MAKING OF MARVIN ARISE KING ARTHUR

The early years that drove Hagler to success Brilliant victory for Lyndon over Yarde

DECEMBER 10 2020 THE WORLD’S BEST FIGHT MAGAZINE EST. 1909

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 Contents December 10, 2020

14 JOSHUA vs PULEV
The story of a fight three years in the making

Photos: MARK ROBINSON/MATCHROOM & QUEENSBERRY PROMOTIONS

UNMISSABLE HIGHLIGHTS

>> 18 BREAKDOWN >> 4 EDITOR’S LETTER

A tactical analysis of Joshua vs Pulev, The age-old PPV debate rumbles on
including the official BN prediction
>> 5 SANDY RISLEY
>> 20 AJ INTERVIEW Paying tribute to a one-of-a-kind figure
Joshua speaks to the UK press ahead
of his first appearance in 12 months >> 8 THE BUNCE DIARIES
The McKenna brothers’ American dream
>> 28 SAUNDERS vs MURRAY
Martin’s fifth world title challenge ends >> 24 THE UNDERCARD
in defeat once again against Billy Joe The supporting acts to Joshua and Pulev

>> 34 MARVIN HAGLER

How the middleweight icon and all-time
great forged an unbreakable mindset
30 >> 26 EGGINGTON vs THEOPHANE
Ashley prepares for his farewell outing

>> 30 ARTHUR vs YARDE

The ‘King’ uses his jab to keep his crown
SAVE £££ WITH A SUBSCRIPTION >> 32 SPENCE vs GARCIA
For more details visit Errol shows that he is still ‘The Truth’
WWW.BOXINGNEWSONLINE.NET/SUBSCRIPTIONS
>> 42 THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Moore and Durelle’s memorable classic

>> 44 ALBERT FINCH

Remembering ‘The Croydon Woodpecker’

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 3

 EDITOR’S LETTER

Photo: RICHARD HEATHCOTE/GETTY IMAGES

BROKEN
PROMISE:
Hearn is under
Time to
fire after the subscribe
rise in PPV
costs l THERE are
numerous ways
to subscribe,
including
special offers.

l YOU can get a

print and online
Cover photography
MARK ROBINSON/MATCHROOM subscription
for £9.99 per
month, or
digital only for
just £4.99.

l FOR more

MIXED
attributed to coronavirus and even more with Sky Sports is up for renewal in 2021.
find themselves unemployed and their Forgive us if we’re a little suspicious about information
finances in disarray. The palpable sense of the mixed messages. on all the
subscription

MESSAGES
doom has affected everyone in some way.
It was predictable, then, that Sky
Sports’ decision to price Joshua’s pay-per-
view defence against Bulgarian veteran
Yet again, the issue of Kubrat Pulev at £24-95 would be met
with significant outcry. It’s five pounds
pay-per-view is causing more than Eddie Hearn recently indicated
boxing fans to feel cheated it would be and five pounds more than
Dillian Whyte-Alexander Povetkin cost in
the summer.
T is terrific that When speaking to Boxing News in
Anthony Joshua, October, Hearn addressed the fans’
The concern with raising the price is
not just that many won’t be able to afford options, plus
it. It’s where those fans will go instead. our special
The rise of illegal streams will continue. bookazines,
The long-term implications of that please visit
shouldn’t need spelling out any further www.shop.
here. kelsey.co.uk
However, what shouldn’t be forgotten or call 01959-
is how insanely difficult managing any 543-747.
kind of business has been in 2020.
Everyone everywhere is looking nervously l THE next
at their accounts and trying to balance issue will be

I the owner of three

of four major
heavyweight belts,
is in action this
weekend. The
return of one of the
world’s most famous
athletes, after the
most difficult year
British boxing has
ever endured, should
only be a cause for
Matt celebration.
Christie Not only that,
@MattCBoxingNews
fans will be in
Editor attendance. Every
promoter deserves
praise for the mountains they have
climbed this year. Furthermore, every
fighter who has risked their careers
and reputations by competing for less
pay in alien environments should be
championed to the hilt. The fights we’ve
had and the fights still to come speak
of a sport doing all it can to thrive in
exceedingly difficult circumstances.
Boxing, from the inside looking out, is
ending the year on the kind of high that
was unthinkable only a few months ago.
But many of the fans who essentially pay
the wages of everyone who works in the
industry do not feel the same way.
The pandemic not only threw the sport
into chaos, it left an entire world on its
knees. Positivity of any kind is hard to
come by. There have been more than
one-and-a-half million reported deaths
concerns that the cost of pay-per-view
would continue to rise regardless,
particularly with a Tyson Fury-Joshua
showdown in the offing for 2021.
the books. Snap decisions are being made
as the New Year draws near and the
extent of profits and losses become clear.
The argument from Sky Sports and
in shops on
December 17
and available
to download on
December 15.
“I would think that [Fury-Joshua] would Hearn that the world is now a very
escalate to £24.95 or whatever it is on an different place is indeed convenient.
absolute one-off basis but certainly there But it’s also true. Joshua events generate The
are no plans to increase the price point millions from gate receipts. This fight will Opening
of the pay-per-views,” Hearn said on our attract 1,000 fans compared to the usual Bell...
weekly podcast. “That would quite frankly 80,000. The £5 increase can be reasonably
be a p**s take and I’m not here to take the justified if one looks at it with only their l The Boxing
p**s, I’m here to deliver value and I think accountancy hats on. But the sums should News podcast,
the price point is right for the product go deeper than that, even if they get available every
that is being delivered.” increasingly hard to solve. Wednesday
night, is
Many fans, particularly hardcore fans If the current landscape is the reason to
who religiously pay a premium, believe increase costs, that same landscape must attracting
that Hearn is now taking the p**s. Hearn also be blamed for the disintegration thousands of
has continued to stress that he doesn’t of the undercard, which at the moment listeners.
set the price points and Boxing News boasts only one contest (Bakole-Kuzmin)
l Every week
understands that to be completely true. where the winner is not already a
we tackle
But the buck has to stop somewhere. foregone conclusion. That very same
the biggest
Both promoter and broadcaster open landscape is also why so many punters
subjects, ask
themselves up to criticism when the will find it hard to afford the cost of the
the difficult
promoter becomes the voice of the PPV and, furthermore, it stops friends
questions,
broadcaster, particularly when that from coming over and sharing the cost.
preview and
promoter is entrusted with managing that The financial goalposts therefore need to
review, while
broadcaster’s annual boxing budget and be aligned. Or is it to be accepted that the
looking back
then goes back on a promise to fans that pandemic will both dampen the quality
through boxing
the cost will not increase. and raise the price?
history.
It’s the same promoter who will be The only way you, the consumer, can
championing DAZN’s entry into the truly object is by not paying if you don’t l Listen (& rate
UK market in the coming weeks. The deem it worth the money. Ultimately, as & subscribe)
streaming giants will initially charge just Hearn will tell you until he is blue in the via Apple,
£1.99-a-month (and for that you can face, the choice is yours. Spotify and all
watch Canelo Alvarez-Callum Smith), major podcast
Follow us and keep up to date
which is a far more palatable fee. It’s the platforms.
same promoter whose long-term deal @BoxingNewsED BoxingNewsOnline

4 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

 GUEST COLUMN

THE ONE AND ONLY SANDY RISLEY

ONE OF A KIND: The adored Risley [below left] keeps
Barry Hearn in check during a marathon and poses
next to the statue of Jim Driscoll in Cardiff [centre]

Paying tribute to a man that Matchroom and British boxing owe a huge debt

T my first miss dearly. Essex entrepreneur on course for The news of Sandy’s death hit
Matchroom I realised quickly that Sandy countless personal bests. Sandy was like a wet towel to the face, but the

A Boxing show
I really didn’t
know what I
was doing.
was not to be messed with – but
always to be listened to. And that’s
his legacy in a nutshell: Honesty.
Fighters would say “I won that”
I remember and he would say “no you didn’t”
the first person and tell it straight. There was
to speak to no ego – only honesty. And isn’t
me was an honesty better? Something to
energetic learn from. Don’t we
old geezer miss that? Truth from
in a garish the heart instead of ‘SANDY
no paceman. In truth, he probably
held back. But all he ever wanted
was for people to better themselves
and those images of Barry and
Sandy running have never been
more special.
A fitness fanatic, Sandy knew
how to ensure boxers made the
weight safely. John
Wischusen said to
me this week: “There
likes of Tony Bellew, Gary Lockett
and Barry McGuigan spoke with
such affection. Figures like them
taking time to pay tribute says it all:
Sandy was truly adored.
His son Gary said that Sandy
lived the life he wanted to the
fullest and he was loved by all of
us, and that’s what matters. We’re
all feeling a little blue these days,
but Sandy wouldn’t accept anyone

Anthony
waistcoat
called Sandy
Leaver who didn’t like
Head of Media, the look of me
Matchroom on first sight.
“Do you
know boxing then?” he asked
suspiciously.
“No sir, not really.”
“Oh for Christ’s sake, I have to
teach you too, f**king great.”
And boy did he teach me.
Because that was Sandy Risley. He
was a cantankerous bugger for 10
seconds and then he’d go out of his
way to help you. A giant of a man
that Matchroom and boxing will
cheerleading. Sandy
didn’t mean to offend,
STRIPPED TO
he just wanted fighters HIS PANTS
to improve and learn.
If he said you were
AND DID THE
unfit, he meant you WORKOUT’
could improve and
he would help – and given he was
running marathons at 61, he knew
plenty about fitness.
I was fascinated by Sandy’s
history. He worked for Leyton
Orient for years, dragging Barry
Hearn around marathon courses
with his boundless energy and
wiry legs; Sandy was the perfect
fuel to keep the competitive
was nobody better
than Sandy when you
had a foreign boxer
who had just flown in
overweight. One time,
a Mexican arrived
heavy, and as he was
shadow boxing, he indicated he
could do no more. Sandy promptly
stripped off his clothes, and stood
there in just his pants, and started
doing the workout the fighter said
he couldn’t. He was 23, Sandy was
72. The other hotel guests looked
on in amazement, the fighter was
embarrassed, resumed the workout
with Sandy and made weight.”
wallowing for him. And we wouldn’t
be where we are without Sandy.
I can’t speak for those that knew
him longer than me, but 12 years
ago he gave me a good talking to,
and I’ve loved the fella ever since.
Sandy taught me the sport and
now I am living in New York and
working for the biggest promoter
in the world in the best city in the
world – and that’s in no small part
thanks to him; because he was so
kind, helpful and generous with his
time.
So, RIP Sandy. British boxing
loves you and I love you even more
my friend.

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 5


LETTERS
LETTER OF THE WEEK
VAST TALENT POOL
SHANNON COURTENAY, Amy
Timlin, Carly Skelly, Ellie Scotney
and Rachel Ball are all British
fighters who are currently active around
the bantamweight, super-bantam and
feather divisions. This is a vast talent pool
of Brits who could all face each other –
any combination would provide a more
exciting and evenly matched fight than
the recent one-sided contest between
Courtenay and Dorota Norek. From the
opening exchanges it was clear to see
that Courtenay was levels above Norek,
who to her credit did make it rough and
awkward for the Brit, but was still clearly
overmatched. I understand the reasoning
behind the match, with it being the first
bout back for Courtenay after suffering
a loss. But with the exception of being a
confidence-building exercise, it appeared
to do little for her development. Surely all
of the British fighters mentioned above
would gain far more from evenly matched
Photo: JAMES CHANCE/GETTY IMAGES
6 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
contests with each other, rather than
taking on foreign imports with deceiving
records. The close and competitive Ball-
Courtenay and Timlin-Skelly fights earlier
this year proved this.
James Ingleby
ARTHUR’S LEFT JAB
HAVING boxed briefly and coached for
many years, I thought that I might have
gained some wisdom about the sport, but
apparently not. I watched Lyndon Arthur
comfortably outpoint Anthony Yarde
almost exclusively with his sharp left jab.
Yarde, undeniably the harder puncher,
failed both to land his bombs and stop
the jab hitting his face. Consequently,
since points are only scored by punches
hitting the target area, I scored 118-110
to Arthur, but I will concede different
interpretations might result in different
scores. However, the fact that two
judges only gave Arthur the decision
ON TWITTER ON FACEBOOK
@BoxingNewsED www.facebook.com/boxingnewsonline
by one round I found questionable, but
the 117-111 score in favour of Yarde,
in my opinion, was nothing short of a
disgrace. I have every respect for Yarde
and his undoubted power, and he may
even prevail in a potential rematch, but
despite what seemed like the combined
willpower of everyone, from the
commentary team to the judges, Arthur’s
left jab won almost every round.
Rich Jackson
UNBEATEN QUEENS
MY partner and I love your 10 Count
column, but I have a bone to pick
with you about your recent list in the
December 3 issue. You listed the top 10
current world champs who have yet to
lose, but where were the great female
boxers who have yet to lose their ‘0’s? The
column was titled ‘Unbeaten kings’ – let’s
see an ‘Unbeaten queens’ list next. BRIT POWER:
Courtenay lets fly
Clare Foyle at Buchra El Quaissi
www.boxingnewsonline.net
 ON INSTAGRAM EMAIL POST
boxingnewsonline bn.ed@kelsey.co.uk Boxing News Letters, Kelsey Media, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Maidstone, Kent, ME18 6AL

10 COUNT
THE PANEL
DECORATED VETERANS
Ten notable current British pros, aged 35 and over
WHO IS THE BEST LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT
1. RICKY BURNS (37)
IN BRITAIN NOW? Technically talented and as tough as nails, popular
Coatbridge warrior Burns has claimed versions of the
world title at three different weights – from super-
featherweight through to super-lightweight.

2. MARTIN MURRAY (38)

Another gritty fighter with sound technical skills,
St Helens’ Murray has fought for world honours on
five separate occasions – three times at middleweight
and twice at super-middleweight.

3. DERECK CHISORA (36)

Declan Paul Matt Darren
One of British boxing’s most colourful and
Taylor Ready Macklin Barker
controversial characters, unpredictable Finchley
Sports Boxing World title Former IBF heavyweight Chisora is an ex-WBC title challenger and
reporter manager challenger champion long-time contender on the world scene.
Right now I Callum Johnson as I suppose none of I know there were
think it’s Callum he’s at world level us know. We need question marks 4. JOE JOYCE (35)
Johnson based and has proved them to fight. over Buatsi in his The man of the moment and reigning British,
on seasoning and that he can mix You’ve got Callum last fight. I think Commonwealth and European heavyweight king,
experience at the there at that level. Johnson who’s it will hold him Putney’s Joyce is coming off a stunning knockout
highest level but Joshua Buatsi has fought for a world in better stead victory over the previously unbeaten Daniel Dubois.
the others are not the potential but title, Anthony as long as he
far behind. I feel needs to prove it. Yarde and Lyndon learns from it. 5. STEPHEN SMITH (35)
like Joshua Buatsi Arthur and Buatsi. There’s a rawness A former two-weight British titlist and IBF super-
is best placed to If they were to Buatsi that is featherweight title contestant, Liverpool’s “Swifty” –
emerge as No.1 thrown into a really exciting. one of the famous fighting Smith brothers – has mixed
over the next five round robin now I He’s skilled and with some noteworthy names.
years, but Lyndon think Buatsi would he’s a big puncher
Arthur is the man come out on top. but he can just 6. DAVID PRICE (37)
A huge hitter but vulnerable defensively, giant
who could spoil bite down on his
Liverpudlian Price has provided excitement aplenty
that for him. gumshield and let
over the years. The affable hulk is a past British and
his shots go.
Commonwealth heavyweight champion.

7. BRIAN ROSE (35)

Boasting fine fundamentals and an abundance of
WHAT CAN KUBRAT PULEV DO heart, Blackpool’s Rose won the coveted Lonsdale
Belt outright at super-welterweight, before later
TO BEAT ANTHONY JOSHUA? challenging for the WBO championship.

8. ASHLEY THEOPHANE (40)

Declan Paul Matt Darren Paddington’s globetrotting Theophane has never been
Taylor Ready Macklin Barker afraid to fight on the road. A previous WBA super-
As far as I can Pray that he lands It’s heavyweight AJ is better in lightweight title challenger, he has shared a ring with
see, Pulev’s only that Hail-Mary boxing and Pulev every department, the likes of Danny Garcia and Adrien Broner.
chance is to go shot to stun can crack, and he’s quicker, better
for broke from Joshua. Tall ask. Joshua’s been hurt footwork, he’s 9. CALLUM JOHNSON (35)
the off much like Joshua KO inside before. I think he’s bigger, he’s the Hailing from Boston in Lincolnshire, the heavy-handed
he did against four rounds for got more than bigger puncher. Johnson powered his way to British and Commonwealth
me. puncher’s chance Everything is light-heavyweight belts, prior to giving fearsome IBF
Klitschko. There
ruler Artur Beterbiev a scare.
will be a strange but I don’t think in AJ’s favour.
atmosphere Pulev is going to Probably the best
10. BOB AJISAFE (35)
because of the outbox Joshua. He thing for Pulev Always an awkward and dangerous opponent,
lack of fans so he could catch him. would be to close Leeds’ tricky Ajisafe has formerly held British and
could catch ‘A J’ But I think Joshua the gap, try to Commonwealth straps in the light-heavyweight
cold if he jumps will win. get as close in division.
on him - but as possible and
then risk getting throw calculated
chinned into next shots but almost
week too. winging them in.

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 7

 THE BUNCE DIARIES

LA LA LAND Photo: TOM HOGAN/GOLDEN BOY/GETTY IMAGES

The McKenna OBODY has ever

found where the
brothers set to
show off their
big-time Los
N rainbow lands
in the boxing
wonderland of Los
Angeles but plenty
have gone in search
Angeles of the holy spot.
education in Boys and men
have looked, fresh
Redditch from planes and far
from home, their
life in a bag; a gum
Steve shield, protector
Bunce and gloves. Perhaps
@BigDaddyBunce a religious item for
Voice of boxing a bit of luck and a
reminder of faith.
Aaron McKenna was just sweet 16
and looked younger when he arrived
in Los Angeles. He is only 21 now, still
looks just 16 and he is firmly part of
the Los Angeles boxing dream team.
His brother Stevie is with him and their
father, Fergal, now.
Aaron is unbeaten in 10 fights as an
American professional boxer, fighting
out of Freddie Roach’s Wild Card
gym and a long way from his County
Monaghan home. He is also a lot closer
to the type of dream that all boxers
have, but so few chase with the same
dedication and sacrifice as the two
McKenna boys.
“It’s unbelievable just to have Freddie
there in the corner,” said Aaron. “We
both grew up watching him in big fights
with Manny Pacquiao. And now he’s in
my corner. It’s an inspiration.” All the
great fighters had their boxing heroes
on their bedroom walls and some, years
later, finally got to work with them and
even fight them on occasion. Boxing is
a fairy tale business, it really is, even if
the final twists are often a bit dark, a bit
grim for fun.
This Friday the two brothers fight
on a Redditch Mick Hennessy show he is in total charge. Nobody can lace had been in that ring, in that space.
live on Channel 5; the Covid lockdown up the gloves for sparring, only Freddie. Their pictures were on the wall – he
put a temporary end to life in LA and Nobody can give them water, only was a teenage kid living a dream in
life in Freddie’s Wild Card facility. They Freddie. I’ve never seen anybody so Hollywood, even if it is the wrong part
returned to their Irish home, trained out dedicated, so committed in my life – this of Hollywood. I’m not sure there is a
back in the garden under Fergal’s care. is his life, his passion.” ‘right’ part of Hollywood.
There will be a return to LA and the Aaron was just 18 when he had his “LA is a tough spot to live in,” added
short 20-minute drive to Roach’s fight first professional fight in California, Fergal. “There is all the glamour and all
and guts factory. The rainbow for boxers alone in a boxing wonderland with of the other stuff that you think about.
in California, in many ways, might just his father, both on the same isolated The sun, the sea, the celebrities. But we
end in the car park outside that famed mission. I have no idea how the kid slept are in almost constant training camp.
retreat. at night, the excitement must have been One will be fighting, one will be helping.
“Freddie is a great man,” said Fergal. quite overwhelming. He was working in It’s not glamorous then, not when it is
“He wants to die in the ring, doing the a gym filled with mystical boxing icons, just camp after camp after camp.” They
pads with one of his boxers. In his gym the greatest names from his entire life lived for a time a few blocks back from

8 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net


the Pacific ocean in Santa Monica. It
might not be glamour, but it is certainly
not County Monaghan.
The pair have met stars on the street
and traded punches in sparring sessions
with dozens of big names. Stevie did
some rounds with Vasyl Lomachenko
before he had even had a pro fight.
Anatoly Lomachenko, the fighter’s father
and trainer, put Stevie on the scales to
check he was the weight he claimed.
The Lomachenko attention to the tiniest
of detail, and their serious, no-laughter
approach, impressed Fergal. Incidentally,
both brothers are tall, slender and
www.boxingnewsonline.net
deceptive at their weights.
Fergal and Aaron went to LA when
the kid was 16, did a deal with Sheer
Sports and there was an early plan to
turn him professional across the border
in Mexico, fighting at 16 or 17, fighting
like so many Mexicans have when they
were still boys. “I never liked that idea,”
confirmed Fergal. Stevie joined later, is
23 now and unbeaten in five with five
ending quick. He went 73-seconds on a
Hennessy show in September. If pictures
of the two brothers were in black and
white they would look like contenders
from the Fifties, scraping a living in dive-
FRESH FACED:
Aaron [left] and Stevie
McKenna have bright
futures
bar shows. Throwback, used too often,
definitely applies.
“I knew LA would be a great place for
an apprenticeship,” insisted Fergal. And it
is in a strange way.
“At the start we visited a few gym,
had a look and did some sparring;
Manny Robles and Buddy McGirt and
then Freddie’s” said Fergal. “To walk into
Freddie’s is so special. We had seen it
so often in films, seen Freddie training
Manny there. All those great films before
fights and then we were there.”
An invite down to the special private
gym followed. That’s the sign that you
have arrived at Roach’s gym. “Freddie
and the boys have a real connection.
He loves the way they fight – it’s the old
style, the style from the 70s and 80s.
They have the right attitude for Freddie.”
The downstairs gym is not for the public
or the weak.
So, boxing life in California has been
like boxing life anywhere, just with palm
trees and extra traffic. There have been
fights after midnight as the floater in
remote venues and then long, long car
journeys back to their home. Fights with
tough, tough flat-nosed hard men with
tricky records. The sparring is fierce and
private. All good, all learning.
“This is the apprenticeship, the way it
should be,” added Fergal. “Serious camps
and hard sparring with the best fighters.
That is how a young boxer learns. The
harder fights will come and that is when
we will see the best of the boys.”
They go back to the West soon, all
three of them, and their apprenticeship
will continue.
DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 9
 BOXING MEDIA REVIEW
FRACTURED
DREAMS
The extent of Dubois’ eye injury is confirmed while Fury
rules himself out of BBC competition, writes George Gigney
BROADCASTS
THOUGH there was little action in the
sport’s blue ribbon division this week,
the news was dominated by heavyweight
developments.
Chief among those was the news that
Daniel Dubois did in fact suffer a serious
injury to his eye while losing to Joe Joyce
the weekend before last.
Frank Warren, who promotes both
Dubois and Joyce, revealed the diagnosis
during BT Sport’s broadcast of Anthony
Yarde’s points loss to Lyndon Arthur.
“His consultant is Miss Vickie Lee and
her diagnosis was that he had ‘left medial
orbital fractures’,” Warren said. He added
that Lee, the consultant ophthalmic
surgeon who dealt with Dubois’ injury,
had advised that “it was fortunate the
fight was stopped when he sustained a
fracture, otherwise there was a risk of
further trauma, and it could cause more
orbital tissues and extra ocular muscles
that move the eyeball to be entrapped
into fractured fragments and cause
potentially career-ending double vision.”
That should put the debate to bed -
Dubois made the right call to end the
fight when he did. Of course the reality is
that there will still be those who unfairly
label him a “quitter.”
On the same broadcast, former WBO
middleweight champion Andy Lee – who
is criminally underused as a commentator
and pundit these days – aptly pointed
out that in mixed martial arts, fighters are
not derided for tapping out when being
submitted, and questioned why boxers
get different treatment from observers
when they choose to stop fighting
because of an injury.
It’s an excellent point, and one that was
also made by none other than unified
heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua
earlier in the week. If an MMA fighter is
locked in an armbar, they’re not expected
10 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
Examining the best and worst
of the sport’s weekly coverage
Photo: JULIAN FINNEY/GETTY IMAGES
to just let their opponent wrench the
arm from its socket - it’s acknowledged
that they’re in excruciating pain, and so
understandable if they tap out. That’s
no different to a boxer suffering severe
swelling to an eye, no doubt also causing
significant pain, then choosing to save
themselves for another day.
WEBSITES
The BBC announced their shortlist for
Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) and
Tyson Fury was once again included, after
previously being nominated in 2015 after
his victory over Wladimir Klitschko.
Of course, in that year, over 100,000
people signed a petition to remove
Fury from the shortlist over a series of
outspoken comments on homophobia
and abortion. The BBC did not remove
Fury and he came fourth in the public
vote.
This year, in which Fury is nominated
off the back of his stoppage win over
Deontay Wilder, the WBC heavyweight
champion has himself asked to be
removed from consideration. Posting a
video to his Instagram, Fury said: “I know
who I am and what I’ve done in the
sport. I have the love of the people which INJURED: Ireland’s Katie Taylor was nominated
The extent of
means more to me than all the awards in Dubois’ eye damage
for the World Sports Star award
the world. To anyone who supports me, shouldn’t be alongside the likes of UFC star Khabib
don’t vote.” doubted Nurmagomedov and NBA icon LeBron
The BBC responded, confirming that James. With this nomination, Taylor’s
they will not remove Fury from the career continues to blaze a trail for
shortlist and will continue to celebrate his women’s boxing.
achievements during the awards show on However, Claressa Shields’ most
December 20. recent career move could stifle that
SPOTY’s cultural relevance has waned growth. She has signed a deal with the
over the past few years, though it’s still Professional Fight League and will now
worth noting the significance of Fury’s compete in MMA where, particularly in
nomination. It’s unlikely his fans will listen the UFC, female fighters are much better
to his plea to not vote for him, but that compensated.
support probably won’t be enough to top “Boxing is sexist,” she said to The
betting favourite Lewis Hamilton to the Athletic. “I’m still put on a back burner to
award. men who haven’t accomplished anything
www.boxingnewsonline.net
 close to what I’ve accomplished. It’s sexist
with the opportunities we’re given. It’s
sexist with the TV time. It’s sexist with how
much we get paid.”
The opinion of Shields, one of the
most successful female boxers of all time,
carries significant weight. Her talents
have offered her exciting opportunities
in boxing, but even these pale in
comparison to that of male boxers.
That she has decided to move into a
completely new sport altogether speaks
volumes about the barriers women face
in boxing.
Fighters like Taylor are working to
dismantle those barriers - her most recent
fight drew a huge 2m viewers across the
www.boxingnewsonline.net
UK and Ireland - but it won’t be a quick fix.
Back to the heavyweights, and
Oleksandr Usyk could soon be up for
grabs to promoters across the world.
His contract with K2 Promotions ends
this year, and in an interview on his own
YouTube channel he intimated that he
could move to a different outfit.
Following from that, Bob Arum told
Betway Insider that he’d love to sign the
unbeaten Ukrainian, noting that Top
Rank’s Vasiliy Lomachenko - a training
partner and close friend of Usyk’s -
could help facilitate such a move. Usyk
is a major player in the division, so
whomever signs him will be obtaining an
exciting piece of the heavyweight puzzle.
Matchroom would surely be favourite to
sign him should he leave K2, though.
Jarrell Miller has been banned for
two years by the Nevada State Athletic
Commission following his latest failed
drugs test earlier in the year. The ban
is backdated to July, when the positive
result was found, and can be reduced by
six months should Miller meet certain
requirements - one of which is just five
hours of a “substance abuse program,”
meaning he could be back in just over a
year.
Given Miller’s egregious use of
performance enhancing drugs – to
which he still claims innocence – this
punishment is woefully soft.
DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 11

NEWS AND OPINION
ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD
Brandun Lee drew worldwide attention with his highlight
reel stoppage in his last bout. Jack Hirsch tells his story
THE spotless record of Brandun Lee
only tells half the story. The son of a
Korean father and Mexican mother
has been perfect in his career to
date, winning all 20 of his contests,
18 inside the distance. However,
the way Lee has been protected
is extreme even by the standards
of moving a young boxer along
carefully.
None of the Californian super-
lightweight’s first 16 opponents had
a winning record. Lee’s last four
opponents Milton Arauz (10-1-1),
Miguel Zamudio (44-15-1), Camilo
Prieto (15-2), and Jimmy Williams
(16-3-2) represented a substantial
upgrade but were not exactly
recognisable names.
However, when you consider
that Lee is just 21, having turned
pro at 17, it can be argued that he is
progressing just fine.
Cameron Dunkin, who promotes
12 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
Highlighting the best
of the week’s stories
WWW.BOXINGNEWSONLINE.NET
Lee, certainly shares that thinking.
“I have known him since he was
13 years old,” Dunkin tells BN. “I
handled the career of Timothy
Bradley and he used to rave about
Brandun. The thing about Brandun is
that he’s so young. We wanted him
to get used to different styles and his
dad just wanted him to learn.”
Bobby Lee trains his son but is
also smart enough to not overextend
his influence. He leaves all the
business decisions to Dunkin who he
has known for 20 years. Don Majeski
rounds out the team as an advisor.
“Everything goes through Cameron
Dunkin,” he says. “It would be
disrespectful of me to tell him how
to do his job. We had many offers
for Brandun to turn pro, but going
with Cameron was the best move for
us. Brandun was 17 when he started
and was a boy fighting men. That is
why we were unconcerned about
Photo: AMANDA WESTCOTT/SHOWTIME
the records of his opponents.”
Bobby idolised legendary martial
artist Bruce Lee so much that he
named his son after his (though the
spelling of Brandon is different).
The path to glory for Brandun was
originally intended to have started
in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but
after consulting with Dunkin, the
Lees scrapped those plans. The
family’s discontent with the amateur
programme also played a role.
“We were number one in the USA
when IBA decided to eliminate
the headgear” Bobby says. “That
meant we might have to be forced
to compete with cuts. Anyway,
the purpose of the amateurs is to
prepare you for the pros.”
Considering the delay to the
Tokyo games, Lee’s move might turn
out to be a shrewd one. Young Lee
is maintaining a hectic schedule as
both a full-time fighter and college
student while at Cal State San
Bernardino, majoring in criminal
justice.
“Ideally I would like to become a
world champion, then when I retire
work as a customs agent or for the
FBI” Brandun explains. “I want to
be a role model, make a statement
for Asian youth who I feel are being
discriminated against.”
Lee is fully aware that having the
platform of being a world champion
is imperative for him to get the
influence he craves. Lee’s potential
to achieve that goal was on display
UNBEATEN:
Lee wins again
in his most recent outing in October.
At Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, he
blitzed New Haven veteran Williams
in one round of a fight that was
televised on ShoBox.
The stoppage was sensational.
The footage of it went viral. Williams’
motivation was questioned, but the
bottom line is that It was only the
second time in 22 fights that he had
been halted.
Negotiations are currently taking
place to bring Lee back to the
ShoBox platform again against an
opponent who can provide sterner
opposition. Lee says he is more than
ready for the task: “I have gotten
great sparring in the gym against
outstanding fighters like Thomas
Dulorme, Omar Figueroa, and Israel
Madrimov. It had me focused for the
Williams match. Mentally my plan is
not to start too fast or slow, but to
destroy what is in my way.”
Because the plan thus far has
been for Lee to perform under the
radar while he gains experience, he’s
been fighting in numerous venues in
America and Canada but the long-
term goal that father and son have is
to honour their heritage by boxing
in South Korea, hopefully with a title
on the line.
“We are now ready to box anyone
in the top 20,” says Bobby.
It was spoken like a dad who
acknowledges that his son is now
grown up and ready to chase his
dream without a curfew in place.
www.boxingnewsonline.net
CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR THE BOXING CONNOISSEUR
Available at: shop.kelsey.co.uk/category/BN

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 THE STORY

THE THREE-YEAR
Elliot Worsell tells the story of
Joshua-Pulev, a fight ordered
Photo: GEOFF CADDICK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

by the IBF, a fight long in the

making and a fight all involved
will be glad to see the back of

HIS time last year

Anthony Joshua outboxed
Andy Ruiz Jnr to restore

T order to the heavyweight

division, though was, like
everyone else, oblivious
to the fact real disorder
lurked just around the
corner and could not be controlled by a jab. Back
then it was the one blow he couldn’t see coming;
the one opponent for which he wasn’t prepared.
Then again, one could argue the attitude of
Joshua and the two other top heavyweights of
last year – Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder –
perfectly encapsulated the arrogance, naivety
and sense of entitlement with which we were all
wandering through life in 2019. Heads high and
whistling down the road, the trio, having already
made millions and positioned themselves to
make more, believed they had the game of life
sussed and that not a thing could hurt, derail or
stop them. They thought they had all the time
in the world and the world in the palm of their
hand. They could say what they wanted, do what
they wanted, and the boxing world would listen,
understand, wait, and adjust their expectations
accordingly. They were, as a team, stringing us
all along, cynically, greedily, stretching potential
rivalries as far as they would go until the band
was begging to be snapped. Masters of timing,
all three feared only the possibility of a shock
upset ruining their plan.
But how wrong they were. How wrong they
were to think a heavyweight wild card like Andy
Ruiz was the one thing capable of wrecking
their dream of timing rivalries to perfection
and cashing in when the moment was right.
How wrong they were to consider themselves
untouchable and not anticipate the world
having a message for them.
That message came this year in the form of a
global pandemic, of course, and it left Joshua,
Fury and Wilder, the latter two at least having
fought in February, searching for attention and
relevance in a year of collective uncertainty.
Through no fault of their own, the pandemic
robbed all three of momentum, it cancelled
fights, and it forced them to console their
sizeable egos and for once confront their own
insignificance, if temporarily.

14 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

 OLD GROUND:
Joshua and Pulev
pose for the
cameras back
in 2017 ENGAGEMENTFor the best part of the year Joshua was
seen only in television adverts or protesting on
London streets, Fury was seen only in his living
room doing star jumps alongside his wife and
children, and Wilder discovered theories and
cures for every issue he had ever faced aside
from the one most pressing.
They were not the only ones, either. Also
humbled during the pandemic, this unforgiving
leveller, was Dillian Whyte, the self-appointed
fourth wheel, or forgotten man, of the
heavyweight division. He was humbled the old-
fashioned way – that is, knocked out cold by
Alexander Povetkin, a Russian whose best days
are behind him – and must now go over old
ground to return to the perch from which he fell.
Thankfully, Joshua, the heavyweight with the
most belts and the most to lose, has lost nothing
this year except momentum and perhaps a
payday, which in the grand scheme of things is
a) for him not a big deal and b) not something
anyone paying to watch him box should care
about. In reality, his biggest disappointment has
been the cancellation of an ordered IBF title fight
against Kubrat Pulev, originally scheduled for
June, which has been three years in the making
and now at last takes place on December 12.
This fight, a virus all of its own as far as Joshua
is concerned, is not so much a fight the WBA,
IBF and WBO heavyweight champion wants
as one he simply wants [i]behind[i] him. It has
been niggling away at him since October 2017,
the time when Pulev was first meant to be his
opponent, and is a fight both he and everybody
else has been told, repeatedly, must be put to
bed before Joshua, 23-1 (21), can return to more
interesting assignments.
In some respects, then, Joshua too is going
over old ground, only this time it feels worse.
Now the one thing bleaker than the prospect
of a fight against Kubrat Pulev in 2017 is the
prospect of a fight against Kubrat Pulev three
years later during a pandemic. Now, rather than
going through the motions before a stadium
crowd of 80,000 people, Joshua will be asked
to do the same job in front of just 1,000 at
Wembley Arena, unsure whether the fans at
home will be desperate to see him back in the
ring or, because it has been so long and so much
has happened this year, have found other things
to do with their spare time.
In truth, there should be greater interest in
Joshua now given the journey he went on last
year – a year in which he was written off as a
hype job in the summer and celebrated as a
genius come winter – and all the undue drama he
created for himself, then overcame. He returns,
somehow, as both a better fighter and a more
beatable fighter. He returns, certainly, as a more

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 15

 THE STORY
Photos: GETTY IMAGES
GENUINE FORCE:
But Pulev is surely
past his best
watchable fighter, not that this was something
Joshua, typically entertaining, needed to work
on.
As watchable as the 31-year-old is, however,
it’s equally fair to say Joshua vs. Pulev is the
least appealing Anthony Joshua fight since the
first time it was set for October 28, 2017. That
night, with Pulev out injured, Carlos Takam filled
the void and gave a good account of himself,
stopped unjustly in the 10th round. This time,
though, with Pulev fit and 39, a fight three years
in the making, which nobody really wanted to
see in the first place, will end up defining 2020
to a tee.
A year on from Joshua’s last outing, this
defence against Pulev unfortunately lacks all
that Joshua vs. Ruiz II possessed in spades. The
dynamic between champion and challenger is
as forced as the fight itself and the reality is that
Joshua would have no interest in boxing Pulev
had them meeting not been ordered by the IBF.
That, in a nutshell, is the story. It’s all there is to it.
By way of summary, Pulev has worked his
way into a mandatory position, been denied his
title shot because of an injury, and then waited
around a bit longer for a second chance. It can
be called a story of perseverance, fine, but it
should and will never be confused with Andy
Dufresne and Shawshank. It is instead closer
16 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
to the perseverance you see on the face of the
man working in an Amazon warehouse during a
global pandemic. You don’t doubt he has paid
his dues and earnt every penny and break he
gets, but, if given the option, you would prefer
not to pay £24.95 to watch how he relaxes on
his night off.
At least Andy Ruiz’s six-month fling with
Joshua was quick, dramatic and worthy of
following. Ridiculed at first, he burst on to
the scene out of nowhere, took and made the
most of his opportunity when others – like
Pulev – might have said no, maybe, or waited,
and then, in the rematch, followed the path
made fashionable by James “Buster” Douglas,
returning the titles in exchange for a life without
limits, changed beyond his wildest dreams. As it
happened, we didn’t have time to get bored of
him. He was in, he was out, and he left behind
all the questions we had long been wanting
Anthony Joshua to answer. In six months, he
made quite the impact.
Bulgaria’s Pulev, on the other hand, has had
SUPREME SHAPE: three years to make an impression yet will, by
Joshua is taking this the time the first bell rings on Saturday, still be a
bout very seriously
name and face unfamiliar to most fans watching.
Indeed, it could be said the only thing more
predictable than the fight itself will be the way
it is promoted and served to fans on the night.
www.boxingnewsonline.net
 In an effort to seduce, there will no doubt be
repeated mentions of Pulev’s 28-1 (14) record
and how the only defeat he has suffered as a pro
came against Wladimir Klitschko at a time when
Klitschko was in his prime and seemingly never
going to lose another fight. There will also be a
reminder that this defeat occurred in 2014, that’s
six years ago, and that since then Pulev hasn’t
come close to losing again. They might tell you
he beat Dereck Chisora, now apparently a UK
pay-per-view headliner, but won’t mention it
being a split decision. They might even tell you
he beat Tyson Fury’s cousin but won’t mention
it being a fight nobody would ever watch twice.
Something else they won’t tell you is that Pulev,
in his last bout, went the full 10 rounds with
Rydell Booker, a 39-year-old former cruiserweight
schooled by an out-of-shape James Toney all the
way back in 2004. Nor will the television pundits
go into much detail regarding the reason why
Pulev’s profile has been enhanced in the past
couple of years without fighting anybody of
note, his lips having produced more damage and
attention than his fists.
Frankly, remove Pulev’s 2019 kissing scandal
and there is little else. Though winning, “The
Cobra’s” standout victory since losing to
Klitschko remains his 2016 split decision over
VERSUS THE WORLD:
Joshua is one of the
most recognisable
athletes on the planet
www.boxingnewsonline.net
Chisora and Chisora, we recently learnt, is some interesting to see whether Pulev takes the fight
way short of the likes of Oleksandr Usyk, the to Joshua the way he attempted to do with
former cruiserweight king tipped to face Joshua Klitschko all those years ago, and the way Ruiz
next year, let alone the titleholders. That puts did with success against Joshua last year, or is
Pulev’s form in perspective and shows, too, the instead more circumspect and trusts his boxing
prestige of this fight in relation to the others in skills from range. It will be just as interesting
Joshua’s future. to observe how Joshua, this champion who
But the good news for Pulev, and for those transitioned from head-hunting front-runner to
watching the fight, is that patient artist in six months,
Andy Ruiz has given every goes about the task of
Joshua opponent a better
chance of dethroning him
RUIZ HAS GIVEN defusing a man for whom
he has been preparing, on
than they would have EVERY JOSHUA and off, for three years now.
had before June 2019. Rest assured, this will
He has given them hope, OPPONENT A not be another example of
he has given them a kind
of blueprint, and he has
BETTER CHANCE Joshua fighting someone
on short notice only to find
reminded the world that
form – whether past wins
OF BEATING HIM himself shocked by their
style, ferocity and desire,
or physical – counts for as was the case 18 months
little when two heavyweights share a ring and ago against Ruiz. More likely is it that this time
start trading punches. Joshua will be so sick of the sight and sound
Moreover, while he fights nothing like of Kubrat Pulev, and so irked to have seen his
Ruiz, Pulev does possess the kind of top-level year reduced to a single unfulfilling date in an
experience Ruiz lacked and is schooled and empty restaurant, that he will aim to put on a
technical in a way that could, if only for a few performance worthy of a three-year wait.
rounds, test the supposed improvements Joshua Now knowing its value, Joshua won’t waste
has made in this department. Indeed, it will be time on a starter. bn
DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 17
 THE BREAKDOWN
MANDATORY
ASSIGNMENT
Matt Christie examines the evidence that should decide the outcome
AGE AND PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT
JOSHUA: The WBA, IBF and WBO titlist is 31
years old and likely at his peak. His physique
remains a work of art and at six feet six inches
he’s an imposing figure, he can box and
punch with serious authority and is the very
embodiment of a 21st century heavyweight. As
a professional, the 2012 Olympic champion has
answered a bell 103 times with only 15 of those
rounds providing him with any real trouble or
punishment. In short, he’s immeasurably fresher
than his ageing rival.
PULEV: The thickset Bulgarian is 39 years old
and is likely six or seven years past his best.
An elite amateur who lost in the first round of
Photo: MARK ROBINSON/MATCHROOM
HAPPY AT WORK:
Joshua’s studious
nature remains
one of his biggest
strengths
18 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
the 2008 Olympics to Oscar Rivas, Pulev has
a long fighting career behind him and takes
far more punches these days than he used to.
He’s likely to weigh around 245-250lbs, which
is comparable to “AJ” and though only an inch-
and-a-half shorter that deficit doubles when it
comes to reach. Mentally robust, don’t expect
him to be overawed in any way by his opponent.
EDGE: Unquestionably Joshua.
EXPERIENCE
JOSHUA: Hard to fault his professional progress,
which now dates back seven years and reads 23-1
(21). Along the way he’s fought (and defeated)
Dillian Whyte, Wladimir Klitschko, Alexander
Povetkin, Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker and, after
losing the first fight, Andy Ruiz Jnr. At amateur
level, after a rapid and highly impressive rise,
he reached the pinnacle in 2012 when he won
gold in London. Even so, he was launched into
world class quickly in both codes and, fairly or
not, there’s still a feeling he’s learning on the job.
PULEV: He was among the best in the world
at heavyweight/super-heavyweight for much
of his amateur career and thus his education
and fundamentals are sound. Italian Roberto
Cammerelle, whom Joshua twice edged in
major tournaments, was a perennial amateur
bogeyman for Pulev, 28-1 (14). He’s been a
professional since 2009, which is four years
longer than Joshua but he’s only partaken in
five more bouts. Tellingly, he’s fought 100 more
rounds. In truth, though he’s been a contender
for longer than Joshua has been a pro, his level
of opposition is far inferior to his rival’s.
EDGE: Pulev, just. But this must come with a
sizeable caveat: Joshua has been consistently
fighting in world class for the last five years while
Pulev clearly has not.
BEST PERFORMANCE
JOSHUA: This really depends on what you like.
He overcame some early problems to flatten
Alexander Povetkin in seven rounds in 2018 a
little over a year after his unforgettable up-and-
downer with Wladimir Klitschko. Both bouts
told us plenty about Joshua’s toughness. Or so
we thought; the manner in which he fell apart
against Andy Ruiz Jnr in June 2019 was hugely
www.boxingnewsonline.net
 Photo: MIKEY WILLIAMS/TOP RANK
concerning at the time but, in what has to be
classed as his most disciplined and technically
impressive outing, he dominated the rematch
over 12 rounds six months later.
PULEV: One has to go back to 2012 for his
wins over Alexander Ustinov and Alexander
Dimitrenko for a glimpse of Pulev at his best.
In both of those fights he used his jab to bash
up taller opponents and used quick feet and
reflexes to stay close while remaining elusive.
It says it all about the policies and rankings of
sanctioning bodies that he’s the IBF’s number
one contender despite his only noteworthy
wins since 2014 came via tedious decisions over
Dereck Chisora (2016) and Hughie Fury (2018).
EDGE: Joshua stands head and shoulders above
Pulev here.
WORST PERFORMANCE
JOSHUA: After flooring Andy Ruiz Jnr in round
three he was quickly dropped twice and lucky
to hear the bell in a thrilling stanza. Joshua
struggled to regroup inside Madison Square
Garden as Operation: Conquer America went
horribly wrong. The Watford man was decked
twice in the seventh and stopped standing up
when he would not/could not walk forward
when asked to by the referee. After winning the
rematch, he told the BBC he was suffering from
www.boxingnewsonline.net
I BELIEVE:
Pulev is not short
of self-confidence
illness in the build-up to the first fight.
PULEV: His most recent outing – a 10-round
points win over the ancient and overweight
Rydell Booker 12 months ago – was glaringly
unimpressive. Pulev was easy to hit on the
inside and found it difficult to cut off the ring;
something peak Pulev used to do without even
trying. His only loss, to Wladimir Klitschko, also
told a tale on his susceptibilities against stand-
up tall punchers. Klitschko had no problem
finding a home for his power shots through the
middle, decking Pulev four times and stopping
him in five.
EDGE: Joshua’s lone loss was more catastrophic
but Pulev’s form since 2013 has consistently
been underwhelming.
STRENGTHS
JOSHUA: A far better boxer than he’s given
credit for who is happy on the front or back foot,
Joshua increasingly likes to pepper with the jab
until an opening arises. That’s when he steps in
with his left, putting substantial force behind
it before launching his battering ram straight
right. That power is unquestionably his biggest
strength and, when an opponent is in trouble,
his fast hands generally take care of business
quickly. He utilises his physical advantages well
and is adept at firing through the middle – a
crucial key to victory against Pulev.
PULEV: The canny Pulev, who won’t be hugely
outsized by the champion, does his best work
with his lead hand. The underdog is versatile
and clever, he can stay close and unsettle his
opponents or he can box smartly from range,
often exclusively with his left. He’s a better
body puncher than Joshua and his somewhat
excessive level of self-confidence speaks of
vast mental strength. Though he’s far from
unstoppable, Pulev is durable and has a proven
engine; even in later years, he’s shown he’s just as
strong in the last round as he is in the first.
EDGE: Joshua carries all the aces at this stage,
one suspects.
WEAKNESSES
JOSHUA: Joshua can be careless when he throws
his left hook, particularly when he leads with it.
His inside game is improving but not faultless,
and this is where Pulev is arguably at his best.
The Englishman’s punch resistance will always
be a question mark (that’s heavyweight boxing,
folks) and his inability to stem the tide once Ruiz
started teeing off drew criticism. Throw in his
perceived stamina issues and it’s easy to see why
some are predicting that Pulev will cause real
problems for the favourite.
PULEV: At the risk of labouring the point, Pulev
appears to be in sharp decline. One only has to
compare his recent outings with footage of him
in 2012-2014 and the evidence is stark. While
doing so, it also becomes clear that even Pulev
at his best was never quite at championship-
winning standard. Though his feet have always
been clever, his defence has not. He leaves holes
in the middle which a fighter like Joshua can
surely exploit. And though that self-confidence
of his is a strength, he also has a tendency to try
too hard to prove he’s not hurt when he is. Such
sloppiness against Joshua could spell disaster.
EDGE: This is a category that Joshua might fall
short in against someone like Tyson Fury, but
against a shop-worn Pulev, he has the edge.
OUTCOME
For the sake of balance, it’s only fair to say that
a seasoned veteran like Pulev should not be
written off completely. But it’s just as important
to stress that he’s secured this challenge thanks
to the IBF’s questionable rankings (do they
seriously believe 39-year-old Pulev is third only
to Joshua and Fury?) and not because he’s
scored a series of impressive wins. Pulev, who
would have been a more difficult proposition
when this bout was first ordered three years ago,
has been treading water for a long time.
Joshua may not come out all guns blazing
and Pulev will know he cannot be drawn into a
firefight early. The Bulgarian, who hasn’t fought
anyone this lively since Klitschko in 2014, will
nonetheless fancy his chances.
Joshua, one suspects, is now clever enough
to be patient when mounting his attacks but the
feeling here is that he won’t have to wait long to
get his man in serious trouble.
When that happens, expect Joshua – buoyed
by the 1,000 fans in attendance and the accuracy
of his right hand – to go to work and finish
matters as early as the third or fourth round.
DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 19
 THE CHAMPION
‘I WANT TO
PROVE HOW
GOOD I’VE
BECOME’
Speaking to the UK media via Zoom, Anthony Joshua reflects on life in lockdown and growing through
adversity, and looks ahead to his homecoming fight against Kubrat Pulev in front of 1,000 fans
OU’VE been out of the
ring for a year now.
Although lockdown
Y has obviously been
hard in many ways,
has it been beneficial
for you to step out of
the pressure cooker?
Lockdown has been tough for everyone.
Everyone’s waiting to be able to socialise
again, and we’re slowly getting there. But if
you think, when I turned pro I was straight
away selling out the O2, and with that there’s
pressure. Building the sport as well with my
companies, which have done a great job, has
meant putting myself forward. With them shut
down during the pandemic, I’ve been able
to spend my time training. I’ve lived these
20 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
Photo: MARK ROBINSON/MATCHROOM
months as an athlete and it’s been a blessing,
as I’ve progressed a lot.
Following the longest layoff of your pro
career, could there be a danger of ring rust
when you fight Kubrat Pulev? 
Oh definitely. This year has just thrown
every obstacle at us all. That’s what makes
this fight so interesting. I might go in there
feeling a million dollars, saying that I’m going
to be the undisputed champ, then I end up
getting my head punched in because I’ve got
ring rust. So who knows? But I feel good. I’m
looking forward to it. I haven’t boxed in such
a long time but that’s why in lockdown I’ve
done a lot of training – physical and mental.
I’ve done a lot of sparring – getting my body
tough again, getting punched up. Sometimes
in sparring, I’ve been thinking to myself, ‘I’m
going to take this round off and let this boy
punch me up, because I need to get tough.
I need to get that thick skin.’ That’s the best way
I can prepare and I hope it comes to fruition
on December 12.
Pulev is a potential banana skin, like Andy
Ruiz Jnr turned out to be when you fought
him the first time. Is that defeat buried in
your past or does it still motivate you? 
I feel like the Ruiz defeat is buried for
me because I made no excuse, I took it and
I dealt with it six months later [by winning
the rematch]. Knowing what losing was
like and not wanting to go there again has
definitely made me tougher – it’s given me
that motivation. I want to prove to myself how
good I’ve become over this last year – being in
lockdown and training like an athlete. I want
www.boxingnewsonline.net
www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 21
 THE CHAMPION
to see what the benefits of training RELAXED:
this year like a true athlete have done Joshua has felt the
benefits of having
for me. Pulev is experienced and he’s some time out of
got a good jab, so I’m going to have to the spotlight
be ducking and diving, slipping and
sliding. I can’t just be straight-up and stiff. I’m
going to have to adopt an elusive style as well.
I’ve had to work on all these tactical aspects, so
I’m looking forward to seeing where I’m at.
Your rematch victory over Ruiz came in
Saudi Arabia. How was the experience of
fighting there?
I think it was a great success. For me, losing
the belts and then winning them back, that’s
my success. I focused on the training camp and
winning the fight. Winning my belts back was a
massive success for me because I was under a lot
of pressure. You’ve seen it
recently with Daniel Dubois
– he has so much potential
but one loss can really
“THE UK IS
upset the apple cart. With
the Ruiz rematch I knew
WHERE MY
I just couldn’t afford to lose. BASE IS AND IT
I had to go to Saudi, box to
a strict game plan and win IS ALWAYS MY
my belts back. That’s what
I did, so I feel it was a great
PRIORITY”
success for me. In terms of
the event itself, it showcased Saudi as a country
that is hospitable to people from all around the
world, so I think they were really happy.
Can you see yourself fighting there again in
the future?
There was great hospitality in Saudi, and
great feedback, so it’s definitely an option. I’ve
been away for over two years but I’m back in
the UK now and I want to stay here for as long
as possible. When I first turned pro I had offers
from America and Germany, but I knew the UK
was where I wanted to be. I’m clear on that – this
is where my base is and this is always my priority.
But fighters also have to travel. There’s a sense
of trailblazer and road warrior, so I don’t mind
getting on the road any more. I did it last year
22 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
sometimes – I’m under a lot of pressure. I’m
physically good but mentally you have to stay
strong. This year has been good to unload a lot
of pressure, and fighting in front of 1,000 fans is
not so bad. You have to take it as a positive and
control what you can control. One thousand
fans are allowed in and I can’t add to it or take
from it. I’m going to go in there and perform
with no pressure and showcase the styles that
I’ve merged together, which are sticking and
moving, and aggression and knockout power.
You were first scheduled to face Pulev three
years ago, but an injury ruled him out. At 39
years of age, do you think he has declined
during this time?
In terms of Pulev, three years ago might have
been too early for me. I’m more experienced
now. I’m wiser. I’ve lost a fight and I never want
to lose a fight again – I know what that feels like.
Photos: MARK ROBINSON/MATCHROOM
and I’ll do it again. I definitely want
to go back to MSG [Madison Square
Garden, New York] where I took the
loss to Ruiz, so that’s on the cards. 
How do you feel about being back
in London for the Pulev fight? 
It’s perfect. There’s that familiarity. I started
here at Finchley ABC, then went up to Sheffield
where I’m based now for training. I’ve fought at
York Hall, the O2, Wembley, Cardiff, Newcastle...
I’ve been dotted all around the UK. It’s
comfortable, as I don’t have to travel anywhere.
It’s good to be here. It makes it easier.
You must be happy that 1,000 people will
be in attendance, rather than having to fight
behind closed doors?
It’s the whole production element – boxing
during lockdown just hasn’t
been the same without
the fan reaction and the
noise. At the same time,
I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been fun
to watch it. The fighters
[who have boxed behind
closed doors] have adapted
well. But it’s going to be nice
for the people [at the fight],
because when is there ever
going to be another chance
to witness a heavyweight championship fight
when there are only 1,000 people in the room?
It’s going to be intimate, it’s going to be a closed-
circuit crowd. You won’t have to worry about
your missus having a pint of beer chucked on
her head! Or 15 guys by the side of you getting
into a fight. It might be nice for the spectators. 
When was the last time that you fought in
front of a similar-sized crowd?
The last time I fought in front of a small
crowd? I think it was Hungary [at the Bocskai
tournament in February 2012]. I fought [Sergey]
Kuzmin and someone from Uzbekistan, a big
guy [Sardor Abdullaev]. It was quite decent,
you know. It’s not bad. The pressure is off, you
can get into your rhythm. I think I need that
www.boxingnewsonline.net
 Pulev is wiser as well, though. With age comes pup [back then], a little puppy.’ I feel stronger
experience and I’m going to be in there with a now. I feel smarter and it’s the same thing I say
man who’s mentally strong and experienced. with the other guys that I want to fight. The
As we’ve all seen with the likes of Alexander longer they leave it, the tougher it’s going to be
Povetkin and Wladimir Klitschko, and Mike for them, because experience is the best teacher
Tyson and Roy Jones, age is just a number. and I’m gaining so much experience every day
You say you’re wiser and more experienced that I step in the gym.
now, so do you think that Pulev missed his One of ‘the other guys’ is your fellow world
chance three years ago? heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury. If
I was thinking about this the other day. I went the fight between you two does happen
through a lot of my career not even knowing next year, do you think it could be held at
what I was doing. I was just fighting. I watched Wembley Stadium?
the [Eric] Molina fight the other day, I watched It’s always for the fans. Management teams
a bit of the [Carlos] Takam fight, I watched the and promotional teams are going to do right
Klitschko fight and I was like, ‘Wow, by what is financially viable as well
how was I in these type of fights with EFFORT: – what is going to get Fury to step in
the little bit of experience that I had?’ Joshua rehydrates that ring, what is going to get me to
after working up a
Looking at who I am today, I like to step in that ring. It’s a balance. The
sweat during a
reflect a lot and I think, ‘I was just a training session main objective is getting this fight
www.boxingnewsonline.net
done. There’s definitely the element that the
fans are the most important and getting them
together to watch a British classic. What finances
can we gather to get Fury in the ring? It’s a tough
one but I’d definitely go for the fans this time
around, for sure.
So would you take less money to have the
fight in the UK, rather than abroad?
Yeah, why not? I’m fighting Pulev for a
massive pay cut. We have to keep the sport
alive. Matchroom are taking pay cuts this year
as we have to keep the sport alive. We’re all
doing our part at the minute. We’re doing it
now so I wouldn’t mind doing it again. It’s not
harming me, and it’s for a bigger cause as well.
It’s a massive cause and a big fight, but the main
objective is how do we get Fury in the ring. bn
Book  and watch Joshua against Pulev on
December 12, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 23
 THE UNDERCARD

THE SUPPORTING AC
Photos: GETTY IMAGES

FRUSTRATING:
Okolie faces a late
change of
opponent

Short-notice pullouts blight A last minute replacement opponent
however has been found. Nikodem Jezewski
the Wembley Arena undercard, was brought in on Monday to give Okolie a
writes John Dennen fight. Another Pole, Jezewski is an orthodox
boxer so all Okolie’s preparations for southpaw
opposition will not help him in this contest. But
ACKNEY cruiserweight while Jezewski is an unbeaten 19-0-1 with one
Lawrence Okolie was no contest, he could be overwhelmed by Okolie.
Next year he will be looking to continue his
rapid progression. “For years I’ve been in and
out of the gyms with the top fighters,” he said.
“I’ve been in there [sparring] with all of the top
heavyweights in the world right now, AJ, Tyson
Fury, Joe Joyce, Daniel Dubois, Dillian Whyte etc.
This is over years. I’ve always had the physical
attributes to be competitive in there for sparring

H
meant to be fighting for a
world title on Saturday’s
bill at Wembley Arena.
He had essentially spent
the whole of 2020
working towards his
WBO title fight with Krzysztof Glowacki, an
intense training camp with a host of sparring
partners flown in, all focused on the Polish
southpaw. But Glowacki failed a coronavirus
test on December 3, kicking off a last minute
search for a replacement opponent. A shame for
Okolie, who was looking for a high level world
title fight and a strong performance to take his
pro career to a new level.
He has not fought outside of Poland before and
though he has nine stoppages on his ledger, he
is not a powerful puncher. In 2019 Tamas Lodi
took him the eight-round distance. Lodi is a
man Lawrence has stopped, as have Yves Ngabu
and Andrew Tabiti. Okolie will be looking for an
explosive finish and is likely to get it.
“The problem in my fights is that my damaging
shots come at long range and boxers aren’t
stupid so they know ‘wow, this is hurting, I’m
going to do whatever it takes to close the range
down.’ Really it’s up to me, we’ve been working
on it tirelessly in this camp especially,” Okolie
said. “It’s up to me, when they get in close, to
force myself away.”
anyway.
“We’ve been trying to progress every fight,
trying to push on.
“There’s exciting fights to be had.”
An intriguing fight in Kieron Conway versus
Souleymane Cissokho has fallen through,
hurting the undercard. Conway will still box
against Macaulay McGowan, who suffered a
hard loss to Tursynbay Kulakhmet last month.
At heavyweight Hughie Fury meets Mariusz
Wach in a 10-rounder. Both have mixed in
good company. Fury has challenged for a world
title and lost to Kubrat Pulev for the European
belt. Wach, all the way back in 2012, was
going 12 rounds with Wladimir Klitschko. He’s

24 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

CTS ON THE FRINGES:
Fury and Bakole are
yet to prove they
belong among the
heavyweight elite

fought a roster of good heavyweights, including Martin Bakole and Sergey Kuzmin, when he fights Ashley Lane. Last time out
Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte, but tends both Michael Hunter victims, collide in a well in October Ashfaq took the first loss of his
to lose to the sternest competition. Fury should matched heavyweight 10-rounder. Since his professional career, going down in a unanimous
be a level above and we expected him to loss to Hunter in 2018 Bakole has embarked of points decision to an impressive Marc Leach.
soundly outbox Wach, though the big Pole a run of four stoppage victories that has Leach dropped Ashfaq twice in the course of
doubtless will prove hard to shift. seen him halt both Wach and the their 10 rounds and now Qais returns quickly
This could be a one-sided but WANNA normally durable Kevin Johnson. to action. Consecutive losses for an Olympian
somehow frustrating bout. BET? But Kuzmin will be far a harder in the prospect stage of their career would be
“It’s been a while and I’m THOSE looking to have a flutter test for him. The Russian was a unthinkable.
ready to show what I’m this weekend may struggle to find good international amateur Lane has a career spotted with losses and
all about.  I’ve been in the anything tempting here. Akolie is 1/25, before amassing his 15-1 draws but he is a former Commonwealth
gym working on a lot of Fury is 1/8, Conway is 1/12, Ashfaq is 1/8 (11) professional record. If champion. Typically he boxes on the small hall
different aspects of my and Joshua atop the bill is 1/12. The fight he can withstand Bakole’s circuit. Work there has completely dried up
game, perfecting what I punters might be most tempted by is the power punching, he can in the current pandemic. Simply getting this
needed to do,” Hughie said. Bakole (3/10) versus Kuzmin (5/2) cause an upset. “This fight opportunity is vital to him. Ashfaq is favoured to
scrap where some value can be
“Mariusz Wach is a good with Bakole is very important win on points, but expect some nervy moments
found if you fancy the
fighter who’s been in with many upset.
for me, I need to bounce back along the way.
top tier fighters including a world from my defeat to Michael Hunter Ramla Ali, Somalia’s first professional boxer,
title challenge. He brings power and last time and get back on track towards would have been having her second professional
size, and you can’t switch off for a second. I a world title,” Kuzmin said. “Martin is big, tall and contest on the show but catching coronavirus
want these kind of fights as these fights will help comes forward, we know his strengths. I come has forced her off the bill.
me achieve what I need. I’m expecting a tough only to win on December 12.” Florian Marku will be box on the card
fight.” Qais Ashfaq simply must be victorious against Alex Fearon.

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 25

 PREVIEWS

Photo: ALEX LIVESEY/GETTY IMAGES

number of years. Eggington is sure to test
ENTERTAINER: Theophane’s ambition. The Midlander
Eggington is coming has five stoppages after six rounds in title
off a cracking contest fights. Eggington’s way is to get on top
against Cheeseman
of opponents and beat the fight out of
them.
Eggington outgrew the 147lb division
and is coming off that classic against
Cheeseman in August that, on another
day, may have gone his way.
There was to-and-fro action in every
round and even after the last bell. In
the final minute, both were shaken up.
Moments after stiffening Cheeseman’s
legs with a clean volley of shots,
Eggington found himself being driven
back into a corner.
Eggington grinned as Cheeseman fired
punches at him. He still enjoys a good
fight. We don’t know if Theophane does.
“Until he hits me in the face, I won’t
know how much I have left,” admitted
Ashley. “I’m training hard, but I won’t
know how I really feel until the opening
bell goes.”
Eggington has already devoured a
veteran in 36-year-old Paulie Malignaggi
in 2017. The fight was in the balance after
seven rounds – Malignaggi was up on
two cards – and Eggington finished the

THEOPHANE’S FAREWELL New Yorker with a body shot in the next.

Malignaggi is the best name on
Eggington’s 28-7 record.
A pro at 19, he was British,
Ashley has it ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ EG G I N GTO N -T H EO P H A N E
Four months later, Eggington made his Commonwealth and European
pro debut and, boxing out of the away welterweight champion by the age of 23
all to do if he’s ON Friday night (December 11), Sam corner, he beat Leon Findlay (2-0-1) on and written off numerous times since.
to go out with Eggington returns from his narrow points in a Swansea nightclub. There was a shock loss to Tanzania’s
victory against summer loss to Ted Cheeseman which Eggington and Theophane are fighters Hassan Mwakinyo that cost him a fight
was a British Fight of the Year contender. from different generations – and with with Brandon Rios and Liam Smith
Eggington, He meets veteran Ashley Theophane different mindsets. mugged him in five up at 154lbs.
writes over 12 rounds at 154lbs. Channel 5 At 27, Eggington still has ambitions to Manager and trainer Jon Pegg says
televise from Redditch’s Fly By Nite win world honours, while Theophane has that because Eggington isn’t from a
Matt Bozeat Rehearsal Studios (Hennessy Sports). told BN that win, lose or draw on Friday fashionable stable – or fight city – he
Now 40, Theophane, who was part night, he’s retiring. is underappreciated and that the trade
of Floyd Mayweather’s stable for five “This is my farewell fight,” Theophane has always thought it’s a matter of time
years, says this will be the last fight of a said. “After my last fight [a points win before his bubble bursts.
colourful career that’s brought him British over 41-year-old former IBF super- Theophane has the better names on
honours and a WBA title shot against welterweight champion Kassim Ouma his record. He pushed Danny Garcia to a
Adrien Broner. last October], I was thinking of retiring. split when Garcia was on the way up and
For the North Londoner, it’s his first But I wanted to come back home to lasted into the ninth with Broner for the
fight in Britain since he lost his British fight. I’m getting old.” WBA 140lb belt in April 2016.
super-lightweight title to “Cinderella Jim Watt MBE, the former WBC He had enough left to outpoint Ouma
Man” Darren Hamilton in Liverpool in lightweight champion, used to say that in his last fight and says he was happy
May 2012. if a fighter is thinking about retiring, he to finish boxing after that. This was an
should retire. Boxing is too hard if you opportunity – and pay day – too good
don’t really want to do it. to turn down. Theophane has said for a
TALE OF THE TAPE Perhaps the occasion will bring out the while that he wanted to box in Britain
best in Theophane. Sometimes that’s the again before the end of his career and
SAM EGGINGTON ASHLEY THEOPHANE way it works out – just ask Gavin Rees. he was pencilled in to box on a Mickey
Oct 15, 1993/27 DOB/AGE Aug 30, 1980/40 The former WBA super-lightweight Helliet show last summer.
Stourbridge HOMETOWN Paddington champion announced he was retiring We know Theophane can look after
English NATIONALITY English before his rematch with Gary Buckland himself, but we go along with Eggington’s
5ft 11ins HEIGHT 5ft 7ins in May 2014 and fought his heart out to belief that he won’t be able to cope with
28-7 (17) RECORD 48-8-1 (17) 1NC
turn the tables on his fellow Welshman. the Midlander’s pressure and that the
Orthodox STANCE Orthodox
Sep 14, 2012/18 DEBUT/AGE Jun 3, 2003/22
Theophane worked tirelessly in his stoppage will come in the closing rounds.
49 KO PERCENTAGE 29 career to give himself the best possible
3 COUNTRIES FOUGHT IN 12 education, as his sparring and history THE VERDICT It should be a concern
The Savage NICKNAME Treasure with Mayweather proves, but he has that Theophane goes into this with
not been fighting at the top level for a one foot in retirement.

26 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

 PREVIEWS
DRIVE-IN BOXING
Dennis Hobson ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ F R A N K- G UA R N E RO S
has been THE sign that hangs on the wall of Dennis
forced to think Hobson’s office reads: “Some people
outside the want it to happen, some wish it would
happen, others make it happen.”
box, and Hobson once made a Roy Jones
outside Jnr fight happen and on Friday night
(December 11), he’s going to make the
Sheffield first drive-in boxing show – in the car
Arena, to park of Sheffield Arena, no less – in
Britain happen as well.
stage a show, It was all the idea of “Miss
writes
Matt Bozeat
Moneypenny”.
“The girl who works in my office who
I call Miss Moneypenny told me she was
going to a drive-in movie,” said Hobson.
“I had been thinking of a way to get
crowds back into boxing shows without
breaking any of the rules and hearing
about that drive-in movie set my cogs
turning. I asked her to bring in some
photographs and I looked at them and
thought: ‘You could replace the screen
with a boxing ring.’”
Hobson also found room for 120 cars,
UNIQUE VENUE: pods for VIPs and giant screens.
Frank will be ‘The Straightener in the Car Park’ goes
fighting in an
unusual setting ahead live on Eurosport – and Hobson is
www.boxingnewsonline.net
expecting a sell-out. environment and we’ve stayed positive.
“It’s a unique event,” he said, “and it’s I like to think I’m a positive person. If
captured people’s imaginations. I grew there’s a problem, I look for a solution.
up watching big fights in the car park at The odds are stacked against us and
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas – and this is we’ve made something happen. We
Sheffield’s version!” needed a Plan B – and we’ve found one.”
Except it will be colder. Hobson says that in boxing and in
“There might be a bit of frost on the business he has relied on “common
ground,” said Hobson, sense, being a bad loser
“but we are British – we and never being afraid to
get hailstones in July!”
Top of the bill – after
‘THIS IS take a punt.”
Hobson was 15 years
several pull-outs – will SHEFFIELD’S old when he left school
be Tommy Frank, the
Commonwealth super- VERSION OF – “I didn’t go much
anyway,” he laughed
flyweight champion,
taking on Mexico’s
CAESARS – and “wheeled and
dealed” to build up the
resilient Rosendo Hugo PALACE IN South Yorkshire Metals
Guarneros at 112lbs. company. His boxing
Frank, who’s won all LAS VEGAS!’ breakthrough came with
13 fights, said: “I think the Clinton Woods, who went
walk from the dressing room to the to his gym looking to keep fit and ended
ring will be quicker than normal and up winning the IBF light-heavyweight title
I might need to wear my thermals and a and fighting Jones.
big hoodie! But once I’m under the lights “Roy Jones was massive and when
and the adrenaline is going, I will be fine. you’re that big, you can pick and choose
The cold might even keep me fresher as who you fight,” reasoned Hobson.
the rounds go by.” “Clinton was one of four or five possible
Hobson said: “This is a negative opponents. He was ranked No. 1 by the
WBC, but we were stuck.”
Hobson thought of a way to make the
fight happen. He took Woods to Miami
to watch Jones defend his titles against
Glen Kelly in February 2002.
“We sat in the front row of the press
conference after the fight,” he said, “and
as it was coming to an end I knew I had
to do something.
“I shouted: ‘Roy!’ He looked my way,
so I told Clinton to stand up and pushed
him towards the stage. I said: ‘Clinton
Woods is here and he wants to fight you.’
Clinton stepped forward and said: ‘I’m
ranked No. 1 by the WBC, I’ve beaten
everyone else and now I want to beat
the best.’
“Jones said: ‘You’re right about
everything apart from the last bit. I will
fight you.’”
Beaten in six rounds, Woods was never
off his feet and went on to win world
honours at the fourth attempt.
Hobson subsequently worked with
Ricky Hatton, but would rather look
forward and said: “I think this show sends
out a statement. I think it shows we are
major players. We were faced with a lot
of obstacles, but we’ve been able to tick
every box.”
Frank should make the home crowd
happy by outpointing Guarneros (17-4-2)
over 12 rounds.
THE VERDICT An innovative idea
from the enterprising Hobson.
DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 27
ACTION ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ O U T S TA N D I N G ★ ★ ★ ★ G O O D ★ ★ ★ FA I R ★ ★ D I S A P P O I N T I N G ★ RU B B I S H
Re p o r t e r s ’ s t a r r a t i n g s fo r m a i n e v e n t s a n d u n d e rc a r d s a r e b a s e d o n i n - r i n g e n t e r t a i n m e n t , c o m p e t i t i v e n e s s a n d w h e t h e r o v e r a l l e x p e c t a t i o n w a s m e t

Too quick & too clever

Photos: MARK ROBINSON/MATCHROOM

ON TOP:
Saunders attacks as
Murray defends

Martin WEMBLEY Saunders took control from the start digging to the body in an effort to slow
of the fight and would never relinquish Billy Joe up. But Murray could not claw a
Murray D EC E M B E R 4 it. When Murray backed off, Saunders round off him. Saunders manoeuvred too
took the invitation to close in on him smartly, selected his angles of attack and
cannot upset ★★★★★ MAIN EVENT and fired in fast combinations, shaking struck too quickly for him.
Billy Joe ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D apart his guard to land his lead right and Saunders won 120-109 for judges
southpaw cross. Steve Gray and Bob Williams, 118-110
Saunders’ ARTIN MURRAY’S Saunders countered neatly with his for Marcus McDonnell. Yet he was
control of fifth attempt at a right but he was also more aggressive frustrated with his own performance. “It’s

their WBO
title fight,
M world title would
end once again in
defeat. Over the
course of 12 rounds
than expected. He hurt Murray in the
fourth round, stunning him when he
lined up a massive one-two. He struck
again with Martin covering up on the
like boxing in a cemetery,” Saunders said
afterwards of the behind closed doors
event. “I tried to get up a rhythm but he’s
still an old fox.”
writes at Wembley Arena ropes and Murray, looking to clinch, If he felt he could have halted Murray,
on Friday, Billy Joe Saunders’ speed, stumbled forward, lost his footing and he would regard this as a missed
John his skill and at times his strength were toppled over. opportunity to make a statement.
Dennen too much for the challenger. Saunders There were clinches and bad tempered Gennady Golovkin did stop the tough
retained the WBO super-middleweight exchanges when Saunders strayed low St. Helens man in 11 rounds and the
title on a wide unanimous decision. with a shot. Murray ground forward, winner of Canelo Alvarez’s WBA title

28 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

fight with Callum Smith later this month
will surely continue to look to fight the MUTUAL RESPECT:
best opposition available next year. Saunders and Murray
Saunders has sent a reminder that his embrace at the end
of 12 rounds
style will pose problems for anyone in
the division, but a stoppage would also
have generated greater excitement over
his offensive threats.
Saunders will be still seeking
unification showdowns in 2021.
“Everyone wants Canelo,” Billy Joe said.
“Let’s make these big fights happen.”
Murray is left contemplating his
future. As well as the world title defeats
to Saunders, Golovkin and Arthur
Abraham, he came so close to winning
the championship he craved against Felix
Sturm and Sergio Martinez. But he is 38
years old now, a veteran of hard training
camps and even harder fights. He won’t
get another shot at a world title.
“There was not much in lots of the
rounds but he was doing just enough,”
Murray said of Saunders. “I’m ready for
a good rest now… I said I wanted to
have no regrets, go anywhere and fight
anyone. I’ve done that.
“I’ve tried my best.”
He always has. If this does prove to be Norek. The Pole’s approach to the Southampton’s Edmondson put John
his last fight, Murray can certainly finish a scheduled eight rounder was bizarre. Telford down in the first and third
FULL
gallant career with pride. She pushed directly into Courtenay, rounds. Switching between southpaw
R E S U LT S
On the undercard Canada’s Josh milling blows with just her arms before and orthodox stances, he chopped the
Billy Joe Saunders
O’Reilly was so out of his depth burrowing into clinches. But as Norek Mancunian off his feet first with a lead (167¼lbs), 30-0 (14),
against James Tennyson that their tired she was there to be hit. left hook. In the third a sequence of w pts 12 Martin Murray
contest was almost pointless. He In the seventh round Courtenay did straight shots from the orthodox stance (167½lbs), 39-6-1
could not stop Belfast’s Tennyson from land a spectacular right cross that twisted buckled Telford’s knees and dropped (17); James Tennyson
connecting with his hellacious punches. Norek off her feet and flung her into the him to the canvas. Edmondson attacked (134¾lbs), 28-3 (24), w rsf
He clattered O’Reilly with head shots, ropes to provide a monstrous finish at again on resumption and referee 1 Josh O’Reilly (133¼lbs),
vicious uppercuts and hooks hacking 1-35. Robert Williams refereed. Robert Williams spared Telford further 16-1 (6); Shannon
through. He dropped O’Reilly twice New Malden’s Lerrone Richards punishment at 2-22. Courtenay (117¾lbs), 6-1
(3), w rsf 7 Dorota Norek
before referee Marcus McDonnell shut out Timo Laine over eight rounds. Over six rounds Sheffield’s Donte
(115¾lbs), 6-2 (1); Lerrone
stopped the onslaught at 2-14 of the first Richards jabbed diligently and looked Dixon outscored Angelo Dragone, Richards (172lbs), 14-0
round. Tennyson did get to work swiftly to land his long southpaw cross to the beating the Carmarthen super- (3), w pts 8 Timo Laine
and finished like a predator. He takes body. But the Finn was negative, content featherweight 68-56 for referee Robert (171½lbs), 28-15 (12);
a highlight reel victory and will move to defend himself as Richards chalked Williams. Dragone suffered a broken jaw Donte Dixon (127½lbs),
forward at lightweight but he will take up a 80-72 points win for referee Robert in the sixth and final round. 5-0 (3), w pts 6 Angelo
little more than that from this fight. Williams. Dragone (127¾lbs), 5-2;
Watford’s Shannon Courtenay came Off the televised portion of the bill THE VERDICT It was Saunders’ time, Lewis Edmondson (171lbs),
back from her loss in August to Rachel but streamed on Facebook, Lewis but now he must face the best in the 4-0 (1), w rsf 3 John Telford
(170½lbs), 11-3-1 (2).
Ball with a win over Poland’s Dorota Edmondson picked up a victory. division.

MISMATCH: HARD LUCK:

Tennyson tees Courtenay and
off on O’Reilly Norek share a
moment

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 29

 ACTION
King Arthur
Lyndon WESTMINSTER
battles D EC E M B E R 5
through
★★★★★ MAIN EVENT
injury to ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D
upset
LYNDON ARTHUR showed any
Anthony inexperienced fighters the importance of
Yarde, writes the jab as he used it, almost exclusively, to
deservedly outpoint Anthony Yarde over
Matt Christie 12 rounds.
As soon as that lesson was over,
Arthur provided another: How to act in
the aftermath of a fight. When standing
alongside a bitterly disappointed Yarde,
and asked directly by BT Sport’s Steve
Bunce why he’d barely thrown his right
hand, the surly Mancunian refused to
admit there was a problem but was
gracious enough to concede the contest
had been close.
The truth was Arthur had been nursing
an injury to his right arm for weeks and
he’d hurt his right hand in the warm-
up, minutes before he walked to the
ring. That was not the only factor to
overcome. Besides knowing he’d have to
fight one-armed against one of the most
highly regarded fighters in the country,
the Commonwealth light-heavyweight
champion had to keep his head when his
entrance music was lost amid rows over
who would walk to the ring first.
In short, Arthur conducted himself
impeccably in the face of significant
adversity and when the dust settles it is
Yarde who should look to his conqueror –
one of life’s perennial underdogs – to find
the inspiration to come back stronger.
FULL The 29-year-old, with his divisive
R E S U LT S coach Tunde Ajayi in the background,
complained it was he who deserved the
Lyndon Arthur (174 victory, even going as far as proclaiming
1/4lbs), 18-0 (12), w the bout wasn’t even close. It spoke of
pts 12 Anthony Yarde genuine disappointment but also, perhaps,
(174 1/4lbs), 20-2 of being told the wrong things about what
(19); Chris Bourke had just occurred. There were few who
(121 1/4lbs), 9-0 believed he’d won the fight. Besides judge
(6), w rsf 2 Michael
Ian John Lewis, who inexplicably notched
Ramabeletsa (121
1/2lbs), 18-18 (6); a shambolic 117-111 scorecard in Yarde’s
Dennis McCann (120 favour.
1/4lbs), 8-0 (5), w Michael Alexander and Marcus
pts 8 Pedro Matos McDonnell thankfully restored order in
(119 1/2lbs), 7-4 (1); Westminster’s Church House as their cards,
Muhammad Ali (134 115-114 for Arthur, told the right story.
1/4lbs), 2-0, w pts Boxing News also scored for Arthur 115-
6 Jamie Quinn (137 114 (six rounds to five and one even). It
1/4lbs), 7-106-2;
should also be noted that BN, anticipating
Karol Itauma (180
1/4lbs), 1-0, w pts 4 yet another scoring controversy, put an
Lewis van Poetsch asterisk by five rounds which could feasibly
(178 1/4lbs), 9-124- have been scored a different way (three in
2 (2). which we favoured Yarde, one for Arthur
30 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
and the even round). Whichever way we
did the sums, though, that 117-111 for
Yarde was way off.
Arthur started the bout as confidently
as a one-armed fighter can as he pinged
his left jab into Yarde. That lead hand was
the only punch of note for the opening six
minutes as Arthur significantly out-landed
his opponent. Yarde hustled and bustled,
he probed and waited, but his own herky-
jerky movement was too often punctuated
by that simple Arthur left coming back.
Yarde and Ajayi have long been
preaching their own unique training
methods, those of little sparring and a
focus on positive mental attitude. Before
this fight they promised the fight would be
about levels and insisted Arthur was some
way below. But after five rounds, BN had
Arthur 5-0 up.
In that time, alongside his supreme jab,
Arthur threw just two right hands. The first
came in the second round, it was off target
and seemingly launched to stop his rival
from realising there was a problem with
it. The second came after the third ended
when Arthur thrust his right glove into his
left glove to see if it still hurt. That he didn’t
throw it again for a while suggested it did.
Meanwhile, Yarde’s right hand was active
by comparison. His argument afterwards
that he’d been the only fighter responsible
for the eye-catching blows was fair; his
overarm right in the fourth was the first
serious whack of the contest. But the truth
remained that Arthur’s lead hand was far
and away the most accurate, and prolific.
Yarde upped the pressure from the sixth.
Another right hand landed flush on Arthur
who acknowledged the blow with a smile.
The Ilford man was the busier through to
the eighth when, at the bell, Ajayi informed
Yarde that Arthur’s right was surely injured.
As the fight briefly threatened to slip
away, Arthur pluckily hurled his right in
the ninth. This time it landed and though
it carried little power, it made Yarde
stop and think. Still Arthur’s jab, and his
understanding of how to use it, kept him
in front. In truth, it was the only punch he
needed; in the 11th, he threw that right
hand for the final time via a solid uppercut
but he was more susceptible to Yarde’s
attacks when he let fly with it.
Anthony poured on the pressure in the
12th. If he felt he was a long way ahead at
this point he was fighting with a desperation
that suggested otherwise. But it’s what he
needed to do. The Londoner rocked Arthur
twice. It was a dramatic and exciting finale.
Arthur – a sterling amateur –
comfortably survived and proved, like Joe
Joyce proved against Daniel Dubois last
week, that experience and education are
nearly always a match for a reputation built
purely on power and excitement.
Afterwards, some suggested the contest
was a disappointment and it’s true this
won’t go down as one of the fights of the
year. But for many purists, it was truly
engrossing to watch it unfold. Arthur,
alongside top class coach Pat Barrett, goes
into 2021 with his reputation flying high.
Yarde, however, is left with lessons
aplenty. If he’s ready to learn, all is not lost.
The late-career rejuvenation of
Preston-based South African, Michael
Ramabeletsa, was thwarted when
Streatham prospect Chris Bourke stopped
him in two rounds. Bourke, a southpaw,
started sharply against the 39-year-old and
the moment he injected power into his left,
the fight was as good as over. The veteran’s
right eye looked to be marked as early as
the first and he wouldn’t see the end of
the second. Dropped twice from lefts and
under fire, the overmatched Ramabeletsa
was rescued by referee Mr John Lewis at
2-43.
Also in the super-bantamweight
division was an eight-rounder between the
promising Dennis McCann and Portugal’s
Pedro Matos. McCann won 80-73 on
referee McDonnell’s card but was not quite
as convincing as he would have liked. The
Maidstone 19-year-old throws shots from
audacious angles, he darts from left to right
and pivots effortlessly from front foot to
back. When those movements lead to him
landing blows, he looks truly formidable.
But when they also leave him wide open
to counters – Matos scored with enough
to stay competitive – they prove there’s still
work to be done. And that’s exactly what
fights like this are for, after all.
Bury’s Muhammad Ali, who competed
at the 2016 Olympics before being banned
after failing a doping test, went to 2-0 via
a lopsided 60-55 (McDonnell) victory over
reliable journeyman, Jamie Quinn.
It was Quinn’s fourth outing in the
coronavirus era but fellow ‘opponent’
Lewis van Poetsch had been finding
work harder to come by. The charismatic
Lydney stalwart was delighted to end his
nine-month layoff but could do little to
prevent Slovakia-born southpaw Karol
Itauma - who won a Youth Olympic gold
for Great Britain in 2018 – entering the
professional ranks with a win. Referee
McDonnell scored for the Cheatham-based
light-heavyweight, 40-36.
THE VERDICT Kudos to the fighters
and to promoter Frank Warren for
making another 50/50 fight.
www.boxingnewsonline.net
 LEADING ROLE: The long and accurate jab of Arthur connects with the
onrushing Yarde [above] but it’s far from one-way traffic as the
favourite’s right hand is the second best punch of the fight [left].
In the end, though, Arthur and Barrett are right to celebrate [below]
Photos: ROUND ‘N’ BOUT MEDIA/QUEENSBERRY PROMOTIONS

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 31

 ACTION
NO HANGOVER FOR SPENCE
Errol impresses A R L I N GTO N , T X
in first fight D EC E M B E R 5
back since car
★★★★★ MAIN EVENT
crash as he
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D
comfortably
outscores IN comprehensively defeating Danny
Garcia by a unanimous 12-round
Garcia, writes decision, defending IBF and WBC
Jack Hirsch welterweight champion Errol Spence
Jnr put to rest the question of whether
the horrific car accident he was in last
year had taken the kind of toll that would
carry over inside the ring.
It was a triumphant return in front
of a hometown crowd of 16,102 who
were allowed to witness the event at the
AT&T Stadium, a venue with a capacity of
100,000. Among those in the crowd was
WBO welterweight boss Terence Crawford
whose presence will loom over Spence
until they box.
It is a fight everyone is anxious to see,
yet Spence is nonchalant when the topic
comes up, saying it is Crawford who
needs him and not vice versa. For the
sake of Spence’s legacy it is imperative his
attitude changes. Otherwise Spence might
ultimately be remembered more for the
fight he did not take than the ones he did.
All of the above fits for Crawford, too.
For now, Spence should be given
credit for boxing an opponent as tough
as Garcia in his first match back. The
Philadelphian, a former world champion
still arguably in his prime, represented a
Photo: RYAN HAFEY/PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS
32 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
serious threat to Spence who could have
chosen a much easier opponent and
been given a pass.
Southpaw Spence came out
aggressively behind a jab which Garcia
would later say was the primary
reason for his defeat. Garcia promised
beforehand that he would take more
chances than usual. He loaded up on
some big punches in the second round
that Spence easily avoided. Spence
continued to apply pressure to Garcia, a
natural counter-puncher who could not
get off. “You’re giving him confidence,”
trainer Angel Garcia told his son when he
returned to the corner at the end of the
third round.
Spence continued to force the issue,
targeting the body and landing straight
lefts to Garcia’s swollen left eye. The
bridge of Garcia’s nose was cut as well.
Garcia finally rallied at the end of the
seventh when he landed a few rights,
but he was becoming increasingly
discouraged and backing up more
than he had surely planned. Spence
periodically changed tactics over the
second half of the fight, circling the ring,
jabbing and moving before reverting to
taking the fight to Garcia.
With the bout winding down, Spence
inexplicably went for broke, engaging
Garcia in a wild exchange. Garcia scored
with several good blows to finish the
bout on a high note even though he was
weary and well beaten.
BN scored it 117-111 as did judge
GREAT JAB:
Spence spears
Garcia en route to
dominant victory
Tim Cheatham. Steve Weisfeld and Barry
Lindeman both had it 116-112. Thomas
Taylor refereed.
Sebastian Fundora, the 6ft 6ins
super-welterweight from Coachella is
aptly nicknamed the “Towering Inferno”.
He turned out to be too tall an order for
Accra’s Habib Ahmed who was halted at
1-30 of the second round of a scheduled
12. A right uppercut from southpaw
Fundora wobbled Ahmed soon after the
opening bell. Fundora marched forward
throughout, landing uppercuts and hooks
from both hands. Ahmed was being
completely overpowered and was not
punching back when referee Laurence
Cole stepped in.
Josesito Lopez, one of boxing’s
sturdiest gatekeepers, was too strong for
fellow Californian Francisco Santana,
stopping him at 1-22 of the 10th and
final round. It was an absolute disgrace
that it was allowed to go on as long as
it did. Body punches dropped Santana
in the opening round and although
he fought back gamely Lopez was
dominating. In the ninth round a weary
Santana was dropped for a nine count
then wobbled back to his corner at the
bell. He was in bad shape yet allowed
to come out for the 10th where he was
dropped twice more before referee Neal
Young stopped it.
In a WBA featherweight eliminator,
Los Mochis’ Eduardo Ramirez
stopped Houston’s Miguel Flores at
20 seconds of the fifth round of a 12.
Ramirez, a southpaw, was the stronger
man unloading hard blows to the head
and body. Right after the bell rang to
begin the fifth they exchanged punches.
Ramirez’s counter right hook got through
sending Flores down. He got up at the
count of seven, mouth bleeding. It was
then wisely stopped by referee Cole.
THE VERDICT Credit to Spence for his
performance. Just imagine the credit
he’d get for fighting Crawford, though.
F U L L R E S U LT S
Errol Spence (146 1/2lbs), 27-0 (21), w pts 12 Danny
Garcia (147lbs), 36-3 (21); Sebastian Fundora (153
1/2lbs), 16-0-1 (11), w rsf 2 Habib Ahmed (152
1/2lbs), 27-2-1 (18); Josesito Lopez (146lbs), 38-8-
1NC (20), w rsf 10 Francisco Santana (148lbs), 25-9-
1 (12); Eduardo Ramirez (125lbs), 24-2-3 -1nc (10),
w rsf 5 Miguel Flores (125 1/2lbs), 24-4 (12); Isaac
Avelar (127lbs), 17-2 (10), w pts 10 Sakaria Lukas
(127 1/2lbs), 23-1 (16); Frank Martin (138 1/2lbs),
12-0 (9), w rsf 5 Tyrone Luckey (138 1/2lbs),
12-13-4 (8); Juan Tapia (123lbs), 10-3 (3), w pts 8
Fernando Garcia (122 1/2lbs); Marco Delgado (170
1/2lbs), 7-1 (5), w pts 6 Burley Brooks (170 1/2lbs),
6-1 (5); Vito Mielnicki (147lbs), 7-0 (4), w pts 6
Steven Pulluaim (145lbs), 5-3 (1).
www.boxingnewsonline.net
 ACTION

Photos: SCOTT RAWSTHORNE/MTK GLOBAL

with 10 seconds left on the clock, Michel,
CAREER HIGH: under another barrage of punches, was
Dickens cracks Walsh jointly rescued by both Alexander and his
with his left hand own corner. Both Dickens and Bolotniks
retained their WBO European titles as
well as receiving their Golden Contracts. 
Away from Golden Contract matters,
Harlem Eubank impressed with a
points win over Daniel Egbunike. The
current Covid environment has forced
a number of boxers to step up their
opposition earlier than would ordinarily
have been expected; this was a prime
example. Both fighters started quietly,
but it was Eubank who decided to take
more risks. 
What he’s currently lacking in finesse,
Eubank more than makes up for in
ambition and he was the fighter who
was always forcing matters. Lockdown
has seen the Brighton man take massive
strides and he took another one here
when he was declared the victor by Phil
Edwards with a score of 97-94. 
Fearghus Quinn and James
McGivern continued their ring
apprenticeships with routine points wins.
Quinn boxed a disciplined fight as he

JOY FOR JAZZA

Dickens SOUTH KIRKBY
exhibits his D EC E M B E R 2
class and
★★★★★ MAIN EVENT
education to
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D
defeat Walsh,
writes Chris RYAN WALSH didn’t need to hear
the official announcement to know
Walker from his Golden Contract quest had been
ringside unsuccessful. At the final bell of a
gruelling 10-rounder against James
Dickens, Walsh embraced the Liverpool
man knowing he had been second best
for the previous 30 minutes.
Dickens’ speedy southpaw jab
combined with even quicker feet were
enough to deter the Norfolk veteran on
multiple occasions. Despite boasting a
wealth of title experience, Walsh had no
answer for “Jazza’s” consistent attacks and
he found himself way behind as the fight
reached the halfway point.  Germany’s Michel was able to match
Knowing he had to change the
course of the fight, Walsh approached
the second portion of the contest with
more aggression but this risky strategy
was not enough to shift Dickens out of
his successful rhythm. When Walsh did
let his hands go, Dickens was prepared
to trade up close, often having the final
word, before evading any further assaults.  sickening left hook to the body in round
The few undercard fighters and their
teams who remained at the venue were
certain that Dickens was a clear winner,
and their suspicions were confirmed
when the final scorecards from Michael
Alexander, Victor Loughlin and Terry
O’Connor of 97-94, 98-93, and 96-94
respectively, were read out. Dickens’ elite
team that includes MTK Global, Tony
Bellew, Derry Mathews and Georgie
Vaughan will be confident their man can
prosper at the highest level when his
career resumes in 2021.  Harrison, but he can be happy with his
Joining Dickens on the Golden
Contract winners’ podium was Ricards
Bolotniks. The wild Latvian stalked
Serge Michel from the outset and his
industry was rewarded with a final round
stoppage. Neither man was prepared to
apply a cautious strategy in this one and
that resulted in the best fight of the night.
Bolotniks early on, but the frenetic pace
soon caught up with him. 
Michel was the recipient of a count
from Alexander in round five when
the ropes kept him up but, from that
moment on, it became one-sided.
Bolotniks stalked with a menacing
purpose for the fight’s remainder and
went through his full repertoire to take
a 60-54 decision against Scott James
with Edwards watching on. McGivern
was unfortunate not to score a stoppage
when he dropped James Ellison with a
two. Ellison survived the onslaught and
demonstrated great courage to hear the
final bell where Edwards scored 60-53 in
favour of McGivern. 
Slough deubutant, Adam Azim,
got his career off to a good start with
wide points win over Ed Harrison.
A former star amateur, Azim showed
flashes of the brilliance that brought him
multiple vested honours with his speed
being a standout attribute. Despite his
best efforts, Azim could not get rid of
professional bow as he won every round
in Edwards’ opinion to take the fight
60-54. 
THE VERDICT Dickens and Bolotniks
will hope to build on their respective
successes and aim even higher next
year.

F U L L R E S U LT S
James Dickens (125 3/4lbs), 30-3 (11), w pts 10 Ryan Walsh (125lbs), 26-3-2 (12); Ricards Bolotniks (174lbs), 18-5-1 (8), w rsf 10 Serge A LOAD OF BOLOTNIKS:
Michel (174 1/2lbs), 11-2 (8); Harlem Eubank (139 1/2lbs), 11-0 (3), w pts 10 Daniel Egbunike (139 1/4lbs), 6-1 (3); Fearghus Quinn Michel cannot
(162lbs), 2-0, w pts 6 Scott James (161lbs), 6-7-1; James McGivern (133 3/4lbs), 2-0, w pts 6 Jordan Ellison (135 1/4lbs), 11-31-2 (1); withstand the sheer
Adam Azim (137 1/2lbs), 1-0, w pts 6 Ed Harrison (135 1/2lbs) 2-5.   force of his rival

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 33

 THE

MAKING OF

MARVELOUS

In 1967 Marvin Hagler found himself in the thick of the Newark riots. He emerged from them with

34 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

 MARVIN

the mindset that made him one of the greatest fighters in history By DECLAN WARRINGTON 

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 35

 ON THE RISE:
Hagler pounds the
heavy bag in 1977

36 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

 IFTY-THREE years have passed development witnessed Smith’s TENSION: In Newark,
since Marvin Hagler, then aged beating – racism then laced many of the 26 people lost their lives
in the race riots. Such

F
13, had to spend five harrowing actions of those in the US entrusted to rioting was common
days on the floor of the modest enforce the law – they followed them throughout the USA in
family home in which he grew to the precinct, and formed the start the summer of 1967
through fear of being shot while of a crowd that swiftly grew. When a
the Newark race riots raged.   false rumour then spread that Smith
Instructed to do so by the was dead, their anger heightened. Already aggrieved
mother for whom he had such respect, if it was at high unemployment, the political system and poor
the reason Hagler survived becoming collateral her schools and housing, another abuse by police was too
wisdom was demonstrated three days into those riots much for Central Ward’s black residents to bear. Those
by the death of Rebecca Brown, a nurse’s aide killed by urging non-violent protests were ignored. A firebomb
a bullet from a policeman or National Guardsman in was thrown, and the riots began.  
front of her four children having approached a window For five days Hagler, who had only recently entered
to prevent her two-year-old daughter suffering that his teens, and his family slid across cushions when
same fate.  they needed to use the bathroom or enter the kitchen,
Brown – like Hagler, his mother Ida Mae, brother existing as prisoners in their own home. For those
Robbie Sims and four sisters – lived in New Jersey’s same five days it was only overhearing neighbours
cramped, deprived, almost exclusively black, in their apartment building discuss what they had
increasingly tense neighbourhood Central Ward, and seen outside, the sounds of gunshots and of police
by extension was another to find herself in the centre and National Guardsmen on the roof, and that of
of the unsettling riots that started on Wednesday looting, burning, and ultimately $10m in damage, that
12 July 1967 and that three days later took her life. informed them as to what was unfolding. “It was like
By the time of its conclusion, she was one of 26 the end of the world,” Hagler later said. 
victims – one policeman, one fireman and 24 residents If, regardless of his extraordinary success and
–  officially, for suggestions persist that there were evolution into one of the finest middleweights of all
others, recorded from the thousands of bullets shot, time, Hagler was – and indeed perhaps remains – a
and which also contributed to over 700 injuries and resentful figure fuelled by a sense of injustice, that
almost 1,500 arrests.  resentment can be traced back to those five days
John William Smith, an unpretentious, trumpet as much as it can the imperfections and injustices
playing, cab driver was simply attempting to do his of a remarkable career. The most intimidating and
job on a hot day when he drove around a police car disdainful of fighters was being forged amid the fires
double-parked on Newark’s 15th Avenue. Objecting to of Central Ward.  
him doing so, the white police sat in that car pulled the In researching and penetrating the painful
black Smith from his cab, beat him, took him to Central backstories of Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard for
Ward’s Fourth Precinct, and beat him some more.   his newly-released book The Superfight, about their
When the residents of a large public housing unforgettable fight in 1987, the author Brian Doogan

“Hagler and his family stayed in the flat and

dared not move. A couple of stray bullets
from the street smashed a bedroom window”

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 37

 poverty, segregation and destruction of people’s lives
was cemented into the soul of the city in which he
grew up.” 
Housing blocks built as recently as the fifties had
been slipping into disrepair, prompting a push for
urban renewal – funded by federal money –  across
so significant a number of projects that Newark was
given the nickname Brick City. Earlier in the sixties
the Great Migration and what became known as
the white flight to the suburbs had transformed the
city’s demographics; 20,000 manufacturing jobs had
also disappeared since 1950, but during that same
period black migrants had arrived in waves from the
segregated south.  
By the time Smith was attacked the state was also
seeking to build a medical school across over 150
acres of Central Ward, fuelling the feeling of a wider
plan to uproot its black population, and ultimately
the increasing tension and sense of persecution that
essentially made the reaction to his attack inevitable. 
“Hagler’s experience of all that was happening at
that time around Central Ward instilled in him very
naturally a deep suspicion of white people,” Doogan
explained. “When he and his family moved to Brockton
he felt very much out of place, in his own words moving
RIVALS: became the first to visit the extent to which Central from an all-black society to a mixed  society. It was
Hagler and
Tony Ward shaped Hagler’s psyche, and he told Boxing only through getting to know and trust the Petronelli
Petronelli face News: “Brockton, with its strong connection to Rocky brothers that he  relaxed and  began to  develop an
off before Marciano, naturally became a somewhat romantic link understanding of how people  really were. In Central
their fight in for Hagler. Ward in the late 1960s we’re talking about deep-seated
December ‘73
“But Marvin Hagler is defined more by Newark than he systemic racism; the institutions of the city serving to
is by Brockton or even Provincetown, that bleak terrain suppress the local black population. Brockton was very
where he trained. Provincetown, in the depths of winter, different but it took a long time for Marvin to recognise
was like a ghost town and its wildness this and Goody and Pat were central to
and rawness  reflected  something of the him developing that understanding.” 
Hagler persona.  Ron Borges, who during a career that
“I remember reading as a PRIDE AND JOY: took him to both the Boston Globe and
teenager a very brief piece in  Boxing Hagler celebrates with Boston Herald perhaps got closer to the
his mother, Ida Mae,
Illustrated about the race riots in Newark guarded Hagler than any other writer,
after beating Mike
and Hagler, though there was very little Colbert in 1977 told BN: “Maybe 10 years after he retired,
detail about what it all meant. Over
the years Marvin never really talked at
length about Central Ward, but what he did say
about it he described in almost apocryphal terms.
Brockton, however, was the place with which he would
become synonymous, and it became recognised as his
hometown.  
“With Hagler’s great rival, Ray Leonard, Hugh
McIlvanney made the point that for him to fight the way
he did, there had to be something really dark buried
deep inside. If that darkness was there in Ray,  you
could certainly see similar signs in Hagler. There’s no
question about that. He was a tremendously skilled,
technical boxer and he worked prolifically on  those
skills in order to perfect his dark art, but he also had
an almost barbaric dimension, a place he could go to
that was beyond most people’s imaginings. 
“As a young  boy growing up in Central Ward,
Hagler  came to know a social worker whose name
he recalled only as ‘Mr Joe’, and this man was able
to recognise how  determined the young  Hagler  was
to get out of Newark. Even then he knew there was
something better than the reality of his own existence
and that of his family in a quarter of a city which was
blighted by institutionalised racism. You can detect the
legacy of all of this in the character he become and
some of the traits in his personality. But the extent to
which he was marked by it very much remains within
those impenetrable walls which protect his inner self. 
“When he won his world title in London, it  was  Ida
Mae who spoke about what they had come through
as a family, and she made the point very tellingly that
some experiences are too horrific, too painful to even
recall in the mind, let alone speak about. Pervasive

38 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

 “Hagler always believed, ‘Everybody’s out
to get me; everybody’s out to put me down;
everybody’s out to hold me back’”
CHEERS, BRO: I went with him to South Africa for a story I was doing
Young Robbie
Simms wraps on him. He was going there to do a television broadcast
his big on a Roberto Duran fight outside of Johannesburg.
brother’s We were there for around two weeks, flying around
hands in 1975 the country, including Cape Town to meet [Nelson]
Mandela. When we landed in Cape Town they had a
government guy, bodyguard and driver pick us up.   boxer. He was old enough to remember the things he’d
“Right outside the airport was a shanty town, and
you could see all of these black people walking around
in mud, basically, and these corrugated tin huts.
Marvin was looking, and turned to me and said: ‘Shit,
that’s worse than Newark.’ That was the first thing he
thought of.   deteriorated further before they improved. The city’s
“He always believed: ‘Everybody’s out to get me;
everybody’s out to put me down; everybody’s out to
hold me back’. That’s where he came from.  permanently closing; the completion of two highways
“[Co-trainers and managers] Goody and Pat
Petronelli, other than his present wife, are the last
people he really trusted. Joe Frazier told him at one
point: ‘You’ve got three things going against you. You’re
good, you’re a southpaw, and you’re black.’ Hagler
must have told that story 200 times.  formidable Ida Mae required little time to conclude
“Even today, I’ve talked to him a number of times –
joked – saying we’ve got to do a book, and you can see
him immediately, his whole demeanour changes. It’s,
‘What’s this guy trying to get out of me?’. He still has
a wall around him. I’ve never got beyond that, and it’s
not personal. It’s just him.”  developed, and in 1973 he threw his first punches in a
For even a teenager with Hagler’s ambitions, the
thought of transforming his life to the extent he did
would almost certainly have seemed implausible. It
took until he met the Petronellis before he had a father
figure; Ida Mae even suspected his sensitive nature
would drive him to become a social worker.
Instead, during one of those five days, the anger
and contempt that came to define his decorated
career perhaps began to grow as police seized upon
the circumstances to take retribution, often by stealing
from and destroying black-owned shops. If on the
second night the violence and lootings spread and
there were further beatings, by the third, the little-
trained National Guard – heavily armed, white, and
fearful of blacks – was also called in, worsening
those circumstances by shooting into apartment
buildings at snipers who were never found and driving
www.boxingnewsonline.net
tanks through Central Ward’s streets. It took until
the Monday for them to be withdrawn, by when the
neighbourhood was close to burned to the ground. 
“During the five days in which Newark and Central
Ward in particular  remained under siege,  Hagler and
his family remained in their flat and dared not move. A
couple of stray bullets from the street battle below
smashed a bedroom window, ripping straight through
the plasterboard above one of the beds,” Doogan said.
“Marvin was a very quiet kid with had an introverted
personality and all of these experiences were absorbed
deep into his psyche. The resentful side of his nature
is deep-rooted and it would become something of a
constant throughout Marvin’s life.  
“He would have plenty to be resentful about in terms
of how he was overlooked for so long before he gained
a shot at the middleweight title and how  his purses
were never on a par with Leonard’s, for example. But
the resentments emanated most profoundly in Central
Ward and that always stayed with him.” 
“He moved to Italy [to Milan], he told me, and he told
others, partially because he felt there was a lot less
racism there, compared to the United States,” Borges
recalls. “To have seen the things he saw – they basically
burned a whole city down. It was crime-infested to the
max. You can’t grow up in those circumstances and
forget it, just because you made millions of dollars as a
seen, and the general despair of the environment. He
hadn’t forgotten.” 
For all that so worthwhile a point had been made
by the long-suffering residents of Central Ward, it
is widely accepted that conditions in Newark
reputation made those based in the suburbs reluctant
to shop there, contributing to numerous businesses
made it even easier to entirely avoid. With absentee
landlords also burning properties to make claims for
insurance, its economy continued to unravel. 
If she didn’t do so while the riots were unfolding
and the buildings around her were burning, the
that she needed to take her young, impressionable
family elsewhere. In 1969, Brockton, Massuchusetts
was where she moved them to. Hagler met Goody
and Pat Petronelli, so suitable at nurturing the cold,
near-impenetrable barrier and physical gifts he had
professional boxing ring.  
“When he moved to Massachusetts it wasn’t like
he was living in the greatest part of Brockton, but
compared to where he’d come from it was a lunar
landscape,” Borges said of a fighter whose mind is
likely to revisit his youth when he sees athletes take
a knee today.  
“He’d have been better from a boxing [promotion]
standpoint if he’d stayed in Newark. New England
fighters aren’t really looked upon as much as anything,
so it was easy to dismiss him early on.  
“He was able to overcome all of that, and do a pretty
good job of, finally, once he broke through, doing the
deodorant ads, being a superstar and being on the
Johnny Carson show. I think he never forgot where he
came from, but that he also came to understand he
was more than that. Bigger than that.” bn
DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 39
 AMATEURS
AMATEUR SCENE
SEND us your club's news, results or upcoming events to john.dennen@kelsey.co.uk or 0195 9541 444
Stages of return
Gyms in NGLAND has come
out of a national
England can
reopen after
lockdown, but
bringing back
E lockdown and has
now gone into
a government
mandated system of
tiers. This means that
contact work boxing clubs in England can reopen but
strict restrictions remain in place, with
will be crucial a different set of regulations for areas in
to the sport’s different tiers.
future, writes In Tier 1 areas adults and under 18s
can train individually, but following
John Dennen the previously issued ‘Covid secure’
guidance of keeping distanced, limiting
numbers and so forth. Group exercise
classes are permitted providing the rule
of six is followed and social distancing
is maintained and larger group classes
are permitted for indoor disability
boxing, boxing for educational purposes
and supervised boxing for under 18s,
with the limit on those numbers to be
confirmed by England Boxing. Contact
work, including pads and sparring, as
well as shows and competitions will not
be allowed. In Tier 2 areas group exercise
classes for adults can only take place if
it is possible for people to avoid mixing
AIBA ELECTION
A key turning THE election for a new president of
AIBA takes place at their Congress
point looms for
(December 12-13). It is another crucial
the troubled turning point for international boxing,
governing body with the governing body’s status with
the International Olympic Committee
still uncertain. Boris van der Vorst, one
of the candidates for AIBA president,
acknowledges the importance of the
Olympic Games to the sport. “Without
governing the Olympic Boxing, there
is no future for AIBA. The prospects of
confederations and national federations
also become very grim, unless the
recognition can be restored in the
near future. To avoid this scenario,
national federations must embrace the
responsibility and become the driving
force of change. We all have to study the
40 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
The very best action, previews and
news from Olympic-style boxing
With JOHN DENNEN | @BoxingNewsJD
with people they do not live with or
share a support bubble with.
In Tier 3 areas group exercise classes
for adults are not permitted. They are
still permitted for indoor disability
boxing, boxing for educational purposes
and supervised boxing for under 18s,
with the limit on those numbers to be
confirmed by England Boxing. (See www.
englandboxing.org for the latest details.)
There is a financial burden that is
taking a heavy toll on clubs at present.
There is a real worry too that without
more normal forms of boxing being
permitted members will drain away from
their gyms. It is therefore a key step
forward to have the government finally
confirm the four-phase Contact Combat
Sport Framework that will lead to the
sport coming back. This is something
the national governing bodies of indoor
contact sports including boxing have
been pushing for.
For the guidance issued on the
document to come into force, England
Boxing needs its Sport Action Plan to be
approved by the Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport. This process
is underway and it is hoped it will be
content of the IOC Inquiry Committee
Report by heart and work hard to fulfil
the criteria for reinstatement outlined in
it. This is not only about satisfying the
IOC requirements, but even more about
getting our own house in order,” he said.
There are a host of issues AIBA still
needs to address. “I am of the opinion
that the culture of leadership is a vast
underlying issue pushing AIBA towards
self-destruction. Therefore, we need
new elections for the AIBA’s Executive
Committee, not just a new president,”
van der Vorst said. “I would also like to
point to our sport’s integrity and the
management of refereeing and judging
as its component as an essential issue to
resolve as soon as possible. No matter
how much money we inject into AIBA,
swiftly approved. Once that happens
clubs in tier 1 areas would be able to
resume padwork.
England Boxing Chief Executive,
Gethin Jenkins, said: “This is a significant
step in the right direction after months
of frustration of trying to get government
agreement on a route to the return
to pad work and, eventually, sparring,
shows and competitions.
“While this may take a while longer for
some clubs than others, because of the
government’s tiering system, it does set
out a clear pathway back to boxing as we
know it.
“Once we have approval of our Sport
Action Plan, we aim to prove clubs can
operate safely and securely in delivering
pad work in tier 1 areas, so that more
tiers and clubs will be allowed to follow
suit in the not-too-distant future.”
But this process will not happen quickly
enough for the Youth and Junior national
championships to take place as hoped.
These had been scheduled for January
but will be postponed until later in 2021.
England Boxing would want to give the
boxers at least six weeks of full training
ahead of going into a championship.
it will fail with scandals surrounding the
decisions of judges.”
He also makes a valid point on the
organisation’s limited support for the
sport in the face of the coronavirus
crisis. “Since the start of the pandemic,
AIBA has not produced a single manual,
protocol or guidelines to help national
federations, clubs, coaches, and boxers
battle this virus. Such neglect is not
acceptable and will change if I am
granted the honour to lead AIBA through
this crisis,” he said.
The other candidates for president are
Mohamed Moustahsane, Umar Kremlev,
Anas Al Otaib, Domingo Solano, Ramie
Al-Masri and Suleyman Mikayilov.
For more on the AIBA election see
www.boxingnewsonline.net.
www.boxingnewsonline.net
 BOXING SHADOWS:
The sport needs to
be allowed contact
training before it
can return

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 41

THIS WEEK IN
Photos: RICHARD HEATHCOTE/GETTY IMAGES
Matt Christie on Spinks,
Olivares, Joshua, Whyte
and ‘Ageless’ Archie
5 3 w ko 7 DILLIAN WHYTE
LEON SPINKS w rsf 8
KEVIN ‘KIP’ KANE
Dec 13, 1985; Felt Forum, New York
THE career of Leon Spinks went into
a long and painful freefall after he
defeated Muhammad Ali to win the world
heavyweight title in 1978. But there were
occasional flashes of recovery. After losing
miserably to Carlos DeLeon in 1983 Spinks
embraked on a return in 1985 that saw him
named a runner up to Lupe Pintor by Ring
Magazine as their comeback of the year.
The victory over 15-1-1 “Kip” Kane was his
fifth and best of the year. The Canadian
prospect was floored in the opening round
but fought back before Spinks caught
a second wind. A sublime left uppercut
triggered the finale when a series of
bombastic right hands forced referee Joe
Cortez to step in. It was the last time Spinks
truly impressed.
DID YOU KNOW? Spinks, 213lbs, was
preparing to drop down to cruiserweight
(he was badly thrashed by WBA champ
Dwight Muhammad Qawi in his next bout)
so Kane was not permitted to weigh any
more than 211lbs (he weighed 208).
WATCH OUT FOR: Spinks, wearing the iconic
yellow Kronk shorts, letting rip in the eighth.
42 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020
4
RUBEN OLIVARES
w rsf 2 ALAN RUDKIN
Dec 12, 1969; Forum, Inglewood, CA
ALAN RUDKIN followed two failed world
title shots against Fighting Harada and
Lionel Rose by trying his luck in another
with unbeaten Mexican destroyer, Ruben
Olivares. To say the Scouser was up against
it would be an understatement. Olivares
had knocked out Rose in five rounds to
win the bantamweight crown. It was a brief
and brutal fight. The Brit was dropped
for the first time in his 43-bout career
in the opening round before a furious
assualt from Olivares forced the referee
to call a halt in the second round. “There
is no one that can stay with Olivares in
the bantamweight division,” Rudkin said
afterwards.
DID YOU KNOW? The referee, Los Angeles’
John Thomas, was a former lightweight who
split a pair of 10-rounders with a faded
Henry Armstrong in 1944. The last fight
Thomas refereed came in 1990 when Paul
Banke defeated Daniel Zaragoza.
WATCH OUT FOR: How the great Olivares
brushed off some solid work from Rudkin
at the start of the second round and went
to work himself.
GUT CHECK:
Joshua survives
a scare to beat
Whyte
ANTHONY JOSHUA
Dec 12, 2015; O2 Arena, London
A CONTEST born from a ‘grudge’ that could
be traced back to an early amateur victory
for Whyte over Joshua, this 2015 scrap
proved to be far more competitive than
most expected. Joshua appeared to be
cruising to victory in the opening round,
then came an ugly mass brawl after the
bell, before Whyte tagged and seriously
wobbled Joshua in the second. Suddenly,
the hype that had surrounded Joshua
looked misplaced. Team “AJ” had to endure
some nervy moments before the favourite
regrouped, regained control, and finished
an exhausted Whyte with a rip-roaring
uppercut in the seventh. It was the first
time we saw Joshua emerge from a real
crisis as a professional.
DID YOU KNOW? Boxing News’ John Dennen
was credited in the opening press
conference for setting the wheels in motion
for the bout by asking Joshua about Whyte
in an earlier interview.
WATCH OUT FOR: That second round when
Joshua was caught by a Whyte left hand.
It was a moment destined to be replayed
again and again.
www.boxingnewsonline.net
HISTORY
2 DERECK CHISORA
DILLIAN WHYTE w pts 12
Dec 10, 2016; Manchester Arena, Manchester
ANOTHER bad-tempered affair that drew
criticism beforehand for how the rivalry
between them was allowed to get out of
hand. Chisora, at his fiery worst, launched
a table at the final press conference which
should have led to the fight being cancelled.
Instead, the Board issued Chisora with a
hefty fine and removed the British title
from proceedings. Inside the ring, the two
heavyweights made amends (of sorts) by
engaging in a classic slugfest that exceeded
all expectation. Whyte and Chisora took it
in turns to hammer each other. Both were
groggy and on the brink yet, somehow,
the bout reached the final bell without any
knockdowns. Whyte won a split decision
that feasibly could have gone either way.
DID YOU KNOW? Whyte claimed in 2018 that,
10 years before, he turned up to a gym in
London wearing a pair of Hawaiian shorts
and plimsolls and ‘bashed up’ Chisora in
sparring.
WATCH OUT FOR: Get a beer and watch the
lot. It’s true that this is not loaded with
subtle skill. But the savagery on display is
worth another viewing.
www.boxingnewsonline.net
SO BRUTAL:
Chisora and Whyte
give it everything
they’ve got
1 w ko 11 YVON DURELLE
ARCHIE MOORE
Dec 10, 1958; Forum, Montreal, Quebec
THERE are so many reasons why this
contest is one of the very best ever and
why we will never see the likes of it again.
For starters, Archie Moore, the world light-
heavyweight champion, was chasing the
all-time record for knockouts having scored
a whopping 126 prior (he briefly shared
the record with Young Stribling). Next up
was 44-year-old Moore’s advanced age;
there has never been a more destructive
40-something champion. Also consider the
knockdowns he recovered from, four in
total (though one was erroneously ruled
a slip), and how badly dazed he was in
the first round. No referee today would
let Moore continue and in turn come
back to pummel Durelle to defeat in the
11th. Finally, referees being former world
heavyweight champions (in this case, Jack
Sharkey) is another once common subplot
surely consigned to history.
DID YOU KNOW? Sharkey was also the ref in
their 1959 rematch and counted out Durelle
after the fourth knockdown in round three.
WATCH OUT FOR: The state of Moore in that
opening session.
BOXING
ON THE BOX
Plenty of live action this week
SKY SPORTS BOX OFFICE
For £24.95, you can watch live coverage
of Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev on
Saturday night, live from Wembley
Arena, after an undercard that features
Hughie Fury-Mariusz Wach, Martin
Bakole-Sergey Kuzmin and Lawrence
Okolie- Nikodem Jezewski.
CHANNEL 5
On Friday night (December 11) at
10pm, following World’s Most Scenic
Railway Journeys, there is coverage
of Ashley Theophane’s [below]
homecoming bout against Sam
Eggington.
EUROSPORT
Also on Friday, Dennis Hobson’s
audacious Drive-In card is available
live on Eurosport. The action, which
begins at 8pm, features Tommy
Frank-Rosendo Hugo Guarneros, Kane
Salvin-Sufyaan Ahmed (for the vacant
Central Area super-featherweight title),
Sheffield’s Perry Howe and Keanen
Wainwright, Lancashire’s Josh Holmes
and Zak Miller, Belfast’s Cathy McAleer,
and Rotherham’s Kash Ali. Anyone who
would like to attend should call 0114
243 4443.
FURTHER VIEWING:
James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith
w ko 1 Tim Witherspoon (1986); Vitali
Klitschko w rsf 8 Danny Williams
(2004); Julio Cesar Chavez w pts
12 Juan LaPorte (1986); Wladimir
Klitschko w rsf 8 Hasim Rahman
(2008).
DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 43
 YESTERDAY’S HEROES

The Croydon Woodpecker

Photo: LARRY BRAYSHER

Albert Finch N this modern era

of 15-plus weights
won three
out of five
against the
I and multiple
champions per
weight, the British
title does not carry
the kudos of old. For
redoubtable some young prospects, securing a British
Turpin crown is almost a check-box exercise –
the title viewed as a mere stepping stone
brothers, en route to a tilt at world honours.
Back when there were just eight
Randolph weights and one world champion
and Dick, at each, the British crown was the
pinnacle of realistic ambition for most
but had a boxers in this country. To win one you
surprisingly had to be good – especially if you
had the misfortune to be in a division
short reign stacked with talent. Croydon’s Albert
Finch found himself in this unenviable
as champion position when he entered the pros as a
middleweight in the 1940s.
Born May 16, 1926, Albert’s earliest
fights were in a makeshift ring in a
backroom of The George tavern in
Croydon’s Old Town. As an amateur
he won 63 of 68, picked up a London
Federation of Boys’ Clubs title as well as
London and Southern ABA titles. He lost
in the middleweight semis of the 1945
Alex ABA championships on a foul to that
GOOD COMPANY:
Daley year’s winner, Bob Parker.
Turpin and Finch @thealexdaley Albert turned pro that August and
split two bouts Historian over the next few years amassed a long
& author record of mostly points wins. A muscular

UNBREAKABLE BOND
More memories LAST week I reported that Essex EBA
from a former Ken plan to hold a meeting on Sunday
Buchanan December 20. I’ve since heard that
Home Counties aim to do the same.
opponent “Please put the date in the diary,”
Chairman Bob Williams writes.
“Venue to be confirmed, and waiting
for government guidelines to be
announced nearer the time.”
I hope both meetings come off. It’s
been so difficult for everybody, but EBAs
generally have risen to the challenge,
and solutions have been found. My
thanks, again, to Bob and everyone else
who’s kept me informed as to what’s
Simon been happening. To all EBAs I say, give
Euan-Smith me your news and I’ll happily publish it!
simonoldtimers Northern Ireland EBA member Denis
@googlemail.com O’Hara has contacted me again, to
EBA say another of Ken Buchanan’s Irish
correspondent opponents wants to wish Ken well.
He is Paddy Fitzsimons, an Olympian
from Belfast’s Short Strand district and
an Ulster and Irish senior amateur
champion when he boxed out of the St
Matthew’s Club.
“It is desperate news that Ken is
seriously unwell, and in a care home,”
Paddy says. “Unlike Charlie [Nash], I
met Ken in an amateur contest, back
in 1963. I was in the Ireland team as
the Irish featherweight champion that
year. The international was the annual
Kuttner Shield match with Scotland,
who had home advantage in the Kelvin
Sports Centre.”
Fitzsimons produced an exceptional
display against the classy Buchanan,
sticking firmly to an aggressive game
plan. Standing 5ft 3ins, he was at a
disadvantage in height and reach
against Buchanan, so he went body-
snatching. It proved hugely successful.
“I remember the fight well. Ken was
bit taller than me, and also had a longer
left reach. I knew I had to get in close,
which I did.
“I slipped under his left jab, and
worked the body. In the final round
I accidentally slipped to the canvas.
On rising, the referee – the Irish
representative, Sam Hays of the Belfast
De LaSalle club – whispered to me that
I was well in front and to keep going the
way I had been. It turned out he was
right, and I was awarded the decision.
I’m proud of that win.”
After a three-bout pro career (two
wins, one cuts defeat), Paddy turned
to coaching, and is presently the head
man at Dockers ABC in Belfast. His
comments show not only the regard
in which Ken is held, but also the

44 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

5ft 10ins, Finch’s impressive physique
– honed heaving timber blocks for his
father’s haulage and fuel firm – belied
his boxing style. Skill, stamina and a
fantastic left jab – which earned him the
nickname “The Croydon Woodpecker” –
were the Albert Finch hallmarks.
In April 1948, Finch inflicted the first
pro defeat on Randolph Turpin (then
18-0-1) when he outscored the future
world middleweight king at the Royal
Albert Hall. Randolph would suffer only
one other loss in his next 25 fights,
which culminated in his historic win
over Sugar Ray Robinson. But it was
another Turpin whom Albert had his
sights on, Randolph’s elder brother, Dick.
That year, Dick made history as the
first non-white British champion of
the BBBofC era, after annexing Vince
Hawkins’ middleweight crown following
the lifting of the Board’s archaic ‘colour
bar’. By 1949, Finch’s record contained
the scalps of most of our leading
middleweights. He was 37-5-1 when he
finally got a crack at the title as the first
challenger of Dick’s reign in June that
year. Dick narrowly retained his British
and Empire belts in a fight some felt
Albert had won. But it was second time
lucky for Finch as he outpointed Dick in
April 1950 to claim both titles, and also
stopped him in a third match that July.
Finch’s reign, however, was
surprisingly short. That October,
Randolph avenged his brother’s defeats,
plus his own, when he KO’d Albert in
five to bring the middleweight crown
back to the Turpin family.
By then Finch was struggling to make
middleweight. Super-middle would have
suited him better, but that division didn’t
exist, so he was obliged to move to
light-heavyweight.
He fought for the British light-
heavy crown thrice, losing to three
excellent champions in Don Cockell,
Alex Buxton and Ron Barton. In 1954,
Albert outpointed future Empire
heavyweight titlist Joe Bygraves while
conceding 10lbs. It was just two years
before Bygraves won the title and three
before he KO’d Henry Cooper in his first
defence.
Finch was a favourite sparring partner
of Ingemar Johansson, whom he helped
prepare for his European title fight with
Cooper in 1957. On the same Stockholm
bill, Albert beat Henry’s twin brother Jim.
Finch’s championship record as a
pro – a six-month reign as British and
Empire middleweight titlist and only a
Southern Area crown as a light-heavy
– does not do full justice to his fistic
talents. Albert (72-21-9) was one of
only four men who won British titles
after World War II to clock up over 100
pro bouts. He is in good company. The
others were Dick Turpin, Ronnie Clayton
and Alex Buxton.

ADORED:
The brilliant
Buchanan

tremendous bond that exists between
former opponents.
The current crisis really has brought
out the best in people, with so many
looking for ways to help others. I was
delighted to receive a letter from John
Broome, who writes: “For a number of
years I have worked in the healthcare
industry in a variety of roles, from
charity worker to nurse. This has given
me great experience in trying to assist
vulnerable people.
“During this pandemic it is the very
vulnerable who are of course most at
risk. I understand that due to the age
of many EBA members they may be
adversely affected by this current crisis.
Because of this I thought that I would
compile a list that may assist in helping
these individuals.”
John’s list includes websites for
organisations that can help with such
problems as finding a foodbank,
choosing a good care home and
managing debts. It was good of you to
supply this, John, and if any EBA officials
or other readers would like more
details, do get in touch.
“I’m a boxing fan,” John says, “who
once this is over would like to join my
local EBA in London. But, given the
current situation, I can’t see a meeting
taking place for at least several months.”
Let’s hope it won’t be too much longer
– and do come along, John. You’ll be
made most welcome.
I can’t stress enough that you don’t
have to have boxed to become an EBA
member.
EMAIL simonoldtimers@googlemail.com
with your ex-boxer association news.

www.boxingnewsonline.net DECEMBER 10, 2020 l BOXING NEWS l 45

 SIXTY SECONDS

JAMAL LE DOUX
Gaz Taylor talks to a man whose Stokie accent is difficult to imitate

Photo: RYLES & RUSHTON PHOTOGRAPHY

When and why you started
boxing: ‘PRIORITISE
I started when I was 18. My older
brother invited me to the gym after
AND DEDICATE
he decided to stop playing football
and start boxing instead.
YOURSELF TO
Favourite all-time fighter: TRAINING’
It used to be Shane Mosley, until
Floyd Mayweather beat him. Ever Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
since then it’s been Mayweather. playing for Arsenal.
Best fight you’ve seen: Last film/TV show you saw:
I’ve watched countless boxing Top Boy on Netflix.
classics on YouTube, but Arturo Who would play you in a film of
Gatti-Micky Ward II always stands your life:
out. I don’t know who could pull off my
Personal career highlight: Stokie accent! I’d go for someone
Winning the Midlands Area super- like Kano or Raleigh Ritchie.
middleweight title by sixth-round Have you ever been starstruck:
stoppage [against Corey Jackson in I can’t imagine myself ever getting
March 2019]. starstruck, unless I got to know
Toughest opponent: someone like J. Cole or Andre Ward
I fought a lot of good names in on a personal level. It was cool
the amateur ranks, so it’s hard to being on set with Johnny Harris and
pick just one. Maybe Reece Ellis, Ray Winstone for the film Jawbone,
although I was very inexperienced though.
at the time. Last time you cried:
Best and worst attributes as a I can’t remember the last time I
boxer: cried. It must’ve been at the end of
I consider myself as an all-rounder, primary school or the start of high
so I wouldn’t say that I have a best school.
or worst attribute. Best advice received:
Training tip: Keep faith in God and try
Prioritise, commit and dedicate meditation.
yourself to training. Always work Worst rumour about yourself:
hard and maintain a healthy, That I got dropped in sparring.
balanced lifestyle. Something not many people
Favourite meal/restaurant: know about you:
I love many different cuisines, as I can walk on my hands!
long as it’s vegan. I’d probably say
Chinese food is my favourite.
Best friends in boxing:
Age: 29 Twitter: @ledouu Nickname: ‘Lethal’ Height: 6ft 1in Nationality:
FAST FACTS

I don’t really have any best friends

in boxing. All of my closest friends English From: Stoke-on-Trent Stance: Orthodox Record: 8-1 (4) Division: Super-
are from outside of the sport. middleweight Titles: Midlands Area Next fight: After winning the Midlands Area
Other sportsperson you would super-middleweight belt last year, Le Doux now has his sights set on the English
like to be: title.
I’d like to be Khabib
Nurmagomedov in the UFC or

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46 l BOXING NEWS l DECEMBER 10, 2020 www.boxingnewsonline.net

 COMPETITION OF 16 DREAM FIGHTS!
Pick your winner and the mode of victory for the fantasy fights listed below and win £100!
All scheduled for 15 rounds. Please consider that all boxers are in peak condition!
BOXER WINNER DECISION RSF BOXER WINNER DECISION RSF
TICK DEC RSF TICK DEC RSF
JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ VS JACK ‘KID’ BERG
TED ‘KID’ LEWIS VS MICKEY WALKER
OSCAR DE LA HOYA VS KOSTYA TSZYU
ROY JONES JNR VS GEORGES CARPENTIER
RANDY TURPIN VS JAKE LAMOTTA
RUBEN OLIVARES VS MANUEL ORTIZ
GENE TUNNEY VS HARRY WILLS
NINO BENVENUTI VS TOMMY HEARNS
MIKE TYSON VS JOE FRAZIER
GEORGE FOREMAN VS SAM LANGFORD
HENRY ARMSTRONG VS MANNY PACQUIAO
TYSON FURY VS JACK JOHNSON
ABE ATTELL VS SALVADOR SANCHEZ
KID GAVILAN VS JOSE NAPOLES
CARLOS ZARATE VS EDER JOFRE
CARMEN BASILIO VS BARNEY ROSS
* One point for the correct winner with an extra point for the mode of victory.
* Winner is person with most points, £100 – runner up £50. * £5 Per entry – all profits to Ringside Charitable Trust.
* Judge is Colin Hart, who has his answers in a sealed envelope and has sent them through to Dave Harris.
* Payment to - PayPal.cm/gb/fundraiser/charity/3795439
Or cheques payable to Ringside Charitable Trust, sent with entries to:
Mr Dave Harris, Willow Stream, Fourteen Acre Lane, Hastings TN35 4NB.
* Closing date January 11, 2021. Winner & runner up notified by January 13.
* Download forms from our Facebook page or contact Karen Knight 07766886580.

PREVIOUS COMPETITION RESULTS: Dempsey beat Marciano (ko/rsf); Willard beat Carnera (pts); Graziano beat Minter (ko/rsf);
Charles beat Patterson (ko/rsf); SR Leonard beat Mayweather Jnr (ko/rsf); Moore beat Bob Foster (ko/rsf); Monzon beat Hagler (pts);
Robinson beat Greb (pts); Ali beat Louis (pts); Pep beat Hamed (pts); B Leonard beat Duran (pts); Robinson beat Mayweather Jnr (pts);
Tyson beat Marciano (ko/rsf); Buchanan beat Hatton (pts); Calzaghe beat Froch (pts); Wilde beat Lynch (ko/rsf).
 Est. 1909

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