The Boxing Truth®

  The World Light-Heavyweight championship unification bout between undefeated WBC/IBF world champion Artur Beterbiev and WBO world champion Joe Smith , which took place on June 18 th at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY was one that lacked the type of buzz normally afforded to such unification bouts. This could be because much of the attention in recent times has centered on undefeated WBA world champion Dmitry Bivol‘s recent dominant win in successfully retaining his title over Saul “ Canelo” Alvarez in May. Although it is also a reflection of the politics that be in the sport that some high level fights receive more attention than others, the bout between Beterbiev and Smith was one that had action written all over it.     In previewing this fight in discussing the similarities between the two fighters in terms of style, this observer said perhaps too simply that this fight could come down to whoever was able to land the first significant punch.  Des...

Longtime readers of this observer’s work and particularly those who have followed The Boxing Truth® are likely familiar with a column that I have penned over the last several years that typically serves as a beginning of the schedule at the beginning of the year. “A Boxing Wishlist.” While as time has gone on there are more than one item that unfortunately remains on the list year after year, one of the more consistent items is my wish to see all world championships unified to determine one undisputed world champion per division amongst the sport’s seventeen weight classes. As I have pointed out frequently whenever the subject of a unification bout arises, my wish may seem overly optimistic and impossible for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to the various sanctioning organizations, with their own mandates, the slew of interim/regular championship designations throughout the sport, rival promoters that tend to shy away from working together even though it would benefit t...