BoxingScene’s Midweek Mailbag: Your thoughts (and ours) on David Benavidez vs. David Morrell, Nick Ball vs. Naoya Inoue, Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, and Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua

In this week’s mailbag, we tackle your thoughts on one fight that’s just been announced (light heavyweight contenders David Benavidez vs. David Morrell), one fight that’s being imagined (featherweight titleholder Nick Ball vs. junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue), one fight that’s been ordered (unified middleweight titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. top contender Hamzah Sheeraz), and one fight that should’ve happened in the past (heavyweights Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua).

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BENAVIDEZ AND MORRELL LEARNED THEIR LESSONS AND ARE DONE WAITING

These guys (David Benavidez and David Morrell) needed to fight each other, Time to make their own legacy and not just wait around to get picked.

-A.B. Counterhooks

David Greisman’s response: This is the second-best fight that could be made at light heavyweight — Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol is of course #1 — and is the right fight at the right time for Benavidez and Morrell.

When they were super middleweights, both were in line for shots at Canelo Alvarez. Benavidez in particular was made to wait — though, to be fair, he didn’t just sit around while waiting. He was already the top remaining contender after Canelo defeated the three titleholders (Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders, Caleb Plant). Then Benavidez won the WBC interim title to try to get more leverage for the fight to be made. Then Benavidez defeated Plant to re-assert his claim as the best available challenger at 168. And then Benavidez did what Canelo refused to by facing and dominating Demetrius Andrade.

Now that they are light heavyweights, Benavidez and Morrell are each in line to face the winner of Beterbiev vs. Bivol by virtue of the secondary titles they recently earned (Benavidez won the WBC interim belt with his June win over Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Morrell got the WBA “regular” belt from his August victory over Radivoje Kalajdzic).

Any promoter would typically want two potential stars rather than sacrificing one of them off. But there isn’t much else available for Benavidez or Morrell that would move the needle while waiting to face whomever the 175-pound king turns out to be. This fight is bigger in the U.S. than a bout with Joshua Buatsi. Beyond that, neither Benavidez nor Morrell was overly impressive against Gvozdyk and Kalajdzic. This fight can put the winner back on course.

NICK BALL’S RECENT FIGHTS SHOW THAT HE CAN’T BEAT NAOYA INOUE

Nick Ball really went to war with 34-year-old Ronny Rios, who was inactive for three ears. This is the fourth time in a row that Ball went life and death in his fight. Ball is completely one-dimensional, with no power. He is getting brutally knocked out by “The Monster” Naoya Inoue.

Tris Dixon’s response: I’d say “life and death” was a stretch, although Ball’s face certainly paid more tribute to Rios’ industry than the commentators did.

Ball is ferocious and a handful. He’s had tough fights in good company. No one has had it easy with him and, frankly, I’d say he’s one of the fighters of the year.

Inoue is a different beast — of course he is. But Inoue’s power might be maxing out where he is right now. Look, I’m not going to make a case for Ball, nor would I. But this is why we fight the fights, and I also can’t help but think it could be a very entertaining fight.

HAMZAH SHEERAZ ISN’T READY YET FOR JANIBEK ALIMKHANULY

I think that Janibek Alimkhanuly will be too much for Hamzah Sheeraz at this stage. Although Sheeraz is a KO artist, Janibek seems to have an iron chin (like Gennadiy Golovkin) and so he would probably break Sheeraz down eventually like most of his opponents. Still, I’d like Sheeraz to use his WBC mandatory next against titleholder Carlos Adames and for Janibek to fight Erislandy Lara before having the eventual winners face off in an undisputed clash in Saudi Arabia. Hopefully that’s Janibek-Sheeraz, which is the best fight in the division.

-HisExcellency

Lucas Ketelle’s response: Janibek Alimkhanuly’s middleweight career feels like something out of a dystopian novel. He’s got the talent, the belts, and the skills to be a star. But outside his camp? Nothing. Since unifying titles with an IBF win over Vincenzo Gualtieri, he’s basically been fighting in his own orbit — no buzz, no real momentum. It’s almost like the sport collectively shrugged its shoulders.

Here comes Hamzah Sheeraz, the knockout artist who might just be the guy to wake up the division. Janibek’s been drifting aimlessly. But Sheeraz? He’s the dude people will actually tune in to watch. You outlined the potential matchups on the table: Sheeraz could fight with Adames for the WBC title, and Janibek could square up with Erislandy Lara to unify the IBF, WBA and WBO belts. 

Sounds great, right? Except, this is boxing, where making obvious fights is like rolling the dice. Or even making fights in general is hard.

Sheeraz is also the WBO’s No. 1 contender. The WBO has ordered Janibek and Sheeraz to fight. And Janibek holds that belt, so the fight seems inevitable. This is a division that used to belong to stars like Golovkin and Canelo — remember that time? — and it’s been gasping for air ever since. Janibek vs. Sheeraz could finally be the spark that reignites the division, or we could hope.

As for Janibek’s iron chin, here’s a thought: What puncher has he really faced? Right now, he feels like a more polished Viktor Postol: solid but untested in a division that’s light on top-tier talent, especially big punchers (he has been calling people out, though). Sheeraz can punch, but is there a ceiling to his power? There’s only one way to find out. Put them in the ring and let’s see who’s still standing.

DON’T MAKE TYSON FURY VS. ANTHONY JOSHUA!

A fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua absolutely should not happen! It’s a mismatch at this point. 

Eddie Hearn chased this fight for the last four years, and Fury was busy playing diva-like games. Fury fumbled the bag and shouldnt be handed this payday regardless if he wins or loses vs Oleksandr Usyk.

That being said: Hearn will do his best to cash AJ out on Fury. Everyone knows AJ is done now. It’s just about how they all can leach the maximum income out of one last AJ beatdown.

-Super-X 

Matt Christie’s response: Though I recognize the sentiment of your comment, I’m not convinced it’s either a mismatch or an unappealing fight. In the U.K., Fury versus Joshua would still do monstrous business — there isn’t a fight that could compare to it in terms of interest among general sport fans. 

But the crux, and the point to which you allude, is that this fight should have occurred years ago when it really meant something.

Back when we thought it was going to happen (when it should have happened), it was a story I followed closely, speaking regularly to the promotional teams of Joshua and Fury. And for a few weeks it did seem nailed on — right up until Deontay Wilder triggered his contractual right for a third fight with Fury. Dates and venues were set and so forth, press releases had been written. Even so, it’s hard to think of a bigger miss in British boxing history than the collective failure to make this fight, and those at the heart of the mess should hang their heads in shame. In that regard, I do hear you.

Whether Joshua is conclusively “done” is another matter. Perhaps he simply got caught cold by Daniel Dubois early in their fight and never really recovered. Though I agree his best days are logically in the past, I certainly think it’s too early to write him off completely. 

We don’t know what Fury has left, either. Though he looked terrific in spots against Usyk, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him fall apart in the rematch. The way he was stumbling all over the place in the ninth round should be a cause for concern.

There is still life in Fury versus Joshua — but only just.

Want to be featured in the mailbag? Comment or ask a question in the comments section below. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity. We also may select readers’ comments from other BoxingScene stories.