I read Parksville-Qualicum Beach News editor Phil Wolf’s most recent column about boxing with great interest.
Boxing is one of my favourite sports to watch, I have friends who I’ve previously trained with here on the island that still actively compete, and while I felt Wolf’s thoughts on the matter were quite well written, I found he missed the mark on a few things.
Wolf said he grew up watching the tail end of the golden age of heavyweight boxing, which featured such all-time greats as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman all battling to see who would reign supreme as the baddest man on the planet.
He then used the recently announced Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight to show how far the sport has fallen in comparison to that era of boxing.
I’m not here to argue against Ali’s era being the golden age of the sweet science, most people would easily agree with that statement, but I have to say that it’s fairly ludicrous to suggest that Paul vs. Tyson, which most likely is going to be nothing more than an exhibition like Tyson’s last fight against Roy Jones Jr. was, is the pinnacle of heavyweight boxing these days.
It’s not. Not even close.
The pinnacle of heavyweight boxing is actually happening Saturday, May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the “Gypsy King” Tyson Fury puts his WBC/lineal title on the line against Ukrainian hero Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles.
Both of them are undefeated, and this fight will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 2000 when Lennox Lewis last accomplished the feat. It’s a really big deal, especially in the UK where boxing still reigns in popularity over other combat sports like MMA.
If Wolf had argued that Fury and Usyk simply can’t hold a candle to Ali, that would’ve been a fair point to make. We always tend to mythologize our childhood heroes, but even putting biases like that aside, picking Ali and Frazier over Fury and Usyk is still a completely understandable point of view to hold.
I grew up in the late 80’s, early 90’s and spent many a night watching greats like Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Jones Jr. throw down in the squared circle, so my own childhood biases are definitely held towards those fighters, but with that said, you still won’t see me writing about how badly boxing has fallen off since then.
There’s been so many great fights that have happened recently, and there’s even more that are currently scheduled on the horizon. If you’re curious about what’s really going on in boxing these days, ignore the Paul vs. Tyson hype that Wolf’s spreading and actually go do some digging online, you’ll find plenty of great battles. I’ll even help you by listing some.
Fury had an incredible trilogy of fights where he came out victorious twice against knockout artist Deontay Wilder, Gervonta “Tank” Davis finished off Ryan Garcia with a nasty bodyshot, Terrence Crawford tko’d Errol Spence Jr. for the undisputed welterweight titles, and Anthony Joshua just recently ko’d the former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Meanwhile, coming up later this year, Devin Haney has a big fight booked against Garcia, and Canelo Alvarez is putting his undisputed super middleweight belts on the line against the undefeated Jaime Mungia in a Cinco de Mayo weekend showdown.
Bottom line, boxing right now is more popular than it’s been in ages, and it’s nice to see the younger generation starting to really take a serious interest in combat sports again, regardless of the fact their favourite boxer might be a social media star.
Tyson Whitney is an award-winning journalist who was born and raised in Port Hardy. His family has lived in Port Hardy for more than 40 years. He graduated with a degree in writing from Vancouver Island University in 2008. Email: editor@northislandgazette.com