Sports Journalist · 87 articles
Boxing is a weird sport and its fans are weirdoes — and with that said I’ve reached the end of my first point. Still, there is no other sport like it when it comes to the ups and downs. We just seem to get more downs than ups due to how it is structured. Football […]
Journeymen who turn in an unexpected win or two have often told me that the phone stops ringing for a week or so as they have unsettled the natural order of things. It can happen to a titlist, too, as Neil Marsh, European welterweight Champion David Avanesyan’s manager, has told Boxing Social that they are still waiting on […]
Only three things in life are certain: taxes, death and Saul Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) posting a win over a British fighter before taking on bigger fights. Saturday night was no different as Billy Joe Saunders (now 30-1, 14 stoppages) retired after eight rounds of action. It meant that Alvarez added the British boxer’s WBO […]
Do not feel bad if you have not heard of Arv Mittoo, many people haven’t. Mittoo was an opponent, brought in to give a prospect rounds or shore up a gap in a bill. He retired from boxing in 2005 to join the ‘One hundred club’, the so-called journeymen who had hit over 100 or […]
WHEN The Athletic reported that Eddie Hearn and Matchroom are set to sign a five-year deal with DAZN and move away from Sky Sports from July onwards after honouring the extension they signed in 2015 by putting on two more shows it should not have come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the sport […]
Some professional boxers turn over with a silver spoon in each hand. They have represented their country and waved its flag, and they find themselves on the fast track from the get-go. For most fighters, though, the road to contention is not paved with yellow bricks of gold so they have to build themselves from […]
After successfully defending his European welterweight title against heir apparent Josh Kelly last week, Russia’s David Avanesyan (26-3-1, 14 KOs) checked in to see if his opponent was okay then embarked on a 20-hour trip back to Russia. He visited his grandmother first after flying in by way of Moscow and, at the time of writing a […]
When Terry Marsh beat Alessandro Scapecchi for the vacant European light-welterweight title he summed up his feelings in a single world. “I feel voluptuous,” he said in his typically enigmatic Marsh-esque fashion. When asked to sum up his feelings after his fighter David Avanesyan (27-3-1, 15 KOs) beat Josh Kelly in six rounds in a […]
For years, British boxing fans smugly said: “If one of our boys goes over to Italy or Germany, they have to score a knockout to earn a draw!” Incompetent officiating was something that happened overseas. This long-held view has been so completely eroded over recent years that the opposite is now the case. The perception […]
When Boxing Social arranged to catch up with former British and Commonwealth cruiserweight champion Mark Hobson (27-5-1, 14 KOs) the 44-year-old asked if he could field the call during his lunch hour. Hobson works as a bailiff for the council and has been in that trade throughout his adult life. In the evening, he helps cares for and puts […]
The science of boxing relies on the black magic of matchmaking. The late, great Dean Powell used to tell me that it was “A thankless task”. If you get it right, everyone else gets the credit, in the main. Get it wrong and you become part of the architecture of blame. Therefore a few eyebrows […]
Lyndon Arthur (17-0, 12 KOs) has been calling for a domestic showdown with light-heavyweight rival Anthony Yarde (20-1, 19 KOs) for a few years and the 29-year-old gets his chance when the two clash at Church House in Westminster on a Frank Warren-promoted show on Saturday night. Warren is celebrating 40 years as a licensed professional boxing promoter […]