A big dose of boxing random thoughts…
First off, I absolutely love the lineup of fights on the “5 vs. 5” DAZN PPV card on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that will pit five fighters from the Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing roster against five fighters promoted by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.
All five are interesting to me and there is a little bit for everyone on the card. On paper, all five fights figure to be competitive. Not a mismatch among them.
Here’s my ranking of the five fights in order of my interest (Matchroom fighter is listed first):
1. Raymond Ford vs. Nick Ball (for Ford’s WBA featherweight title): This has action written all over it. Ford is coming off an action-packed and dramatic come-from-behind knockout of Otabek Kholmatov with seven seconds left in the fight to win the vacant belt in March. Ball is regularly in crowd-pleasing scraps, including in his last fight, also in March, when he fought to a spirited draw challenging WBC titlist Rey Vargas. Ford and Ball have a good chance to steal the show in my eyes.
2. Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang (heavyweights): They are both massive punchers who are both coming off losses to Joseph Parker and in dire need of a victory. It’s Wilder’s historically awesome right hand against Zhang’s destructive left. I don’t think we’re in for an action fight but it will be one filled with tension because, quite literally, it likely will take only one punch from either man to end this fight.
3. Filip Hrgovic vs. Daniel Dubois (heavyweights): Whether it winds up being for what is supposed to be the vacant IBF title or not this should be a fun fight for as long as it lasts between two worthy bona fide contenders with tremendous power.
4. Austin Williams vs. Hamzah Sheeraz (middleweights): Middleweight is a very meh division these days but Williams and Sheeraz are the most interesting prospects/emerging contenders. They’re both undefeated. Both have good skills. Both have power. Both are willing to take this step-up fight relatively early in their careers without a title on the line or even an official eliminator designation. Gotta respect that. And style-wise, it should be very good. Total toss-up fight.
5. Craig Richards vs. Willy Hutchinson (light heavyweights): It’s veteran contender Richards against the younger Hutchinson, still an up-and-comer despite having suffered a loss. This is the very definition of a crossroads fights with the winner emerging with a real path to bigger things.
