Interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall criticizes the current state of boxing, arguing that outcomes are often predictable and top fighters are not facing each other, despite being a fan of the sport itself.
Tom Aspinall isn’t a fan of boxing’s current state. No sir.
Just this month, Aspinall snagged the interim UFC heavyweight title. How? He knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in the first round at UFC 295. Quite a feat, right? Now, as the new UFC heavyweight champ, Aspinall’s decided to join Dana White in his tussle against boxing.
Aspinall had a chat with talkSPORT Drive on Wednesday. They talked about his recent win, and he answered a question about what it feels like to stare down an opponent before a fight. And guess what? The interim heavyweight champ took a swipe at boxing.
Aspinall says, “If you’re fighting in the top 10, top five in the UFC, everyone is elite. Everyone is there to win.” He didn’t mean to diss boxing, but he went on to say, “a lot of them fights, you know who is going to win and who is going to lose before they step in there. The UFC, it’s 50/50 from the get go.” He believes that everyone in UFC is there to win, and it’s visible. “You’ve got some massive, scary guy looking back at you. It separates the men from the boys, that.”
Now, Aspinall isn’t entirely clueless about boxing. He’s pals with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and has even sparred with him. So, when pressed further, Aspinall explained his beef with the sweet science.
“I am a massive boxing fan,” Aspinall admitted. “I absolutely love the sport of boxing, [but] I absolutely can’t stand the boxing model. Hate it.” He’s upset about the direction boxing is taking because he loves the sport. He loves the science and defensive techniques. “The way the sport is going at the moment is absolutely terrible.”
“You can literally look at a card, you can look at an Eddie Hearn show, a Frank Warren show, any other promoter’s show and know — say there are 10 fights on, you can know at least eight of the winners before the bell rings on any of the fights. I can’t stand it. We’re talking about the top guys in the world, none of them are fighting each other. What is this?”
Aspinall’s comment is intriguing, especially since 2023 is seen as a banner year for boxing. There are numerous high-profile bouts like Terrance Crawford vs. Errol Spence Jr, Devin Haney vs. Vasyl Lomachenko, and Naoya Inoue vs. Stephen Fulton, among others.
Meanwhile, Aspinall is now aiming for a title unification bout with Jon Jones next. But that seems unlikely. Instead, it appears that Jones will likely face former champion Stipe Miocic when Jones returns from injury next year.