Our biggest boxing gripes from 2024

The BoxingScene end of year roundtable continues and, alas, it’s time to identify some of the bad stuff …

What was your biggest gripe of 2024?

Kieran Mulvaney: It probably sounds boring and whiny and old and washed to bleat constantly about how late boxing shows finish, but: how late boxing shows finish, and how much padding there is between bouts on televised shows. This is one thing UFC does so much better: introductory video, fight, result, repeat. Just get on with it.

Lucas Ketelle: Boxing is beginning to move away from the United States. American fighters are not that active and now the sport is moving to Riyadh or Las Vegas, where it seems international fighters shine more than Americans.

Owen Lewis: This gripe isn’t exclusive to 2024 given his ho-hum fights in 2023, but I am so tired of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez taking on hopelessly outmatched opponent after hopelessly outmatched opponent, all the while insisting that he’ll fight anyone and that he’s the best fighter in the sport. It’s disappointing behavior from a sure-shot Hall of Famer and it’s bundled David Benavidez out of a defining fight he surely deserved. That boxing media continues to repeat ad nauseam that Canelo is the face of the sport and that his legacy is secure grates on me too. After the five consecutive dull, predictable unanimous decision wins Canelo has coughed up in recent fights, what I think those who cover the sport should be highlighting – especially in light of what Usyk, Crawford, and Inoue are doing – is that it’s time for boxing to replace its face. 

Matt Christie: As ever with boxing, pinpointing one is difficult. Though the chatter around ‘undisputed’ will forever drive me bananas (by the way, a mere seven months after Usyk-Fury I we have three heavyweights with a claim to the championship), it was the realization that authorities are not equipped with the power, finances, desire or gumption to dish out befitting punishment to big-name drug cheats.

Declan Warrington: The extent to which the murderous Saudi Arabian regime has managed to buy its way into boxing, and how unchallenged that regime has been. They, and Turki Alalshikh, don’t care about the sport anymore than they care about women’s rights and the slave trade that exists in their country. Or, to put it another way, they don’t care about the sport anymore than the shameless sycophants who stand in front of cameras and dictaphones lying through their teeth about what a great place it is to watch a fight appear to care about their reputations.

Jason Langendorf: I couldn’t have put it any better than Dec. Where do I co-sign?

Lance Pugmire: People are free to do what they want, but the disinterest so many upper-level fighters have in promoting themselves is amazing, and the interference that many fight P.R. people run (those working for fighters and promoters) is unbelievable. Want to know why your numbers aren’t what they should be? Go look in the mirror. Muhammad Ali was “The Greatest” for many reasons – self-promotion chiefly among them. Please, take a history lesson and stop being so thin-skinned. This is the fight game!    

Tris Dixon: I have a few, but the cupboards of high-level boxing shows in the UK and US in the last quarter of the year were pretty bare. Also, the increased restriction in access to fighters beyond a certain level makes ‘story-telling’ increasingly difficult. Five minutes in a huddle with 20 other reporters, 10 minutes on a Zoom, it hardly sets you up for a Pulitzer entry!

Eric Raskin: I’ll co-sign Jason’s co-sign of Dec’s gripe. You can celebrate the fact that the best possible fights are routinely getting made now without just rolling over and losing all perspective and seeing how many times you can cram the words “His Excellency” into every sentence.

Elliot Worsell: I echo what has already been said, but perhaps the most depressing aspect, for me, is how dumb and online the sport has become of late. To be expected, I suppose, but following the sport in 2024 has just been plain weird at times. Everything I have watched has been weird and everything I have heard said, whether by actual professionals or fans masquerading as professionals, has been weird. Proper dystopian at times.