By Declan Taylor
Wednesday, January 3
BABYJACKER
While The Week was finally polishing off the last of the Celebrations, dumping all remaining stilton into a broccoli soup and tossing the dishevelled tree off a third-story balcony, the sport of boxing was already motoring into the new year in some style.
Perhaps a poor choice of words there as the most surprising news of the day came when Jarrell Miller, the Big Baby himself, was arrested in Florida and charged with carjacking without a firearm or weapon and burglary with assault or battery. His bond was set at $30,000.
According to a local television station, Miller stole a Black Dodge Ram pickup truck from a car dealership in Hollywood after proceeding with what prosecutors described as a planned attack on one of the employees. What a start to the year for Miller, who suffered the first defeat of his professional career at the back end of 2023.
That story came hot off the heels of the news that Polish southpaw Krzysztof Glowacki, who was stopped by Richard Riakporhe in four rounds 12 months ago, has been banned for four years by the BBBoC after testing positive for the anabolic steroid boldenone following that defeat. Well I never, someone pass me a miniature Twix immediately.
Thursday, January 4
TAKEOVER CONTINUES
It was confirmed on Thursday that Teofimo Lopez will return to the ring on February 8 (which is, as it happens, another Thursday) to face Jamaine Ortiz at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas on ESPN.
Lopez has not boxed since producing one of the performances of 2023 to outpoint Josh Taylor at Madison Square Garden in June – his one and only fight of the year. But it looks like he could be set for a busy 2024 and will get off and running early next month on the Thursday before the Super Bowl, which also takes place in Vegas. That should be a quiet week in Sin City.
One man who will not be in Vegas anymore, however, is Joe Joyce as he confirmed on Thursday that he will no longer be preparing under Ismael Salas but will be staying in England to work with Steve Broughton. The Juggernaut, who was stopped twice by Zhilei Zhang last year, is hoping to bounce back with ‘two or three’ fights in 2024 as he attempts to plot a path back towards the top of the heavyweight tree, which brings us nicely onto Friday.
Joyce and trainer Ismael Salas
Friday, January 5
TIS THE SEASON (AGAIN)
Yet more proof, if it were ever needed, on Friday that we are living in the Saudi Arabia generation of boxing as it was revealed that Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou will meet in a 10-round heavyweight attraction as part of Riyadh Season.
Eddie Hearn took to Twitter to confirm the news late in the day, revealing that a press conference to confirm all the details will take place on January 15. “Tonight we confirm it’s a done deal!” Hearn said. “Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou collide on a huge night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”
It is understood that the fight will land on the second weekend of March, likely on Friday 8th, due to the grand prix in Saudi on the 9th. This encounter will represent Joshua’s fourth outing in just 11 months – which is activity he has not achieved since way back in 2015.
While AJ’s income across that period has reportedly risen into nine figures, it was a much smaller sum which piqued The Week’s interest elsewhere on Friday as it was confirmed by Boxing News that Boxxer supremo Ben Shalom has pledged £5,000 to the Ringside Charitable Trust after meeting with their founder Dave Harris late last year. The pair will meet again this month to discuss a more long-term plan too. Bravo.
Saturday, January 6
40-YEAR-OLD AT VIRGIN
The most notable card on the first fighting Saturday of 2024 was at the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas but the two main fights both lasted less than three minutes.
At the top of the bill, Vergil Ortiz Jr, the former welterweight prodigy, boxed for the first time in nearly 18 months in what was his debut at 154lbs. Ortiz’s career has been rocked by some major health problems but he is said to be safe to box at the new weight and did the business against Fredrick Lawson in the first round. But referee Tony Weeks received criticism for how quickly he stepped in to stop the fight – more on Weeks on Monday.
Before that, there were few complaints about the speed at which referee Celestino Ruiz stepped in to stop Ismael Barroso’s first-round beatdown of Hackney’s Ohara Davies at the Virgin Hotel. The 40-year-old southpaw from Venezuela dropped Davies early and, although he got back to his feet, he was never able to reestablish a foothold in the fight.
“It’s a fight I saw myself winning,” Davies said afterwards. “I made a mistake and I paid for it. I just want to say I’m sorry, I didn’t see this coming and I don’t think anyone else did. This isn’t how the script is meant to go.”
Ismael Barroso (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)
Sunday, January 7
BENN, IN THE USA
On the subject of Las Vegas, another Brit who will be in Nevada in Q1 is Conor Benn. The Destroyer had been hoping to fight Chris Eubank Jr, or anyone actually, at Tottenham on February 3 but when those plans failed to materialise, Team Benn decided to hit the road again.
He landed on American soil on Sunday and will now put the finishing touches on his preparation to face Peter Dobson at the Cosmopolitan on February 3. Before the flight, The Week caught up with Benn, who was in philosophical mood after a testing 2023.
“I’d say 2022 was the worst year for me but 23 was a year of learning and growing,” he said. “I’d say I became more accepting of the situation I was in. I found out I was having a little daughter, which is a blessing and spent a lot of time with my dad. For me it was a year of growth personally. This really has made me a better man.”
While Benn makes his Vegas debut in a matter of weeks, Australian Tim Tszyu is expected to do the same in March. And following his victory over Fredrick Lawson, it was Vergil Ortiz who spoke up a potential clash with the Australian. “There’s a lot of fighters I want but Tim Tszyu, with all due respect, I want him next.”
Monday, January 8
WEEKS’ VOLUMES
There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned Twitter meltdown but that’s exactly what happened on Monday morning after it appeared that referee Tony Weeks gave his side of the Vegas story over on Facebook.
The post uploaded to Week’s account, which has now been deleted, read: “What the public didn’t know that prior to the fight they did a brain scan on him and it came up that he had an aneurysm, and they did a test again, and the same aneurysm camp up. Another doctor was brought in and gave him the same examination and he test negative for the aneurysm, they cleared him to fight.”
It is a truly stunning paragraph, which did not last very long on his Facebook but was circulated widely across Twitter and goes some way to explaining why Weeks appeared to stop the fight before Ortiz had really landed anything of any note cleanly.
Golden Boy, meanwhile, responded with a noticeably short statement of their own, which read: “Fredrick Lawson was cleared by a Nevada State Athletic Commission sanctioned doctor to fight on Saturday night.”
And if all of that was not enough, Jarrell Miller (remember him?), also decided to hit social media for a spot of explaining. “GOD gives the toughest battles to HIS strongest soldiers,” part of the statement read. “I am prayerful and look forward to a favourable resolution of this case.”
Tuesday, January 9
WORDS, SMITH
On the day on which scientists confirmed that 2023 was officially the hottest year on record, big Callum Smith might have been wondering what happened to Quebec City, where temperatures sat at around -12.
Smith, of course, is there on business as he prepares for Saturday’s clash against arguably the No.1 light-heavyweight on the planet, Artur Beterbiev who is 19-0 with 19 knockouts. The pair were supposed to meet back in August but the fight was pushed back due to complications following some dental surgery for Beterbiev.
“Mentally it’s a little bit tougher,” said Smith of the postponement. “I’ve had Beterbiev on the brain for a long time. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for nearly two years now. But I’ve always watched him and felt I had the style to beat him. I like my chances in this fight.”
Elsewhere, Errol Spence uploaded a video to his Instagram where he appeared to be getting pushed around in a wheelchair with a bandage over his right eye. On Twitter he wrote: “You can kill the retire shit tho. Yea I got my ass beat, shit was past due. I didn’t live exactly like a boxer for the most part lol”.
And with that, The Week 2024 roadshow was officially up and running. Until somebody carjacks us, anyway.