A critical look at the past week in boxing.
GOOD
The sight of an aging former champion giving a hot young star all he can handle is always inspiring.
That’s what Viktor Postol did against junior welterweight titleholder Jose Ramirez on Saturday in Las Vegas. He boxed beautifully, moved well, was tough when he had to be and nearly pulled off one of the bigger upsets in recent years.
The fact he came up short – losing a majority decision – had to be frustrating for the 36-year-old Ukrainian, who knows such opportunities are precious. However, he left the ring with the admiration of everyone who witnessed his effort.
In fact, his performance probably changed the perception of him to some degree. He has been seen as a good fighter but not quite at the level of such stars as Terence Crawford and Josh Taylor, both of whom defeated him by unanimous decisions.
On Saturday, he fought on even terms with that-level opponent. One judge and Boxing Junkie scored the fight 114-114. That’s a significant accomplishment, perhaps along the lines of Nonito Donaire’s strong performance against Naoya Inoue last year.
That has to provide Postol some gratification. After all, he did something special. That’s precious, too.
Ramirez?
He might be excused for a flat performance. He hadn’t fought in 13 months. The fight was postponed twice because of COVID-19 before it finally happened, meaning Ramirez and Postol had to endure three camps. He also cited personal problems.
And, in the end, he had his hand raised. No one said every fight was going to be easy.
Still, Ramirez didn’t look like a pound-for-pound fighter, which is the image of him that will stick for a while. Of course, you’re only as good as your last fight. His performance on Saturday will be forgotten if he fights and beats Taylor for all the 140-pound titles.
BAD
First, Dillian Whyte. Now Oleksandr Usyk?
Whyte entered his fight against Alexander Povetkin as the longstanding mandatory challenger to the WBC heavyweight title, held by Tyson Fury. Had he beaten Povetkin, the Fury-Deontay Wilder winner might’ve been forced to defend against Whyte or risk being stripped of the belt.
Thank goodness Povetkin won, which seemed to open the door to a fight between the winners of Fury-Wilder and Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Now promoter Eddie Hearn is suggesting that Oleksandr Usyk could stand in the way of a title-unification fight. The former undisputed cruiserweight champion reportedly will become the WBO’s mandatory challenger to Joshua’s title if Usyk beats Derek Chisora this fall.
That, Hearn said, could put Joshua – if he beats Pulev – in a position where he must choose between the WBO belt and a fight with Fury or Wilder. So, if Hearn is right, we could be back where we were with Whyte.
What the hell is going on here?
I understand the purpose of mandatory challengers. In theory, the system forces titleholders to defend against the best possible opponents. However, you and I know better. Many times, fighters are maneuvered into the top position because it benefits greedy sanctioning bodies. And only occasionally does the system produce fights fans want to see most.
Are the alphabet organizations really going to be allowed to stand in the way of a fight that will produce an undisputed heavyweight champion, which is good for sport? Let’s hope not.
WORSE
Tim Tszyu’s breakthrough performance against Jeff Horn on Wednesday in Australia could’ve landed in the “good” category in this column. Instead, the actions of Jeff Horn’s trainer stole the focus.
The talented son of Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu was brilliant in his demolition of the former welterweight titleholder, who survived only eight of a scheduled 10 rounds. We might be witnessing the rise of a true star down under.
Of course, Tszyu was celebrated afterward. However, a conversation between Horn and trainer Glenn Rushton at the end of the fight dominated much of the conversation even days after the fact.
Horn was exhausted, beaten, unable to defend himself adequately, utterly spent as he sat on his stool after the eighth round. And everyone watching knew it – except Rushton, apparently.
The trainer asked Horn whether he had one more minute in him, one more punch, the hope being that he could produce a miracle. That’s not Rushton’s job. His most important function is to determine whether his fighter is in danger of serious injury and save him from it.
In the end, it was another cornerman who told the referee to stop the fight and Horn remained on his stool.
Some observers have called for the revocation of Rushton’s license to work corners. That might be over the top. However, it’s particularly difficult to defend him when he refused to admit afterward that he had done anything wrong.
The fact is he did. He was willing to place his fighter in undue danger to give him a minuscule chance winning. Once again: We need to do a better job of protecting the fighters.
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