The Ibiza edition 2022
Boxing thoughts from the white isle
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Notes from an island
THE LONG READ
If you’re, like me, from Britain and of a certain vintage, you might well look back fondly at those ‘Ibiza Annual’ compilation albums of the late ‘90s and early 2000s.
As I’m sure was the case with many others, these CDs (invariably mixed by the then-omnipresent Judge Jules) started a love affair with electronic music which continues to this day, and turned Ibiza into a mythical place which became an absolute must to visit when it became possible.
Unlike boxing, which often can over promise and under deliver, I found that Ibiza was not a letdown in the slightest when I finally made it to the Balearic island two decades ago. I’ve been back most years since, and now Double Dutch coming to you directly from the white isle is becoming an annual event as well.
From the days of stumbling down the San Antonio strip to more recent trips spending a lot of the time hidden away in the Ibizan hills, I’ve come to discover just how special a place it is. Don’t get me wrong, the clubs are still amazing - Solomun+1 @ Pacha remains the world’s best club night - but I now understand that there is so much more to find here.
Remember when Kalle Sauerland talked about delivering new and innovative events when he launched Wasserman Boxing last year? And how one of those suggestions was bringing boxing events to places like Ibiza? Just to confirm, Kalle, I am still very much up for this proposal, and if you need someone to scout potential venues I can always make myself available. Although, given absolutely nothing more has been said about the idea since, perhaps this is just a pipe dream…although as a location it would certainly spice up their Channel 5 shows.
Looking at things more generally across the sport from my position enjoying an Ibiza sunset, the boxing slate could be pretty good for the rest of the year.
Since the last Double Dutch, we have seen official confirmation that the Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin trilogy fight takes place in September. As a long-term GGG fanboy, I do have my concerns about him taking this step up to the super-middleweight division for a crack at the undisputed 168 pound crown against a younger, primed Canelo when he has been pretty inactive since their last meeting almost four years ago. Perhaps, though, Canelo’s loss to Dmitry Bivol does make things more interesting, and whatever I or other boxing obsessives think about the bout, this is a fight which will capture the crossover audience’s attention.
There is a rivalry, a narrative, and unanswered questions. By the time fight week inches closer, I have little doubt that most will be swept up in the wave of promotional buzz.
Given that it appears that Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada’s third meeting looks like it will also go down in September or October, what about the prospect of that topping the Canelo-GGG III undercard? Even the hardcore fans would be universally hyped for that. It’s a fight worthy of headlining any card but one which would also instantly make Canelo-GGG III an unmissable show.
With Alvarez and Golovkin confirmed as each other’s next dance partners, it’ll be interesting to see where that leaves the rest of the pack between 160 and 175 pounds.
Canelo-conqueror Dmitry Bivol, for so long one of the undervalued talents of world boxing, could have the potential to affirm himself as a star in the sport before his seemingly inevitable rematch with Alvarez. That looks like it will come next year with Bivol saying he could come down to 168 pounds, which would make for a nice bit of synchronicity were Canelo to still hold the super middleweight world titles and the champion-challenger roles were reversed.
Bivol, the WBA light heavyweight champ, could face Golden Boy’s Gilberto Ramirez, or perhaps Joshua Buatsi or Callum Smith on a Matchroom show in the UK - all are highly-ranked with the organisation and offer a decent-sized platform for Bivol to show his skills to the world.
Maybe, though, we’ll get the fight at 175 we (or at least I) really want, and Bivol faces off with the winner of Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. for all the belts at light heavyweight. I’d be confident Artur is going to win that one, and Beterbiev-Bivol is one of the elite fights which could be made in the sport.
Anthony Yarde and Frank Warren claim that he is getting the winner of Beterbiev and Smith next in the UK, which in itself has a lot of potential, so we’ll have to see how this one shakes out, but I would love to see the Bivol fight soon.
At super middleweight, the supporting cast will just need to make themselves busy as well. Given the power Canelo holds in the sport now, I can’t see the governing bodies demanding mandatory obligations of him any time soon.
That should be seen as an opportunity for others, however, and the likes of David Benavidez need to position themselves as unquestionable challengers in waiting. To that end, a fight between Benavidez and Caleb Plant seems an obvious one to make and could be a pretty sizeable event. Both are with PBC, they are long-time rivals, Plant will be looking to re-affirm his status after being stopped by Saul last November whilst Benavidez (himself a former WBC 168-pound world champ and the current WBC interim title holder, for what that is worth) is keen a establish himself as one of the premier names in the sport. It’s a fantastic fight and I hope it can get made this year.
It’s heartening generally to see fighters below the world titles in a number of weight classes increasingly prepared to take on each other in an attempt to establish themselves as legitimate contenders. Up at heavyweight, Martin Bakole went to Paris a few weeks back and fairly battered the great French hope and Olympic champion Tony Yoka (although the less said about those ridiculously close cards, the better), and Hughie Fury and Michael Hunter will clash in Manchester at the beginning of July on a BOXXER/Sky Sports show. Risking their ranking positions in challenging fights in which there is every chance they could lose is difficult to criticise.
This is boxing, so it’s never all positive - Fury vs Hunter is, quite ridiculously, a final eliminator for the WBA ‘regular’ world title, with current holder Trevor Bryan set to defend that belt (which has literally no reason to exist) against Daniel Dubois on June 11th in Miami, Florida on a show promoted by Don King. For the record, the WBA heavyweight champion is Oleksandr Usyk. Also for the record, Bryan-Dubois headlines a Don King show, so who knows if that fight will actually happen as planned until the first bell rings.
That Fury-Hunter show also features the pro debut of Ben Whittaker, a silver medallist at the last Olympics and with a style and character tailor-made to be a huge star in the paid ranks. Lauren Price also has her first pro fight scheduled a couple of weeks prior, with fellow 2020 gold medallist Galal Yafai being fast-tracked and looking incredibly impressive on Matchroom cards. With Cuban fighters now also allowed to enter the pro game and the likes of Keyshawn Davis starting to make waves on Top Rank shows, former Olympic standouts could be making a huge impact in the near future.
Speaking of Olympic champions, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk II is heading to Saudi Arabia (although the date seems to be somewhat up for debate). Given that Usyk has been helping to defend his Ukrainian homeland in the face of the Russian invasion, and Anthony Joshua has now revealed Robert Garcia as his new trainer, there are enough uncertainties to make this unified heavyweight title rematch an interesting proposition. I can’t be the only one who is disappointed it’s landing in Saudi though, but I guess given the astronomical amounts of money on offer to stage it there the venue shouldn’t be seen as a surprise.
After the considerable success of Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano’s outstanding tilt at headlining MSG, most of the other major fights in women’s boxing which could be made are in fact being made. This makes for a nice contrast to what can often be painful game playing in the men’s code.
Although it’s a bit weird the fight doesn’t quite seem to have a confirmed date or venue yet, Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields does look like it will go down in September. I’ve spoken in-depth about just how good a clash I think this is, and given their legitimate, long-held beef this could be another landmark moment for the women’s side of the sport. Equally, Mikaela Mayer and Alicia Baumgardner agreeing to terms for a super featherweight unification showdown bring together talented rivals for a bout which will headline a Top Rank/ESPN show later this year and could grab some fairly large attention Stateside.
The icing on the cake of the year would be Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. for undisputed at welterweight, which seems like it could even be announced soon for an Autumn fight date. A pipe dream of a fight for so many years, the long-mooted clash has the potential to be an all-time classic rivalry. There are some outstanding talents coming up in the welterweight division, not least the brilliant Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, but this is THE fight to be made in the division, perhaps in the sport as a whole.
In the immediate future, we have an undisputed title fight this weekend - and it’s a challenging set up for Devin Haney. Stepping into the biggest fight of his life, for all the major lightweight titles, without both his head trainer (and father) and number two (Ben Davison - more on that shortly), facing a cauldron stadium atmosphere in Australia against returning local hero George Kambosos Jr. That will be some test for ‘The Dream’.
And what about this kangaroo-strewn fight poster created by co-promoter Top Rank for the event, which has since been deleted from their social media. I mean, where do you start? Maybe the most stupid part is that it features the Sydney Opera House prominently when the fight itself is taking place in Melbourne…
As was usually the case with those Ibiza mix CDs, in boxing we have come to learn that we also have to take the rough with the smooth.
The governing bodies continue to cover themselves in anything but glory. After stripping Josh Taylor of their light welterweight title belt after he opted to not face their mandatory challenger Alberto Puello next, the WBA appeared to request pitches from potential combatants for a bout to decide a new champion. Were they expecting PowerPoint presentations? Or is there something dodgier going on here and this is just a cover story? The literal reason for having ranking systems is to define the top contenders, so just use your own list to define the fighters who will meet for the vacant strap.
Speaking of Josh Taylor, who now of course is not an undisputed champion after giving up the WBA light welter strap, is there a fighter who has thrown away almost all goodwill for their career in no time at all than ‘The Tartan Tornado’? Talk about a PR disaster of a year. The only way he can possibly look to come close to restoring his position with fans is surely to sign for a Jack Catterall rematch.
Another constant example of how not to manage your public perceptions is that eternal source of chaos Triller.
The company, which has been a bizarre outpost in the sport for years now with their Triller Fight Club events, have been reported to have failed to pay Sergey Kovalev or the Pulev brothers for their appearances on the May 14th Lineage of Greatness show. This comes in the wake of Triller’s next Triad Combat event (which was due to take place very soon in fact, on June 11th), which appears to have been cancelled with no official announcement taking place, following their February Triad Combat event also being pulled at the last minute. To top that all off, late June is supposedly going to see another Triller boxing show headlined by Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller, the former heavyweight contender who has failed multiple drug tests and been banned for the last two years. You can’t buy tickets or pre-order the pay-per-view for that one yet, though, which I know you’ll be gutted about.
Messy times over at Triller, for a company which has continually scored own goals along the way. Even for boxing, their movements are all over the place.
It’s also clear that, as much as the sport’s hierarchy would like it to be, the Daniel Kinahan story is far from done, with the news that over 600 individuals linked to Kinahan (reportedly including numerous involved in professional boxing) have been banned from travelling to the United States. Who exactly is on the list? We don’t know for sure, and apparently, those who are included won’t know themselves until they are refused entry to the country, but we can hazard a guess that some sizeable names both in and out of the ring feature. The impact of these bans is also being felt in other countries where the necessary work documents are being denied. Ben Davison, who would have been the obvious choice to replace father Bill (staying in the US due to a legacy legal issue) as Devin Haney’s lead trainer for this weekend’s undisputed title fight, will now instead not be travelling to Australia after reportedly being refused a visa. This follows reports of numerous names, notably Kinahan’s former business partner and Sky Sports commentator Matthew Macklin, being turned around from the States prior to Taylor-Serrano,
Who knows how many fights and careers this will heavily impact, but it is absolutely clear that this story, for boxing, is far from over yet. Though the longer-term impact for those individuals who have been most linked to the Kinahan business, we are already seeing the direct repercussions in day-to-day boxing events. Who knows where this entire dark story will conclude, but it’s highly unlikely to be anything but a terrible look for the sport.
There’s also a strange sense of irony in Probellum sharing posts about the Memorial Day holiday when it seems like a lot of the people involved in the company won’t be allowed into the United States any time soon…or maybe that’s just me.
This is a mad, mad sport, full of problems, but it’s also a sport unlike any other. Sometimes, when boxing makes me feel like it’s gone too far down it’s own rabbit hole, I watch HBO Boxing’s final farewell from 2018 to help remind me that it can sometimes be truly special. This is worth 20 minutes of anyone’s time…
Hasta luego por ahora.
MORE FROM DOUBLE DUTCH BOXING…
The James Toney paradox: ‘Lights Out’s’ heavyweight false dawn
The Prince and the Assassin: The legacy and fall of Naseem Hamed
Lennox's big payback: Remembering Lewis-Rahman II
THE NEXT ROUND
A far-from-exhaustive rundown of upcoming highlights of the boxing calendar…
5th June 2022
George Kambosos Jr. vs Devin Haney
Promoter: Top Rank/Lou DiBella | TV: ESPN (US); Sky Sports (UK)
After one of the upsets of the year over Teofimo Lopez last year thrust George Kambosos into the unexpected position of unified lightweight champion, ‘Ferocious’ now faces WBC champion Devin Haney to finally decide the division’s first undisputed kingpin. Fair play to both fighters here - for Kambosos’ first defence, he has most certainly not taken the easy route, preferring to cash in his chips and attempt to make history as the first Australian to grab all four major titles in a weight class; for Haney, meanwhile, he has left the safety of Matchroom to sign a three-fight deal with Top Rank to land this opportunity, including a rematch clause against Kambosos if he wins here, and will be walking into the hostile environment of a Melbourne stadium crowd as the away fighter without both his head trainer father and number two Ben Davison.
This fight will be a true test to see just how good both fighters are. Haney is precociously talented, holding notable victories against the likes of JoJo Diaz and a past-his-prime Jorge Linares over the last year, however doubts in some quarters still remain about both his ability to withstand big shots and his punching power, with the fact that he didn’t win the WBC belt in the ring continuing to be held against him. Kambosos, on the other hand, did brilliantly to defeat Teofimo Lopez but how much the issues in the latter’s camp and the chaos caused by Triller in delaying the fight contributed to that result is still an entirely valid question. There wasn’t a huge amount in his prior performances to signal that he would soon potentially be the undisputed champion of the world.
Kambosos has been vitriolic with the mind games in the build up, Haney attempting to pay no mind to such chatter. Both have their doubters and unknowns, which only makes this one more intriguing. I do think Haney has the potential to be great, but this is a stiff test of his abilities and mental fortitude.
A superb main event all-in-all, and a major show for Australian boxing.
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7th June 2022
Naoya Inoue vs Nonito Donaire II
Promoter: Teiken Promotions | TV: ESPN+ (US); Top Rank Boxing YouTube (UK)
This is a great fight, but there is a bit of an elephant in the room here. Bob Arum made it very clear Top Rank would not be working with any Daniel Kinahan-linked company going forward after the US sanctions announcement, and yet here it we are, with a TR-contracted boxer facing against one who is signed to Probellum. Sure, this is an Inoue fight in Japan so technically not got the Top Rank name on the poster, but to think that Arum has had no involvement would be naive. Just a subplot here but needs to be raised.
Subplot aside, however, there is no denying the quality of the fare on offer here. It’s is a repeat of one of the best fights of recent years from November 2019, in which Donaire rolled back the years to push the fearsome Inoue all the way in a modern classic, and is a contest which should be a guaranteed banger.
Since he signed a co-promotional deal with Top Rank, you have to say that Bob Arum’s outfit and ESPN have dropped the ball with Inoue. This is a legitimate pound-for-pound top-five contender in terms of active talents, at the peak of his powers, and they have essentially done nothing with him. He’s a still huge star in Japan of course, but I just feel like if HBO Boxing was still around today he had been able to fight on that platform, they could have done a much better job with establishing Inoue with the general US audience. Anyway, we should celebrate such a phenomenal fighter and what must be a can’t-miss contest.
His opponent, Nonito Donaire, will also go down as a sure-fire Hall of Famer. The ‘Filipino Flash’ brings with him a laundry list of accomplishments across four weight classes, and most recently claimed the WBC bantamweight tile with a fourth-round stoppage of Nordine Oubaali last May to become the division’s oldest ever champion. Now 39 years of age, the sensible opinion would be that this is a step too far for Donaire against the man who is 10 years his junior, and that Inoue will retain his WBA and IBF titles, whilst claiming the WBC belt in the process, in a more emphatic manner than their 2019 barnburner. Nonito has defied the doubters before though, and as one of the few fighters to win world titles across three separate decades he should not be discounted. Mouthwatering stuff.