Inactivity: The growing trend that’s killing boxing
Another year where the stars fail to appear
Photo credit: Bad Left Hook
Of all the many ills in boxing that I regularly bang on about, inactivity is fast becoming my number one bugbear. It would be naïve to suggest that modern day pugilists need to appear 20-plus times a year as the likes of Henry Armstrong or Benny Lynch once did.
But in many cases even twice would be nice. Sparring, training, running and other outside-of-the-ring activities all help to keep boxers in shape. However, there is nothing like preparing for a specific fight date, getting in the ring and shaking off the rust against somebody who is intent on taking your head off.
On a recent episode of the Boxing Asylum podcast the Nutters assembled to run the rule over boxing’s highest performers and their respective achievements in 2022.
Did they have a good year, bad year or indifferent? What level of opposition did they beat? How many belts did they accumulate? Who became undisputed? Throughout the show there was one glaring reoccurrence: all of the group, assembled from the Transnational Boxing Board pound-for-pound top ten, had been grossly underworked.
By the end of the year Naoya Inoue sat at the top of the tree. Two fights, two wins, two knockouts. The first came in June as the Japanese ‘Monster’ resoundingly ended his brief rivalry with Filipino veteran Nonito Donaire in the second round. When the pair first met in late 2021 Donaire caused some significant damage to Inoue and showed commendable resolve in the face of his firepower.
Photo credit: Top Rank/Naoya Inoue
This time Inoue reverted to type and simply blew Donaire away with a devastating example of finishing. Add a December beatdown of WBO champion Paul Butler and Inoue ended the year at 24-0 with 21 KOs, reigning supreme as undisputed bantamweight champion.
Now campaigning at heavyweight, former undisputed cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk had one fight when he travelled to Jeddah to defeat Anthony Joshua on points to retain the WBA, IBF and WBO titles he had taken off AJ in 2021.
My Fighter of the Year was Dmitry Bivol who rocked the sport by outpointing Canelo Alvarez in May. Even though the judges contrived to keep the fight as close as possible on the cards, in truth it wasn’t close in the slightest as the Russian arguably hoovered up 10 of the rounds.
Canelo himself followed up the unexpected loss to Bivol by comprehensively completing his trilogy with Gennady Golovkin with a 12-round points win in September. Bivol later defeated Gilberto Ramirez in another dominant display of his simple yet effective attributes.
Other notable names who endured a relative year of rest include welterweight rivals Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. Rather than actually cementing a 147-pound super fight for the ages, the dossing duo instead put their elusive talents to good effect by dodging any more meaningful ring time than necessary.
Spence relieved Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas of his WBA title in April, some eight months before WBO champion Crawford made his annual outing count by battering David Avanesyan in Omaha.
Other single digit boxers include Jermell Charlo who knocked out Brian Castano in their May 2022 rematch that earned Charlo all of the belts at 154. Josh Taylor, who is losing belts by the month, controversially defeated domestic rival Jack Catterall.
Photo credit: Ring Magazine
Tyson Fury, Juan Francisco Estrada and Devin Haney all fought twice. The latter deserves credit for travelling over to Australia to neutralise George Kambosos across 24 rounds of mostly one-sided action.
I previously mentioned the endeavours of boxing’s sepia-tinted heroes who dusted off their gloves on a monthly basis. Sugar Ray Robinson -widely recognised as the greatest fighter of all time- would sneak in non-title outings between world title defences. While fighting 10 times a year would be foolish and risk injury or burn out, nothing keeps the tools sharp like regular participation. Modern day pugilists should take note.
TOP RANK’S HEAVYWEIGHTS FAIL TO DELIVER
In what was intended to be an explosive weekend of hard-hitting heavyweight action, two of the big men emerged victorious without striking fear into those at the top. Once touted as a fearsome puncher, Efe Ajagba relied on his long jab and boxing skills to prevail against a passive Stephan Shaw.
Allowing the rounds of his biggest opportunity to feebly float by, Shaw was spooked by Ajagba’s power and failed to inject the required amount of urgency into his work. Clearly skilled, the Missouri mover arrived undefeated but was unable to find the higher gear needed to win.
Guido Vianello, a 2016 Olympian, had never really convinced anyone since turning pro that he would one day become a title threat. Awkward in his approach, clearly carrying a respectable dig, Vianello toiled throughout the first six rounds of his fight with Johnnie Rice to forge a deserved points lead.
In round seven Rice landed a cracking right hand that re-opened a gruesome wound on Vianello’s left eye. The doctor correctly called the fight off. Referee Benjy Eseteves incorrectly ruled the injury was caused by a headbutt and called for the cards.
The commission went against their own rules stating that TV replays should not be used to clarify decisions. The correct verdict was finally reached, albeit by an illegitimate route. Vianello and his team could complain that they were hard done to and demand a rematch. But what would be the point? The Italian should just hang them up.
NUTHOUSE NOTES
Shakur Stevenson returns to the ring on April 8 for his lightweight debut. Hopefully Stevenson fights some of the big dogs of the division rather than winning a vacant WBO Interim and moving up to 140 after three fights.
Also in April, Robeisy Ramirez will fight Isaac Dogboe. The Cuban looked spectacular in his last fight when knocking out Abraham Nova who bounced back with a win over Adam Lopez on the heavyweight undercard.
And finally…Adrien Broner’s glorious ring return has been slightly derailed after opponent Ivan Redkach was forced to withdraw. ‘AB’ will now face Hank Lundy on February 25 in the fast-diminishing BLK Prime Pay-Per-View event.
In late 2021, Lundy missed weight before being pulverised in two rounds by Robbie Davies Jr. It is doubtful that his questionable balance on that night will have improved a year later. This is a shocking card all round.
About Steve: Experienced boxing writer, author of 8 books and podcaster of over 400 eps. 15+ years in the sport. Covered hundreds of shows for newspapers and Boxing News magazine. Chief script writer for Motivedia channel.
Good article Steve. Not only are the best fighters inactive but when they are fighting they're not fighting the best. Fury will have had tougher spars than the bouts against Whyte and Chisora.