On one coast was Shakur Stevenson, the undefeated WBC lightweight champion and former Olympic medalist, fighting in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, live on ESPN with Joe Tessitore ready to deliver the soundtrack to some spectacular knockout.
This was the future of boxing.
On the other coast were two former mixed martial arts fighters, each in their late 40s, trying to rekindle a rivalry (or at least cash a check) born in the UFC half a decade ago. Only now it was a boxing ring.
Nate Diaz entered the fight in Anaheim, California and broadcast it on pay-per-view with a 0-1 record as a professional boxer, with the loss to former YouTube star Jake Paul. Jorge Masvidal was 1-0, but that victory came 19 years ago. Was this real?
That was the hassle of boxing.
One of them was boring, in front of a nearly sold-out crowd, with fans booing and even exiting in the final rounds due to lack of action.
The other was a raucous and wild scene, with two fighters trying to take the other down, trading multiple combos and leaving the sold-out crowd screaming.
Even if you haven’t watched one or both, if you know anything about the current state of boxing, you can probably figure out which is which.
Look, this isn’t a “boxing is dead” column. Boxing never dies. Bad and boring fights can happen to anyone at any time. There are a lot of talented and exciting fighters out there – including 27-year-old Stevenson. It’s always just a big rivalry or a few big charismatic stars from a revival.
That said, Saturday was a tough night in a series of tough nights.
Diaz and Masvidal proved once again why they were capable of trying to stage their own – it was co-promoted by Diaz’s Real Fight Inc. and Masvidal’s Gamebred Boxing – let alone getting over 18,000 people at the Honda Center. They fought. They took a chance. They had fun.
They combined to throw 1,394 punches (720 from Diaz, who beat Masvidal on the judges’ scorecards) in a frenetic fight where you couldn’t dare look away. Stevenson and Artem Harutyunyan only threw a combined 869 (446 from Stevenson, who also won via scorecards), as every corner begged his guys to loosen their hands.
Stevenson is a far superior boxer than Diaz – in fact, he landed more punches (170 to 151) just by picking his spots. That’s not always the point.
At some point, a fight is a fight, even if the skill level and championship stakes aren’t really there.
Diaz and Masvidal know how to deliver. That’s why they have a lasting fan base, why they attract celebrities to their events, why the whole fringe night somehow worked. They done it works.
Those two were trying to knock each other out and were willing to dare to try. It wasn’t always like this with Stevenson.
In the end, if you tuned in to both, there would be no debate over which was the better watch, let alone which one you’d be more inclined to pay for in the future.
For Diaz, this was the revitalization of a career that may have ended in defeat. He remains popular for a reason – the authenticity of the personality and the ability to stir up some excitement (which seemed to be missing when he said he had no motivation against Paul).
Maybe there will be a rematch with Paul. Or maybe there is still the Conor McGregor Trilogy in the UFC. Or maybe something else.
For Stevenson, there will be many more defenses and fights for the WBC lightweight title. He’s not going anywhere. But this was a real opportunity for him personally and for traditional boxing in general.
The sports calendar was thin on Saturday night and ESPN did everything it could to try to build up the fight and a potential star. This was a chance to sell Stevenson to a mainstream audience, with a few highlights to ricochet across social media.
Instead, the fighter was left trying to ignore the boos from the bored crowd, saying they were for Harutyunyan, who he considered very protective.
“It’s kind of hard to prove [yourself] if you don’t have a fighter trying to fight back,” Stevenson said. “He’s just trying to survive.”
Stevenson is philosophically correct, but how much should that matter to fans? Who exactly the fans’ frustration was directed at is irrelevant. It was a reasonable response to what was happening or, more importantly, not happening.
For old-school boxing fans who deserve better, the fight in Newark was expected to show what the sport should be, a far cry from the supposed sideshow in California.
The thing is, side shows can be a lot of fun, especially when Nate Diaz is once again the ring leader.
