The Boxing Truth®

While July 27th signaled the beginning of competition of Boxing at the 2024 Summer Olympics being held in Paris, France, two intriguing bouts took place in two other countries on the professional side of the sport in the Heavyweight division featuring both Men and Women. First at the O2 Arena in London, England, it was a crossroads encounter between two longtime Heavyweight contenders Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora. This was a fight where both fighters entered at a stage in their careers where some felt each was on the verge of a win or retire scenario. Hence, this observer’s label of it being a “Crossroads Encounter." Thought the label was appropriate, one might argue, despite the appearance that both fighters were at a similar stage, it was Chisora that was closer to retirement due to both the fact that he has had a seventeen year career, but also his talking about wanting to retire after his fiftieth professional fight. Chisora’s forty-ninth fight would arguably be one of his best...

There is an old saying that this observer firmly believes in. “A Fighter Is Always One Punch Away From Revitalizing Their Career." While that can be applied to the entire sport, it is especially true with regard to the Heavyweight division. After all, if one were to go through the history of the division, no matter the era, you would find along with the various world champions that dominated a certain period, several fighters who had opportunities to fight for world titles and came up short, or others who spent their careers on the fringe or contender level that continued competing for years in search of an opportunity that for some never came. The one thing that you will find as you research is there are some fighters whom either because of age, or issues having to do with ability to continue competing at or near the top of the sport, are written off at some point by various pundits and Boxing scribes. While such statements do not always prove to be accurate, where the fighter en...

  In previewing the third bout between undefeated two-time Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury and longtime contender and former world title challenger Dereck Chisora, this observer pointed out that the trilogy bout between the current holder of the WBC World Heavyweight championship and the former European Heavyweight champion Chisora did not come in the standard way that most think of when it comes to a series of three fights between two fighters. While it was indeed true that Fury had won both of the previous encounters, including stopping Chisora in the second bout eight years ago, the question going into the third fight for the champion was whether or not he was looking past the challenger and toward a potential unification bout in 2023 against undefeated unified IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk for what would be the Undisputed Heavyweight championship of the world.   An additional question that I personally had in mind given not only what had o...

Perhaps it is a mere coincidence, but the first Saturday in the final month of 2022 in the sport of Boxing is highlighted by two trilogy bouts ranging from one of the sport’s lightest divisions to it’s heaviest. While this observer has already penned a preview of the third encounter between WBC Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury and longtime contender Dereck Chisora, the second trilogy bout that will take place on Saturday, December 3rd is one that is also highly anticipated. Yours truly is referring to the third battle between WBC Jr. Bantamweight world champion Juan Francisco Estrada and four-division world champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. A fight that will headline a Boxing card from the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ that can be seen globally on digital subscription sports streaming network DAZN. Although the Fury-Chisora third bout has come in an unconventional way with Fury having won the previous two fights, the Estrada -Gonzalez trilogy is the more standard set u...

Normally when there is a trilogy of fights between two fighters, the third bout is usually the deciding encounter between the two, usually with each fighter having won one fight each in a conventional scenario. There are times however, when a trilogy comes about not to determine who is the better fighter, but because one fighter is able to secure an opportunity. In the case of the rivalry between undefeated two-time Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury and longtime contender and former world title challenger Dereck Chisora, their third bout comes more than eight years after their second bout with Fury having won both of those fights.  Obviously, a lot can happen in eight years time and these two are different fighters than the ones that first met in July 2011 for the British and Commonwealth Heavyweight championships. Although Chisora was stopped in their second bout in November 2014 and is many years removed from his one previous attempt at a world championship when he lost a dec...

 One of the intriguing bouts on the Boxing schedule for September 24 th will take place in the Heavyweight division as former WBO Heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker will face undefeated WBO number one contender Joe Joyce at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The fight, which can be seen here in the United States on digital subscription sports streaming network ESPN+ will be to determine interim championship status in the World Boxing Organization’s current Heavyweight ratings as both Joyce and Parker are the top two contenders for the WBO championship currently held by  undefeated unified IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk.   While this does amount to an elimination bout to see who the next mandatory challenger as far as the WBO is concerned for its version of the World Heavyweight championship, it is still one of the best fights that has been made in the division in recent times. Parker will come into this fight having been un...

  Longtime Heavyweight contender and former world title challenger Dereck Chisora avenged a split decision loss six years ago to former world title challenger and top contender Kubrat Pulev in a rematch by scoring his own twelve round split decision on Saturday night at the 02 Arena in London, England. In contrast to the first fight where Pulev was able to keep Chisora on the end of his punches with his longer reach for the majority of the fight, this time Chisora had head movement in his favor working from the outset and that allowed him to get in close and launch a consistent attack to the body of Pulev.   It was this consistency that carried the fight. As the fight progressed, Pulev was able to have periodic success in landing his right hand on Chisora, but in the middle and late rounds, Chisora began to land regularly with his own right hand to the head of Pulev. This was no doubt was a result of the body work that Chisora kept landing on Pulev throughout. Wi...

If one is a student of Boxing they are likely familiar with the idea that in just about every division there are always a short list of fighters that end up being associated with the era they fought in for their ability to remain in the discussion of fringe and top contenders for many years. While such fighters are not always defined by the world championships they are able to obtain during their careers, others are defined by being contenders who may have come up short in challenging for world titles. Two such fighters are longtime Heavyweight contenders and former world title challengers Kubrat Pulev and Dereck Chisora. Two fighters that have spent most of the last decade at or near the top of the contenders pool of the Heavyweight division. Both men, former European Heavyweight champions are also no strangers to each other. For it was in May 2016 when the two met for the then vacant European Heavyweight championship.  On that evening, it was Pulev, who put on a disciplined Boxin...

  Former WBO Heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker scored a convincing, yet hard-fought twelve round unanimous decision over longtime contender Dereck Chisora on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. A rematch of a closely fought battle earlier this year at the same venue held behind closed doors due to COVID-19 protocols, this time Parker did not willingly engage on the inside and made Chisora work for every opportunity to get on the inside. In the process, Parker was administering a beating on the former world title challenger. Parker was credited with a knockdown in round four when a right uppercut to the head of Chisora staggered him into the ropes and it was ruled by Referee Howard Foster that the ropes prevented him from going down to the canvas. Chisora responded by getting up and walking over to a corner and waited for Parker to come forward in an attempt to bait him into walking into a punch he would not see coming. Despite the veteran tactics, ...

By now, readers have had an opportunity to read and digest this observer's coverage of both Conor Benn's knockout of former world champion Chris Algieri and the continuing evolving story of Boxing's Lightweight division, which coincidentally took place on December 11th. It goes without saying however, that Boxing is one of the most global sports in existence and as such, it can be a challenge for one to adequately keep an eye on all the action that can and often does occur throughout the sport when so many cards and world championship bouts are scheduled for one day around the world.    Even those of us who cover the sport and are used to what yours truly often refers to as marathons of Boxing cards that take place over anywhere from a one to three day period can still find it difficult to keep an eye on and subsequently cover everything that goes on, despite significant advances in technology that frankly makes our jobs easier.   While December 11, 2021 was notable for t...