1) Frank Warren knows what he’s doing
Say what you will about Frank Warren, but he clearly has an uncanny ability to stick around and pick the right fights at the right time. In fact, any victory over Eddie Hearn, his arch-rival, would have been considered a scoring moment for the old promoter, but a 5-0 whitewash of the young pretender sent a real message.
2) Rule Britannia
Although nationality had little to do with what was really at stake in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it was still encouraging to see four of the five winners from the British Isles. Indeed, the performances of Willy Hutchinson, Nick Ball, Hamzah Sheeraz and Daniel Dubois were enough to put any fears about the future of British boxing to rest for a while.
3) Dead space
We now know that one of the biggest obstacles to the events going on in the Middle East in this current era is the complete lack of space between what is one of the most exciting wars. This happened on Saturday and the fans who were there were called for five equal fights in which no sound could be heard.
4) Sheeraz could be British Fighter of the Year
There is still a long way to go, of course, and he will hope to fight at least once more before the end of the year, but there is already a case to be made that Hamzah Sheeraz is among the best British fighters of 2024. In February he stopped Liam Williams, someone considered a test, within just one round, and on Saturday he knocked down Austin Williams, the undefeated American star, within 11 years.
5) Daniel Dubois deserves credit
Unable to avoid his opponent’s right hand early on, it looked for all the world that Daniel Dubois was about to be stopped within a round or two by Filip Hrgovic when the two began trading shots. However, Dubois, after surviving the grueling bout, rallied and used Hrgovic’s takedowns to eventually take control and force a stoppage in the eighth round. By winning this way, Dubois showed some of the traits he has been accused of lacking.
6) Nick Ball will always be fun
No matter how you got it after 12 rounds, one thing is for sure: the combination of Ray Ford and Nick Ball turned out to be as good as we expected going in. That’s not all, with Ford’s victory the WBA featherweight title is now available. the possibility that Football, always entertaining, could build something of a following back at Liverpool.
Nick Ball
7) Sixty-eight pounds is a lot
Some of us were guilty of rooting for Deontay Wilder to beat Zhilei Zhang simply because of his boxing power, his reputation, and the memories of the times we saw him fight with just one shot. However, when both Wilder and Zhang hit the scale on Friday (revealing to the crowd the difference in weight of 68 kilograms), suddenly it was difficult to imagine the situation when Wilder made a hole in Zhang, gradually turning off his lights.
8) Zhang is smart
While it was sad to see Deontay Wilder humiliated and eliminated, it’s worth taking a moment to honor the genius of the counter right hook Zhilei Zhang threw in the fifth round to cause Wilder’s death. He ruled until then, by ending the fight in this way Zhang repaired the damage caused back when he failed to finish off Joseph Parker in March.
9) Hutchinson is a young man
After kicking off the night with a comfortable decision victory over Craig Richards, a jubilant Willy Hutchinson then reminded us all, again and again, that he is a young man. As important to him as the victory, it seemed, during this same interview after the fight Hutchinson again referred to his good looks and did his best impression of Tyson Fury. He, by the way, 25.
10) We need more
Rather than seeing the concept of “5 v 5” as something new, or a first, it would be good if similar events could be organized in the future, perhaps an annual boxing calendar. It would be better if it happened in other regions than the Middle East, especially if there are British or American boxers, all of whom deserve the support of those at home.
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