Ten rounds while wondering if more than a hundred people will buy Don King’s heavyweight fight card this weekend …
10. Francis Ngannou wants to box. That’s the message Ngannou, the ex-UFC heavyweight champion delivered in an interview with Ariel Helwani this week. At 6’4”, 260-pounds Ngannou has heavyweight size and in the cage has shown crushing power. But he’s wild, lacks boxing technique and has appeared to tire in MMA fights in the later rounds. So is there any reason Ngannou—who Tyson Fury has publicly named as a future opponent—would have more success in the ring than Conor McGregor, Tyronn Woodley or any of the MMA-ers who came before him?
“Not necessarily,” says Daniel Cormier, the former two-division UFC champion. “He’s a bit wild. But he possesses such power that it’s the ultimate equalizer … to me, he’s a less-skilled Deontay Wilder. If he can hit you, he can knock you out. Francis will hit you from different angles. But he’s no Fury, he’s no pugilistic specialist. He’s a guy with great power and if he can land he can hurt you.”
9. Efe Ajagba’s win over Stephen Shaw last weekend was uninspiring, to say the least. The heavy-handed Ajagba struggled to land his right hand against the mobile Shaw, winning a jab-fest that had the crowd booing in the later rounds. I’d love to see Ajagba against Jared Anderson, one of Top Rank’s best prospects. There’s a friendship between the two, which will likely kill any chance of a heavy-handed showdown. Johnnie Rice, who upset Guido Vianello on the undercard, is expected to be Anderson’s next test.
8. Amid unconfirmed reports about low pay-per-view numbers for the Gervonta Davis-Hector Luis Garcia card—and a reminder that you should look skeptically on sourced pay-per-view numbers, as promoters and network executives routinely lie—it’s worth revisiting the future of pay per view. Pay-per-view buys have dropped precipitously in recent years, with piracy and poor matchmaking among the reasons. Low numbers wouldn’t be a problem but for fighters demanding lucrative guarantees. Here’s what pay per view should look like: Fighters should be guaranteed a reasonable purse and be entitled to the lion’s share of the pay per view. If a fight is compelling, they make money. If it isn’t—and many cards being deemed pay-per-view worthy are not—then they don’t.
7. Jaime Munguia-Dmitry Bivol? That’s a fight Golden Boy president Eric Gomez suggested this week. It’s unlikely, of course, with Bivol rumored to be headed for a title defense this spring (his co-promoter, Eddie Hearn, has named Joshua Buatsi as a leading candidate). But don’t dismiss Munguia-Bivol … yet. Bivol’s lead promoter, Vadim Kornilov, told SI that a matchup with Munguia is “very intriguing” and that if Munguia is willing to move up to 175 pounds, Bivol would be interested in the fight.
6. Speaking of Munguia, Golden Boy officials have also reached out to representatives for Gennadiy Golovkin, the unified middleweight champion. Golovkin has been radio silent about his future since a decision defeat to Canelo Alvarez last September. He will have to make decisions on mandatory defenses of his titles in the coming months but the most lucrative option for him is Munguia, who Golovkin was denied the chance to fight in 2018 when the Nevada commission refused to sanction the fight.
5. I’ll wait until the paperwork is finalized to get too excited but reports that Naoya Inoue, the undisputed bantamweight champion, and unified super bantamweight titleholder Stephen Fulton have agreed to a deal to fight this spring is huge news. Inoue-Fulton is a tremendous fight, featuring one of boxing’s hardest hitters (Inoue) against one of its best pure boxers. Credit Inoue, who stopped Paul Butler last month to claim the final piece of the 118-pound title, for jumping right into arguably the toughest challenge in the 122-pound division. And credit Fulton, who will travel to Japan to try to knock off one of boxing’s best in his backyard. Two, in-their-prime champions in the ring. This is what boxing should be about.
4. I like Anthony Yarde. But if his fight with Artur Beterbiev on Jan. 28 ends by anything but violent knockout, I’ll be surprised. Beterbiev, who steamrolled Joe Smith in two rounds last June, is a beast. Yarde has won five of his last six fights since a knockout loss to Sergey Kovalev in 2019, but he has not faced anyone with the kind of power of Beterbiev—not even Kovalev.
3. Can someone explain why Conor Benn is acting like he has been exonerated? Benn, who flunked two drug tests prior to a scheduled fight with Chris Eubank Jr. last fall, has been active on social media lately, posting training videos and suggesting in an Instagram post that “science” has vindicated him. But unless Benn can credibly explain why Clomifene, a female fertility drug, was in his system, he hasn’t been vindicated of anything. Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, says Benn intends to return in the spring. I’ll be interested to see what commission, if any, is willing to license him.
2. Edgar Berlanga is a free agent after parting ways with Top Rank. PBC and Matchroom are the two early favorites to sign the popular super middleweight—Berlanga’s manager, Keith Connolly, does business with both—but keep an eye on Golden Boy. A Berlanga-Munguia fight would do big business, a Puerto Rico vs. Mexico matchup that would draw a crowd in southern California or New York. Golden Boy could offer Berlanga a tune-up (what’s D’Mitrius Ballard doing these days?) before showdown with Munguia later in the year
1. Take Chris Eubank Jr., a slight favorite against Liam Smith, by decision this weekend. Smith is a good fighter coming off strong wins over Anthony Fowler and Jessie Vargas. But his best wins have come at 154-pounds and at 160 his pressing style is less effective. Expect a fun fight but expect Eubank to come away with a win. –
