The upcoming July 12 The Ring card seems to have been falsely advertised by The Ring’s owner, Turki Alalshikh, whose plans of implementing a smaller 18 feet ring in lieu of not wanting to see any more “Tom and Jerry fights” has backfired as several fighters competing on the card have reportedly protested against the decision. Interestingly enough, Shakur Stevenson was reported not to be among the fighters that were against the 18 feet ring adjustments.
Following the May 2nd and May 3rd cards which made history as several fights broek records for featuring the least-thrown punches in 12-round fights, Turki Alalshikh had indicated he wanted to see widespread changes in boxing due to not wishing to see “Tom and Jerry fights”. These fights allude to instances where fighters spend the majority of the time chasing other fighters, reminiscent of the Tom and Jerry cartoons where the former often chases after the latter.
Plans for a 18-by-18 feet ring for the upcoming The Ring July 12 card were being implemented according to Jim Kambosos, father of former world champion George Kambosos Jr. and the manager of one of the fighters set to compete on the card; Australian light-heavyweight (175 lbs) contender Imam Khataev (10-0, 9 KO’s).
“I tell you what, I agree with His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] because that ring now has been reduced to 18 [feet],” Kambosos told FightHype.
“It ain’t a 20 [feet] ring, cause guess what ― we all want to see fighters fight, and I’m really happy that that ring now, for July 12th, is an 18-by-18 [feet] ring, internal, inside the ropes. That’s going to make guys fight, not want to run and use basically every inch of the ring.“
The reported changes to the ring’s size were made to address the assumption of there being a trend of fighters moving around too much without the actual intention to fight, despite the majority of at least The Ring and Riyadh Season cards featuring few to none such bouts.
However, despite these plans for 18-by-18 feet rings having been mentioned well a month before the upcoming July 12th show, these same proposals now appear to have been shifted after backlash from several fighters.
According to The Ring, the rings will feature standard ring sizes of 24-by-20 feet after multiple fighters scheduled to compete on the upcoming card had apparently voiced being against the initial-proposed plans to introduce a 20-by-18 feet ring size ― with the ropes inside covering a distance of 18 feet, while outside ropes would cover a length of 20 feet.
Shakur Stevenson (23-0, 11 KO’s), the same fighter Turki Alalshikh had appeared to clearly denote as a “Jerry” type of fighter ― fighters that are deemed to be “running”, was reportedly not against plans for a smaller ring.
The identity of these fighters have not been unveiled but logically-speaking Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0-1, 17 KO’s), who is set headline the card alongside Edgar Berlanga (23-1, 18 KO’s) on July 12, might have been one of the most instrumental voices given his reach, height and style of fighting would come at a disadvantage with a smaller ring ― as echoed by one of The Ring’s reporters, Mike Coppinger, during an interview about the upcoming fight.
“I think [Hamzah] Sheeraz is not going to stand there and be foolish, and trade with [Edgar] Berlanga, especially on the inside,” Coppinger said.
“I think the fight for Sheeraz is to keep it long, use his jab, use his feet, and Berlanga is going to be pressuring and bringing bombs in there.“
With Turki Alalshikh clearly favoring Sheeraz, it might have been the British fighter’s influence that swayed Alalshikh to change his plans.
The upcoming July 12 card will likely determine the course of ring sizes going forward for Alalshikh’s cards, with lackluster performances likely set to spur the Saudi minister to enact his changes for future cards regardless of the fighters’ wishes.
