Eddie Hearn confirm New Ring Size for Billy Joe

Does your ring seem small between the ropes, or the same size as a ring that you see on boxing events?

 

The referee will be Mark Calo-oy.

 

I'm not sure about this, as Texas ring size rules specifically state that they allow a ring to be anywhere between 16 feet and 24 feet inside the ropes :

https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/sports/sportsrules.htm#61106

(1) Rings shall be square with sides not less than 16 feet or more than 24 feet inside the ropes, and the floor shall extend at least 24 inches beyond the ropes on all sides

In Britian, however the rules specificially state that 20 feet is the maximum size allowed inside the ropes :

http://bbbofc.com/content/rules-boxing-0

3.4 All contests shall be decided in a four-rope ring not less than 16 foot nor more than 20 feet square and with the ropes joined together in the centre of each side.

From what Eddie Hearn is saying, the standard inner ring in Britain appears to be only 18 feet.

However, the First rule in the Marquess of Queensberry Rules reads :

1. To be a fair stand-up boxing match in a 24-foot ring, or as near that size as practicable.

So by that, are we to interpret the Marquess of Queensberry Rule #1 as referring the "inner" ring inside the ropes or of the canvas edge?

Because if that's referring to the inner ring, along the ropes, then the Marquess of Queensberry Rule #1 would be 4 feet larger than the current maximum allowable ring size in Britain, and 6 feet larger than the standard British Ring size of 18 feet, which is hard to believe. Can someone please shed some light on this, because this is a pretty big revelation it seems. You might say the MoQ rules must be referring to the outer ring, but the vernacular regarding ring size in the Britain rules refer to the inner ring. And in Germany's boxing rules, it reads like the Marquess of Queensberry Rule #1 allowing for a 24 foot ring, without specificying whether that's referring to outer or inner ring, but when Fury fought Wladimir in Germany, that inner ring appeared to be larger than 20 feet.

It's unclear to me exactly how big the inner ring was for Fury vs Klitchsko in Germany, but the inner ring between the ropes looked huge and bigger than 20 feet. It had to be either 22 feet or 24 feet. It seems that Germany, unlike Britain, allows a larger than 20 foot inner ring, which may be why Fury elected to fight Klitchsko there.

All this suggests the MoQ rule #1 is referring to the inner ring when it states it should be 24 feet. If that's the case, then the current standard in Britain and throughout the world is FAR smaller than what was specified in the MoQ rules. I just find it hard to believe that Britain today doesn't even allow a ring to be even CLOSE to the ring size specified in the MoQ rules.

Regardless, one thing is clear - according to the rules of Texas vs Britain, this inner ring on Saturday will in fact be larger than the maximum allowed ring size allowed in Britain. Which makes it interesting for Saunders to come over to the States and demand this ring size, a ring size that is not even allowed in his home country.

When Joshua fought Wladimir, for example, that appears to be a 18 foot inner ring which according to Eddie is the Matchroom standard. There wasn't much room for those Heavyweights to maneuver, which surely led to all the knockdowns.

For Fury vs Wilder 1 and 2, that inner ring was apparently 20 feet, because it looks bigger than the ring was in London for Joshua Klitschko and I've read reports that Wilder and Fury had agreed to a 20 foot (inner) ring before hand.

So this ring for Canelo Saunders will be apparently 2 feet bigger than the ring for Fury vs Wilder 1 and 2 and 4 feet bigger than the ring was for Joshua vs Wladimir. For Super Middleweights to have a much larger ring than the Heavyweights had, that's really something.

 

Looking back at Fury vs Wilder, I'm thinking that the inner ring for the rematch may have only been 18 feet, while the inner ring for their first match may have been 20 feet, because just looking at the footage, the ring for the first match looks larger. And this may have played a role in why Fury was so aggressive in the rematch, knowing that he would be in a smaller ring, knowing that he couldn't box as much. Maybe Wilder insisted on a smaller ring for the rematch?

Did anyone notice this? Look at the ring size for both of the Fury vs Wilder fights, can anyone confirm that the first ring looked bigger? Also the height of the top rope looks higher in the first match, in the rematch Fury towers over the top rope, much like Joshua towered over the top rope when he fought Klitschko in London. But in the first Wilder Fury match, the top rope seemed higher, maybe because it was a 20 foot inner ring.

 

OK, first, you're describing the ring size by the size of each side of the ring edge itself, however if you read the rules of Texas and Britain I posted above, they describe the ring size by its inner ring dimension (inside the ropes), or how long each side of the ropes are from turnbuckle to turnbuckle.

So in fairness to Billy Joe, he's not altering the method of calculating ring size, as both the Britain and Texas boxing rules specify ring size according to the inner ring betwen the ropes, or the length of one side of the ropes from turnbuckle to turnbuckle. However I think this is a source of major confusion when people or talk about ring sizes. There's a lot of details that I think people are glossing over. People think that the standard ring size is 20 feet by 20 feet, and probably think that refers to the area between the ropes, when it's not, as the standard area between the ropes, at least in Britain, appears to be only 18 feet by 18 feet, and since the apron is so small for most boxing events, that it makes a side of the outer ring edge only about 20 feet.

For an 18 foot inner ring, the actual size of one side of the canvas edge may be anywhere between 20 feet or 22 feet, depending on how large the apron length is (the area between the ropes and the edge of the canvas) which may vary. So when Eddie says the standard inner ring for Matchroom in Britain is 18 feet, I think he's right about that, but I'm not convinced that the size of his rings are are 22 feet, I think it's less just by looking at how much room there is between the rope and the canvas edge was for Saunders Murray, for example, it looks like there's barely a foot between the ropes and the edge of the canvas, which would make the outer ring only 20 feet, not 22 feet, as he claims.

But your gym rings may have a larger apron, maybe 2 feet instead of 1 foot, like for trainers or cameramen to stand on. Whereas for most boxing events, the apron is smaller. I've seen aprons so small in boxing events, that cameramen who stand on the edge of the ring need a platform to stand on next to the ring. I think that's what's going on here.

I think Eddie is under the impression that his ring aprons are 2 feet when they're actually only 1 foot, which is how he came up with 22 feet, but he knows for sure how long the side of the inner ring is between the ropes, which is only 18 feet. Does that make sense?

 

I just want to say this. As much as a fan of Canelo that I am, and as much as a bigger ring clearly gives Billy an advantage, I am on Saunders side when it comes to the ring. This bigger ring might be what causes Saunders to win, but that's not enough for me to use this as an excuse in the event Canelo loses. I always have been of the belief that boxing rings are too small and I think Team Saunders hit on something very important here. Over time, ring sizes have gotten much smaller than they should be, as specified in the Marquess of Queensberry rules as 24 feet, which it seems to me was referring to the inner ring between the ropes.

For Saunders own country to not even allow an inner ring larger than 20 feet when the Marquess of Queensberry specify 24 feet is pretty mind blowing, and I hope that this is addressed moving forward. Surely there are a lot of boxing purists here that should take issue with this discrepancy. While many might think a bigger ring makes for a less entertaining match, I disagree. A bigger ring allows more skill and maneuverability to be showcased. But I can see why rings have become smaller over time, because promoters like knockouts and the smaller the ring, the more knockouts.

Smaller rings of 18 feet inside the ropes should really be reserved for smaller weight classes in my opinion. For Heavyweights or Super Middleweights, the inner ring should be at least 20 feet, if not larger. A 22 foot inner ring will be much bigger than what we're used to for Super Middleweights, and it may propel Saunders to victory. But after the dust settles on Saturday, this is something that I think needs to be addressed moving forward. Although fans like action and fighters to be in close quarters, I truly believe that a bigger ring, like a 20 foot or even a 22 foot inner ring does make for a more strategic and intersting matchup and for fighters to maneuver more as was intended by the Marquess of Queensberry rules.

Somehow over time rings became much smaller, but I'm glad that Texas still allows bigger rings closer to the Marquess of Queensbury standard, and a 22 foot inner ring is suitable for this encounter. I would like to see boxing move to a 20 foot inner ring being the standard moving forward instead of only 18 feet, and for major matchups like unifications especially those at higher weight classes like in this case, 22 feet should be an option. Especially in London, where Boxing was originated, to have a standard of only 18 when Marquess of Queensberry specifies 24 feet, that's far too small. I think generally boxing would be enhanced by larger rings, though of course this may not be popular for many fans as it would allow boxers to run and avoid engage. But I think we will see on Saturday how much better a bigger inner ring makes an event, and we could be in for a classic encounter.

 

If a 20 foot ring inside the ropes felt huge, then imagine how much bigger a 22 foot ring inside the ropes will be which Canelo and Saunders will be fighting in on Saturday. Especially for non-Heavyweights.

A 22 foot inner ring is 484 square feet, while an 18 foot inner ring is 324 square feet. This means that a 22 foot inner ring is roughly 50% larger than the standard 18 foot inner ring.

 

@RealDeal can you help me out here. I'm looking back at some of Canelo's fights from the past and trying to determine how big the inner ring was. For Canelo GGG 1 and 2, how big do you reckon that inner ring was, 18 feet or 20 feet? I'm guessing it was 20 feet, but I'm not sure.

Looking way back to Canelo vs Liam Smith when he last fought at AT&T Stadium, I suspect that might have been only 18 feet. What do you think?

Vs Kovalev, I'm not sure, either 18 feet or 20 feet, I'm guessing 20 feet. I seem to have a very hard time differentiating between 18 or 20 feet for the inner ring. But perhaps all of Canelo's recent fights in America have had a 20 feet inner ring, whereas Billy was stuck fighting in the smaller 18 feet, at least in his last 2 fights.

Also another question, when Billy fought David Lemieux in Canada, do you reckon that was a 20 foot inner ring or a 22 foot inner ring?

Now I'm thinking Saunders vs Isufi had to be a 20 foot inner ring, since that's the maximum allowable in Britain and it was clearly bigger than the ring in his recent match vs Murray which had to be only 18 feet since Hearn confirmed it.