For the relaunch of my column – the travelling demanded by the busiest year of my career contributed to it becoming neglected – I was asked to write about the highlights of my 2024.
Before 2024 it’d been two decades since I’d been to Australia – I flew there twice in a matter of months. I’d also never been to Saudi Arabia – I’ve now been five times.
Globally, boxing’s got bigger. Before, we were confined, primarily, to North America, the UK, and Germany. But I’m glad to be part of the expanded world we’re experiencing.
I joined Oleksandr Usyk in his training camp near Valencia in Spain for his undisputed heavyweight title fight with Tyson Fury in Riyadh, in May, and after he won, I almost felt like it could only be downhill for me. I’d been in his training camps for big fights before, but this was the undisputed heavyweight title – the pinnacle. The fight that triggered my life in boxing was Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali – The Fight of the Century. “Does it get any better than this?” I asked myself. But boxing’s like a drug – I flew back to Canada soon afterwards and was soon working a four-round fight.
By then I’d been with Vasiliy Lomachenko in Perth, Australia, for his victory over George Kambosos Jnr. I’m not sure Vasiliy will ever quite recover from the injustice of his defeat by Devin Haney, for the undisputed lightweight title, but he’s one of the greatest talents I’ve ever seen – it’s insulting he’s not more revered – and it was rewarding to be with him that night.
Most importantly, I’m there at times like that to do a job. Even with the importance of Fury-Usyk, I can’t allow myself to be anything other than focused. It’s only a few days after the fight that the magnitude of an achievement like that starts to settle in.
It was in July when I was in London for Derek Chisora, for his victory over Joe Joyce. While there I spoke properly, for the first time, with Moses Itauma. He’s really impressed me, but the most important thing I believed I could tell him was about how valuable I consider it for him to continue to learn his trade. “Nothing’s going to replace experience and learning your craft – don’t let them rush you.” Which is something I’ve preached throughout the years I’ve been involved in boxing. Look what happened to Anthony Joshua when he neglected the fundamentals that made him world heavyweight champion. When a fighter has good fundamentals and a good base their careers can thrive for the long term.
In early October I returned to Australia, this time to Sydney, for Zhanibek Alimkhanuly-Andrei Mikhailovich. Zhanibek was so determined to make a statement, because of all the pre-fight trash talk, that he let Mikhailovich recover when he had him hurt during the second round to give him a longer beating. When Mikhailovich survived the third I knew it was going to be a longer night, but Zhanibek showed how talented he is – he’s going to be very tough to beat. No one seems to want to fight him – which to me shows how good he is.
Next up was Orlando, Florida, to work with Bakhram Murtazaliev for his victory over Tim Tszyu. I knew it was going to be a good fight, but I hadn’t expected such a demolition of Tszyu. After Tszyu was hurt for the first time he took a lot more punishment than he needed to – his corner ought to have stopped it. The faster a fighter gets up, the more hurt he typically is. He needed to take a knee, accept that that first round was lost, and look to his corner for instructions. Bakhram’s recorded fantastic successive wins. He’s been waiting for this exposure and these opportunities – it was great to be a part of that, too.
September, by the way, marked 10 years since Rival Boxing opened a store in Las Vegas, so when we could we held a warehouse sale and an impromptu party to watch Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol. Nico Ali Walsh was among those who joined us (it’s also 20 years since we opened up in Montreal).
It hurt to not be there in Beterbiev’s corner. I knew it was going to cost me when I refused to work Beterbiev-Callum Smith but I stand by my decision. I would have valued being there with him, having been with him for so much of the rest of the journey, and I believe I’d have had a role to play, but they don’t appear to respect the decision I made in January and I’ve accepted that.
Russ Anber is the founder/CEO of Rival Boxing, as well as a highly respected trainer (of both pros and amateurs), a gym owner, a cut-man, an entrepreneur, a broadcaster and one of the best hand wrappers in the boxing business. Vasiliy Lomachenko, Oleksandr Usyk, Callum Smith, Zhanibek Alimkhanuly and Bakhram Murtazaliev are among the many top boxers Russ works with.
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