When Boxing is Really Bad!

We all know the issues facing boxing at present and we all lament to ongoing lack of care taken by those who are tasked with the role of safe-guarding and building the sport.

The Saturday night rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia has become the latest spectacle in a very long list of boxing blunders that continue to ravage the sport!

Besides the obvious sportswashing by the Saudi government for hosting the event in Jeddah, the rematch came in the midst of a devastating war currently being waged by Ukranians as they look to defend their land against an onslaught by Vladimir Putin’s Russian military. A war which up until March of this year, saw the current IBF, WBA and WBO Heavyweight champion, commit himself to help defend his country.

Despite the obvious bizarre build-up to the fight, the fight itself was a close affair with Joshua delivering a beter performance following his much-publicised change of camp. Even with the changes, it was the sheer speed and slickness of Usyk that again proved too much for Joshua to deal with and going into the official decision, many believed that we would again see a unanimous decision win for Usyk. We were not prepared for a Glenn Feldman!

Quite bizarrely, judge Glenn Feldman scored Joshua as the winner of the rematch with a score of 115-113 – essentially saying that Joshua won at least seven of the twelve rounds. I for won certainly dont believe that Usyk won all three of the opening rounds, but to gift Joshua with the opening rounds is criminal! The 6^th and 9^th rounds most certainly belonged to Joshua but to gift Joshua the 12^th was insane!

Boxing has to do something about these sorts of shenanigans because there has to be a bigger picture as to why judge Glenn Feldman scored so badly…

We see across the board how bad officiating impact fighters, their careers, their earnings as well as their future prospects.

What happened next was, in this writer’s opinion, one of the most unsportsmanlike actions ever seen on camera. Going on a rant about his upbringing and throwing two of the belts out of the ring was utterly disgraceful from a man who had spent so much time building himself up as a professional athlete and businessman – it was the actions of spoiled 5yr old child.

Taking the moment away from Usyk was embarrassing, both to him, his team and his promoter. His team failed him in his corner by not being honest with him and they again failed him by allowing him to forstly take control of the mic and then to continue for as long as he did. You lost a fan on Saturday night AJ!

Boxing needs to do better! AJ needs to do better!

Let’s hope we get to see the fight for the undisputed World Heavyweight champion.