It was an eventful and long card on Friday afternoon for Stateside boxing fans as 'Knockout Chaos was staged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. What seemingly took forever to get to (and more on that later), ended so violently and suddenly. Some random thoughts on what took place...
- This cards main event was a heavyweight clash between former unified champion, Anthony Joshua, and Francis Ngannou. This was originally slated to be a clash between 'AJ' and Deontay Wilder, but 'the Bronze Bomber' got tripped up by Joseph Parker a few months ago.
Ngannou, on the basis of his surprisingly strong effort versus Tyson Fury back in October, was put in as a replacement. Coming into this bout, some believed Ngannou would once again be competitive.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Only this time around he was blasted out in two short rounds. He fell for every feint, and was struck with booming right hands that had him on the canvas a few times. It was over in two. After the MMA faction declared a victory of sorts after the Fury fight, well, score one for boxing, here.
KNOCKOUT CHAOS | Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou Fight Highlights
Jim Lampley said last week that this was a bit of 'proxy war' between the two well-known British big men. I'm not sold on triangle theories, but make no doubt about it, what took place on Friday is a terrible look for Fury. I believe it was the great John Wooden who once said, ''failure to prepare, is preparing to fail."
Well, that's what Fury did.
-- Despite two knockdowns going against him, Joseph Parker continued his resurgence by out-boxing Zhilei Zhang over 12 rounds. The scores for this bout read: 115-111, 114-112 and 113-113. It's clear that Parker has found his mojo under the direction of trainer, Andy Lee.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
After getting stopped by Joe Joyce at the end of 2022, Parker was thought to be on the back nine. Well, last year he notched four victories (culminating in his win over Wilder in December), and now has captured the interim WBO heavyweight title.
In fact, Joshua, who written off after his rematch loss to Oleksandr Usyk in '22, himself notched three victories in '23, and now after his knockout of Ngannou, seems to have regained whatever confidence was lost after his previous setbacks.
Again, say it with me: activity....matters.
-- I've been high from the very beginning on Israil Madrimov, who's career has languished a bit the past couple of years as Michel Soro became his Luis Santana to his Terry Norris. But as Jermell Charlo was stripped away of his junior middleweight belts, he was lined up for the vacant WBA strap versus Magomed Kurbanov.
Madrimov put forth a strong effort in dispatching Kurbanov in five rounds. He is now a world-champion after just 11 bouts. 'the Dream' is 29, and he's been a highly touted boxer since he turned pro. You get the sense that there is more that he can show inside the ring, but again, will he be given enough opportunities to do so? This was only his second outing since the summer of '22.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Here's something to monitor, Madrimov and Kurbanov were the two top rated '54-pounders by the WBA, ranked third is Vergil Ortiz. Word is that Ortiz will be getting back out there in late April, and it could very well be that the WBA will mandate a fight at some point this year between Madrimov and Ortiz.
For hardcore boxing fans this would be one of the most intriguing fights of the year.
- Finally, I know I'm not the only one who thought that the pay-per-view broadcast dragged on a bit. I mean, there might have been Jerry Lewis telethons that didn't last as long as this card. OK, so I'm not here to just showcase problems, the Kimster is here to provide solutions.
DAZN
My recommendations are as follows: 1) do four or less fights for the main portion of the pay-per-view card, especially if it takes place on a weekday. 2) No more than 10-15 minutes between preliminary bouts Sorry but we don't need a halftime show after every bout. 3) And finally, no more than a 20 minute hiatus before the main event.
Really, that's it. It's not that difficult of a problem to solve.
FINAL FLURRIES
I thought Nick Ball won that fight versus Rey Vargas. But admittedly, I'm not much of a Rey Vargas fan(to say the least)...The Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia bout has finally been announced for May 4 in Las Vegas...Hearing that newly crowned WBC bantamweight champion, Junto Nakatani, will return to the ring in June...And yes, I have to mention that Jake Paul-Mike Tyson was announced for the summer on Netflix....The newest rumor has former undisputed welterweight champion, Terence Crawford, moving up two weight classes to take on Chris Eubank Jr....Gave 'Shogun' on FX a shot. It will stay in the rotation....I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com....
