Boxing News — January 11, 2018

4 lBOXING NEWSlJANUARY 11, 2018 http://www.boxingnewsonline.net

EDITOR’S LETTER

Photo:ACTION IMAGES/REUTERS/BBC/JEFF OVERS

BOXING ROYALTY:

Joshua and Prince Harry

share a joke, but the

heavyweight king is

not popular among all

OUR PROMISE

Coming

next time

l AFTER what

seems like

forever, the

holiday season

is over and it’s

time to get back

in the ring. In

the first big

fight of 2018,

Errol Spence Jnr

defends his IBF

welterweight

strap against

Lamont

Peterson. We go

in-depth with

the challenger,

and preview

the contest.

l SOME

fighters, like

Amir Khan and

George Groves

managed to pick

up the pieces

of a shattering

knockout

defeat, while

others, like

David Price,

have struggled.

Elliot Worsell

examines why

some can shake

the hangover

and others

cannot.

l WE catch

up with Gary

Murray, who was

hospitalised

after a fight last

year and piece

together the

events that put

him there.

l AVAILABLE

to download

via iTunes and

Google Play

from January 16,

2018, and the

print edition is

in stores on

January 18,

2 018.

Whywe’re one of the fewcompletely impartialvoices in the industry

UDGING by the
reaction on social
media to our
choice of Anthony
Joshua as British
Fighter of the Year
in last week’s issue,
one would think
we’d gone all out
and given Conor
McGregor the
honour. Of course,
we wouldn’t do
that because he’s
Irish and would
not be eligible,
and anyway, being
toyed with by Floyd
Mayweather wasn’t
quite enough to merit consideration.
But Joshua’s efforts, even if you felt
someone else deserved the award,
certainly were. While some grumbled
at our failure to put a snap of our
International FOY, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai,
on the cover, the decision to showcase
Joshua in a British magazine, after the
year he had, was a no-brainer.
Joshua’s leap in class to Wladimir
Klitschko, even the 41-year-old version,
from the Briton’s previous three
opponents (Charles Martin, Dominic
Breazeale and Eric Molina) was far
bigger than any other contenders made:
Ryan Burnett jumping from European
class to Lee Haskins and Zhanat
Zhakiyanov – two solid world titlists but
far from accomplished at elite level –
was impressive but not vast; yes, Billy
Joe Saunders dominated David Lemieux

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on away turf, but a close look at the

Canadian’s record and style shows why

the WBO 160lbs boss was favourite.

Also consider the manner in which

“AJ” rebounded from almost certain

disaster to unify two titles against a

future Hall of Famer, and getting an

entire nation talking about boxing in

a way they haven’t since Ricky Hatton’s

peak is no small achievement, either.

All that said, Joshua was merely our

choice and nobody atBoxing News

would abuse anyone who disagreed.

Speaking personally, life is too short for

such nonsense and I have better things

to do with my precious time than argue

with nameless strangers on Twitter who

claim to know more about everything

than everyone.

“Jokers! You bunch of amateurs don’t

know anything about boxing!” squealed

one troubled soul. “I bet Tyson Fury

wasn’t FOY when he beat Klitschko,” said

another. “That’s a commercial decision,

you should be called Matchroom

News,” another snorted (and probably

dribbled). And while I’m aware the vast

majority probably don’t readBoxing

News– you lot are far more intelligent,

frankly – it certainly gives me a chance

to get some things off my chest.

While the declaration that we’re

clueless about boxing, despite

immersing ourselves in the sport for

a living, is debatable, the growing

belief that we didn’t give Fury his due

is a blatant untrue. I remember writing

several columns championing Tyson

after his victory over Klitschko, and

of course we named him Fighter of

2015. If we haven’t given Fury much
      credit recently, that’s simply because he
      hasn’t fought for two years after being
      embroiled in charges of taking illegal
      substances, and not because we ‘prefer’
      the current champion.
      The accusation that we favour
      Matchroom, or any promoter, also
      grates. Upon taking the role of editor
      almost three years ago, I made a
      decision to not be too friendly with
      anyone in the industry because it might
      affect my ability to do my job correctly,
      and that – in my mind at least – is to
      provide an objective voice and honest
      coverage, both positive and negative,
      without fear of offending anyone. On
      these pages I have regularly questioned
      several of Matchroom’s policies, and
      recently addressed Team Joshua’s claims
      that social media messages to Eddie
      Chambers were supposedly the result
      of being hacked. Similarly, some recent
      complaints that we have been singing
      Frank Warren’s praises too loudly would
      be passionately contested by the man
      himself.
      Our coverage has to be about
      the fighters, about playing fair and
      being treated fairly, and the fans who
      effectively pay their wages. But trying to
      please everyone is an exercise that will
      ultimately please no one, least of all our
      priority at all times: you, the reader.
      In short, question Boxing News’
      opinion by all means, but our integrity is
      not up for debate.

J

Matt

Christie

@MattCBoxingNews

Editor

Cover photography

MARTIN McNEIL/HOGANPHOTOS/

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