The Long Road Back…

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

An opinion piece from the only Donald worth listening to…

Full Stop – In British English grammar a full stop is a lengthy pause, in the US, you call it a period. In the UK that tends to suggest feminine products. Here it means a period of time where
I look at something in boxing in a little more depth. I am typing from my perspective of a fan who watches the sport closely. It’s an opinion. It is my opinion. Don’t like it? There are other opinions out there but if you don’t like it then good, debate and democracy are a good thing. If you do like it, feel free to spread the word.

The Long Road Back…

As I write this, Natasha Jonas has just won a contentious split decision to successfully retain her IBF belt against Mikaela Mayer. Jonas, we knew, as it was widely reported, had a rematch clause – Mayer did not. That safety net for Jonas was not to be afforded to her opponent. Immediately after the fight Mayer called for a rematch as it had been THAT good a fight and Jonas consoled Mayer by telling her that her time would come, and she will be a two-weight world champion because she is that good.

She is that good and Jonas was fortunate in a sense because the decision could have easily gone either way. It was not a robbery, by any means, but it was notable that Mayer was fighting in Jonas’s hometown, and it could be claimed that that may have played a part. It is worse for Mayer because she also came off a contentious defeat against Alicia Baumgardner, also in the UK, which many thought she won.

As I spend half my writing time for Ringside Report looking back at fighters of yesteryear, I am struck by how many took a loss and still went on to fight for world titles. No matter the clichés of boxing which lecture us about the importance of learning fights on your way up or that it’s not how many times you get knocked down, but the number of times you get back up and so on, today’s boxers seem precious about losing to anyone. Alongside the politics of the sport – always murky – it adds to the feeling that boxing has little of purity to commend it and lots of perfection to protect: people don’t buy into the perfection myth. I feel that losses should not define a fighter. If we want the best to fight the best, we need to see more losses on the records of our heroes.

To compound things for Mayer was the news that Baumgardner, who had returned an adverse finding for her last fight and was subsequently suspended had been cleared. I know that Mayer would not have wanted anyone to have been declared a cheat if they had not been one, but the news would have been bitter because the rematch with Baumgardner may not be as likely now as it was a few months ago – prior to the scandal. Mind you, there may now be less fighting opportunities for Baumgardner, and she may now fancy relaunching with Mayer being her first intended “victim.”
Having watched the fight with Jonas, that would be a mistake. For Baumgardner.

But Mayer needs to rebuild. Her last four fights, all in the UK, have seen her name and her profile grow for us over here but her future may land over there: her American fans have not seen her for a while. It is not for me to suggest routes back, but there could be a very decent chapter for her to turn away from rematches and start to build the next chapter of that legacy.

Getting back to prominence is also something that Joyce “The Juggernaut” Joyce must resolve. Like many heavyweights outside the golden Saudi circle, he has had to watch as people get chances denied to him. The latest is the man who beat him twice, Zhilei Zhang who shall box Joseph Parker on the Anthony Joshua/ Frances Ngannou undercard. Prior to that Joyce sat and watched Daniel Dubois, who he beat, get two world title chances whilst he was searching for opponents by jumping into rings, trying to force a fight. Whilst Dubois was praised for his defeat to Usyk, Joyce’s frailties, and inability to move whilst having a granite chin that could take any punch was totally destroyed in both stoppages by Zhang. This week, he was announced as part of a domestic UK card against Kash Ali, a former IBF European Champion.

British boxing fans know that Ali is more famous for taking a chunk out of David Price in a fight for which he was disqualified as biting people is apparently not a good thing in boxing, than any belts he held. Ali himself has had to rebuild and is now sitting with a creditable record – though lost last time out – which makes the fight with Joyce seem a little more even on paper. Joyce, however, shall be expected to win, win well and start negotiations to try and take out some of the hangers on within the heavyweight division. Unlike Mayer he may not get to where he wants to be as the exposure that he got against Zhang has shown others that he is not the invincible fighter that the 15 fights beforehand had suggested. He is now damaged goods for many and if he is to get to the top, it may not be in the red corner. It makes him far more interesting to me and a much better test of how boxing manages itself as Dubois, the man who beat Jarrell Miller in Saudi, is touted as a future full world champion and the man who beat him is scrapping to be noticed. As for Mayer, her time should come but she has been in some tough fights. Will they start to take their toll? Time, for both shall tell.

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