The hydration clause has been massively overstated and played no role in the outcome.
My theory is this, a catch weight fight without any boxing organations sanctioning rules probably made the fight easier to make.
Tank doesn’t hold a recognised belt anyway. He’s just a regular champion.
Both fighters have fought at 140 relatively recently, but if the fight was at 140 no belts would have been on the line.
In essence by making a catch weight fight, you are eliminating rankings and boxing organisation drama.
What is a regular champion?
Some organisations have a Super Champion (a guy with elevated status). The other fighters in the organisation then fight for the regular belt in order to be in line to fight the super champion.
At lightweight, the WBC elevated Lomachenko to Franchise Champion which is a made up belt which allowed him to drop the regular title. He then was able to avoid his mandatory Devin Haney and fought Teo Lopez instead. Haney was awarded the regular belt. It’s complicated.
Daniel Dubois is the regular Champion in the WBA whilst Usyk is the WBA Super Champion. I actually don’t know why this exists in Boxing. I’ll assume that it allows the organisations to enable their Champions to defend against other guys in the organisation rather than the Champions of other organisations.
I’ll try to use a football analogy…
Arsenal win the Premier League this season. They/We are the Premier League Champions. 90% through next season a Super League begins and the top teams from the top 5 leagues are invited.
Arsenal are elevated to Franchise Champions and go off to compete for the Super League. The Premier League doesn’t want to lose them from the league and Arsenal want to play the other top teams in Europe. Nottingham Forest win the Premier League by virtue of finishing second and beating Man City in a playoff for the title.
Forest are the regular Champions and Arsenal are the Franchise Champions by virtue.
This isn’t quite a direct correlation but the best I can do. Arsenal are made
Thanks for that, never heard of it before and it really does sound stupid lol
I’m definitely not a fan of it. Fair play to Tank and Garcia making a fight that the fans want to see.
Great fight on paper with no belt on the line. Would have been a nightmare to make the fight at 135 because of organisations. Haney vs Tank probably wouldn’t happen despite both holding a belt in the same organisation for another 15 months.
Rumour for this Saudi tournament is: I heard Joshua will be fighting in July/August.
Fury - £90m
Usyk - £50m
Joshua - £30m
Wilder - £30m
Big Bang Zhang knocks them all out in the same night G.
Zhang - 170m
Yeah G, KSI vs Joshua. KSI sparks him inside six innit?
Gotta take a s**t lol.
Just can’t see them all under one roof on one big night. There’s more money to be made if you separate the fights, surely.
Possibly, maybe.
Think of the PPV sales though. British fans would drop £50 to see two British heavyweights facing world-level opponents in the same night. This sells in America and ticket prices for such an event in the UAE will clear bucket loads.
Splitting the fights into two nights lowers the spectacle.
Think it will sell really well. Having Joshua and Wilder as an eliminator for undisputed as the Co main is incredible.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see it. Just seems unfathomable for plenty of reasons.
Might as well stay in this thread now. Fuck the PL
Oh, I agree. Won’t believe that the event actually happens until the ring walks occur.
21st May - Sunday morning.
MGM Grand, Las Vegas, USA.
Devin Haney v Vasiliy Lomachenko : Undisputed World Lightweight Title
TV Sat - Sky Sports Main Event HD (01:00), Sky Sports Action HD (01:00)
Can’t wait for this fight. Hope Loma has some magic left in him
To be on the safe side I’m setting my alarm for 4am for the Haney vs Loma fight.
Who you got?
Going for Haney - tune in everyone on Sky - set your alarm for 4am. Grab some extra food tomorrow for the BIG fight on Saturday late night/early Sunday morning.
