Heavy Mess
By Eddie Sanchez
The boxing industry is similar to TMZ in that both contain volumes of juicy rumors. Unfortunately, for the most part, this is where the similarities dissolve. For the flack that TMZ gets, they have proven time and time again to be accurate with their reports and have shown consistent follow through.
While I would be giving the boxing industry too much distaste by claiming they never follow through on the biggest fights, it remains true that they move at a snail’s pace and this has been compounded even more by the uncertain times we live in.
The Canelo Alvarez situation holds the most personal importance to me. The absolute mess that DAZN finds themselves in with the cash-cow of boxing is a disgrace to the sport. Financial troubles and all, DAZN has been unhelpful with bridging the gap to close a deal with the superstar.
Making the relationship even worse, it seems as though Eddie Hearn is maneuvering in bad faith.
“You’ve got a situation with the WBC where Canelo has been ordered to fight Yildirim, but Callum Smith is on that list as well,” he explained. “I don’t believe Canelo will fight Yildirim, so perhaps Callum vs. Yildirim for the WBC title is an option as well.”
You may recall that Canelo was one of a handful of boxers to request the WBC Super Middleweight fight with Yildirim, along with notable champions such as Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders.
DAZN showed no interest in accepting that matchup because of the lack of perceived public interest. While generally true, I believe they are discounting the star power of Canelo Alvarez.
With DAZN, we are not talking about a PPV purchase. Fans tune in on a subscription basis and with a return of Canelo Alvarez during the pandemic, fans would likely tune in to see their favorite boxer win another title.
Regardless, it seems that we must accept that matchup as being a no-go. For months prior the discussion was between Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith, which to this day, is still being discussed.
The only hurdle seems to be that DAZN doesn’t want to live up to their word and pay Canelo what they mutually agreed upon in his historic eleven fight contract. Their argument is that these two specific opponents are on the more expensive end and that Canelo must concede some of his purse to accommodate the service platform.
Those conversations have gone as well as you could possibly imagine and now we sit here – two weeks shy of Mexican Independence Day weekend and no Canelo fight lined up.
As if the Canelo situation wasn’t enough, the industry continues to prove that it is the best at getting in its own way.
What in the world is going on with the Heavyweight division?
This division is the most competitive it has been in a long time. Additionally, the division is full of strong story lines and has two champions from the UK in Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, which would create an ideal situation for an undisputed champion.
Rather than making the world a better place (am I being dramatic?), we are currently stuck between boxing politics and pending contracts.
Tyson Fury (WBC & The Ring Champion) is contractually obligated to face Deontay Wilder (42-1-1) for a third time. The first two bouts were exciting and while most would rather see the unification, this is not the worst situation in the world. Deontay Wilder, the former champion, defended the belt ten times before losing to Tyson Fury.
Although I hate mandatory rematch clauses, because they create the situation we are currently in, this is a fair fight to stage assuming he is willing and able to avenge his defeat.
Unfortunately, that is where we run into some issues. There has been little noise from the Wilder camp about his return to face Fury. This is unbelievably frustrating to fans who just want the situation to play out naturally.
Because of the lack of movement on the Wilder side of things, Tyson Fury has once again flirted with the WWE about facing Drew McIntyre. I am all for people making their money, but if he follows through with this, it will only delay the unification even further.
It seems Eddie Hearn has found this amusing. He hopes Wilder will forgo his opportunity and retire, so the unification can happen, while completely glossing over the fact that Anthony Joshua’s situation is arguably twice as worse.
Anthony Joshua (WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO) has a situation that is twice as worse because although Eddie Hearn seems to disagree, he has two mandatory obligations to deal with according to the WBA and WBO.
It’s understood that he is likely to face WBA mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev (28-1) in December, which again, would not be the worst situation in the world if Fury-Wilder also concludes 2020.
The issue is that boxing politics always find a way to weasel their way into lucrative fight situations. The WBO would also like their mandatory challenger Oleksander Usyk (17-0) to get his opportunity against Anthony Joshua immediately, even though he has not proven anything at the heavyweight division.
Although he was a fantastic Cruiserweight, he has yet to face a formidable opponent in this weight class. While this will arguably change once he faces Dereck Chisora (32-9), is this really enough to disrupt the largest fight in UK boxing history?
Usyk’s manager Alex Krassyuk of K2 Promotions, is ready to force the title shot against Anthony Joshua after both take care of business in their next fights. The threat is that if Joshua does not face Usyk, he will have to vacate the title.
Given all of these personal desires from the fighters, promoters and sanctioning bodies, we currently find ourselves in the thick of a mess.
If the world was maneuvering as in pre-COVID times, I would be beyond fed up, but given the pandemic I am willing to offer some sense of understanding.
Here is my possible solution to meet each party’s best interests.
October 2020
Usyk vs Chisora
December 2020
Joshua vs Pulev
Fury vs Wilder or Fury vs McIntyre (WWE)
March/April 2021
Joshua vs Usyk
Fury vs Wilder or Fury vs McIntyre (WWE)
August 2021
Fury/Wilder vs Joshua/Usyk
This layout is simple enough, but as we have learned, few things in life go as planned. Assuming however that each party is acting in good faith to meet each other’s timelines, then this layout will provide an undisputed champion and will likely (hopefully) be staged in front of a sold out crowd in the UK.
