In 2016 British men’s boxing boasted a record-breaking 14 world champions, with belts spread from heavyweight to super-bantamweight. Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Carl Frampton, Kell Brook and company packed arenas on home soil, fuelled by Lottery-funded amateur programmes, lucrative TV deals and a fertile domestic scene.
Nine years later Britain is on the brink of having no male title-holders at all. If WBC featherweight beltholder Nick Ball loses to Australia’s Sam Goodman this month, the golden run will be officially over. Retirement, inactivity, defeats and the sport’s shifting geography have seen every other champion dethroned:
Heavyweight: Fury’s hiatus and Joshua’s defeats to Andy Ruiz Jr. and Oleksandr Usyk ended the era of dual British supremacy.
Welterweight & below: Brook, James DeGale, Lee Selby, Jamie McDonnell, Ricky Burns, Scott Quigg and Liam Smith all relinquished belts between 2017-22.
There is promise in the next wave – heavyweight prodigy Moses Itauma, super-lightweight Adam Azim, Olympic silver medallist Pat McCormack, plus Dalton Smith and Hamzah Sheeraz – but they must rise in a fragmented, subscription-led market where neutral venues and global investors dominate.
Whether or not Ball keeps his belt, British boxing is completing a familiar cycle: champions fade, new names emerge. The challenge now is to rebuild a domestic identity strong enough to carry the sport back from zero to a new era of multiple world titlists.
Will Nick Ball get the W? Follow the fight here.
Image Credit: Sport360