IT'S still both strange and satisfying to see Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn together some five months after they were first photographed together, just moments after they first met. Of course, we know why they're together, but one still wonders where we all might have been if they hadn't been apart for so long.
This Monday, a five-minute trailer filled with cost, style and stupidity was released to promote the lower part – yes, the lower part – of a bill championed by Artur Beterbiev. with Dmitry Bivol in Saudi Arabia on June 1. Clearly influenced by Guy Ritchie, the director who emerged in the 1990s with at least one character clearly influenced by Frank Warren, the trailer for 5 v 5 is pure cinema and will be hard to resist. okay again.
The 5 vs 5 concept was Turki Alalshikh's idea and like all the best ideas, it's a simple one. Five fighters from Queensberry stables will fight five fighters from Matchroom stables. It's an idea that makes so much sense that not long ago, the fact that these rival promoters were acquaintances was so completely unbelievable, it would have been laughed out of the room. Back then, we were talking just under 12 months ago, the last time Frank and Eddie shared screen time was when one of them was invited to provoke the other in a YouTube video.
The trailer, which begins with Frank and Eddie placing their cards on a table in a dark room, ends with Warren – who can now be considered an acting side hustle, ala Vinnie Jones – roaring growled, “June 1ststMake sure your mobs are there.”
Let us not forget that Warren called for this long before Alalshikh did it. In the summer of 2020, as coronavirus raged, our front page headline was 'Unite' after Queensberry opened their arms to Matchroom to make the kind of fight needed to take the sport This escapes the hole it found itself in after the pandemic. Hearn – suspicious of his rival's motives – seemed less interested and even a proposed coffee date failed to materialise.
Here we are, not four years later, and it feels like someone dropped a pill of acid in my morning beer. That's how surreal all of this feels, how wild it all really is, and why we're all wondering when the ride will end and the comedy will hit us where it's at. What level?
Now, however, it's almost impossible not to join the party. After all, these fights and Alalshikh's philosophy are exactly what fans have been waiting for: Evenly matched fights from top to bottom, the best and the best but guaranteed, the sanctioning bodies just an afterthought.
The main event alone is reason enough to watch. Beterbiev vs. Bivol is a true 50/50 clash between two of the best fighters in the entire sport. For years, it has been near the top of our wish list. Even longer, it seemed destined to never happen.
What the undercard brings is a lot of meaningful competition. In the heavyweight division, we have Deontay Wilder – making his Matchroom debut at the age of 38 – taking on Zhilhei Zhang. The irony is that Matchroom, when the only money they had to play with was their own, tried and failed to convince Wilder to agree to fight Anthony Joshua because what felt like forever was not lost. In the same tournament, Queensberry stalwart Daniel Dubois will face undefeated Filip Hrgovic.
Before we go any further, let's add some context to those three matches. In the TBRB and BN world rankings, Beterbiev is the light-heavyweight champion and Bivol is number one. In the heavyweight division, Zhang is fifth while Wilder is 10thlame pants and Hrgovic was fourth to Dubois's ninth.
At middleweight, No. 10 Hamzah Sheeraz (Queensberry) will take on ninth-ranked Austin 'Ammo' Williams and, in what is arguably the best fight of the undercard, the promoters have put two of their most valuable assets on the line. They square off at featherweight as Warren Nick Ball (ranked third) battles Hearn's Ray Ford (ranked seventh) in a contest filled with intrigue. The other bout features two Brits on the fringes of the 175lbs rankings as Matchroom's Craig Richards takes on Willy Hutchinson.
As main events go, it's right up there with the best. Likewise, the lower card. But don't get carried away and say the sport is better than ever – we're not there yet. People are still calling for some overall structure and long-term planning to set a precedent for creating today's headlines. However valuable today's lessons are, one hopes that when the inevitable happens, and one day it will, we already know exactly what to do.
awards season
Elliot Worsell and BN won a bunch of gongs from the BWAA
This week IT brought me considerable joy to learn that Boxing News had won four 'Bernie' Awards from the esteemed Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and BN, after winning eight leading in six categories, making it the leading agency for 2023.
Elliot Worsell, a great friend and an even better writer, won three awards and earned second place himself. To anyone who reads and appreciates Elliot's work, that should come as no surprise. I had long admired Elliot before convincing him to join BN a few years ago. He writes with such effortless brilliance that it always leaves me baffled as to how he does it. Although his talent makes people jealous, it is the product of his entire life.
The great Thomas Hauser retained his award for best investigative reporting and there were also places for Oliver Fennell and Jack Hirsch with 'honorable mentions' going to Hauser, Fennell, Tris Dixon and Lewis Watson.
Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to the BWAA for recognizing the quality of our content.
