Interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is not a fan of the current state of boxing.
Aspinall admits he is a massive fan of boxing and has expressed interest in having a boxing fight soon. However, he doesn’t like how the sport is booked as he says he knows who will win the majority of the fights, which he says is a problem.
“Let me tell you, I am a massive boxing fan. I absolutely love the sport of boxing, (but) I absolutely can’t stand the boxing model. Hate it,” Aspinall said to TalkSport. “I hate the way boxing is going at the moment because I love the sport of boxing. I love the science. I love the defensive techniques, which is amazing. I absolutely love watching actual classic, traditional boxers who are defensively brilliant, it’s my favorite thing. The way the sport is going at the moment is absolutely terrible.
“You can literally look at a card, you can look at an Eddie Hearn show, a Frank Warren show, any other promoter’s show and know, say there are 10 fights on, you can know at least eight of the winners before the bell rings on any of the fights,” Aspinall continued. “I can’t stand it. Just look at that for example, we’re talking about the top guys in the world, none of them are fighting each other. What is this?”
Tom Aspinall’s complaints about boxing is a common complaint many fans have with boxing, but this year we did see many top boxers fight other top boxers.
Eddie Hearn responds to Tom Aspinall
After Tom Aspinall’s comments, promoter Eddie Hearn was asked about it and disagreed with it.
Instead, Hearn thinks this year was one of the best in boxing’s history and also says if Aspinall was a boxer he could make much more money than he does in the UFC.
“Tom Aspinall could enter boxing and make 5 times more money than he could ever make in the UFC. So it can’t be in that bad a place. But we definitely need to make some changes. I think boxing’s been in the best place it’s ever been. You look at the schedule we put together, it’s definitely the best schedule we’ve ever done,” Hearn responded to ESBR Boxing.
“I think fighters are starting to take more risk. Obviously you have a huge influx of revenue from the Middle East to make big fights. Worldwide boxing is in a great place but we can always improve. The frustration in boxing of the best vs. the best. We don’t have the benefit of fighter contracts like the UFC do where they just tell you who you’re fighting.”
There’s no question the top boxers do make more money than the top UFC fighters, as Hearn says, but even with that, Aspinall isn’t a fan of the boxing model.
