The British boxing boom is spreading around the world
By Niall Doran of Boxing News & Views
Boxing, certainly in the UK and Britain, over the last decade or so has done very well.
Yeah, everyone gives it the big one now about the Saudis, and rightly so, but if you really want to trace back where the momentum first started for boxing’s new golden age, it was in the UK.
Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, but actually, before them, Carl Froch and George Groves selling out huge stadiums is what really got things started for modern boxing.
There were two distinct catalysts for the new surge in British boxing, firstly in the amateurs in 2000 when Audley Harrison won gold at the Sydney Olympics. That single boxing medal launched Team GB Boxing thereafter.
Then, in the professional ranks, a young, cocky upstart named George Groves annoyed and angered everyone with his pre-fight antics against established unified world champion Carl Froch, until they fought in November 2013 and it all changed.
Post-fight, fans were so impressed by the exciting Londoner, who dropped the champion in the very first round, but was then stopped prematurely by referee Howard Foster in the ninth, despite being up on all three scorecards.
The tables turned in an instant, and the rematch was booked for Wembley Stadium in May 2014. The production, the 80,000 fervent fans, the London bus ringwalks… it was an event never seen before in British boxing.
Carl Froch took the role of the pantomime villain after fans rallied to St. George’s side after being so cruelly denied in the first match. The rematch was a conclusive KO to ‘The Cobra’, but it kickstarted the stadium fights trend from thereon.
Now a new wave of fighters are coming through from the UK all the time in a wide gambit of divisions.
Obviously all professional sport is star driven and the likes of Joshua and Fury still whole the mantle in that regard.
But things are bigger than ever now not just because Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom and Hall of Famer Frank Warren’s Queensberry are working together.
Don’t discount that though, either, that is a big thing.
That’s allowed for the best to fight the best and see the fights that fans really want to see happen. Fighters in genuinely even matches.
It is a game changer in fact, the above.
But there’s much more, too.
Sky Sports are still doing frankly an unbelievably good job in professional boxing on a huge level, surely the biggest and best network in Europe still out of all of them showing boxing.
Boxxer too are doing bigger things then any UK promoter ever have in some ways in the history of frankly anyone and any time in Britain. That’s saying something.
Why? They have got deals with the likes of NBC Sport (who are showing the Olympics now) and Peacock online streaming to show boxing to literally millions and millions of people – UK boxing action – in the US.
That doesn’t even get into all the new things BOXXER are doing to show UK boxing action to a large amount of countries around the world who don’t even speak English.
They are thinking bigger than anyone in some ways and at the highest level we are seeing great fights happen all the time.
While not forgetting about prospects being blooded and the grass roots of UK boxing being developed as always very strongly by Team GB in Sheffield and so forth.
Welcome to the new age of British boxing – it is only going to get bigger and better in the years ahead too.