Boxing News – June 27, 2019

THE ‘puncher vs boxer’ question
came up again while watching
the Conor Benn-Jussi Koivula
fight this past Friday ( June 21). Koivula
looked to be the more proficient boxer
but got careless (or underestimated
Benn’s power) and then got clipped in
the second round, which completely
changed the fight. Had Benn not had
one-punch power, I think he would’ve
probably been taken the distance. This
made me think in general about who
would come out on top in the ‘puncher
vs boxer’ debate. I realise this is an
emotive subject for boxing fans, but
here is my take: Using the heavyweights
as an example, we have three types of
elite fighters in the mix – punchers (eg.
Deontay Wilder), boxers (eg. Tyson Fury)
and boxer-punchers (eg. Anthony Joshua).
My initial thought was that Wilder would
come out on top maybe seven out of
10 times, even though he’s probably
the worst technically. Ergo, an OK boxer
with elite power would win. However,
this is where things get complicated!
Can a boxer increase his power to elite
level? Fury, in his last bout against Tom

Schwarz, was obviously trying things out

to improve his power and it did seem to

work. Imagine a Fury who is both elite

boxer and elite puncher – he would be

pretty much untouchable. But can he

really produce elite power? Similarly, can

Joshua improve as a boxer to match his

punch-power? Has Andy Ruiz Jnr really

got the elite power to match his skills?

Joseph Parker is another who seems to

have been using fights against lesser

opposition to work on his power, so I

think he could also be right back in the

mix. Will Oleksandr Usyk have the power

at heavyweight to match his skills? I think

unless you are lucky enough to be both

an elite boxer and an elite puncher, then

for me a puncher would come out on

top the majority of the time, even though

I’d prefer it to be the other way round.

However, I also believe that there is more

chance of improving your punch-power

than boxing skills, although you can never

match a natural power such as Wilder’s.

It’s certainly an interesting dynamic to

consider when watching a fight and also a

fighter’s progression.

Tim Skilton

TIME FOR TECHNOLOGY?

I HAVE been a boxing fan for a few years

and I’m afraid to say that I’m still terrible

at scoring fights. However, it seems that

everybody else is, too.

I’ve lost count of the number of fights

I’ve watched where the commentators

and pundits are adamant that the fight

has gone one way, only for the judges to

score it completely differently. If everyone

is using the same criteria, why does this

keep happening?

I think it’s because scoring a fight is

subjective and this, coupled with the fact

that there are many constantly changing

variables happening very quickly, makes

it difficult to accurately make a

judgement.

I wonder if it’s time to utilise modern

technology to get a definitive score.

It would be fairly easy to use camera

recognition systems to determine if a

punch has landed, which fighter is in the

centre of the ring or if a punch has been

dodged.

But I wonder if this would take

something away from the sport?

Richard Flanagan

PUNCHER vs BOXER

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6 lBOXING NEWSlJUNE 27, 2019 http://www.boxingnewsonline.net

THE EQUALISER:
Wilder is always a
threat with his
frightening power
Photo: ACTION IMAGES/ANDREW COULDRIDGE