Turki and Riyadh Season say "No more runners"

Ajagba boxed his head off for 4 rounds iirc. And then Bakole had a good round, and Ajagba spent the rest of the time running. The draw seemed fair given that Bakole was the sole aggressor for half the fight.

certainly wasn’t like the Scull fight though.

 

Keep in mind that the fighters who are forced to chase the supposed runner are also as much to blame for making the fight boring as well.

There's nothing wrong with ensuring that the fight is still watchable but there has to be a common ground where it still makes it fair. If a boxer is better at fighting on the outside and the opponent is stronger and better on the inside the out-boxer should NOT be forced to play into the in-fighters advantage just because the other fighter is having a harder time catching up. It's the fighter that's coming forward that also has to make an effort to cut the ring off, make it physical and uncomfortable where they FORCE the out-boxer to fight their fight.

If you say "no more runners" then you should also say "no more slow plodders" as well. The entertainment value of the fight depends on the stylistic match up as well. There's only so much you can do to make the fight exciting if their both styles mesh well together. It takes two to tango. But don't force every fighters to abide by the "no running" rule by having them abandon defense and actual boxing skills completely.

 

They aren't telling anyone HOW to fight. Guys perceived as runners just won't get a fight on their cards, is how I see that.

 

Exactly this

 

Actually brings some good points. There should be a happy medium of being both good to watch while still maintaining skill and finesse in the ring.

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I don't mind a good backfoot boxer as long as they're willing to engage. This tends to happen as fighters draw inspiration from the top fighters of the era. We've just had Mayweather draw money with a defensive low output but flashy style, and so we have a new wave of figters looking to imitate him.

Hopefully this does initiate wave of fighters willing to win BUT I also hope this doesn't mean we get two meat heads ugly fighting their way to a win. Boxing is and will always be the sweet science, and its best when it's a high skill shootout.

 

This sounds reasonable but it isn't. Thats not how this works.

 

Huh? That’s exactly how boxing works. The money men pick who they offer the money to. Some “less deserving” fighters get more money and to be on better cards than “more deserving” fighters for a variety of reasons. Has always been that way.

this isn’t a sanctioning body refusing to license a fight. It’s a money man deciding where his money goes.

 

This changes that from evaluating a fighters resume to whether a fighter is exciting. Everyone criticized the WBC for protecting Wilder how are you all going to like it when protecting "exciting" fighters becomes a point of institutional policy.

When you control the sanctioning bodies thats exactly what it is.

By that logic you could justify racial discrmination and a whole bunch of other nonsense. "Hey influential promoter Mr Texas doesn't want to give black fighters the chance to fight "its his money he can do whatever he wants with it". That might seem dramatic but on a strictly professional level that is the same thing. A sport is supposed to be tied to results not the personal preferences of those funding it. Right now the NBA is having a poorly rated finals because people don't care about the two teams that earned their trip there. Should the NBA be able to decide who makes the finals? Its their money. The NBA has been subsidizing the WNBA for 25 years eating money should they be allowed to rig Catlyn Clarks team to the Finals every year? Controlling a sport comes with certain limitations and if you make sporting decisions for non sporting reasons you don't have a sport.

 

Cowards you say? I find it inconceivable that a true boxing fan would label a fighter a coward.

 

What about banning grabbers and holders like Okolie? They slow down fights whereas runners are at least expending some energy.

 

18 by 18 Size Ring”— Turki Alalshikh FORCES Terence ...

“18 by 18 Ring change”— Turki Alalshikh FORCES Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson, Devin Haney & All Fighters to compete in a smaller ring moving forward.

 

Pretty sure Turki would have been happy with TFOTC the thriller in Manilla and the rumble in the jungle, Ali took some incredible shots during his career.

 

That still doesn’t prevent not fighting. Now you have run and hugging.