Joshua, Fury, Bellew, Whyte and Chisora all victorious – as Wilder waits his turn
As we head into the Autumn, the domestic and world heavyweight boxing scene continues to excite and deliver. It’s an enthralling period right now, with plenty of entertaining and meaningful fights, and some very talented, hard-hitting boxers involved.
In March, Anthony Joshua retained his WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight titles, whilst acquiring the WBO version, with a largely untroubled performance over New Zealand’s Joseph Parker in Cardiff. There were to be no pyrotechnics from the knockout specialist Joshua for once, as his fans had to settle for a patient, disciplined performance from their man. In truth, the result never looking in serious doubt for most of the fight, but Parker deserves credit for being the first man to take Joshua to the judges’ scorecards in the pro game. Onwards and upwards for the biggest name in British sport right now.
The Tony Bellew v David Haye rematch in May was compulsive viewing, with the Scouser proving conclusively that time had finally caught up with the 37-year-old Hayemaker. Haye, frankly, had no answer to the power and precision of Bellew, who had Haye down twice before the fight was stopped in the fifth round. It was a merciful stoppage as the fight was only going one way.
Haye’s bravery under fire and his willingness to come forward were utterly commendable, and yet again his heart couldn’t be questioned – but he had no answer to Bellew’s onslaught. Whilst a ruptured achilles tendon in their first fight back in March may frequently cause Haye to wonder “what if” (Underdog Bellew defeats Haye to join the big league) – this time there was nothing to cloud the issue, it was Bellew’s fight, fair and square.
Haye duly announced his retirement on the 12th of June, probably to the relief of boxing fans everywhere. Nobody wants to see a great champion embarrassed – or far worse, put in danger – and for every fighter there comes a point when they must know they are in significant decline.
Haye deserves huge respect for his record, being world cruiserweight champion with the WBC, WBO and WBA titles before stepping up to become WBA world heavyweight champion in 2009. He became only the second boxer after Evander Holyfield to unify the cruiserweight world titles and then become a heavyweight world champion.
A natural cruiserweight, he nevertheless became a significant heavyweight as his world title proved. He remains a charismatic and likeable character, eloquent and always there with a soundbite or three. Occasionally, however, his judgement could be lacking, as shown by various comments made about the Klitschko brothers and Bellew himself. At times Haye could unfortunately take trash-talking to unacceptable levels.
His contribution to the sport, however, should not be understated or under-appreciated. Haye put bums on seats big time, and never failed to give fans their money’s worth – a formidable puncher with fantastic natural hand-speed. This writer will certainly remember Haye the boxer with huge respect and appreciation – the Hayemaker gave us all a fantastic ride. Thank you, David.
As for Tony Bellew, the Bomber continues to impress at almost 36 years old. He’s dismantled Haye twice now, and must be tempted to pursue further big contests and decent purses at heavyweight. Alternatively, a return to his natural cruiserweight, and possible involvement in the World Boxing Super Series is also an option, according to some sources.
Then we have the marmite-man himself, Tyson Fury, who seems to have as many critics as supporters, a constant conundrum of a fighter and a man. Fury finally entered the ring on June the 9th, after a staggering absence of over two and half years. Although the record books will show a win over Albanian journeyman Sefer Seferi, the fight was farcical at times, with more posturing and holding going on than anything actually connected to boxing, for long periods.
Seferi’s corner removed their man from the contest after four rounds, probably leaving the crowd wondering exactly what they’d just witnessed. With a fight breaking out in the crowd also (possibly a hint to Fury and Seferi), the whole event wore the look of a truly surreal evening, which apart from adding another win to Fury’s record achieved little else.
In July, London’s Dillian Whyte gained huge respect in defeating Joseph Parker, a mere three months after Joshua had outpointed the Kiwi. Once again, Parker went the distance but didn’t impress the judges sufficiently. Parker has some terrific technical skills, and clearly has a resolute chin – but a lack of genuine, top-level punching power appears to be his weakness.
For Whyte, it was the biggest win of his career so far, and with skilled promoting he could well figure in big-money fights to come. Anyone who saw the Joshua v Whyte fight back in December 2016 will remember just how Whyte hurt the golden boy with a huge left hook in the second round, and on another night might have been able to capitalise on it – and what a story that would have been.
On the same night that Whyte was outpointing Parker, Dereck Chisora was stopping another old Joshua foe in the Cameroonian-French fighter Carlos Takam. Chisora – a gold-plated loose cannon both in and out of the ring – actually did better than Joshua, gaining an eighth round TKO, whilst it took Joshua ten rounds to achieve the same. (Joshua defends titles but Takam wins the hearts).
Thankfully for Fury and his followers, his second comeback fight on the 18th of August was a far better spectacle, a unanimous points win over Italian Francesco Pianeta. Fury looked way sharper than he did against Seferi, winning all ten rounds on the judges’ scorecards. Fury never looked particularly interested in going for the spectacular and seeking a knockout, but he gave himself a good workout and passed the stamina test in going the distance. He appeared to be taking this fight far more seriously than the Seferi bout.
Whilst there are several interesting and attractive looking fights that could hopefully be made in the foreseeable future, the one name that resonates more than any other is the WBC world champion, the Bronze Bomber, one Mr Deontay Leshun Wilder.
Once Joshua had overcome the challenge of Parker, hopes were high that a match with Wilder would be made before the end of this year, to unify all the world titles. Cue the usual claim and counter-claim between both the Joshua and Wilder camps as to how the negotiations were stalling and various obstacles being put in the way by each other.
Meanwhile, Joshua was ordered to defend his WBA title against the Russian Alexander Povotkin, his mandatory challenger, and that match was made for Wembley Stadium on September 22nd.
After Fury’s win over Pianeta, events took a whole new turn when a fight between Fury and Wilder was announced. Apparently it will be held in Las Vegas in December, at a venue to be confirmed, with Wilder’s WBC title at stake. But will it happen?
Prior to the news of Fury v Wilder breaking, we are led to believe that Joshua signed his half of a contract to fight Wilder in April 2019. The news of Fury’s intended fight with Wilder has obviously overshadowed everything else in the division right now, but with the politics and machinations of match-making in this division as they are, until a date is set and we know for a fact that contracts have been signed, no fight is ever definite.
So, the big heavyweight show of 2018 continues, with experience telling us that nothing should be taken for granted going forward, in terms of performances and results. Every fighters planned route to success is only one big punch away from being derailed in this division, such is the huge power and intent these impressive athletes possess – and long may it continue.
The big heavyweight results so far in 2018:
31st March – Principality Stadium, Cardiff – Anthony Joshua defeated Joseph Parker; unanimous points decision for the WBA, WBO & IBF world titles
5th May – 02 Arena, London – Tony Bellew defeated David Haye; TKO 5th round
9th June – Manchester Arena – Tyson Fury defeated Sefer Seferi; corner retirement, 4th round
28th July – 02 Arena, London – Dillian Whyte defeated Joseph Parker; unanimous points decision
28th July – 02 Arena, London – Dereck Chisora defeated Carlos Takam; TKO 8th round
18th August – Windsor Park, Belfast – Tyson Fury defeated Francisco Pianeti; unanimous points decision
By Chris Tribe
20th August 2018
Copyright © 2018 Chris Tribe. All Rights Reserved.
Photo credit: (Tony Bellew photo) Copyright © YouTube Channel Creative Commons Attribution – 3.0 Unported License.
Photo credit: (David Haye photo) Copyright © Fitness Professional Flickr Attribution -NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Photo credit: (Anthony Joshua photo) Copyright © Karl-Ludwig Poggemann Flickr Attribution – 2.0 Generic (CC BY2.0)
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