Day of Reckoning; Saturday, 23rd December, 2023 at the Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The boxing show billed as the Day of Reckoning. It’s all very grand and serious, isn’t it? And rightly so. For the last five years men from this part of the world – in this case 42-year-old Islamic Sports Solidarity Chairman, Turki Al-Sheikh – have given serious amounts of money to top-tier, commercially viable sportsmen for their services and image rights. And whether to bring elite level competition and infrastructure to a budding sporting region, or to simply fatten their pockets, those sportsmen have flocked in their droves to ‘The Miracle of The Gulf’. Now the latest boxing cohort have arrived with big smiles and bigger plans for the future. But in boxing, the road ahead is never straight.
Marination Endangers Future Fights
The last time we saw boxing on the sands, WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury was dropped en route to an unconvincing ten-round decision in a non-title fight against former UFC Heavyweight champion and destroyer of worlds Francis Ngannou. It was an event trying to recapture that Floyd Mayweather vs Connor McGregor magic from 2017, and though far more spectacular a production, succeeded in exposing certain deficiencies in Fury when in truth, this was supposed to be a quick, lucrative pit-stop on the way to a unification match with Oleksandr Usyk.
These marination match-ups are rarely a good idea. Who remembers boxing’s dark forces conspiring to give Oscar De La Hoya a decision win over Felix Sturm as the Bernard Hopkins superfight awaited in the distance? How about when Buster Douglas reached the zenith of his potential at the Tokyo Dome to knock a prime Mike Tyson from pillar to post, and evaporate Tyson’s mythical meeting with Evander Holyfield? Now Tyson Fury’s bruised face and ego have pushed his year-end meeting with Usyk back to February 2024. Who’s to say it happens at all?
The Safe(ish) Bets at Day of Reckoning
This entire card is, in essence, a gigantic appetiser for future bouts in the UAE. Filip Hrgovic, Frank Sachez, and Arslanbek Makhmudov are the next generation of the heavyweight division. They are a trio of big punchers not quite seasoned enough to unsettle the upper echelon of big men. This is an opportunity to build their profiles, their records, and their bank balances, nothing more.
Furthermore, the IBF refused to sanction Ellis Zorro as Jai Opetaia’s voluntary defence. They stripped the fearsome Australian of his Cruiserweight title, placing him in a precarious position for negotiating what would have been future unification bouts. While Dmitry Bivol against Lyndon Arthur only serves to delay the fight everyone in boxing wants to see; Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev.
While no result is guaranteed in boxing the above-mentioned bouts are well-stacked for the favourites and of little consequence. Not so for former champion and wielder of Thor’s Hammer, Deontay Wilder. His opponent Joseph Parker has undergone a remarkable late-career resurgence under Fury trainer and former Middleweight titlist Andy Lee. However, he doesn’t have the mobility, the size, or the granite chin to either avoid or survive Wilder’s demonic right hand. That thing eviscerates almost everything it touches. A win for Wilder here should (cough) SHOULD, bring him against the winner of the bout at the top of the bill.
Which brings us to the two men who could well be in trouble at Day of Reckoning. A pair of heavy-handed hype trains who may never recover from another career derailment.
Jarrell Miller is a Problem
Daniel Dubois is still only 26 years old with just two losses in twenty-one bouts. Beaten by Oleksandr Usyk in August, pharmacological enthusiast Jarrell Miller is a dicey choice for his return. Both men will be thankful for the ten-round distance. Dubios’ two losses saw him submit before the championship distance on both occasions. While Miller’s lone 12-round win came before multiple failed PED tests and subsequent suspensions. It has been noted the bloated Miller hasn’t displayed the same cardiovascular endurance since his return. Strange.
However, don’t let his bulbous body fool you. Miller is a gigantic problem for Dubois. The young Brit put on a blazing display against Usyk for four rounds before it all fell apart. And it fell apart against Joe Joyce in 2020 when a relentless succession of ‘Juggernaut’ jabs saw Dubois take a knee in centre ring. Miller is still capable of provoking the claustrophobia that lurks somewhere beneath Dubois’ steely stare. He works in close, rolls and slips, punches meanly, and can absorb a lot of punishment. Does that sound like the kind of fighter Dubois excels against? Trainer Shane McGuigan has certainly improved Dubois. He’s faster, jabs quicker, and moves with less tension early on. But he still fades late. Can he last in a mauling fight against a sack of blubber like Miller? If so, it will be his best career performance to date.
AJ’s Precarious Position
I shook Anthony Joshua’s hand once, at the weigh-in before the Raphael Zumbano Love fight. He couldn’t have been more polite and welcoming, but the sheer size of the man made me instinctively clench up. His hand made mine feel like a primary schooler’s failed art project. The physique, the height, the balance, the ease of movement; he was a truly impressive specimen. He went on to dispatch Zumbano Love with one of the cleanest right hands of his career and later rule over three-quarters of the heavyweight division.
Then it all went a bit wrong. He was scheduled to face Jarrell Miller before failed tests saw Andy Ruiz (who Joseph Parker beat for his title, my god this is circular) step in as the late replacement and shock the world, dropping AJ four times and finishing him in seven. AJ avenged the loss in the Diriyah Arena and looked dominant beating Kubrat Pulev in the 9th round.
Then he fought Usyk. Thoroughly outclassed at Tottenham Stadium he made it closer in the rematch at the Jeddah Superdome but ultimately failed. It was this second loss that did the damage; the post-fight meltdown in which he stormed around, threw Usyk’s belts out of the ring, and rambled incessantly as he desperately tried to reclaim some semblance of control. He is now with his third trainer in four fights, has been recorded threatening university students in their own front room, and taking expensive darkness retreats. He’s a super athlete whose head appears to be all over the place. His last two outings have been lacklustre. He laboured for twelve rounds against the skilled but diminutive Jermaine Franklin. Following that, he retrieved an exemplary right hand finish Robert Helenius. Unfortunately, the highlight-reel KO papered over the cracks of another tentative performance. Does AJ have what it takes to realise former glories at Day of Reckoning?
Wallin is not ‘The Opponent’
Anthony Joshua cannot afford to be hesitant against Otto Wallin. Wallin is a strong distance fighter. His most recent win was a split decision over former cruiserweight king Murat Gassiev in Turkey, beating a trying set of circumstances against a brutish, if undersized foe. The Swede can feel genuinely disappointed to have lost to Tyson Fury in 2019, severely cutting and mauling ‘The Gypsy King’ over the distance. Let’s be honest, in most other circumstances the doctor and referee would have interceded. The southpaw Swede showed a meanness and obstinacy in that fight that. If he replicates it here, AJ might start looking to the corner, his big chiselled chest heaving as those left-handed Ukrainian nightmares resurface.
Day of Reckoning Conclusion
Boxing is a funny business. The powers that be consistently roll the dice in the hopes of making the big fights that much bigger. The Frank Warrens, the Eddie Hearns and Turk Al-Sheikhs will always find new prospects, new stars, new ventures. But for every fighter on this card, and particularly for Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua, there is a finite number of fights remaining in their careers. Is their Day of Reckoning this Saturday? Or does it lie ahead as a consequence of misjudging this particular situation? Two ‘stay-busy’ fights. Lot of promises. So much money. All of it for nothing is Miller and Wallin turn up at their best.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
