Misfits an apt name for 3Arena boxing event where joke is on paying customers and a catastrophe is waiting to happen
Prince Naseem's son, a Premier League winner and Conor McGregor's photographer all came together to make up a farcical and dangerous night of 'entertainment' masked as sport
A Love Island contest, a Premier League winner and Conor McGregor’s photographer walk into a room. No, that’s not the set-up for a witty punchline. That’s exactly what happened at the aptly named Misfits boxing event at the 3Arena in Dublin on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the thousands in attendance, the joke was on them.
Look, if you willingly head to a social media influencer fight-night, the odds are you’re not looking for technically sound, high-class boxing.
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Presumptively, you’d attend an event like this for the entertainment factor, but even that’s a bit of a stretch.
The night opened with a contest between social media influencers DTG and Minikon. The technique was non-existent, the action was limited and by the time the bell rang for round four, the fight looked something akin to a bar-room brawl between two old-timers that had a little too much to drink. In slow motion.
At least the result showed there was some resemblance to the sport of boxing as Minikon somehow earned a dubious judges' decision despite not doing anything for the first three rounds.
After sitting through two snooze-fests, the crowd were awoken by a mini-concert from rapper/boxer/YouTuber KSI. The Misfits founder certainly got the crowd with his energetic display, but one can’t help wondering if all this was put on just so he could flog his new song to those in attendance, many of whom were kids.
Our first stoppage of the night came in the third bout, a contest which truly highlighted the issue with non-boxers stepping into the ring. Influencer Jesse Clarke made his boxing debut against fellow first-timer Sami Hamed - the son of legendary former World Champion Prince Naseem. And while Sami will never reach his father’s level, he was several classes above Clarke and dished out a beating that was rather uncomfortable to watch.
It was clear after two minutes that Clarke had no business being in the ring with Naseem, but his corner - and the referee - allowed him to take damage for almost two full rounds before the towel was mercifully thrown in.
Boxing is a dangerous enough sport at the best of times. Far better athletes than Jesse Clarke have had life-altering injuries inflicted upon them. And they were professionals, real professionals, not Tik-Tokkers who fancy getting into a dust-up.
The theme of mismatches continued as the night wore on. Dave Fogarty - the aforementioned capturer of McGregor’s finest poses - was dropped twice by a gentlemen of the name ‘Deen the Great’ before the bout was waved off. George Fensom was then dropped three times in a first round loss to HSTikkyTokk shortly after.
The worst was saved for last, however, as Danny’s Aarons (Influencer) and Simpson (Premier League winner for Leicester) struggled to lay a glove on each other for four rounds.
Danny is the second Simpson to be caught out of his depth in a boxing ring, but at least Homer was famous for being able to take a punch.
That famous Simpsons episode ended with Moe swooping in to fly Homer to safety. If only Moe could’ve helped us all out on Saturday.
All jokes aside, the fact is, someone is going to get seriously hurt cosplaying as a boxer in front of teenagers who spent most of their time on their phones last night and only came to life when KSI appeared on stage.
Respect for all who step into the ring, but some things should be left to the professionals. At least Simpson and Aarons didn’t have to go through with their embarrassing forfeits as the main event ended in a draw. How convenient.
There are also serious questions to be asked over the regulation process for these events.
One day, the wrong influencer is going to step into the ring with someone who actually knows what they are doing. The social media hits will be enormous, but the consequences could be catastrophic.
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