By Scott Gilfoid: In a predictable move, Sky Sports has extended its contract with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sport promotional company for the next 6 years until 2021. This means for boxing fans that they’re going to need to get used to seeing a lot of James DeGale, Kell Brook, Kevin Mitchell, Scott Quigg, Anthony Joshua, Anthony Crolla and Kevin Mitchell.
There will be 20 shows per year, according to Sky, which can be good or bad depending on the fight cards. I wasn’t impressed at all by the Tony Bellew vs. Nathan Cleverly card last November, and likewise I really disliked the recent Anthony Joshua vs. Raphael Zumbano Love fight card on May 9th.
That card was stacked with mismatches as far as the eyes can see. The A-side fighters on that card, Luke Campbell, Joshua, Matthew Macklin, and Callum Smith, all won by early knockouts over some very, very mediocre opposition. It was like hunting with the game trapped in cages in front of you. It was not interesting at all to watch, as far as I’m concerned.
The May 30th card head-lined by Anthony Joshua vs. Kevin Johnson has a couple of decent fights on the card between Jorge Linares and Kevin Mitchell and Evgeny Gradovich and Lee Selby, but I don’t see much on the card that interests me other than those two fights. Joshua-Johnson is a mismatch in my opinion. It’s just another showcase fight for the hulking Joshua, who is looking more and more like a bodybuilder with each fight rather than a professional boxer. He’s become stiff with all his muscles, and it’s hard to understand what his end game is in terms of all the muscles he keeps adding.
Nathan Cleverly, who fights on the card, still doesn’t have an opponent. That obviously isn’t good. I mean, the fight card is only nine days away, yet Cleverly’s opponent still hasn’t been picked out. I smell mismatch with some guy being picked out at the last second for Cleverly to face.
It’s unclear why Sky Sports doesn’t simply focus on a fight by fight basis with all the promoters rather than lock in one promotional company. I think it would be a better deal for Sky because they could have more variety than what they’re getting. To be sure, Hearn has a huge stable of fighters. He definitely has a decent stable, but my issue is the fights that he puts on.
What good is it to have the likes of Joshua, Smith, Bellew and Cleverly if they’re not being matched up against dangerous opposition? I’m still waiting for those guys to face some guys that I consider quality fighters. There’s also a lot of fighters in Hearn’s stable that I don’t see ever panning out. I mean, I don’t see DeGale going anywhere, and I see Selby losing against Gradovich and finding himself over-matched in the featherweight division against the likes of Vasyl Lomachenko, Nicholas Walters and Gary Russell Jr. Selby is a decent fighter, but I see really bad things happening to the chap if he’s thrown in with those guys. He’s a good contender/gate keeper, but I think Lomachenko, Walters and Russell Jr. would have a field day fighting him. You’ve got to have some punching power when you face those guys, and Selby is lacking in that department in a big way.
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