ICYMI: DDB's best of 2022
Wrapping up the highlights of the last 12 months
Welcome to Double Dutch Boxing, a boxing newsletter from Jake Lawton. If you’re here for the first time, you can subscribe below to receive every edition direct to your inbox, and you can also get in touch by replying to this email. Thanks for reading.
It was very much a case of one step forward, two steps back for boxing this year.
The mere fact that so much of the writing for Double Dutch in 2022 has concentrated on fights and fighters of yesteryear perhaps subconsciously seems to demonstrate that the current boxing offering isn’t managing to create the same level of fervour as we have seen in the recent past.
I still watch a frankly ridiculous amount of boxing from around the world, and their continues to be a packed and varied calendar of events happening pretty much every weekend of the year, and sometimes midweek as well. There is a huge amount of boxing content out there, on a dizzying number of platforms, but how much of it truly moved the needle in a positive direction this year?
It’s most certainly not true to say that there haven’t been some highlights but the clear conclusion that boxing could be SO MUCH more with just a few changes consistently grates at the back of my mind.
Let’s look at the positives, however, and celebrate some of the high points in the sport over the last 12 months - as there most certainly have been high-profile ones…
The female side of the sport has had an outstanding year, on both sides of the Atlantic. Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano and Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall were legitimately two of the biggest events in the sport in 2022, and there is no longer a novelty in the coverage of women entering a boxing ring. These are superstar fighters, regardless of gender. With champions like Chantelle Cameron, Natasha Jonas and Alycia Baumgardner, along with up-and-comers such as Caroline Dubois, Lauren Price and Sandy Ryan, female boxinhg is in the best condition it’s ever been. Sure, the strength in depth is not there yet in comparison to the men’s side of the sport, but there have been leaps and bounds forward in a very short space of time.
Taylor vs Serrano also provided perhaps the most memorable fight of the year, in front of a rapid Madison Square Garden crowd. Incredible progress has been made in the female code. Taylor-Serrano II at Croke Park could headline another banner year for women’s boxing in 2023.
The emergence of Dmitry Bivol as a star, after so many years as a world champion in the shadows, was one of the year’s most heartening developments. I called out Bivol as amongst boxing’s very best in the first ever edition of Double Dutch back in February 2021, and this May the WBA light heavyweight champion finally arrived amongst a non-hardcore audience with his outstanding performance in victory over Canelo Alvarez in front of a somewhat stunned pro-Mexico Vegas crowd on Cinco De Mayo weekend. Canelo had no answers that night, with Bivol superior in pretty much every area and earning a thoroughly deserved points victory, even if the scorecards were worryingly close. Bivol’s understated and charming personality was also able to shine through at least a little bit, something which happened again as he delivered another tour de force in November in Abu Dhabi when he very nearly shutout top contender Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez, a man who had been calling for this fight for years but was unable to deliver anything meaningful when it really mattered. Whether a Canelo rematch (perhaps down at 168 pounds), the mouth-watering prospect of a showdown with the fearsome Artur Beterbiev or a continued world tour taking down top contenders is on the cards for 2023, a fighter of the elite skill level of Bivol should be rightly cherished, with the platform to do this finally provided this year.
Outstanding young talents such as Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson and Jesse Rodriguez have progressed considerably, with the likes of Jaron Ennis, Jared Anderson and Keyshawn Davis all appearing to have the makings of future superstars as well. In the UK, Adam Azim, Ben Whittaker, Dalton Smith and Galal Yafai are amongst the supremely talented boxers who look likely to break out at world level in 2023. The future is now.
Legitimate pound-for-pound greats, who would be competitive in any era, continue to be active. Naoyo Inoue in particular has maintained his status as one of the sport’s finest, despite being forced to take some less-than-competitive opposition, with the prospect of moving up to super bantamweight to challenge WBC and WBO champion Stephen Fulton a genuinely mouth-watering one for next year.
It’s also clear that 2023 could actually deliver a few of the biggest fights we’ve been crying out for. This is boxing, so let’s temper our enthusiasm until they’re on their way to the ring. Still, it appears that at the very least we’ll be getting Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title in the first half of 2023, and there’s even an outside (maybe very outside) chance that it takes place in the UK.
Ryan Garcia against Gervonta Davis did look like it was set to become another major event to take place in the first half of next year, however the fact that Davis has this week been arrested on domestic violence charges puts everything in some level of doubt. At the very least, it seems highly unlikely that ‘Tank’s’ pretty exciting clash with Hector Luis Garcia - who is actually a tough opponent for a ‘warm-up’ fight- on January 7th will be going ahead as planned.
Gervonta has had a number of legal problems before, but the potential severity of the allegations against him now may rightly put one of the biggest fights of next year in doubt. It goes without saying that being found guilty of such a heinous crime should really also preclude any fighter’s career of course, but that’s not really been the case in the past.
Unified WBC, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev defends against London’s Anthony Yarde at the O2 Arena on January 28th, in what feels like a guaranteed firefight for as long as it lasts. As mentioned, hopefully WBA 175-pound kingpin Bivol gets his chance against the winner to decide undisputed supremacy in another weight class, although the somewhat murky status of Callum Smith as a mandatory challenger might scupper those plans. Either way, light heavyweight as a division continues to be somewhat underappreciated and a sleeper hitmaker.
The lower weights will also deliver, as they always do. The nature of the incredibly tight and exciting Juan Francisco Estrada points victory over Roman Gonzalez in their trilogy fight for the WBC super flyweight title earlier this month means it is inevitable we will see a fourth elite-level fight between the pair later this year.
If we are completely honest though, boxing as a sport still has deep-rooted issues with no clear strategy for a resolution. At times this year, the backstage shenanigans have been the most fascinating elements of the sport.
We still don’t see the biggest and most obvious bouts being made often enough, with far too many tick-over fights involving top-level fighters against overmatched boxers who are often ranked far more highly by governing bodies than their achievements dictate. Without a single central body to dictate that fights happen, and the sanctioning and promotional entities looking out for number one, this is an issue which seems pretty impossible to solve. It goes without saying, but the failure to make Terence Crawford and Errol Spence this year is exhibit A here.
The Conor Benn failed drug tests debacle, and the manner in which the situation was handled, highlighted a huge moral black hole at the heart of the sport, at a time when boxing really needed some positive press. Though this will have come as no surprise to those who follow the sport and have seen other questionable PED-related situations before on numerous occasions, it presented these issues to a mainstream audience who were genuinely hooked into the Benn-Chris Eubank Jr. showdown, a fight with a huge amount of historical interest across the generations and one which was very important to DAZN’s UK business model.
In part thanks to boxing’s oft-questionable output both in and out of the ring, interest in the sport seems to be at a low point overall.
It’s not quite a market crash, but the key trends are certainly going in the wrong direction. In the UK, a lack of genuine headline draws and a talent pool stretched too thinly between different promoters has contributed to a fairly drab year as a whole for British shows, with a worrying trend of ever-more events being put behind a pay-per-view paywall. With an allocation to fill, Sky Sports have both Chris Eubank Jr. versus Liam Smith and the rematch between Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall pegged as PPVs in the first few months of 2023, which feels like an unwanted lunge towards the American model where most fights of any standard are shoved behind a paywall and unable to engage a new audience.
Speaking of the States, where overpriced TV events are ten a penny, things aren’t really much better, with Top Rank treading water and many PBC fighters suffering from a distinct lack of regular activity. Premier Boxing Champions might also have to contend with surviving a major restructuring within their broadcast partner Showtime by parent company Paramount, at a time when Al Haymon’s outfit’s future on Fox pay-per-view is equally uncertain.
Overall, the sport desperately needs to prioritise better storytelling and unearthing the next generation of legitimate superstar fighters over the next twelve months.
Boxing media has also become increasingly sycophantic, something which is seemingly only getting worse. Boxing News, one of the only remaining totally independent major news outlets in the sport, took an absolute tongue lashing from Frank Warren this year after daring to give one of his underwhelming undercards two stars out of five in a preview piece, and there have been other examples of certain journalists - who tend to write nothing but their unfiltered opinion - being treated differently at events to those outlets who let promoters and representatives dictate the questions which can and can’t be asked in interviews. Tyson Fury’s reaction to True Geordie, of all people, offering him totally valid questions about the lack of justification for Derek Chisora as a world title challenger in 2022 articulated how rarely many at the top of the sport encounter anything approaching scrutiny.
Speaking of a distinct lack of personal responsibility, has anything really changed in the governance of the sport since the Daniel Kinahan case exploded earlier this year, or have we simply seen most of the top players in boxing attempt to distance themselves and save their own skin with no perspective on what it means for the wider business going forward? Clearly, and sadly, the reality is the latter, and those at the top of the sport are often unaccountable to anyone.
At a very basic practical level, eschewing the moral quagmire, the fact that it appears that Tyson Fury, Sunny Edwards and so many other former Kinahan/MTK-affiliated boxers and trainers now appear unable to travel to the United States after the sanctions laid against Kinahan's name earlier this year just puts another blocker in the way of fights being delivered.
Much of the most prominent boxing media platforms’ output is little more insightful than a press release, acting almost as an extension of the promoter’s PR team, at a time when those who run the sport have a lot of genuinely valid questions to answer. With boxing increasingly becoming a niche interest, the sport needs truly independent journalists more than ever before.
We live in hope for a better tomorrow though, whether through blind hope or expectation. At least things in the boxing business are never boring.
Below is a collection of some of the highlights of Double Dutch Boxing in 2022. Thanks again for the continued support, and any and all views, likes, comments, emails, shares, messages, subscriptions and any and all other forms of interaction over the last twelve months. I’d like to wish you all a happy and successful New Year, let’s hope for a positive one in life and in boxing…
The endless road
Back in February, we finally saw long-time rivals Amir Khan and Kell Brook meet in a boxing ring. Sure, it was more than five years later than it should have been, with both men shadows of their peak selves, but the fight did finally happen.
In part demonstrating the lack of stars and compelling rivalries in the current era of British boxing, it was also one of the biggest events of the year on UK soil. Although both men have remained out of the ring since the night Brook stopped Khan at the Manchester Arena, history tells us that it’s difficult to ever be truly confident that either is 100% done with boxing. With exhibitions becoming more in vogue than ever before, there would be plenty of options if they did feel the need to make a comeback.
The triple allure of the competition, the crowd and the cash have proved too much to ignore for fighters, and retirement has become an incredibly fluid concept to so many. The Endless Road explored boxers’ relationships with finally taking the gloves off for good, in a sport which very much does not have a safe and secure pension structure in place. The fact that Kell Brook has recently admitted that he feels “lost” without fighting and has not ruled out getting back in the ring, despite having what appears to be a dream ending against Khan, encapsulates just how strong the pull of the sport can be.
Oscar the hero
Oscar De La Hoya is so regularly in the boxing news cycle for his wild antics these days - from calling out Canelo for a fight to commentating for Triller when completely trashed to announcing the unlikely news of receiving an offer of a billion dollars for his Golden Boy Promotions - that it’s easy to forget that he was one of the most beloved, successful and high-earning fighters of all time across a glittering in-ring career. Not only was he the darling of TV companies for the numbers he could deliver, but he also shirked no challenge and took on the very best of his generation, and in the twilight of his fighting days the elite of the generation after him.
Just before rounding out his resume with huge-money clashes with Mayweather and Pacquiao, the leaders of the next era of boxing, De La Hoya stepped into the ring in May 2006 after a 20-month hiatus against Ricardo Mayorga. The chain-smoking, archetypal boxing bad guy, Mayorga gave the ‘The Golden Boy’ the ideal foil to once again become the hero and return to the summit of the sport as WBC light middleweight champion.
Great expectations
I’d say it’s highly likely that this is the only boxing newsletter to dedicate an entire edition to attempting to draw comparisons between the sport of boxing and the island of Ibiza this year. On my trip to the white isle in 2022, I took in one of the finest boxing books I have ever read, ‘Fighter’ by Andy Lee (co-written by Niall Kelly), an outstanding chronicle of the career of the Irish standout, and a book which also features fascinating ruminations on just what it means to be an elite-level competitor in the craziest sport of them all.
It also got me thinking about the precarious nature of existence as a highly-touted prospect, and how being recognised for your talents is just the easy part. Lee, and many other ‘next big things’ before and since, have had to navigate the murky waters of a broken industry and overcome huge setbacks to attempt to fulfil their sporting dreams. Definitely read the article, but also do pick up a copy of ‘Fighter’ - it’s available from Amazon and numerous other sources, and is very much worthy of your time.
Beyond the pale
October was a very bad month for boxing and its perception in the wider world. The revelation, just days before arguably the most high-profile British boxing event of the year, that co-headliner Conor Benn had tested positive for a banned substance was just the tip of the iceberg for not only the chaos which quickly ensued around the eventually-cancelled fight with Chris Eubank Jr., but also wider problems in the sport which are very much still prescient now. This was all explored in more detail in the Beyond the Pale piece.
Almost every entity linked to this dumpster fire of a situation - Benn himself, Eddie Hearn and the Sauerlands, the toothless old boys’ club of the British Boxing Board of Control, DAZN, the authorities who are unable to deliver a single anti-doping agency recognised across the sport, even competitors who revelled in the chaos despite having far from clean records themselves - came out of this with considerably diminished reputations. Conor Benn and his team have now delivered a 270-page dossier to the WBC in an attempt to clear his name, but who knows when we will see a clear resolution of the situation. Boxing has proved to be exceedingly adept at brushing things under the carpet in the past, a trend which will surely continue next year.
Let’s just hope lessons have been learnt for 2023 and beyond, but I wouldn’t put the house (or even the contents of the penny jar) on it.
Thunder & Lightning
I’ve always been fascinated by crossroads fights. When the best in each division so rarely face off with each other, they’re often the most interesting contests the sport has to offer. Pitting an emerging younger force against a star who may or may not have enough left, they are history captured in a single moment, the joining of two eras. It’s often also not until sometime later that we truly understand just how much of a life junction they are for the men in the ring.
In hindsight, Arturo Gatti vs Floyd Mayweather in June 2005 was not just another step forward for a new boxing superstar, but the start of a new age dictated by the man known as ‘Money’, and everything good and bad that brought to the sport of boxing. It was also the sad final major chapter in the unforgettable career of Arturo ‘Thunder’ Gatti, a hero to millions due to his heart as much as his ability. As Mayweather went on to manoeuvre his way to unimaginable riches, still raking in the millions fighting in strange exhibitions bouts around the world to this day, the story of Gatti took a much darker turn. The memories left in the ring by ‘Thunder’, however, will last forever.
READ: Examining Gatti vs Mayweather and their subsequent divergent paths both inside and outside the ring