Heavyweight Division

[diehard]

I'm voting for this guy being in the top 15. Great record, only lost to Usyk, and KO'd Charr, who is a co-champion in the IBF.

https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/514537

[diehard]

https://www.boxingscene.com/warren-wba-obvious-path-dubois-bryan-fight-appeals-us--163034

[diehard]

Diamante facing lengthy rehab after serious motorcycle crash
28 Dec, 2021 01:39 PM

Legendary ring announcer David Diamante is facing lengthy rehabilitation after breaking his spine in three places in a motorcycle crash, just days after announcing Joseph Parker's victory over Derek Chisora.

Diamante, the voice of Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing, had just returned to Brooklyn, New York, when he lost control of his bike in icy conditions on one of its main streets.

After sliding for almost 100 metres, Diamante crashed into a parked van and lay helpless as traffic rushed by his prone body.

"People were looking at me," Diamante told Sports Illustrated. "But nobody was stopping."

Eventually, someone did. That kind stranger not only called emergency services but also shielded Diamante with their own car.

"Before that," says Diamante, "it was kind of a miracle that I wasn't driven over."

The 50-year-old boxing icon was then taken to hospital in a critical condition where he underwent five hours of surgery to help heal three fractures in his spine, several broken ribs and major damage to his right knee.

"The spinal surgeon told me he had never seen this type of injury without paralysis," says Diamante. "I'm lucky, man. I'm really f---ing lucky."

Despite that lucky feeling, Diamante now faces a long road of rehab from his current condition which has him largely bed-ridden.

"I'm not walking, is the unfortunate truth right now," says Diamante. "Now I do believe I will walk and I believe I'll walk quite well, but it's going to take rehab and it's going to take time.

"There's things like being able to brush my teeth, or wash my hands, or pick something up, or walk up a step, or anything that anyone does normally, I cannot do that now. I'm not even close to doing that now. It's really hard to do anything when you're in this much pain, so that has to subside."

Once it does, Diamante is determined to live up to his famed catchphrase, uttered at almost every fight he announces: "the fights starts now".

"This is the type of injury that sidelines someone for life. But for me, this is literally, this is just a [Sunday]. I'm going to get through this. I don't know how long it will take but I'm going to get through it. I will be back ringside again."

[diehard]

Whyte ALWAYS negotiates his way out of title fights:

https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/bob-arum-says-whyte-wanted-10m-for-fury-fight-and-theyre-moving-on/209654

[bart]

Yeah and they he plays the victim ... he could have fought AJ for 5mil but turned it down for Ruiz to win and then make a fortune in the rematch... if you back yourself you would take the gamble surely

[diehard]

...and Arum was gonna give him 5.5 mil and he turned it down??? An idiot.

[diehard]

Fury-Whyte in limbo / Ruiz, Helenius in the mix

A $10 million purse demand by WBC mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte is not sitting well with Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum, who co-promotes WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. “We have offered him a deal with 25 percent and a guarantee and let him negotiate from that, but again he says he wants eight-figures, over ten million, which is out of the question. I don’t know what he is talking about,” Arum told IFL TV. “The WBC will be talking about 25 percent and 75 percent for the champion but he needs to come to the table with a normal type of negotiation.”

With Whyte currently tied up in an arbitration proceeding with the WBC, Arum stated that Andy Ruiz and Robert Helenius are “the two principal guys” he and Frank Warren are considering as Fury’s next challenger.

[diehard]

https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/andy-ruiz-jr-returning-to-the-ring-soon-in-2022/210046

[diehard]

Man has delusions of grandeur:

https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/frank-sanchez-says-hell-easily-beat-fury-and-usyk/210094

[bart]

Yeah not by throwing 1 shot at a time, with average speed and average power.
He will battle around in the tier below Fury and Usyk which is a good competitive level