On Saturday night Isaac Dogboe really impressed me with a superb first round stoppage of a tough and durable opponent in Hidpenori Otake . Then in the main event we seen Pedraza pull off a bit of a shock and when he beat Beltran rather convincingly in my opinion showing any young boxer just how important it is to master the jab in what a good night of boxing . Now if your not a so called ” Hardcore ” fan you may be sitting there thinking ” awwww this must be the PPV YouTube bloggers fight I’ve seen across every media network ” and you would be forgiven for thinking this as Saturdays TWO WORLD TITLE FIGHTS got little to no coverage , which has sparked the debate , Is this kind of exhibition fight good for boxing ?
PPV FOR LESS , CLICK PICTUREThe Positives
I have to admit right here i have no idea who KSI or Logan are . I could walk past them on the street and not have a clue i was standing beside two guys who packed out the MEN Arena and did 800k PPV buys on an online platform , and i think that might be a positive right there . This fight wasn’t aimed at boxing fans like me or people in my age demographic . This “Fight” was aimed at youngsters who live in this online celebrity world . These kids went to this ‘boxing show’ and got a first taste of “Boxing” , these kids who may never have had any interest in boxing may now want to go see the real deal . I think the way boxing has been flirting with online platforms has been looked at sceptically by most , but these two novice wildcards have not only shown the way for the future of PPV but they have blown it out the the water with massive comercial success , with a rematch already agreed which will probably do even bigger numbers . There is another positive here , one in which boxing has brought on itself and that is the creation of a family atmosphere . The UK seems to be obsessed with massive venues for boxing which is great , but as we have seen more and more over the past few years trouble at shows has been on the rise . It is safe to say that most people now attending big boxing events will leave the wife and kids at home , but these kind of exhibitions events could easily fill that gap in the market . 
Negatives
Well there is no way to dress this up , this was not boxing and to say it was is an insult to the many men and woman who give there all to the sport , a lot of the time losing money more often than they make it . I have seen a clip with one of these guys dancing in the ring during the fight making a fool of himself . These potential new fans to the sport that these events could bring need to understand that this is not boxing , showboating is something only the greats can do . There is an old cliche that comes to mind ” You do not play boxing” . I also feel that after how big a success this show was, it will open the door to more and more of these teen celebrities to come ” Play Boxing ” which could be something else the small hall shows may now have to compete with not only in selling tickets but in newspaper space which which most boxers already struggle with .
Steven Donnell
djayboxing 