Last weekend we saw three shows headlined by female boxers, something that would have been unheard of just a few years ago. The truth is that few female athletes attract immense crowds these days. For example, last Friday’s Dixon v Harper fight in Sheffield was for the world title but attracted less than 2,000 fans.

On the other hand, there are women who have a fan base that guarantees gigantic events and they pave the way for their lesser-known counterparts. Two of the biggest names in women’s boxing, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, made history as the first women’s fight took place in April 2022 at the legendary Madison Square Garden.

Their long-awaited rematch will be the co-main event alongside Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul on November 15. It hurts to know that these two pioneers will be sharing the stage with something that is ultimately just a gimmick. However, one can only assume that both will earn well and be exposed to a larger audience than ever before. The show will be part of the Most Valued Promotions (MVP) boxing partnership and will stream live worldwide on Netflix.

When a women’s fight is featured on the show, it’s often the funniest fight of the night. This has a lot to do with the structure of women’s fights: 10 rounds of 2 minutes each. This shortened format usually results in fast-paced and action-packed fights. While they may be more fun, some argue that elite women need more time to show their class. 20 minutes is just not enough.

Ultimately, women’s boxing is still a relatively recent sport and it would make sense to see progress in the way women’s fights are formatted. Why not try 10 x 3 minute rounds in championship fights? Amanda Serrano has been vocal about her desire to compete in the same format as her male counterparts, and last October she competed in the first-ever women’s boxing match played in a 12-round, 3-minute format. As a result, Serrano’s WBC title was not at risk as the sanctioning body refused to approve a longer format for women.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said two-minute rounds provide more action and excitement, while longer rounds can lead to dehydration and fatigue. The question must be asked: Are we sure the same applies to our male athletes? The tiny format makes sense to support women’s boxing build an audience. It cannot be denied that the fights of our players in the tiny format have gained recent fans of the women’s game. But isn’t change part of progress?

An extra 10 minutes in the ring means boxers have more time to finish off an injured opponent, they have a greater chance of scoring a knockout, and fighters can execute their game plan. Longer fights would suit more elite fighters like Serrano, Shields, Taylor and Mayer and give them the opportunity to showcase their skills and boxing IQ.

We have seen that women are not afraid to take risks and do everything in their power to make gigantic fights happen, often jumping multiple weight classes to do so. They don’t really have the luxury of sitting back and waiting for recent opportunities to arise. The biggest fights happen when competition is involved. Some are lucky to have these rivals; others are not so lucky.

Claressa Shields is arguably the greatest boxer of all time (two-time Olympic champion, five-time world champion and self-proclaimed “GWOAT”), but she lacks a worthy dance partner who can match her skills and personality. This means it probably won’t get the admiration it deserves.

The next program of the season in Riyad will feature women for the first time in history: Skye Nicolson vs. Raven Chapman. While I’m cheerful to see women’s fighting on one of the biggest shows of the year, I wonder why it took so long for women’s fighting to be featured on one of the season’s shows in Riyad?

Raven Chapman. (Photo: James Chance/Getty Images)

Hasn’t the entertainment and quality provided by female athletes over the last few years given them the opportunity to be part of these great spectacles? Is this just a box-ticking exercise? Only time will tell.

We can only hope that over time the divisions will fill up and we will see more fights that will attract the attention of fans. While women’s sport still has a long way to go and patience will be needed to reach its full potential, it is also clear that there is a clear double standard at play here.

Men’s sports are judged by their potential, while women’s sports are judged by where they are today. We must continue to invest time and money in the grassroots roots of women’s boxing and promote representation at the highest level. Ultimately, the progress of women’s boxing reflects the progress of boxing as a whole.

European super bantamweight champion Dennis McCann hopes to return to the ring in December and already has an opponent in mind.

This week, the 23-year-old may find out when and where he will fight next. If he boxed again this year, it would mean three fights in 2024, which would make up for an inactive 2023 in which McCann fought only once, which ended in a technical draw with Ionut Baluta.

This year, ‘The Menace’ outclassed Brad Strand and was far too good in the second match against Baluta. These two wins personally validated his decision to change gyms from iBox in Bromley under Alan Smith to Liverpool under Joe McNally.

McCann now wants to go beyond his rivals at national and European level and join forces with those who have fought against world champions or won world titles themselves.

“I’m looking for gigantic names like TJ Doheny. I would love to share a ring with someone like TJ Doheny,” McCann said.

“I want to test myself against world-class operators. I know he’s a little older now, but I would even fight guys like Nonito Donaire. I would love to fight against people like him and test myself against world-class players.”

However, Dennis McCann’s name is currently in the crosshairs of Peter McGrail and his promoter Eddie Hearn. Following Liverpool’s second-round knockout win over Brad Foster last weekend, Hearn said of the McCann vs. McGrail fight: “I honestly think it’s one of the best fights in British boxing. The British title was agreed between Peter and Dennis McCann, as was the European title. We’ve already talked to Queensberry. This is one of the best fights in British boxing.”

These days, the idea of ​​a fight between someone from Hearn’s stable and Frank Warren’s stable (Queensberry, which promotes McCann) is no longer as far-fetched a thought as it once was. Turki Alalshikh’s influence and wealth ensured that the Chilly War of promotion in Britain was now over.

In response to Hearn’s comments, McCann said: “Eddie Hearn invested a lot of money in Peter McGrail and as we last saw, he was knocked out by an American journeyman (Ja’Rico O’Quinn). I know he won the fight, but he was annihilated. He was never arrested. He was completely knocked out.”

“Listen, I’m going to fight him tomorrow morning,” McCann continued. “It doesn’t worry me at all, but why would I take five steps back when I want to move forward. If they offer any life-changing or significant amounts of money, I would fight him on the Riyad Season card. But other than that, he can keep the Mickey Mouse stripes for them. They mean nothing to me. I have children to feed, I have a wife… these belts do not feed them. Now I’m moving on.”

Since McCann burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old in 2019, there has been regular talk of winning world titles. Stern, cocky and energetic, McCann has clearly matured, but he still says what he says, knowing that tickets must be sold and players must be seated. His wins over Strand and Baluta didn’t put us on edge, but one that could have been the fight against his Queensberry stablemate Liam Davies.

McCann expects current undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue to move up to featherweight, leaving four world titles vacant.

“I will be ready to grab them by the belt,” McCann said.

“Liam Davies is currently on his way and I am on mine. It’s effortless to fight this fight, but we both have to pay for it.

I hope he wins the world title, I win the world title and we can unite.

“I will enjoy the victory and see what happens next.” That was Saul “Canelo” Álvarez’s somewhat terse answer to the question of what his future holds after his unanimous decision victory over the emphatic Edgar Berlanga.

On Saturday, September 14, everything looked as usual at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Another hungry juvenile contender, consistently claiming to be the one who turned the super middleweight division upside down, was outthought, outplayed and ultimately eclipsed by Canelo. Berlanga put up more resistance than many expected, but he could never gain a foothold in the competition, indelibly swimming against the current created by Canelo.

In many ways, the Mexican is a victim of his own success. For most boxers, fending off a brash up-and-coming attacker with relative ease would be a source of lion’s respect. But as Canelo sat in the post-fight press conference, the questions he asked were essentially about his future: What, and more importantly, who will be next?

David Benavidez

It’s a fight that most boxing fans have been calling for Canelo to take. Benavidez, an undefeated former world champion, appeared to be on a collision course ahead of a seismic clash with Canelo.

A four-time world champion in a weight class who has carried boxing on his back and dragged it through the treacherous terrain of the pandemic, it’s demanding to throw that muddy, inappropriate D-word at Canelo: dodge. However, every time Benavidez’s name is mentioned, Canelo’s unmanageable fiscal demands stall negotiations.

He spoke in May this yearhe laid his cards on the table well and honestly. “All I see is that Benavidez is 25 or 30 pounds heavier than me on fight day. I have no problem with that, but if he wants me to fight him, it’s $200 million.”

Benavidez’s nickname “El Monstruo” (The Monster) certainly fits, and his gigantic frame dwarfs any super middleweight opponents. But size has never been an issue before; Canelo has fought twice at lightweight heavyweight and is rarely the bigger fighter in the ring.

Nevertheless, with Benavidez himself currently competing in the lightweight heavyweight division, it looks like the clash with Canelo will go down in the annals of boxing history as one of the fights that never were.

Terence Crawford

Following Crawford’s victory over undefeated welterweight contender Errol Spence, rumors of a fight between him and Canelo began.

While earlier this fantastic fight would have looked the same, Turki Alalshikha’s interest in organizing this fight gave it a different tone. But it takes two to tango, and Canelo didn’t want to discuss the prospect of fighting Crawford while preparing for a battle with Berlanga.

In a sport like boxing, it would be foolish to assume that talks to arrange a fight will resume once Canelo overtakes his rival. Alalshikh reaction his response was to punish him, fanning the flames in X’s corrosive playground as he accused the Mexican of looking for an “easier” opponent since his last defeat, “being afraid” of Crawford, wasting time and making excuses.

This matchup is tempting, it’s true, but Alalshikh was very supportive of it. Without his ability to work with Canelo and push the fight forward, it will remain dormant; a damaged firework that cannot ignite.

Crawford is one of today’s greats. Photo by Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing

Dmitry Bivol

Dmitry Bivol is in quite good company standing next to Floyd Mayweather Jr. as one of only two players who won against Canelo in the professional ranks. It was in May 2022 when Bivol defeated the Mexican by unanimous decision, defending the WBA lightweight heavyweight belt.

Since then, rumors of a rematch between the two teams have never really gone away. Canelo is not a man accustomed to defeat, and he once again expressed his willingness to rebuke his demons that night in Nevada.

As is often the case in boxing, weight discrepancies derailed the fight, but not in the way fight fans are accustomed to. No, it’s not the rehydration clauses that are muddying the waters this time; instead, both want the fight to take place in their opponent’s weight class.

Bivol, a lightweight heavyweight, has stated that he intends to strip Canelo of his super middleweight belts, believing it will disprove any claims by opponents that Canelo was fighting him in uncharted territory. Meanwhile, his Mexican foe refuses to leave room for critics who say he is stripping Bivol of his full arsenal and a lightweight heavyweight rematch.

This is an unusual, if noble, cause of contention between the two camps, as both men seek to avoid the metaphorical asterisk placed on them in the event of victory. However, no matter how valid the disagreement, the rematch remains in a state of inertia.

Of course, it would be a sin not to mention the figure of Artur Beterbiev hanging over Dmitry Bivol as their historic meeting on October 12 approaches. Regardless of the outcome, however, Canelo is not a man often used to the bitter taste of defeat; the opportunity to turn things around on Bivol is sure to whet the appetite of a man so accustomed to destroying all who come in contact with him.

Dmitry Bivol captures Lyndon Arthur during their fight in Riyad. (Photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

So where does Canelo stand?

A true boxing superstar, he is the master of his own destiny and can build his path in any way he sees fit. Canelo is well on his way to a brilliant career, but there are only a handful of opponents who will take his legacy in the sport to even greater heights.