Ngannou Vs Joshua, Influencer Boxing and What is next for The Business?
The ‘Roll up, Roll up’, the bums on seats, the Saudi money, it’s all important to Boxing.
And that money used to be brought in through boxing. Boxers being brought together in interesting matches that fans wanted to see.
But that doesn’t seem enough now, there’s another wealth stream to be used. Non boxer against non boxer. Tag team boxing. Boxer versus non boxer.
It’s now called Influencer boxing.
Social media sensations Jake Paul and KSI drove it and, slowly but surely, ‘legitimate’ boxers entered that world. By ‘legitimate’, I mean those boxers who have a boxing record which can be shown on sites like BoxRec.
What does it do for Boxing? Ah, now we need to mark the difference between the Business Of Boxing and the Boxing Of Boxing.
The latter is the tactical, one on one, fight.
The former is the money-making hooplah. Both should work together, yet frequently they’re at odds.
And they have consequences for careers.
Francis Ngannou Vs Anthony Joshua
Francis Ngannou wasn’t supposed to. He wasn’t supposed to knock Tyson Fury down. He wasn’t supposed to dominate the action. He wasn’t supposed to many howl that he’d won despite what the scorecards said.
After all, Tyson Fury is the WBC Heavyweight Champion.
But Ngannou did all those things. He is also an MMA striker, yes, but an untested boxer. And he made Fury look foolish. He put him down. He looked flashier. I, and many others, thought he won.
Fury is diminished. For those who think so, I present Naganno at the Anthony Joshua fight press conference. He laughed at Fury, telling him that Boxong protected him and if they boxed again, he would wipe Fury’s arse on the canvas, or something like that.
Fury was there, in the crowd, wanting to reply, shouting but not able to be heard. There was a time that a mic would be brought to him whilst he hijacked someone else’s press conference with his choice phases, mainly containing the words ‘dosser’ and ‘sh*thouse’; talking is a main feature of Fury’s game and he has gained advantage over opponents at press conferences many times.
Press conferencne;
Here, no one got him a mic, he wasn’t a focus, no one bowed to him. Imagine that a few years ago. Fury’s stock in the business of Boxing was falling anyway, with opponents like Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora for goodness sake.
But the Ngannou embarrassment was much worse.
Anthony Joshua
More of Fury in a minute. Joshua dominated this for the 2 rounds it lasted, he got on the jab early, showed patience, had excellent movement and finished it. After putting Ngannou down in the 1st round with a big right hand, in the 2nd after his opponent had fallen to a combination and Joshua was straight on him, sending him back to the canvas with another big right.
Crisis, What Existential Crisis? That’s what I and others said when he lost fights, changed styles and got frustrated. But after he despatched Otto Wallin and showd some anger, people said he was back to the AJ of old.
I said it depended who his next opponent was. It was Ngannou. Now, what some will say is that this is outside of the usual Boxing ascension up the mountain for another title. Others may say that the Business Of Boxing encompasses all. I say that of AJ wants to be a champ, he should do what Joseph Parker did early on the card, step in with a seemingly inepenetrable Zhilei Zhang, get off the canvas twice and take his belt; that’s what people who want to be champs do, not less about with unproven Boxing MMA’ers.
Am I being harsh? Well, did this burnish AJ’s plans for a belt? People are talking about AJ v Wilder again, that’s a step back for a title hope, isn’t it?
‘Eddie Hearn called for Joshua, who he has promoted throughout his heavyweight’s pro career, to face the winner of Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.’
And maybe he should. But this win doesn’t make that feel any tastier to me.
Francis Ngannou
Gilt off gingerbread now? He was rightly cocky when he did so well against Fury, particularly as people were calling him a coming Boxing force.
Against Anthoney Joshua, after an early knock down, a hard one too, he looked gun shy and a little shocked. That’s not what a coming Boxing force looks like.
MMA Fighting
He wasn’t allowed to perform well here, but great fighters find a way to circumvent that, to fight back into the match. Ngannou couldn’t.
Of course, in this always-on social media culture, he couldn’t work his way up as a boxer, only being reported on occasionally, until he made it to a title shot and appeared on our radar again.
Can’t do that in these days of anyone’s-a-boxer, the successes and challenges are played out for all to see.
What next for Ngannou? Wound licking, concerted Boxing training, back to MMA or retirement. My bet is the 1st and 3rd.
Back To Fury
I said we’d get here. You make I wrong move and it affects everything. Fury is a boxer with remarkable self belief. You don’t get up from a Bronze Bomber punch if you haven’t. And so his performance against Ngannou, the cut eye which postponed his fight with Usyk (not his fault, by the way), his last couple of opponents and talk of retirement are making people ask questions.
And this won’t have helped. Joshua isn’t a champ. He couldn’t beat Usyk in 2 tries. Fury is supposed to have the beating. And yet, Joshua dominated and despatched a fighter Fury couldn’t.
You see? That decision to have some time off to visit the Business Of Boxing has big repercussions for the Boxing Of Boxing, doesn’t it, Tyson?
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