The Week: Shields explains all, the Furys take on Cheshire Council, and Taylor won’t rematch Catterall on the cheap | Boxing News

By Declan Taylor

Wednesday, December 6

FROM JAI TO PIE

It was Wednesday when The Week checked in with arguably the world’s No.1 cruiserweight Jai Opetaia to discuss preparations for his December 23 Riyadh showdown with Ellis Zorro and also see what he thought of Chris Billam-Smith’s world title defence against Mateusz Masternak.

“Good fight, eh?” Said Opetaia of Sunday’s tussle. “I’m not sure how it goes. Masternak is very experienced, has been around for a long time and is a good boxer. He’s a bit long in the tooth but those old bulls have still got it. Then Chris Billam-Smith is tough, he always comes to fight and it’s hard to beat someone who doesn’t want to lose. He believes in himself. I hope it’s a good fight for the crowd and I hope whoever wins reaches out so we can make that fight happen.”

On the subject of CBS, around the same time that Opetaia was talking, the man from Bournemouth responded to an innocent picture of a mince pie uploaded onto The Week’s official Instagram on Wednesday morning by branding it a ‘4/10 snack’ and declaring: “they are so dead”. Stick to fighting, big man.

Thursday, December 7

PRIME STAKE

Thursday brought with it some potentially seismic news for the future of boxing broadcasting as PBC announced a new deal with Amazon Prime.

One huge question that arose from Showtime’s departure from boxing was on which platform would Al Haymon’s star-studded stable fight? And now it has been confirmed that they have agreed a multi-year deal for their shows to be broadcast on Prime, with the first set to take place in March. According to reports, it could involve as many as 14 shows per year with some pay-per-view events and other standard cards.

It means boxing will now be streamed on DAZN with Matchroom, Peacock with Boxxer and now PBC on Prime. It’s a brave new world but fascinating times. Will the seemingly unlimited reach of streaming services welcome scores of new boxing fans? Or will streaming services be where boxing ultimately goes to die?

Thursday was also the day where one of DAZN’s best fights of the year really exploded into life as Devin Haney and Regis Prograis traded barbs at a good, old-fashioned press conference. However, once again the fighters were outshone in the verbal department by their elder sidekicks; Haney by his dad Bill and Prograis by his S&C coach Evins Tobler. Team Haney even handed out fliers declaring that the Rougarou, Prograis’ nickname, had been captured.

Friday, December 8

TARTAN TORNADOUGH

Since Jack Catterall’s move to Matchroom, he has made no secret of his desire to finally secure a rematch with Josh Taylor but Eddie Hearn revealed that an offer for that fight has been rejected by the Scotsman’s promoter Top Rank.

But on Friday, Taylor took to Twitter to have his say on the situation. “I don’t accept offers at an 80% pay cut!” he tapped, seemingly furiously. “Especially for a fight that’s bigger than the 1st fight. I don’t know anyone on the planet that would fight for that kind of pay cut! If matchroom are serious about making the fight they’ve gotta put a serious offer in. Simple as that.” Doesn’t look #great for that one does it?

Meanwhile, over in the Cayman Islands, Yorkshireman Craig Derbyshire, who arrived there with a record of 7-29-4 after spending most of his career as a journeyman, won the Commonwealth light-flyweight title by beating Matt Windle. The 32-year-old adding more proof, if it were ever needed, that it is often the man in the away corner who is the most accomplished fighter in the ring on the night. Derbyshire, who won just three of his first 24 fights, has now claimed central area, English and Commonwealth titles over the course of his career.

Saturday, December 9

ROBEISY, TIGER

The Charles F Dodge City Centre, Pembroke Pines, Florida was the location for a late shout for Upset of the Year as Robeisy Ramirez was stunned by little-known Mexican Rafael Espinoza.

In his first ever 12-round fight and only his third outside of Mexico, the Guadalajara native boxed his way to a majority decision with Benoit Roussel (114-112) and Steve Weisfeld (115-111) scoring his favour and Efrain Lebron scoring it 113-113. It means an already stacked and seemingly wide open division has another player – and another name from Mexico 18 months after Mauricio Lara burst onto the scene with his win over Josh Warrington. Meanwhile, Cuban Robeisy Ramirez, who moves to 13-2 (8),  goes back to the drawing board.

“I thought the fight was won,” he said afterwards. “But he got his second wind. I tried to catch mine but I’ve got to give him credit. He came after me. He got the knockdown. I didn’t think it would determine the result, but that’s what the judges decided.”

Over on the west Coast on Saturday night, it was nowhere near as close as Devin Haney scored a lesser-spotted shutout on all three scorecards – including a knockdown – in a performance and victory against Regis Prograis which will put him at the heart of the conversation for Fighter of the Year.

Sunday, December 10

SUNDAY ROAST

There were fun and games on the south coast as Chris Billam-Smith came from behind to stop Mateusz Masternak after seven completed rounds. Ringside and working for Sky was Richard Riakporhe, who could well be next for CBS, and he liked what he saw as the home favourite took some stick from the Pole before the retirement.

“If I land one of those shots, how’s he going to react?” Riakporhe said. “How’s he going to react to a jab from me, or a right hand from me or a hook from me? It’s going to be very dangerous.”

The big question is whether or not Riakporhe would be willing to take on Billam-Smith in Bournemouth, where he would be backed by his legion of supporters. The Londoner has claimed to be a Crystal Palace fan in the past but CBS reckons he’s blagging it.

“I am not sure about his Palace fanbase,” Billam Smith said. “I have photos of him in a  Millwall shirt saying ‘I am Millwall’. He should not be going down that route and trying to steal Ellie Scotney’s fanbase. We played them the other night and won 2-0. I would have given him some grief on social media about it – if I believed he even was a Palace fan.”

First mince pies, then Masternak and now Riakporhe. Is nobody safe in CBS’ reign of terror?

Monday, December 11

CLARESSA EXPLAINS IT ALL

Twitter went mental on Monday as 6-1 Latvian Arturs Ahmetovs posted a video on his Instagram of him dropping Claressa Shields heavily with a left hook in sparring during a session which took place in 2018.

On seeing the video, Shields took to Twitter to respond, accusing Ahmetovs and his coach of tampering with the gloves to gain an advantage that day.

“I’ve never been Ko’d in 17 years and I’ve been dropped 2x all in a week of each other,” Shields typed. “I have no shame in that. But for a male fighter to literally take the padding out his gloves, he’s a punk. Him and coach Derrick santos are bad for the sport!

“Check your sparring partner gloves. People be offended that I do that now. But after being knocked down by a guy who was upset I pieced him up earlier that week, I do it every sparring session since 2018.”

Elsewhere on Monday, DAZN pundit Chris Mannix suggested that talks have begun regarding a 140lb New York showdown between Teofimo Lopez and Subriel Matias in June on Puerto Rico Day parade weekend. Sign me up for that.

Tuesday, December 12

DEATH AND TAXES

It’s not often that boxing hits the front page of national papers these days but on Tuesday, The Sun carried a story about world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury with the headline: FURY V CHESHIRE COUNCIL. The story claimed that Fury, who is set to face Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in February, ‘faces a new fight – over an £82,000 council tax bill’.

It is claimed by Cheshire East Council that Tyson, his father John and brother Shane owe them the cash in relation to land used as a car park. Big John attended court for a civil trial on Tuesday and labelled the case ‘ridiculous’. He added: “I’ve come here today to tell you the boys had nothing to do with it, especially Tyson… It is ridiculous, when he [Tyson] is paying millions of pounds of tax a year. He has not lived at that address for 18 years.”

On the subject of Saudi, The Week called Dimitri Bivol on Tuesday to check how his preparations for the December 23 clash with Lyndon Arthur are going. We also broached the subject of a potential clash with Artur Beterbiev, who he is expecting to beat Callum Smith in January. Lethal Bivol said: “Before, I just couldn’t see how this fight with Beterbiev would happen. But now, after being in Saudi, I know how we can get it on. But I am only thinking about Lyndon Arthur right now.”