With the controversy inside of the ring for many years now, in regard to horrendous score cards and extremely bad refereeing and now ongoing controversy outside of the ring, it’s got me thinking about the current state of British boxing Once a nation known for its integrity, honestly and sportsmanship, it seems with the monopoly Matchroom now has over the sport, all these values, values the British public hold so dear have gone out the window Having followed the sport for around 20 years now, In my opinion the sport in the UK is currently at an all time low. What are others opinions on the state of British boxing? A side question for me also is, has a Matchroom fighter ever lost a close match on a Matchroom show (in a world title fight) or has a Matchroom fighter ever served a ban for a for a doping offence? Peace
For me as an outsider British boxing is a total farce right now. The current doping situation also makes me fear for the UK Olympic team for 2020, who I now believe are free to dope up to the Olympics too.
We were known for foreign fighters coming here and getting a fair deal, sometimes almost to the detriment of our fighters. That’s gone now.
The judging scoring is no worse than other countries such America and Germany. Unfortunately the more marketable stars for any Promotion such as Top Rank, PBC, Matchroom and Queensbberry always get more favaoruable scoring. A few examples off the top my head Korobov Charlo Martin vs Kownacki Yildirim vs Dirrell Porter vs Spence Jennings vs Joyce (right result but the cards were awful). Wallin vs Fury (right result but the cards were awful). Ryder vs Smith The scoring in cards in Wilder fights vs Spzilka, Washington, Ortiz 1 and Fury. Canelo vs GGG in both fights and Lara.
Why? Ryder v Smith was one of the worst robberies I've seen. Hearn robs his own fighters to protect a payday it's got so bad.
British boxing is as good as its ever been. Who cares what non brits think, go support your own like we do.
When was this golden era? I have followed the sport for nearly 40 years and do not ever remember a time when your statement was true. Indeed, one of my first boxing memories was my Dad coming home, bemoaning that although a big fan of Magri, Charlie was thrashed by the Argentine, but Charlie got the nod... That turned out to be no disgrace as the fighter in question was Santos Laciar, but it showed like all Countries we looked after our own. Thanks to the Olympic legacy the sport is now as strong as it has been this side of World War II, we have world class operators all over the place and can sell out Stadia and Arenas pretty much at a whim. We have never had it so good!
I disagree it wasn’t a robbery. But hypothetically even if it was, why does that mean the quality of British boxing is bad
I think the posters right to be honest. The good ole US of Arse for example is a shining example to the rest of the world when it comes to fighters and athletes in general being cleaner than a Nuns crutch and the judging of boxing matches (Adelaide Byrd) being beyond reproach................
I think i should clarify, I was not stating the quality of fighters we have currently but way in which the sport is being ran and governed in the U.K in reference to the issues i have quoted in my OP the blatant cheating inside and outside of the ring, the fact we are now known for always favouring home fighters even when its obvious they lost or got stupid scorecards in close fights the obvious manner in which refs/judges like Terry Oconnor only ever favour Matchroom fighters IIRC 4/5 years ago we had 13 world champions and at that point it was more than any other country, so this post was in no reference to the quality of the fighters. not sure where that confusion came from Surely no one can argue the primary boxing promotion company in the U.K is showing the sport in a good light
I have to disagree. Boxing has always had its unsavoury underbelly and there's never been a halcyon time where decisions were unsullied by that side of it. I just think these days, with the internet, more 'objective' / unbought eyes on fights etc that there's more awareness. British boxing has its faults, as does every other nations boxing, but this is a comparatively strong era, some decent boxers, lots of interest from fans, plenty of shows available and at least two relatively strong promoter/channel teams capable of putting on big fights domestically.
