Big Apple Boxing Back In A Big Way
A preposterous insurance issue of one million dollars tried to break the back of the New York boxing scene – and failed. It proved to be only a small hiccup, as promoters like Lou Dibella (Dibella Entertainment) and Joe DeGuardia (Star Boxing) were forced to cancel cards in the City and schedule them elsewhere. Now, New York boxing is alive and well with some monstrous events coming up.
On January 14 Badou Jack (20-1-2) will face off against James Degale (23-1) at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, live on Showtime. If there was ever an event to announce the return of boxing in New York, this is the one. When Jack meets Degale, the fight will have huge implications on the super middleweight division, as it is a unification showdown.
The co-feature will satisfy the needs of die hard fans, amongst others, as Floyd Mayweather‘s protege Gervonta Davis (16-0) gets his first world title shot against Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (22-0), of Puerto Rico. This will be a hard fought battle as neither man backs away from close quarters.
That same night on the undercard, Amanda Serrano (30-1-1), a four-division world champion, will lace her gloves against former two-division world champion Yazmin Rivas (35-9-1). This contest also marks the first nationally televised women’s world title bout in nearly a decade.
Photo: Hector Matos
New York will spread the love from Brooklyn to Manhattan. “The world’s most famous arena,” Madison Square Garden, will play host to Gennady Golovkin (36-0) when he finally faces Daniel Jacobs (32-1) in a highly anticipated bout. Much like the insurance issues in New York, this fight was very difficult to make.
Golovkin’s and Jacobs’ camps almost considered the purse bid but preferred to negotiate a deal without resorting to the bidding process. This fight features the best middleweight in the division, Golovkin, and Jacobs, who is probably the second best fighter in the division today.
An event of this magnitude is exactly what New York needs the day after St. Patrick’s Day. It is the kind of event that will bring the most raucous crowd to the arena with a sprinkle of magic in the air. New York is most certainly a melting pot within the boxing community and these events will help to restore the great rich history that has always been associated with boxing in the world’s greatest city.
Writer: Jose Batista
