Well, I expect KSI v Fury made money. And that seems to be a professional sport impetus; the arena looked full, the crowd was keen, they’d just seen the last match end in a near-riot. Seemed well set up for an event.
Event v Fight
This is the L word I wrote about here recently; Legitimacy;
‘ability to be defended with logic or justification; validity.”it
is difficult to judge the legitimacy of the rumour”
According to the Oxford dictionary and I find it harder and harder to defend boxing as a clash of two opponents with an outcome that means something.
A fight over a championship belt would do it, although with so many interim titles around at the moment, that’s not so easy these days.
Or a no1 contender match.
A fight that fans call for, like the recent Kell Brook v Amir Khan clash which was so long in the making.
There’s nothing wrong with boxer’s making money, they risk their health every time they step between those ropes.
But sometimes the ‘Roll up, Roll up’ hoopla muddies the waters.
The Water Is Dark Here
And no more muddy than reality TV stars and Mixed Martial Artists fighting boxers. Recently we’ve had (or will have):
Digital Influencer Jake Paul fighting ‘Love Island’ contestant/boxer/one of the Fury family Tommy Fury
Jake Paul fighting MMA’er Nate Diaz
Digital influencer KSI fighting businessman/boxer Joe Fournier
Retired boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr taking on YouTuber Deji, who is KSI’s younger brother
Current World Champ Tyson Fury fighting MMA gent Francis Ngannou at the end of October
Confusing, eh? Legitimacy gets lost in this, particularly when a current Heavyweight champ is involved and the sanctioning body who own the belt he has don’t seem to be concerned how such a bout makes their belt look.
And so, to the latest muddying event.
KSI, who has the Misfits brand, versus Tommy Fury, who us thought of, at the moment, as being a ‘proper’ boxer.
The Fight
It was awful. Tommy Fury got his words in early after the fight;
And eventually, after the 6 rounds, Fury came out the winner on a majority decision, even after having a point taken away for a blatant shot to the back of the head after being warned earlier.
And although KSI of course said he thought he won (he really didn’t) and although the result was close, this was not a both-men-are-so-good-how-can-we-separate-them, it was 2 fighters who were awful but one who was busier and a little less terrible. The Telegraph may have said;
‘…but the expected gap in class between the professional and the YouTuber turned out to be wafer-thin.’
It wasn’t a wafer-thin gap of Boxing quality though, quite the opposite; that’s not a good thing to aspire to, is it?
Why So Bad?
The clinch. They wanted to hug for most of this fight. KSI has an over-energetic bouncing stance, which makes him lunge in and get tangled up. Fury tried to boss things and when taking control got too close and they got tangled up.
Credit; MMA Fighting
The terrible tangle was all over this fight. They smothered their work, didn’t fight out of the clinches, except for Fury’s rabbit punches and although KSI said he thought he won, BBC Sport reporting;
‘We’re going to appeal, I want to appeal,” KSI said in his post-fight interview. “I’m sorry, that’s outrageous. I felt like I won that.’
he just didn’t, I don’t think. KSI did land some punches though and missed a right hand haymaker which, had it landed flush, would probably have seen Fury wake up in the second row.
But it didn’t connect. Did it? And there was really nothing else to please viewers, Pay Per View buyers, fans; the crowd were up for this, but the fight has to do something too.
KSI caught him in the 2nd, leading to, you guessed it, a clinch, Fury got a straight shot through in the 3rd.
Credit; The Independent
And I have no more notes. What would be the point? Nothing of any excitement or importance happened.
Success?
How do you measure it? I suspect the PPV figures will be fine and you can’t blame DAZN for putting its muscle behind it, this diversifies their offer and for subscribers like me, I want content – DAZN provide it.
And when you pay for a PPV, you out your faith in the boxing gods, don’t you? Here we had a stinker co-main event too, Logan Paul against Dillon Danis, in which Paul couldn’t offer more than one shot at a time against an opponent with a peek a boo guard who led with his elbow.
And then the match ended with a ring full of people brawling.Maybe that’s what we do want; controversy = cash? Apparently and this got people talking alright.
Hello? Can I just mention boxing? I actually love boxing, the dangerous chess game, the skill, the fearless fighters. And I’d like to continue to love it.But fights like this? They make it harder every time. I’ll leave the last word to boxing legend Carl Froch when he told the BBC;
‘These guys are making an absolute mockery of boxing. It shouldn’t be called boxing, it needs to be called play-fighting…’
we might need to discuss it a while longer. This isn’t going to go away; time to take a side.
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