Less than a week after one of the most explosive performances from a British heavyweight in many years, last Saturday’s events at Wembley are still the talk of sport, certainly the talk of boxing. Why was the Saudi Arabian national anthem sung? What will Anthony Joshua - beaten for the fourth time in his professional career - do next? How much money is AJ’s defeat going to cost Tyson Fury? Who fawned over Turki Alalshikh - sorry, His Excellency - to greater effect? Eddie Hearn? Or Frank Warren? Are you going to sell your Oasis tickets after that 10 minutes of shouting from Liam Gallagher? How come there was no-one REALLY famous at ringside? Yep, these are the issues that continue to burn, along with a rant from Chris Eubank Junior - labelling Hearn and Warren ‘scumbags’ - which he swiftly retracted and apologised for. Politics, bad-mouthing, conspiracy theories, money - dirty or otherwise - will always be boxing’s bedfellows.
That’s the nature of the business. But in this instance, they have done boxing a grave disservice by taking the spotlight away from a landmark sporting performance. So, just in case you had not noticed - amidst the nonsense listed above - here is what British sport has now got.
A 27-year-old world heavyweight champion who is moving towards, rather than away from, the peak of his frightening powers. A fighter who, considering the age bracket of his main rivals, has the potential to dominate boxing’s blue riband division for some considerable.
