Snips and Snipes 24 March 2021

We now have confirmation that the biggest fight of the year and one of the biggest fights of the year are going to happen. Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury is said to be sealed and delivered with only two very important bits of information missing-when and where. The contract already includes for a return fight no matter what the outcome of the first one. When and where are important as it would be terrible if it could not go on in front of the largest possible attendance and so it needs to be a time and place where the pandemic restrictions are no longer applicable. Being there is important. I am sure there are grandfathers around today who put their grandchildren on their knee and say for the first Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali fight I was in row?? seat?? at Madison Square Garden. Saying for Joshua vs. Fury I was sitting on the old settee over in the corner with a cup of cocoa just does not have the same ring. I hope it is not in some country that has lots of money and no boxing tradition and atrocious human rights record-but money of whatever currency will play a big part in those decisions with £200 million being quoted as the cost for the fight. The fact that a return bout is already in the contract has a certain risk. The controversy surrounding the outcome of the first fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury begged for a return but I don’t believe that would have been the case if Fury had destroyed Wilder in their first fight they way he did in their second. That would have made a return a very hard sell.
The other big fight is one we do know the when and where of and that is Saul Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders which will be held on 8 May at the AT&T stadium in Arlington the home of the Dallas Cowboys. The talk is of a 60,000 attendance which will be a sell out and of 20,000 tickets sold on the first day of them coming available. Last month marked the twelfth year as a pro for Saunders and there must have been times when despaired of ever getting a fight and a pay day of the size and profile of this fight so I am glad for him.
These two big fights have something in common in that both Fury and Saunders are members of the Travellers community in the UK. The community has produced many good fighters going back to the days of bare knuckle boxing. From my own era I remember enjoying “Gypsy” Johnny Frankham’s fights particular his two against Chris Finnegan where he won the first but lost the second in two great nights at the Albert Hall. There are a number of other Travellers active now including Isaac Lowe, Hosea Burton and of course Hughie Fury but none are likely to ached the heights that Tyson Fury and Billy Joe Saunders will this year.
Not only will Britain be providing three of the boxers participating in the two biggest fights of the year but by June it could be that British fighters will hold 50% of the European titles. Currently Britain has four champions in Joe Joyce (heavyweight), Tommy McCarthy (cruiser), Gamal Yafai (super bantam) and Lee McGregor (bantam). On 23 April in Barcelona Gavin McDonnell will challenge featherweight champion Andoni Gago and Kay Prospere goes against super lightweight champion Sandor Martin and on 15 May in London Lerrone Richards will take on Giovanni De Carolis for the vacant super middleweight title. Wins in those fights would give Britain 7 of the 14 EBU titles (the EBU have 14 divisions, they don’t have minimumweight, light flyweight or super flyweight).It has not always been like this for Britain and I keep waiting for the bubble to burst but there is still plenty of talent around.
The AIBA have just appointed a new General Secretary. In Hungarian Istvan Kovacs they have chosen a man who certainly knows boxing. The 50-year-old “Ko Ko” won bronze at the 1992 Olympics and gold in 1996, won gold medals at the 1991 and 1997 World Championships and did the same at the 1991 and 1996 European Championships and lost only 14 of 297 amateur contests. He was WBO featherweight champion and twice Hungarian Sportsman of the Year and has had plenty of administration experience since retiring. He is going into a hot seat so I wish him luck.
Another new appointee is Alejandro Ayala who is the new Boxing Commissioner for Tijuana. He may not have the boxing experience of Kovacs but he does have degrees in political science and economics and a master’s degree in international relations-I hate clever people but it is just jealousy. Again I wish him luck Tijuana has been one of the busiest boxing areas this year with a couple of shows each week and as many as 10 or 15 fights on their shows with young fighters from around the USA travelling there to get in some ring time.
Cars and boxers are a bad mix and now Gervonta Davis is facing multiple charges arising from an alleged hit and run incident. Davis still faces charges arising out of a domestic violence incident in Florida so he has plenty of problems and if he were found guilty would be looking at a fairly extended term in jail. It is not that long since Errol Spence suffered serious injuries in a car accident and in the past fighters such as Harry Simon and Jorge Barrios have been involved in instances which hurt others and their career.
Japanese giant Naoya Inoue will be defending his IBF and WBA bantamweight titles against Filipino Michael Dasmarinas in Las Vegas on 19 June. The 28-year-old Dasmarinas has a 30-2-1 record and is the IBF No 1 but a draw with Ghanaian Manyo Plange in Singapore in 2018 and two low level wins since then does not inspire confidence. If Plange was good enough to get a draw with Dasmarinas when the Filipino was No 6 in the IBF ratings and has won four fights since then how come he is not worth a place in the IBF top 15? It will be good to see Inoue in action again as he always bring explosive action.
Another Filipino in action will see Donnie Nietes facing Colombian Pablo Carrillo in Dubai on 3 April. A four-division champion and a record of 17-0-2 in world title fights but Donnie has struggled to get any recognition and at 38 time has passed him by.
On 24 April in Kissimmee two big punchers will look to get inside the distance wins. Emanuel Navarrete (32-1, 27 wins by KO/TK0) puts his WBO featherweight title on the line against Chris Diaz and super middle Edgar Berlanga will go for 17 first round wins against 23-3-1 Demond Nicholson. Other Top Rank young tigers on the card include Jamaine Ortiz, Henry Lebron, Xander Zayas and Jeremy Adorno.
That’s an impressive set of Puerto Rican prospects there and another Puerto Rican who is returning to action is former WBO super bantam champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr who is due to have a fight on 15 May but no opponent or venue yet.
Looks as though Felix Trinidad is ahead on points in the last round in his fight with the Banco Popular. A previous ruling had said that the Banco Popular would have to pay Trinidad $1,188,880 plus an additional $767,750 arising from a suit against the bank for allegedly providing inadequate advice in the management of Trinidad’s investments. After two unsuccessful appeals the Banco took the case to the Supreme Court who ruled in favour of Trinidad and the Banco now has ten days to submit a reconsideration but they seem to be hanging on the ropes and may have to throw in the towel. Loss of the case would have left Trinidad practically destitute.
A date for the IBF heavyweight eliminator between Michael Hunter and Filip Hrgovic is imminent and Joseph Parker vs. Dereck Chisora is set for 1 May in London. There were rumours floating around about Parker being investigated by police in New Zealand over alleged involvement in drugs but local sources say the evidence was embarrassingly flimsy at best so all has gone quiet on that subject.
Another show fell victim of the pandemic as Swiss fighter Davide Faraci tested positive for COVID-19 so the fight for the EU light heavyweight title in Sainte Nazaire on Saturday against Pierre Hubert Dibombe has been cancelled and will be rescheduled.
Interesting announcement of Salita Promotions and German outfit Universum entering into a partnership deal. Salita already have a strong American base and Universum bring to the table Felix Sturm, Cuban heavyweight Jose Larduet, unbeaten Olympic bronze medal winner Artem Harutyunyan and the boxing Kraft brothers Toni and James. Universum are rebuilding from scratch after many years out of existence so this might make it easier for them to recruit more boxers but with his legal problems Sturm’s future is unclear.