‘Boxing learns nothing from Misfits – this parody of sport is far from flattery’

This week a clip popped up on my social media from DAZN Boxing and I made the mistake of watching it.

It involved two hosts who regularly present boxing content on either DAZN or other broadcasters discussing the KSI against Tommy Fury ‘fight’ this weekend in Manchester.

One of them decided to bring up Canelo Alvarez against Jermell Charlo and how going up in weight affected the latter before he was well beaten by the former.

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They tried to qualify this comparison to the so-called ‘fight’ this weekend by saying the skill level isn’t similar as apparently there will be some sort of weight discrepancy when KSI meets Fury.

Yet here we are. Comparing a clash for the undisputed super-middleweight titles between two elite fighters to that of a former novice professional boxer against someone not fit enough to be in a ring.

Another attempt to package this rubbish into boxing when they’re actually not boxers (Fury is no longer a boxer as he does not have a BBBofC licence).

They may as well be comparing Rory McIlroy’s golf swing to a couple of teenagers down the local range smashing balls with their grandad’s old driver they found in the shed.

It wasn’t the only nonsense spoken about the Misfits so far this week either.

A boxing journalist went on national radio and suggested that the likes of KSI should be licensed and brought under the banner of the British Boxing Board of Control.

No word yet if they also believe Usain Bolt should replace Jadon Sancho on the right wing for Manchester United.

KSI would not be good enough to win a regional competition for novice boxers and someone is suggesting he should be given a professional licence?

Why? Because his social media numbers are good and it will help boxing.

Absolute s***. Which brings me nicely along to the next issue with all this Misfits.

What are your thoughts on Misfits Boxing? Let us know in the comments section.

It’s not too long ago that one of the participants in Misfits Boxing (the use of the word boxing brings about issues for the Trade Descriptions Act) pretended to have defecated themselves at a weigh-in.

Yet we keep being told actual proper boxing can learn from this nonsense? Parody can be a form of flattery sometimes but not in this case.

If people who are supposed to report on boxing cannot see that what Misfits is doing is making a caricature of the bad side of the actual sport then they need to wake up and stop spouting stupidity for their own clicks.

Does boxing need to be modernised to attract new and younger fans? Of course it does.

Promoters have been crossing into social media world with promos, interviews and viral clips for a while now. It needs more.

What it doesn’t need is John Fury throwing objects at KSI like he did this week. If he was under a BBBofC licence at a BBBofC event he would be brought in for a hearing.

Instead this behaviour is celebrated. To give Misfits some credit, they did once remove a participant from a show for throwing pork at a rival who is a Muslim. There is a line it seems, it just has to be vile beyond belief.

There will be those who respond to this article and say ‘why do you care? You’re a boxing dinosaur and this is just all a bit of fun’.

Well for starters, I was asked as a boxing journalist to give my view from one of my sports editors which was a fair request.

But also it’s the fact that yet again we are heading into one of these events with the whole thing still being packaged as real boxing.

For viewers in the UK, coverage of KSI vs Tommy Fury will be broadcast exclusively on DAZN and DAZN PPV. The event will be available around the world on DAZN and on DAZN PPV in the UK

Devices supported by DAZN include Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Stick, Amazon Fire Tablet, Android Phone & Tablet, iPhone & iPad, Android TV, LG, Smart TV, Panasonic Smart TV, Samsung Smart TV, Sony Smart TV, SmartCast, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Roku.

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For anyone who spends their time in their car listening to the radio, they’ll have heard a station advertising the ‘big fight’ this weekend.

This is not boxing. It’s not licensed by the BBBofC or by any RECOGNISED professional or amateur boxing authority.

Yet it is continually being rammed down people’s throats as if it is. Thankfully it will be tucked away on a pay-per-view channel this weekend so anyone flicking through their TV stations won’t stumble upon it and think ‘is this the state of boxing?’.

As mentioned, boxing needs to up its game as attendances for major professional shows struggle to reach the heights they were maybe a decade ago and TV numbers are dwindling outside of the mega names.

It needs to attract new fans but despite claims to the contrary, Misfits isn’t flooding real boxing with new fans unless they were all hiding at Josh Warrington against Leigh Wood at the weekend and amateur clubs have seen few coming in claiming they want to be the next Logan Paul. Thankfully on the latter part.

Boxing shouldn’t just let anyone compete because they’ve got a big social media following.

Wrexham has been a huge success story for Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds and his actor pal Rob McElhenney which has generated huge interest in the US and here but they’re not playing for the team.

If suddenly the buzz dies off in North Wales and Disney wants a fresh spike in interest, it’s unlikely they put themselves up front. If they did, the goodwill would suddenly go away from their fans and then from the rest of the footballing world.

It would be rightly called a joke but now some are saying boxing should accept similar nonsense.

Boxing needs to learn from sports like football which continues to bring in big numbers in TV revenue, attendances and sponsorship.

Or even look at how behind-the-scenes documentaries – which boxing used to be a pioneer for in America – has fired up interest in Formula 1.

That would be better than supposedly learning from a few social media stars who think they can put on a pair of gloves and call themselves boxers while smearing brown stuff on the underpants for fun.

Tommy Fury is a former boxer, KSI is not a boxer. Just remember that when you’re force fed that their meeting in the ring is sport this weekend.

It’s not. It never has been, it isn’t now and it never will be. Boxing doesn’t need to learn anything from this and Misfits can learn little from boxing.

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