Elliot Worsell

The Beltline: What is your worst-ever fight prediction?

While bad fight predictions are as common as bad decisions in boxing, rarely do you get the opportunity, as either a fan or journalist, to enter the confessional and confess your sins.

Meet Murray Sutherland, the world’s first super middleweight champion

“You’ll never find me announcing myself as the former super middleweight champion of the world,” said Scotland’s Murray Sutherland. “Never, ever.”

Twenty years on from British boxing’s nastiest one-punch knockout

On this day 20 years ago Wayne Alexander, wounded badly by a body shot, found the mother of all left hooks to disconnect Takaloo from his senses and turn their fight on its head. Here, he remembers that stunning night at York Hall.

Bogeyman: Carl Thompson on the lessons he taught David Haye and us all

On this day 20 years ago, Carl Thompson simultaneously derailed the career of David Haye and provided the Londoner with a valuable lesson he would later use in his quest to become world cruiserweight champion. Now 62, Thompson remembers the night fon...

Chris Eubank Jnr offers his thoughts on prospective opponents, including Benn, Saunders, Canelo, and Crawford

When seeing that Chris Eubank Jnr had been tasked with offering his opinion on four fighters – Conor Benn and Billy Joe Saunders, plus Terence Crawford and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez – one couldn’t help but feel his opinion on 50% of this so-called Hit Li...

Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois is going cheap so it won't be stolen

It’s an interesting idea in theory: reduce the price of an event in order to ensure people buy it rather than steal it, all in the hope that you, the promoter, end up making even more money as a result.

The Beltline: Ohara Davies, fake news, and the games boxers play

Sometimes, especially when it comes to social media, it is best not to say anything at all. If, for example, someone dies, famous or otherwise, there is really no need for JoeBloggs649264883 to comment publicly or express what the deceased meant to t...

Chris Billam-Smith explains why he turned down Jai Opetaia

When the time is right, Jai Opetaia and Chris Billam-Smith, arguably the world’s two best cruiserweights, will share a ring to clear up any uncertainty regarding the identity of the number one fighter at 200lbs

Even when playing nicely, Naoya Inoue still breaks things

DOING well in the ring with Naoya Inoue carries the same sense of foreboding a binge drinker will experience at the peak of their euphoria. In other words, you must enjoy it while it lasts. You must enjoy it while it lasts because what follows is ine...

The boxer, the opponent, his wife and her son

Former light heavyweight George Khalid Jones travels from New Jersey to Maryland to visit the home of Denise and Bee Scottland, the wife and son of the man who lost his life after fighting Jones in 2001.

The Beltline: After a perfect run of three, Naoya Inoue takes his foot off the gas

Such are the standards set by Naoya Inoue, and so great is his form, the prospect of the Japanese superstar fighting TJ Doheny has been greeted with, at best, widespread indifference, and, at worst, condemnation

Although now back in MMA, Francis Ngannou suggests his boxing days are not over

FOR most people, the shots Francis Ngannou received square on the jaw from Anthony Joshua’s right fist in March would have been enough to see that they never so much as returned to an orthodox boxing stance, much less a boxing ring.

The Beltline: Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul is not a boxing match, it’s a reality show

In 2024, it is considerably tougher to trick contestants and audiences in the same way. This is because we now like to believe we are suddenly purveyors of good taste and that what once passed for entertainment in the nineties and noughties no longer...

British heavyweight title heads to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – again

Aside from the punches thrown and the damage done, what made the British heavyweight title fight between Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke such a thrilling spectacle had a lot to do with its purity and its heart. It was, in short, a British heavyweight...

Mairis Briedis finds the retirement sweet spot so many miss

TYPICALLY, the end of a career is not something a boxer gets to choose. Rather, it is something forced upon them, something that often blindsides them, and something they refuse to acknowledge exists so as to avoid what it actually represents. It is...