Great news for Australian boxing fans with the announcement that Channel Nine will broadcast Billy Dib’s upcoming world title fight with Takashi Miura live on May 1.
With the Anzac rugby league test on two hours before, it’s an ideal showcase for boxing to try and become more of a mainstream sport in Australia.
It also coincides nicely with the Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao on the Sunday of that weekend.
Dib vs Miura is significant historically for Australian boxing as its a throwback to when Lionel Rose went over to Japan on February 26, 1968, and upset Masahiko ‘Fighting’ Harada for the world bantamweight championship as a 19-year-old. Rose returned to Japan later that year and defended his title against Takao Sakurai.
Miura isn’t quite on the level of greatness as former flyweight and bantamweight champion Harada, but it’s historically significant.
Boxing tried to make a resurgence to free-to-air television in Australia in 2009 on ONE. The first show was headlined by Billy Dib in a regional title bout against Kenichi Yamaguchi but two unfortunate results on the card gave the first show bad reviews.
One of the earlier undercards, a six-round cruiserweight bout between Daniel Ammann and Jamie Withers ended in a no contest (later changed to a disqualification win for Ammann) after Withers landed several deliberate elbows to Amman’s forehead resulting in multiple cuts that required the bout to be stopped by the ringside doctor. Then in the main event Dib’s fight ended in a no contest after he struck Yamaguchi while he was on the canvas.
Channel Nine attempted to get back into boxing with their card in January but the choice of Chauncey Welliver, a tough journeyman fighter who fights a lot better then his physical appearance suggests he can, as the opponent for Sonny Bill Williams left a lot of the newer fans with a bad impression.
All in all this is great news for Australian boxing.
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