Understanding the Boxing Pro Game and why Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua still haven’t danced together under the lights
This is for the large number of our members who are new to the world of boxing and want to understand the layers and politics involved in putting on the most wanted fights.
To start with, there are four sanctioning bodies all of whom carry their own world title belts: the World Boxing Association (WBA); the World Boxing Council (WBC); the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO)… let’s not include the 2 fringe IBO and WBU for now.
The WBA was the first governing body established in 1962 (formerly the National Boxing Association formed in 1921), but after being inundated with charges of corruption and continual internal disputes regarding what rules should be applied, the formation of the other sanctioning bodies came about. The four sanctioning bodies are unlikely to ever unite and form one body because there is far too much money in the individual sanction fees that title fights bring in.
To step up the ladder in boxing, you need to take certain fights to put you in contention for a shot at a title. This gets complicated for several reasons, one being that you need to be put forward for an eliminator (a fight that determines the next mandatory challenger) by one of the sanctioning bodies. To be put forward a fighter needs to be of a certain ranking, but the sanctioning body will still be mostly influenced by which fight will bring in the money. A belt holder may be able to turn down a mandatory challenger when a more lucrative opportunity comes up, however they can’t turn them down for long as they will be forced to vacate their belt.
The promoters and managers have their own agendas too, still determined by strategic plans to make the most money out of their fighters ensuring they have a high fan base before throwing them into positions where they are in contention for something significant. ‘Trash talk’ is a popular way for boxers to become known, seen and followed, but it is just ‘trash talk’, money is the deciding factor, which leaves boxing fans a little miffed about why certain fights aren’t happening.
Once a boxer has stepped onto the ladder, and won a world title, the next step is for a unification fight (a fight with two or more belts from the different sanctioning bodies). The challenge here is that negotiations about money and rules are practically impossible. Undisputed champions (holders of all four belts) are few and far between and often must vacate some belts to retain other belts, or so they can pursue a higher fee from more lucrative non-title fights. It would be near impossible for a fighter to fulfill all the mandatory fights as well as the voluntary fights that pay the big money. As a boxer’s career is short, it’s important for them to make wise choices when it comes to money – but inevitably this could leave them without the belts they set out to win in the first place.
It’s not in any sanctioning body’s interest to have undisputed champions for long because it makes arranging fights with mandatory challengers difficult. For this reason, the sanctioning bodies rule that the champion must take on a specific opponent who becomes that mandatory challenger. If the champion turns down the fight, they are forced to vacate the title and thus the drama begins all over again. This happened recently when Oleksandr Usyk gave up one of his four belts because he wanted to rematch Tyson Fury rather than fight Daniel Dubois.
And then there’s the rematch clause put in place by a fighter’s manager, which allows boxers who lose their belt/s the opportunity to win them back without having to work their way up to be the mandatory challenger again. If the fight is very one-sided this can be revoked, but if it’s a close fight, a financially successful show is guaranteed as the spectators will want to see the fight again. For example, Chantelle Cameron vs Katie Taylor or Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk.
Then there are the 17 weight divisions which technically makes space for 68 world champs in a single gender at any one time. Often with fighters switching weight divisions, partly chasing the titles, and partly chasing the higher pay packet. It sometimes feels like we could all be in the running for at least one of those belts.
In 2024 things took a funny turn with some quite unlikely things happening. Firstly, Fury finally stepped up to fight Usyk which led to the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield in 1999. Secondly, with Turki Alalshikh (Chairman of Saudi’s General Entertainment Authority) throwing in another ton of money led to the unprecedented Five vs Five which was held in Saudi Arabia on 1st June, finally uniting longtime rival promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren. Thirdly we’re now entering a very strange era where influencers are climbing through the ropes and raking in the cash despite having questionable boxing skills.
Back in 2019 the talk was all about the Joshua vs Fury fight. It didn’t happen, firstly, because Fury and Deontay Wilder were earning plenty, so sacrificing all of this for fighting Joshua was never of financial interest. Fury was signed to an exclusive deal with ESPN, whilst Wilder was locked into a deal with Showtime. Secondly, despite the first fight being seen as a Tyson win (forget the result being a draw) and the second fight going to Fury easily, a trilogy fight wasn’t really of any interest to most people, but Wilder took legal action to activate the rematch clause which was in the contract for their second fight. This meant that the Fury vs Joshua fight was even further away from happening.
Fury vs Wilder was a cross-promotion between Showtime and ESPN, the first cross-promotion pay-per-view in America since Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Manny Pacquiao, a fight which happened five years too late. If both Wilder and Fury never fought Joshua, the question of who would win remained a hot topic of conversation without any risk.
Things have changed quite significantly since then as Joshua and Fury cannot lay claim to being the best active heavyweight – they’ve both been beaten by Usyk. As mentioned, Usyk has recently vacated the IBF belt because he didn’t want to have to fight Dubois again, rather wait for the rematch with Fury (Dubois was the mandatory challenger). This is now on the line for the Joshua vs Dubois fight on 21st September. Fury and Usyk will go again on 21st December for the remaining three belts.
IF Fury beats Usyk, and IF Joshua beats Dubois – once again there will be an undisputed heavyweight title fight which makes this a big fight with big money. The boxing fans will soon forget that Usyk has beaten Joshua, and once again the narrative will be around who is the best heavyweight – Anthony Joshua, or Tyson Fury.
IF Joshua wins and Fury loses, or Fury wins, and Joshua loses then the Joshua vs Fury fight will once again be on the back burner as either Dubois or Usyk will be in line for the heavyweight unification. IF both Joshua and Fury lose, that fight is still very much on the table.
With Joshua and Fury however getting older and fresh heavyweights coming through, they both need to take the fights which bring in the most money. With their history, following and worldwide popularity, the fight they both know they need to take is with each other. Let’s just hope they can make a deal before they pass their prime!
