By Eóin Kennedy
It was another busy week in the wacky world of boxing and we’re here to bring you our musings once again. The WBC have called purse bids for Devin Haney vs Sandor Martin, what next for Josh Taylor after another defeat, and what’s left in Deontay Wilder as he heads into his bout with Zhilei Zhang? Check out our thoughts below.
Martin Exactly What Haney Doesn’t Need Right Now
WBC super-lightweight world champion Devin Haney has barely had a moment to catch his breath since his now infamous fight with Ryan Garcia. That result is likely to be overturned from a loss to a no contest by the New York State Athletic Commission and as world champion, Haney doesn’t have too much time to ponder what has transpired as the WBC have called purse bids to take place on June 18th for his title defence against mandatory challenger Sandor Martin. Despite the fact Haney’s loss to Garcia is likely to be stricken from the record books, no one can ever erase the memory of what happened in Brooklyn, New York that night. Regardless of whether he was fighting a drug-cheat of an opponent or not, we saw what we saw and that was Devin Haney’s imperious defense desert him and the notoriously elusive fighter looked easy to hit. Sandor Martin’s team won’t care that Garcia was fighting with an unfair advantage, they’ll analyze the tape and look for holes that were evident in Haney’s uncharacteristically leaky defense. It can’t be understated how much personal tension was carried into the Haney-Garcia fight and this certainly threw Haney off his gameplan as he tried to inflict pain on Garica, when that’s just not his style. He won’t encounter the same problem with Martin as there’s no known bad blood, but the Spaniard offers a different conundrum. Martin is a very tricky customer with a fighting style that is not pleasing for fans and is even less popular with his opponents. The second of Martin’s only two losses came a year and a half ago to WBO world champion Teofimo Lopez in a fight that many felt he did enough to win, showing that he is more than capable of mixing it with the top dogs in the division. While Haney is usually a defensive and tactical fighter himself, the emotions of the Garcia fight influenced how he fought, and it will be interesting to see if he can seamlessly readjust to working meticulously behind a smooth jab. It remains to be seen what trauma the whole Garcia debacle has caused Haney, but when a fighter needs a bout to get their confidence back, Sandor Martin is not the type of operator you want staring across the ring from you. As far as mandatory challengers go, Devin Haney would have been hoping for an easier assignment.
What Next for Josh Taylor?
Officially the score stands at 1-1 in the Josh Taylor-Jack Catterall rivalry but given the circumstances of the first fight, most have it mentally tallied as 2-0 in Catterall’s favour and as a result a trilogy is not in high demand. Jack Catterall will move ahead with his career and look to challenge for a world title in his next fight, but for former undisputed champion of the world, Josh Taylor, the road map back to the top of the sport isn’t so clear. Three years ago, when Taylor picked up the undisputed crown it looked like the world was his oyster but with three tough fights on the bounce since, a loss to Teofimo Lopez bookended by the Catterall fights, the Scotsman’s place in the current world of boxing doesn’t seem so clear. On his current form Taylor wouldn’t be fancied to beat the champions at super-lightweight and should he go up to welterweight his prospects may not look so promising either with the likes of Jaron Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis waiting upstairs. That’s not to say Taylor isn’t good enough to win a world title at a second weight class, he certainly has that pedigree, but the question is how much is left in the tank and what route should he take. Given that Taylor isn’t a destructive puncher, regrouping and launching one last attack on the super-lightweight division is still likely the best course of action for The Tartan Tornado.
What’s Left of Wilder?
Next Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia fans will be treated to a very fun concept when promoters Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn go head-to-head in a 5 vs 5 event that will pit Queensbury and Matchroom fighters against one another. In the showcase battle Deontay Wilder will face Zhilei Zhang, and much more than trying to earn some pride for Hearn, Wilder will be taking to the ring attempting to salvage his career. Undoubtedly a fearsome and concussive destroyer at his best, it remains to be seen how close to that peak the former world champion can reach once again. His trilogy with Tyson Fury will go down in boxing history as one of the great rivalries but since then Wilder has ventured into what could be described as semi-retirement. In the past three years the former world champion has only fought twice, a first-round win against Robert Helenius and a loss to Joseph Parker, so there’s not much evidence to suggest whether or not he can reach the apex of the division again. Zhang appeared to be enjoying an Indian summer in his career until he was also defeated by Parker back in March and at forty-one years old, he too is pulling up a stool in the last chance saloon. The difference between the two is that Zhang is still fighting to become a world champion for the first time whereas Wilder is trying to get himself back into the mix with the division’s top fighters. Considering what’s happened in recent months at heavyweight there’s certainly going to be opportunities for fighters to win world titles once the belts become fragmented after the Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk rematch, but perhaps just as tantalizing is the Saudi money that has been pumped into boxing and into the heavyweights in particular. Wilder undoubtedly wants to reign supreme once more and enjoy the rewards that come with it, but it all depends on how much he has left in the tank, and if it’s enough to see off his older opponent next Saturday.
