I had doubts about Jared Anderson, but taking Zhan after Martin is refreshment in heavyweight.

Read again, I'm talking about his first championship, you know when he was 9-0 and had beaten nobody of note? You know, the way "only Brits and Americans" can?

 

Yeah he's a bit of a joker on camera too, comedy is universal so him not speaking English doesn't matter in that regard.

Also all the vids of him dancing going viral on boxing boards helped get him noticed more.

The problem with a lot of EE fighters is they just don't know how to promote themselves. Joyce for example when he turned pro signed with bloody David Haye! Promoters were not knocking down his door because he was seen as too old. Warren probably only signed him to lose to Dubois and was just covering his bases. But he beat Dubois and he's learned to be better in front of the camera and used his capoeira skills at the end of fights to give people something to remember. So even if they don't remember his name they do remember that big heavyweight that can do kicks and flips.

 

AJ won a gold medal in his home country, that's bigger than just winning gold in another foreign country, it means more people get to see you for a start as the fights are aired in the time zone where your potential fans are.

No doubt it helps if you are a from a country where there is a built in market for boxing. That was Yoka's error he tried to build boxing in France off his name alone, he said he wanted to do in France what Joshua did in the UK. But UK had already had a long history of boxing and a market already there to follow any rising star.

Yoka really should of based himself in the US or the UK and signed to a big promoter who could promote him properly and he shouldn't have missed all those drug tests and end up not fighting for the a year because of that, that really stalled his career. He also simply wasn't as marketable as Joshua who looks like a freak of nature and knew how to use the media to build his popularity.

Look at Fury's career. Even after he beat Wlad he wasn't a big draw. Being a Brit isn't enough, being a Brit and world champion isn't even enough. He didn't know how to work the media instead saying the wrong thing and turning the press against him. He did eventually learn to play the media to his benefit which is why he's now a bigger draw.

EE fighters need to learn to become more promotable, learn to know how to sell themselves, how to use social media. Being good just isn't enough.

 

Anderson is a good fighter.

I'm not sure about all the psychological nonsense going on with him at the moment.

I remember when Holyfield said he was going to retire at 30, and Roy Jones said he was going to quit in his 20s after what happened with Gerald McClellan, and they are still in there getting knocked around.

So, until his mental state becomes an issue, I'll just focus on his ring performances, which are entertaining.

Top Rank wanted a blowout win for Anderson and didn't get it. Had he won, he'd probably be fighting Fury next.

So, having a tough 10-rounder with Martin likely was the best thing for him in the short term.

People who said Anderson nearly got knocked out twice on Saturday are exaggerating, of course. He was nearly knocked DOWN twice. Truth is, he never got dropped, won eight or nine of the 10 rounds and Martin was the only guy who got floored.

All heavyweights get hurt in fights. If he's going to get visibly rocked in every fight, I'll keep tuning in.

If he gets rocked and comes back to win, that'll make him one exciting guy to watch.

And if he's going to fight regularly, even better.

Maybe he'll be the modern version of Floyd Patterson? If he can manage that, we'll be glad to have him.

You can become a very popular fighter in the US if you are vulnerable, get hurt and rally, punch hard enough to turn fights around and still come out the winner.

 

I don't think a fighter needs to be a dominant world champion to be world class. By my definition a fighter who captures some claim to the world title meets the definition of world class. To me it doesn't mean all time great it means as opposed to like domestic or local class

 

You might not have doubts of Jared Anderson but surely you must have doubts of the heavyweight landscape. Jared Anderson couldn't knockout Charles Martin, someone AJ handily disposed of in 2 rounds over 5 years ago, Anderson got rocked too.

In 3 years there will be no Fury boxing, no Joshua boxing, no Wilder boxing, no Usyk boxing, no Whyte boxing, no Chisora boxing. This is very bad for the sport.

 

That wasn't one of the original criteria, otherwise you'd have rebuffed my original Loma comment, don't move the goal posts.

 

What's the narrative though? The narrative has to be believable and intriguing if you want to gain public interest.

Let's say Anderson beats Joshua in a hard fought decision in 12 - 24 months time, he just had a hard fight with Charles Martin which Joshua made mince meat out of in 2016. This narrative for example is **** and not intriguing, hence you've lost pubic interest, the sport will suffer because of that.

 

Bringing Jake Paul into a boxing discussion does nothing for your credibility.

Boxing is a business, fighters have to entertain the fans either by giving exciting fights or by showing some personality or charisma. Fighters like Hrgovic and Dychko literally have no idea how to promote themselves they just fight and expect people will adore them, that's not how it works and no amount of complaining alters the reality of that.

You think someone as crude as Chisora is making millions at the tail end of his career because he's British and that's enough for him to have success? No he worked hard to promote himself, especially as most people first memory of him is showing up fat and losing his British title to Fury. He was just another Brit heavyweight with no fan base, making little money, but he kept fighting and when he got a shot at Klitchko he made sure win or lose people remembered him, from slapping Klitschko, to provoking Haye to glassing him, to giving fans countless wars in the ring, to showing up covered in white paint looking like a ghost at a press conference he promoted himself and in the end he became a fan favourite and with that came opportunities.

Hrgovic in contrast, what has he done other that the bare minimum to make himself memorable to the public and the fans. Joyce walked in with a stupid looking juggernaut helmet for one fight, he looked like an idiot but guess what people noticed him and remembered him because of stunts like this.

So you can complain and whine all you like about unfair it is but the fact is if the deck is stacked against EE fighters then they need to work harder to be noticed by the fans not just sit back, do nothing and just complain like you are doing. The world doesn't owe people a favour you get what you deserve and right now some of these EE fighters are not putting the work in to become fans favourites.

The one that do like Loma, GGG, Usyk seem to have not problem getting fans to watch their fights. Same with the Klitchko's who were big in Germany and for a long time the biggest draws at heavyweight.

 

Good for him. Acting like a true Viking, death or glory.

Yeah, he underperformed badly against Martin but fighters have bad days at the office, or run into guys who stylistically negate their best strengths. That's why it's important to have these fights early, so you always have that respect in the back of your mind not to underestimate anyone. Hopefully VP has watched back the fight and will take steps to focus on the issues raised. A guy like him needs to keep his feet on the ground.

 

If VP keeps up a high workrate without overcommitting himself on any one shot he should be able to make his greater speed and reach work for him and keep Zhan shelled up behind his high guard. If he lets Zhan walk him down by being too predictable or lacking assertiveness he might be in trouble from Zhan's compact consistent body head attacks, which don't carry one hit KO power but can gruellingly wear opponents down.

It's a 50-50 fight on paper, though I'm rooting for the Viking as I find Zhan pretty dull and mediocre in almost all categories. VP at least has a bit of pizzazz about him.

 

"The one that do like Loma, GGG, Usyk seem to have not problem getting fans to watch their fights. Same with the Klitchko's who were big in Germany and for a long time the biggest draws at heavyweight"

That's because they're hardened, proven and legitimate world level caliber prize fighters. They're apart of a sport that has a deep pedigree who have world renowned generational (50 years or more) promotional companies supporting them.