is held prisoner by the type of people you’d never buy a used car off.

Leigh Wood is having the best Indian summer to his career. The king of comeback wins pulls another one out the bag. He showed the value in being ready in key moments. Leigh saw his opportunity and he took it. No matter the opponent, real champions always find a way to win. Leigh Wood did that.

Weight classes matter in a specialised sport like boxing. Jermell Charlo found out the hard way in his defeat to Canelo. We also saw the showcasing of a new star to emerge from Australia in Jai Opetaia. However, is he a bigger nae than Tim Tszyu? This will be Eddie Hearn's next challenge. At Boxxer, we are seeing signs that all might not be well and maybe there are deeper issues that explain why they are delivering small-hall cards for the paying public.

Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk looks like it has been agreed, but we will believe it when we see it. If it does happen, it will be the last chapter of an era that promised so much but delivered so little. When that boxing recession does happen, do not be afraid to go out and do other things. Enjoy your life.

https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing Boxing is cruel. One punch can undo a whole lifetime's worth of work. But, should we be so hard on Joe Joyce? Here is a man that said yes to every challenge and was fine being an underdog - the kind of fighter we want. Yet, when he loses, we are so quick to turn. Until boxing fans are more balanced in their views, we will struggle to build stars and get real 50/50 fights.

https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing The public are upset with Conor Benn being able to fight on Saturday. I can see why they are, but the people that should have been able to stop him failed to do so. It’s also at a point where it’s better that he is banned or he boxes because we are tired of the soap opera now. We have a major problem with governance in boxing. The lack of clear governance and leadership is turning fans off the sport at a time when it needs all the support it can get.

https://linktr.ee/highfieldboxing This week it’s all about the audience questions. There are a few questions, but we’ll get through them in a couple of episodes this week.

This time they will blame the Saudis for the Anthony Joshua-Deontay Wilder fight falling through. But, what about the last 7 years? What explains those. It is convenient that the shifting political sands in the Saudi Royal Court have scuppered the fight, but it was a result of sitting on the egg long after the chick should have hatched. The real winners in all of this are the Furys, who have shown the Saudis that they are willing to support their ambition in any way they can.

It is strange to say that, this was the most Eubank has looked like Roy Jones Jr, ever. In doing that, Jr was able to dominate Liam Smith. It is a journey of redemption that many did not expect, but one that boxing needed. You also have to feel for Liam Smith. It was a rough day at the office. we must ask how on earth he gained 42 pounds in any way shape or form.

If that body shot was thrown on a Friday night in York Hall, it would be called as fair. We have seen those shots allowed and we have seen them penalised. that is where the controversy comes from. This probably should have been called as fair, but the rules are the rules.

In a week where everyone in boxing had their say about everything, Terence Crawford goes on Joe Rogan to really speak his mind and in doing so, gave guidance to all the young boxers out there. We need more guys to speak out, like Carl Froch is, about the boxing Deep State.

We give Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn a hard time, but they really are swimming in shallow waters when it comes to talent. That isn't their fault. The reality is that our system isn't set up for success and if anything, the obsession with Team GB has set our boxing back twenty years.

It was a holiday snap shared on Insta. It was the body hair patterns in that picture that made me suspicious. Now, it's a failed drug test that has proved me right. I didn't want to be right though. Alycia Baumgardner was born genetically gifted, hat her confidence wasn't high enough to see that is the tragedy here. There is a chance she would have been good enough anyway. Now, her career has a blemish on it, which we didn't need.

It is tricky to be balanced about AJ. On one hand, he gives us a great KO and worthy of highlight reel status. On the other hand... it is Robert Helenius. The reality is somewhere in the middle. We have a good heavyweight, but one that is some way off greatness. But, we should enjoy him while we can because what comes after is worse.

We need more detail before we can comment fully on Dillian Whyte. What we can say is that boxing is a mess right now. However you slice it, Dillian needs better people, processes and systems around him so he can prepare for fights like an elite athlete. Overall, the sport needs to deal with the doping crisis before boxing become a niche sport like bodybuilding and powerlifting.

Thanks to Greg Hackett for the intro - https://www.youtube.com/@ghbtv.9586 In a week where boxing delivered, we crowned two kings in Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue. they stand atop the sport now as the leaders of this era. Having said that, nothing should be taken away from their dance partners. In a sport where we demand the best fight the best, we cannot disrespect those that gave their all and came up short. This is a week where our sport showed it best side.

This is the week boxing gives us a genuine superfight. One man has risen through the weights to challenge for Welterweight supremacy against a man who has been unstoppable at the weight. Who will win?

This is the week where boxing will show what makes it the best spectacle and sport on the planet. Two fights that will dictate the order of the P4P list happen this week. Both fights are impossible to call, but this is what we crave as fans. This is the start for a good 8 weeks for boxing fans, so let us enjoy it while we have it.

We can be too down as boxing fans sometimes. 2023 has given us some epic events and good fights that we were struggling to get before. It is up to us to appreciate them and appreciate the sport we love so much because we are entering a busy and hopefully, entertaining period for boxing.

We get 4 heavyweight fights, and maybe a fifth, involving all the main actors in this saga. Yet, between all ten, we don’t get one fifth that we really wanted. If we waited this long, maybe we are destined to never get them, or get them too late. But, we all hope Daniel Dubois can pull off the upset because that might change the dynamics.