Favorite working man\u2019s fighter, a la Ward, Gatti\u2026 or erm, I dunno\u2026 Tex Cobb?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not even British but for me, Ricky Hatton is up there. I just really loved Hatton as a fighter, flaws and all. He brought a sort of blue collar energy and passion to everything and that\u2019s what made him such a star. People saw him as real, as one of them, and I think that translates to any culture or country or whatever.<\/p>\n
Erik Morales was largely portrayed in his rivalry as a working man\u2019s representative against the more upper crust Barrera, and he\u2019s one of my favorite fighters ever.<\/p>\n
Kelly Pavlik was another for me. Kelly and I are about the same age, from the same geographic region and kind of of place. Youngstown, Ohio, is a bit more dramatic in its Rust Belt decline than most places, but the entire Great Lakes\/midwest\/upper midwest\/whatever you want to call it region had and has places like that scattered all over. Pavlik reminded me of a lot of people I grew up with, but more talented and punched a lot harder.<\/p>\n
Mythical matchup: Marciano vs Usyk?<\/p>\n
I again find it hard to compare eras like this, because so much goes into it, but I\u2019d edge to Usyk. Not overwhelming, Marciano wasn\u2019t just some clod from the olden days or anything. But Usyk is really, really special, I think he\u2019s someone who would do well in any era in history, because he has the sort of mindset that the old fighters had, which is, to a lot of critics, what fighters today lack. (Along with many other things, like better trainers.)<\/p>\n
Who would you rather have a beer with: Tyson Fury or Billy Joe Saunders?<\/p>\n
Fury. I feel like he has a lot more interesting things to say, generally speaking. Just a more charismatic individual. And when he turns off the shtick I\u2019ve always thought you really saw a pretty interesting guy in there, and someone who\u2019s a lot more serious and thoughtful than he often lets on.<\/p>\n
Will we ever get a good boxing video game again? If we don\u2019t, is it because they\u2019re hard to make, too expensive for the rights, or just not a big enough audience. Undisputed was not good and the sequel will be another shameless cash grab.<\/p>\n
I hesitate to say never, but man, it\u2019s been a long time now.<\/p>\n
I think if it happens it\u2019s going to be a game that comes without licensed, real life fighters, but also isn\u2019t a joke-y, gimmicky sort of thing. And I don\u2019t know if anyone would put in the effort and money to make that happen. And even if it does, it\u2019ll probably be an indie game that is really more equivalent to 16 or 64 bit gaming, which is in itself a gimmick now.<\/p>\n
The ideas for Undisputed were good, it just didn\u2019t work, and I think it\u2019s because it absolutely was more cash grab than serious attempt with the end product. The lack of a serious boxing game for so long made it a very easy early sell to what is a very dedicated audience, before too many people started telling everyone else that it kinda sucked. With the state of boxing combined with the state of major studio video games \u2014 in other words, anyone who can pay to get licensing and a field of real fighters that will make people happy \u2014 I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll happen any time soon.<\/p>\n
Will Zuffa Boxing eventually put Top Rank\/PBC\/Golden Boy out of business? Their reach in North America is enormous compared to DAZN (which even after years, shockingly few Americans know exists).<\/p>\n
They might, but I\u2019m hesitant to count chickens on any of this stuff. The Turki Alalshikh-led Saudi backing of Zuffa and the TKO crew can go away in an instant. I keep saying this, but it\u2019s because it has to be said. Everyone needs to be prepared for that to end.<\/p>\n
But if we get a few more years, even, can Zuffa and TKO do enough to take over even if\/when that backing ends? Yeah, they could. I have a lot of criticisms of Dana White and Nick Khan and the rest of the ghouls at TKO, but:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not meant to champion the ghouls who were already promoting boxing.Nick Khan is an exceptionally smart executive.Dana White is a very, very charismatic individual who knows how to sell things, knows how to convince an audience to spend money.<\/p>\n
I do think \u201creach\u201d of things sometimes gets overstated. You still have to put something on that anyone really wants to watch, and most Zuffa cards so far haven\u2019t been that. It\u2019s the first year, it\u2019s dipping the toes, I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve even scratched the surface of what they\u2019re capable of producing. So I don\u2019t mean that as a criticism. But if they don\u2019t acquire all this top talent and put on more events people really want to see, the reach won\u2019t matter because nobody\u2019s going to bother. Like when all the boxing promoters were horny to get back on network TV like getting there alone was going to solve all their problems, and it did absolutely nothing because they didn\u2019t produce quality cards people wanted to watch, in part because those networks weren\u2019t giving them much money to routinely finish fourth in the ratings for the time slot.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your opinion on Hitchins vs Keyshawn Davis? That Hitchins jab is a difference maker and I think he can pull off the upset.<\/p>\n
Right now I\u2019d probably pick Keyshawn, but Hitchins can beat him. I think it could be a really interesting fight, even if it\u2019s dull in terms of sustained action. Keyshawn is more dynamic, more in the bag, more all-around athletic, better puncher (if Davis\u2019 power comes up with him), even a better boxer at his best. But Hitchins has become better over the last few years, too, I think the gap has closed some between them. This isn\u2019t like when they were both turning pro and Davis was obviously a blue chipper and Hitchins was whatever chip is lower than that but a promising guy.<\/p>\n
If Hitchins can get started well, even if it\u2019s slow, and he can bank some early rounds, I could see Keyshawn getting frustrated and making mistakes that Hitchins can pick apart.<\/p>\n
What is one to change to most boxing broadcasts that you would make? Pacing? Too many talking heads? If we set aside the same dumb ads into its own category what\u2019s something that can be changed to make our viewing experience better?<\/p>\n
I accept that there\u2019s probably some over-studied reason that boxing shows are paced the way they usually are, at least anything you could call a \u201cmajor\u201d show, and that goes a lot further down the line than where most would cut off what they consider a truly \u201cmajor\u201d show.<\/p>\n
And the thing is, I don\u2019t think I care. It\u2019s garbage for the viewer and it sucks.<\/p>\n
If you were managing him, what would you do with Floyd Schofield next after winning a belt last weekend against Bahdi? How do you think he would fare against Mason and Zepeda?<\/p>\n
Truthfully, I\u2019d keep him away from both. Mason\u2019s better than him right now and I think Zepeda would be pretty rough, too. He might beat Zepeda, mind you, but I think with Floyd being 24, look, you\u2019ve got time to be 100% sure he\u2019s as ready as he\u2019s going to get.<\/p>\n
If I\u2019m managing him, right now I might try to get him in with Corey Marksman, who was at last update rated No. 8 by the WBA, whose title Schofield now holds, or even Francisco Fonseca, who is No. 12. Is either matchup particularly exciting? No! But in this scenario I\u2019m his manager. My job isn\u2019t to entertain you, the masses.<\/p>\n
Zhilei Zhang vs Luis Ortiz. Both over 41, both very slow, both can still punch. Who wins? I got Luis.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going Zhang, but the biggest thing is, bring it on. I\u2019d watch that. Let me see it December 11 from Cardiff or any old time.<\/p>\n
Scott, do you feel that Oleksandr Usyk is now properly retired or is there something else going on, please? I thought the Deontay Wilder fight was a real thing, but it seems not. Why the heck not? Money? What am I missing? Thank you.<\/p>\n
Part of me wonders if they haven\u2019t discovered the lack of demand for Usyk vs Wilder. It\u2019s a bucket list thing more for Usyk \u2014 beat all of that generation\u2019s top names at heavyweight! \u2014 than it is something that today\u2019s active boxing fans want to see in 2026. I loved Wilder\u2019s fight with Chisora, it was the sort of thing that is special because of the limitations. But Wilder hasn\u2019t beaten a top level fighter in years now. He\u2019s looked awful in several fights. His star power is basically gone.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s anything out there that will grab Usyk\u2019s interest enough to want to do a whole camp and go through the routine again. The time to strike on a Rico Verhoeven rematch has maybe come and gone. I won\u2019t pretend to know what Usyk will or won\u2019t do, but it would not surprise me if we just don\u2019t see him fight again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Favorite working man\u2019s fighter, a la Ward, Gatti\u2026 or erm, I dunno\u2026 Tex Cobb? I\u2019m not even British…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":937303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,711,16145,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-937302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxing-commentary-opinion","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}