IT’S OK TO QUIT WORST BOXING ASSOCIATION ONE GIANT LEAP Time to change the narrative The WBA must explain their actions Can Usyk rule at heavyweight? MAY 13 2021 THE WORLD’S BEST FIGHT MAGAZINE EST. 1909 WWW.BOXINGNEWSONLINE.NET WWW.BOXINGNEWSONLINE.NET 19 NO. 77 VOL. £3.99 Canelo Alvarez teaches Billy Joe Saunders some valuable lessons LIAM SMITH + TOMMY WELCH + SHERMAN WILLIAMS + LISA WHITESIDE + JOSHUA BUATSI SUBSCRIBE TO BOXING NEWS PRESENTS We’re delighted to bring you our bi-monthly 100-page bookazine series. The latest souvenir issue, an exhaustive review of Floyd Mayweather’s 50 fights, follows complete chronologies of Mike Tyson, the free Ali-Frazier rivalry and Fighting Talk. Coming next: A tribute to Marvin Hagler. cult t-shirt worth £24.99! GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE Receive all six issues straight to your door PLUS your FREE Ali-Frazier cult t-shirt worth £24.99! Pay just £40.94 by annual DD – saving 15% on the cover price. 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ContentsMay 13, 2021 CANELO ALVAREZ 14 Billy Joe Saunders is forced into submission by the pound-for-pound No. 1 UNMISSABLE HIGHLIGHTS >> 22 NERY vs FIGUEROA >> 4 EDITOR’S LETTER High-octane action is expected in this Sanity must always prevail over bravado appealing super-bantamweight scrap >> 5 ERIC ARMIT >> 24 BUATSI vs DOS SANTOS Pure chaos reigns in the WBA’s rankings Joshua aims to impress his new coach >> 8 STEVE BUNCE >> 26 OLEKSANDR USYK When Razor Ruddock came to London Can he rule the heavyweight division? >> 10 MAYWEATHER vs PAUL >> 32 SHERMAN WILLIAMS Be warned, the circus is coming to town Passing on his knowledge to his pupils >> 20 LIAM SMITH >> 36 THE WELCH FAMILY 20 A debatable win for Magomed Kurbanov Tommy has a fistic heritage to uphold >> 42 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS SUBSCRIBE TODAY AND SAVE 37% At last, the dates are finally in the diary >> 43 CHEAVON CLARKE PAY JUST £9.99 A MONTH. SEE PAGE 48 FOR FULL DETAILS One chance at earning an Olympic spot Visit SHOP.KELSEY.CO.UK/BXN21 >> 44 PANAMA AL BROWN The bantamweight legend’s UK tours >> 46 IDRIS VIRGO Confidence comes naturally to this man www.boxingnewsonline.net MAY 13, 2021 l BOXING NEWS l 3 EDITOR’S LETTER Photo: MICHELLE FARSI/MATCHROOM HORRIFIC: Saunders’ Time to cheek caves in subscribe l THERE are numerous ways to subscribe, including special offers. l YOU can get a print and online Cover photography ED MULHOLLAND/MATCHROOM subscription for £9.99 per month, or digital only for just £4.99 per month. l FOR more information on all the QUIT THE BRAVADO subscriptions plus our special Boxers claiming they’d rather sustained against Joe Joyce, Saunders magnitude would rightly be regarded bookazines, said: “If my two eye sockets were as horrific. The athlete would be please visit be carried out on a stretcher broken, my jaw was broken, my teeth withdrawn immediately. Yet in boxing, www.shop. do the sport no favours were out, my nose was smashed, my a sport defined by punches to the head, kelsey.co.uk brain was beaten, I was not stopping there’s a suggestion that they should or call 01959- until I was knocked out or worse.” continue to take more punches simply 543-747. IDWAY through the He was not the only one; both David because they are boxers. That, when eighth round of his Haye and Carl Frampton – two former you really think about it, is utterly l THE next fight with Canelo champions working as analysts for BT preposterous. issue will be in Alvarez, Billy Joe Sport – immediately suggested Dubois In the boxers’ defence, they simply shops on May 20 M Saunders realised ‘quit’; something they would never do. have to believe they’re invincible. They and available that having the side But what Saunders came to understand, are conditioned to show no weakness. to download on of your face caved when faced with a potentially life- But one hopes they now think before May 18. in with a single altering injury, is that surviving is they pass judgement on others in an blow is desperately preferable to “being knocked out or effort to prove their own toughness. The uncomfortable. worse”, after all. The media, in turn, need to stop Opening When he returned The truth is that Saunders, Haye reporting this nonsense and putting Bell... to his corner the nor Frampton could words in fighters’ suspected fracture have possibly put mouths. If a fighter says l THE BN in his orbital themselves in Dubois’ IMAGINE THE they’re willing to die in podcast has Matt been described Christie bone was poked, shoes back then. Yes, SENSATION the ring it doesn’t need prodded and later they are all fighters to be a headline. When as the ‘most @MattCBoxingNews confirmed. At the so are therefore more OF A BONE a fighter quits, another impartial and Editor moment he was educated than the likes one doesn’t need to informative pulled out, he of you and I when it BREAKING be asked if they’d have podcast around.’ made no effort to object to his corner’s comes to commenting BENEATH done the same. There is at least admirable decision. And nor should he on injuries in a boxing The bottom line: one new episode have done. Retiring from the fight was match. But I’d argue YOUR FACE When a fighter or every week to the only sane thing to do at that point. that such bravado is trainer decides they enjoy. The pain he felt is impossible for what makes ‘quitting’ so unacceptable, cannot continue for a legitimate reason l IN the last someone who has never experienced not the act of quitting itself. The that decision must be respected. two weeks such an injury to describe. Imagine the barbaric narrative that essentially Billy Joe Saunders is okay, thankfully. we’ve produced sensation of a bone beneath your face expects boxers to fight to the death, Whether he’ll ever be the same fighter four podcasts breaking while more punches hurtle or leave themselves forever damaged, again is another matter. Very few who with behind towards you. I can only estimate, but does the sport no favours whatsoever. are unfortunate enough to encounter the scenes one can understand why it might feel Not only is this notion of self-sacrifice such injuries are able to ignore the interviews and altogether more unsettling than a bad over self-preservation something of physical and mental scars. But at least immediate big- cut or an injured arm or leg. Yet Billy an insult to their own families, it’s they’re still here and are not another fight analysis. Joe not so long ago presumed that if deeply disrespectful to the families casualty in a long line of boxing he was ever to get his skull broken in a of boxers who are already dealing casualties. At least their families are l Listen (& rate fight he would simply brush it off and with the worst consequences of our not mourning because the fighter’s & subscribe) via fight on. He no doubt thought like that sport. Furthermore, it gives credence wish of being carried out on a stretcher Apple, Spotify because he is a natural warrior. And to moronic observers who choose to was granted. and all major warriors, remember, don’t quit. berate a beaten boxer for doing the platforms. Follow us and keep up to date Five months ago, after Daniel Dubois right thing by saying enough is enough. surrendered due to a similar injury In any other sport, an injury of that @BoxingNewsED BoxingNewsOnline 4 l BOXING NEWS l MAY 13, 2021 www.boxingnewsonline.net GUEST COLUMN THE WORST BOXING ASSOCIATION Highlighting the mind-boggling chaos in their rankings Photo: TF-IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES GET SERIOUS: Charr and Lovejoy [inset] are set to fight T is a truth themselves for a sanctioning fee. opponents is way over the line. universally A typical case of the line being 51-192-19. Quite why Dinu acknowledged blurred past any reasonable point Twenty-six of is rated at ninth that a was the suggestion that Manuel those wins came surely has to be I sanctioning Charr’s fight with Christian Lovejoy from two of his explained. He was body in need this weekend (May 15) would opponents so the ranked at ninth of fees must be for a version of the WBA other 17 had only before losing to work with heavyweight title.