Review of the Fights (24/09/23)

The first fight I saw from the undercard of the TNT card was the return of Moses Itauma. He was back and fought against a journeyman who he got out of there in a round. Itauma looks good but I just want to see him in there being stepped up. It’s all good seeing him fight guys he’s supposed to beat but we need to see him step up a bit especially when Warren is talking about him breaking Tyson’s record for the youngest heavyweight champion. Next up was Anthony Yarde who once again returned from a world title defeat in a bout against a journeyman. I don’t understand why Yarde drops so far in levels when he is clearly good enough to hang at European level or higher. It’s just disappointing that we get him in with a live body once every couple years and because of that he isn’t properly prepared and therefore he isn’t giving himself the best chance to win. I still think he can win a title but he’ll have to wait until the top guys in Bivol and Beterbiev are gone.

The main event arrived next and it was time to see if Joyce could get revenge or if we would get Zhanged for the second time this year. It was the latter with Joyce feeling out Zhang early with a new stance however when he got hit he reverted back to type and by the third round he was sprawled over the canvas and was counted out. It’s crazy how last year Joyce had a career best performance and was arguably a top 5 heavyweight and this year he’s been stopped back to back and looks like his career may be over. For Zhang he is now mandatory and is in line for a big fight. I hope he gets either champion or a money fight vs Joshua or Wilder next as he deserves it. If the undisputed fight gets made however I wouldn’t mind seeing the Hrgovic rematch. He’s a really good fight but I just wonder how long he can stick around given that he’s 40 years old and Father Time catches up with all of us.

Next we headed to the Matchroom US show and the first fight on the main card was a bout between Matchroom prospect Ammo Williams and veteran Steve Rolls. This fight was more competitive than I thought it would be as Rolls actually give some good rounds and made this a fight. Ammo still did enough to win it however he did look a big shaky. Rolls isn’t great and really is a gatekeeper so struggling with him doesn’t bode well for the world level fights. Ammo however has never looked like the second coming so this wasn’t that much of a surprise. He should take some fun fights like the Felix Cash fight as well as some big fights on the way up and see how far he can push it. He is a fun fighter however he loads up too much and hasn’t got the greatest defence. I will always stick on his fights though because he is quite entertaining. After that fight we saw a woman’s unification between Sandy Ryan and Jessica McCaskill which ended in controversy and I thought it was deserved. The fight ended in a split draw which was crazy as Sandy Ryan had done far more than enough to get the win and everyone thought so. Jessica McCaskill is an awful fighter to watch and really isn’t on this level. She was asked in the post fight interview if she thought she won and she didn’t even say yes. A shameful decision here but it’s boxing and unfortunately we’ve seen it multiple times before and we’ll see it many more times.

The last fight before the main event was the shameful return of Conor Benn against unknown Mexican Rodolfo Orozco. Benn shouldn’t have been fighting due to his failed drugs tests and unwillingness to help the governing body during their investigation into his failed tests however he found a way around it by fighting in a different country and using a jurisdiction argument. He was able to fight so we just have to get on with it. To his credit Conor Benn is a good boxer now with very good power and speed. His defence has vastly improved however all this has an asterisk beside it as (until he can prove otherwise) he sped up his development by using illegal performance enhancing drugs. In this fight he landed some bombs early and couldn’t dent the naturally bigger Orozco who kept pushing him back and was physically much stronger than Benn. Benn couldn’t sustain his outbursts though and from the middle rounds really slowed down and by the end of the 8th was starting to breathe harder. This is not a good look for the young fighter as the fight was not fought at a great pace. Benn’s passion for big money fights at middleweight instead of facing legit threats like Boots Ennis at his natural weight will get him beat potentially earlier than he would if he went the traditional route. Ultimately Benn isn’t a bad fighter but unfortunately he has cheated and until he has cleared his name I can’t get behind him. If he never clears his name and continues to circumvent the system then we’ll just have to deal with it and see how his career unfolds.

The main event of the Matchroom US show was a fight between two 140 pounds contenders in Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda. This fight to me looked like a straightforward Hitchins win but I thought Zepeda would have his moments throughout the 12 rounds with Hitchins winning a decision. That wasn’t to be as Zepeda had zero answers for what Hitchins brought and couldn’t even win a single round. He was put in his place and Hitchins didn’t even have to go out of first gear. Richardson looks to be the real deal and is a future star for sure. He probably won’t be a commercial star but for pure boxing fans he will be a one to watch. He will give all the champions trouble and aside from Teo I think he can make those fights look easy if he gets into his rhythm. It’s exciting and I hope we see him in there fighting for a belt in the near future.