By Eóin Kennedy. March 7, 2024
It’s funny how people can just adjust to new norms when the old customs and traditions were so deeply rooted, going back generations in some cases. The feud between British promoters Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn goes back over ten years and is preceded by Warren’s rivalry with Hearn’s father Barry. The younger Hearn has had no problem making trans-Atlantic enemies either, with all the major promotion’s representatives throwing various insults at the upstart UK promoter over the years. But all is suddenly harmonious in the world of boxing. Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren do interviews together now, and they wouldn’t be a bad nod for the cast of Only Fools and Horses as Del Boy and Rodney should there ever be a remake. The US promoters have also made allies with their British invaders and it’s all thanks to the intervening peace talks(and billions of dollars) from Turki Alalshikh. Everyone is playing nice now and whatever you think about the Saudi take over in boxing, it’s certainly throwing up a decent card in Riyadh on Friday night. Let’s look ahead to three of the big fights:
Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou – (heavyweight bout):
Having dipped his toes at the very highest level of boxing in his now infamous debut against Tyson Fury, Francis Ngannou is back in Saudi Arabia trying to kick up a stir in the heavyweight division once again. In the build up to his fight with Fury most people felt that Ngannou was a mere circus act, crossing over from MMA to take on the world number 1 in an exhibition with little to no danger for the world champion. Fury won but the image of Ngannou standing over him, with the gigantic Fury looking back up at him from the canvas is already iconic in the annals of boxing history, and it’s that very moment that makes this upcoming fight with Anthony Joshua interesting.
Much has been read into the Fury vs Ngannou fight and many theories have been pedaled on why Fury struggled so badly with a boxing debutant. All those theories can be debated long and hard into the night but one fact that cannot be denied is that Fury, who has been in attendance at fight week this week in Riyadh, is looking much fitter and healthier than he did in the build up to his fight against Ngannou. Perhaps if it turns out that Fury truly did underprepare for Ngannou as speculated and merely got caught cold on the night against a fighter who was just a little bit better than expected, then that could play into our prediction for the A.J. fight. Maybe Joshua will have the experience that we all expected Fury to have and will be able to bamboozle Ngannou with superior boxing skills and get a wide points win or maybe a stoppage.
One thing you can bank on with Joshua is that he will turnup in shape and prepared for every fight, something which cannot be echoed for WBC world champion Tyson Fury. The thing about Joshua which is never guaranteed is which fighting style he’s going to adopt, and a prediction is really dependent on the tactics we think A.J. go with. Given the power Ngannou exhibited against Fury and the natural size and strength of the Cameroonian, I think Joshua will see plenty of peril mixing it up in this fight and I think we may be more likely to see the version of the Englishman we saw in the Andy Ruiz rematch rather than the version that steamrolled Dillian Whyte all those years ago. The inherent danger coupled with the fact that Joshua is now being trained by former Fury coach Ben Davison, who is know for preferring defensive, safety first tactics, this main event has all the hallmarks of an A.J. points win.
Verdict: Anthony Joshua – PTS
Zhilei Zhang (C) vs Joseph Parker – (WBO interim heavyweight title bout)
For the boxing purists this is probably the fight that gets the juices flowing more than other from Friday’s card in Riyadh. There so much on the line for both fighters, with the WBO interim title basically meaning that they are the mandatory challenger for current world champion Oleksandr Usyk, but with the four sanctioning bodies world titles looking like they could be tied up for quite some time, it is imperative for both of Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker to keep their places at the top of the queue of challengers.
Chinese man Zhang has really developed into the boogeyman of the heavyweight division in recent times, stealing that mantle from Joe Joyce after two devastating knock out wins over the Englishman. The career best victories over Joyce were preceded by a loss to Filip Hrgovic in a fight many, including myself, felt he won. Based on those three fights Zhang’s confidence will be sky-high and he’ll feel if he can use his significant size advantage against the smaller Parker, then he’ll have enough to grind out a win and possibly knock-out.
Across the ring from Zhang will be another man who is probably on the final lap of his career and another fighter that is going through a purple patch, including come off a career best victory over Deontay Wilder. New Zealand’s Joseph Parker has been a world champion in the past and since he teamed up with Andy Lee as his coach, he has been on a mission to get back to the apex of the heavyweight division. A four-fight winning streak and the confidence from the display against Wilder have a lot of people picking Parker in this one, and it really does look like a flick of a coin type of fight.
This fight is definitely a clash of styles and might come down to the tactics. Lee said after the win against Wilder that he had instructed Parker to throw punches when Wilder threw, to fight fire with fire. This is likely to be Parker’s strategy again and its success will depend on how Zhang reacts. Zhang is a bigger and heavier opponent than Wilder and if he’s able to lean his body on Parker and tire him out, it could lead to openings to attack a jaded Parker when he decides to exchange punches.
Verdict: Zhilei Zhang – KO
Rey Vargas (C) vs Nick Ball (WBC featherweight title bout)
Mexican Rey Vargas defends his WBC world title against Englishman Nick Ball and this is another fight where the physical differences between the fighters is extreme. Champion Vargas stands at 5 foot 10 inches while challenger Ball looks up at him from a whole 8 inches lower down. In a boxing ring that extreme a height difference must be considered when predicting an outcome. The size variance and contrasting styles sets up an intriguing fight. Ball as an almost always naturally smaller fighter, fights with a style not too dissimilar to Mike Tyson’s peekaboo method, and he relies on explosive attacks using his low center of gravity. Ball has plenty of power but his most recent step up against former world champion Isaac Dogboe ended up going to the judges score cards, begging the question does the Liverpudlian’s power translate to world level fights? The fight against Vargas will answer our question but don’t expect the Mexican to exchange too much at close range. Vargas will respect Ball’s power and given that there hasn’t been a knockout in a Rey Vargas fight in any of his last nine, don’t expect this one to buck the trend. The champion very likely choose to keep the bullish challenger Ball on the end of a very long and frustrating jab for the night and get out of Saudi Arabia with his belt.
Verdict: Vargas – PTS