BOOTS, DAZN, BOOTS-ORTIZ, PPV/WTF || FIGHTHYPE.COM

Welcome to a special Easter edition of Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack. With painted huevos, Peeps residue on my goatee, and little fluffy bunnies on my mind, let’s dig into my bulging sack. This week, we have comments and questions regarding Boots, DAZN, Boots-Ortiz, PPV overload.

Jaron Ennis/DAZN Commentary/Boots-Ortiz

Dear Paul

I just got done watching the Ennis fight and I have a couple of questions. 

The commentary team, as they mostly do, left a bad taste in my mouth. At one point one of the guys called Ennis Neo from the matrix. This after he was time and again hit clean by big Stanionis punches. I often rewatch old fights from the 80s, particularly the 4 kings fights. I don’t remember the commentary being so bad in those fights. They seemed to call it as it was. Am I wrong here, and if not when did commentary get so bias? I see it all the time in Joshua fights (except in the Dubois fight where he was just getting pieced up) and in the last Bivol fight as if it wasn’t an incredibly close contest. 

Ennis has been accused online of boring fights in recent times. Not engaging. So in this fight, instead of using his faster feet and excellent jab, he did engage. And he got hit many times clean. But he hit many more times than he got hit. I can see the online chatter already that will berate him for this. But again, I don’t remember that negativity in the 80s. People seem to want an action fighter who hardly ever gets hit, which is impossible. I was wondering if you think Boots can make a few adjustments and still be an action fighter. So he’ll still get hit, but less cleanly, less often. Off the top of my head I’m thinking keep his rear hand up and tuck his chin. What do you think?

How do you see an Ennis v Ortiz fight going? I never thought I’d say this, but I’d slightly favor Ortiz right now. He’s not quite as skilled but he’s a dog. 

Many thanks from London

– Omar

Hey Omar.

You are not mistaken, commentary is generally bad these days and the DAZN crew is the absolute worst. I don’t think that the reason has to be any deeper than they’re just not very good at what they do. With DAZN especially, you get the feeling that they’re just saying things that sound impactful. Timothy Bradley at ESPN does the same thing. Mauro Ranallo is like that, too, but at least his hyperbole follow a line of logic. That DAZN crew of Sergio Mora, Todd Grisham, and Chris Mannix, though, is tortuous. Fans talk about turning off the commentary for fights all the time, but I don’t believe them. With the DAZN commentary, I literally switch off to Spanish commentary instead.

Boxing play-by-play has become more of a cheerleading endeavor than ever before and when you combine that with the fact that most of these people are just not very good boxing broadcasters, then what you get is what we have today. 

I don’t know how in the world people believe that Boots Ennis is boring or lacking in a desire to engage. He’s been a sharp, engagement-minded rocket launcher for almost all of his career. As a matter of fact, the only dull performance I recall seeing from him was in the first Karen Chukhadzhian fight, where he was trying too hard to go for the knockout and could never find the rhythm against an awkward, mostly negative opponent. Criticisms of his recent performances have mostly come from the fact that he’s gotten hit too much by mostly pedestrian opposition. But he’s getting hit because he’s trying to engage and he’s staying too long in the pocket, leaving himself vulnerable. Against Stanionis, I think we saw Ennis at his best, but, yeah, he got clipped a few times. That’s mostly due to him taking risks to put on a show and wanting to impress in his biggest fight to date. Plus, Stanionis is pretty good as well. 

To fine tune his game, he could tighten up his mechanics, but I think that part of what makes him special is his free-flowing, improvisational style. He shouldn’t touch that. Instead, working more on timing and on acting rather than reacting would make him even better– but I do believe that he’s an elite-level talent right now.

As for Boots-Ortiz? I think Boots slices him up. Speed kills and Ennis’ hand and foot speed would negate almost everything that Ortiz does well. If he doesn’t make any critical errors, I think he stops Ortiz late. 

Turki’s Gone PPV Crazy!

Hey Paul.

I saw you point it out on X on Tuesday, but Turki Alalshikh is gearing up to have three PPVs in a span of eight days and as you also pointed out, his prices are going up. 

There’s the Chris Eubank vs. Conor Benn fight on the 26th, then that Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero card on May 2, and Canelo vs. Scull on May 3. He’s charging 60 bucks a piece for the last two!

That’s some crazy shit, especially from a guy who swore not too long ago that he was bringing down the price of PPVs to 20 bucks. How does he think this will work? It’s crazy, man.

– Boxing Fan

Hey Boxing Fan.

The craziest thing is that none of those shows really mean anything. Eubank-Benn is a pointless novelty fight. Anything good that comes from the Ryan/Haney/Teofimo card will be pushed off to Saudi Arabia, so all we’re getting is the prelims. Canelo-Scull, meanwhile, is an absolute shit fight. 

The audacity of trying to charge 60 bucks for Canelo-Scull, period, is bowel-rattling, but to do so the day after charging 60 bucks for Ryan/Haney/Teofimo second tier fights is bold to the point of being tone deaf. By the way, I guess you can bundle the two events for 90 bucks, but still…

Expect a lot more going back on vows, promises, and supposed ideals from Turki and his people. I guess people will eventually see that what was promised in the grooming phase of this Saudi takeover is not what they will end up getting– and that goes for fans, media, fighters, and promoters working with Turki. 

As for how he can think this will work? I don’t know. Seems like the fantasy world thinking of someone who just BUYS things and doesn’t really BUILD them. 

Got a question (or hate mail) for Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack? The best of the best gets included in the weekly mailbag segment right here at FightHype. Send your stuff here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.