The Good, The Bad And The Elbow: Misfits 007
Misfits 007 went down this past Saturday night at the OVO Arena Wembley in London, England. The card was headlined by KSI vs. Joe Fournier which ended in controversial fashion. The under-card was stacked and the prelims were a sight to behold. There was some good and some bad on this event and we’re going to highlight it.
The Prelims:
Starting with the Happy Punch Prelims, which consisted of four fights that aired free on YouTube ahead of the actual pay-per-view event. The prelims were put together by head of Happy Punch Promotions, KeemStar. He was given a budget by Misfits Boxing and he went to work. This was the first time a misfits event had prelims and I’d say it was an overall success. The first fight was Zuckles vs. a mystery opponent that ended up being a slimmer and more in shape Halal Ham, a man who previously lost to Salt Papi. Halal ended up picking up the win in a decent fight that went the distance.
The second fight was Luis Nestor vs. Callum King, who was a last minute replacement for his brother Archie who was forced to pull out due to an issue with his brain scans. The fight was underwhelming at best. If the build up was any indication, there was feeling that the two heavyweights would go to war, but the exact opposite happened. Nestor picked up the decision win and then even continued to taught the brothers following the bout.
The prelims co-main event was influencer Unbaer vs. popular Twitter user Corn. This fight was absolutely shambles. Both men gassed out very quickly, they were throwing punches worse than a toddler would, but the commentary laughing and throwing jokes at each fighter throughout the duration of the match made it entertaining and something to watch if you needed a good laugh. Unbaer won via decision.
The main event of the prelims were two 400 pound men stepping into the ring for the first time ever and that was Wings vs. Boogie. The fight went only into the second round and ended via TKO when Wings was landing shots on Boogie, who was not able to continue per referee’s digression. Though each man got their fair share of jokes thrown their way and I’m sure hate in abundance, especially from boxing purists, I on the other hand commend both men.
It takes a brave man to step into the ring no matter what. But, to be over 400 pounds, to get up and try to better yourself, try to lose the weight, do a camp and a fight when you really don’t have to, that earns some respect in my book. Boxing is a hard discipline. And if this helps both men lead into the direction of getting healthier, then I’m all for it and we should all support it. Props to both men for stepping in the ring and hopefully they continue the journey and head down a healthier path in life. Bravo, Wings and Boogie.
Overall, the Happy Punch Prelims were a mess. But, it was a must-see mess, which makes me not put them in neither the good or bad section. While others on the main card are trying their best to be serious boxers, this was pure entertainment. I’m sure there are millions of purists that would hate these prelims, but, the entertainment is undeniable and with it being free on YouTube, that’s even better. Hopefully Misfits sees the success of the prelims, which drew over 400 thousand concurrent viewers on 3 official streams, and we see the Happy Punch Prelims return for every misfits event.
The Bad:
Though the prelims had some less than stellar fights, the overwhelming success and entertainment aspect of the free spectacle was enough for me not to say it was bad. But, the real bad things came during the actual pay-per-view event.
Firstly, we’ll start off with the worst thing about the event and that was the referee cam. We’ve see referee camera’s implemented in many sports such as MMA in the PFL and now event in baseball with the MLB. This is the new age of technology, but sadly for misfits, it just didn’t work out. The referee camera on this event was not high quality at all and the view was less than HD. Not to mention the slanted view made it headache inducing to watch and when the action was fast pace, they’d switch back and forth from the main camera to the referee camera. Commendable for trying, but please don’t bring it back. It was very bad.
For the most part, the fights were at least decent to good and there’s not much complaints to be had as far as that goes. But, one big issue many fans have pointed out and it seemed like they were on the right path, but have now gone back to their old ways, and that’s interviews on the stage instead of the ring.
Fans want to see post-fight interviews in the ring, please. Following the KSI fight, there was a little bit of this with the in-ring interaction with Tommy Fury. But, for the rest of the card, they continued to interview people at the top of the stage. Why? Fans have been asking for them to do in-ring interviews forever and it seemed like they were starting to do that with Misfits 006, but now they’ve stopped.
It’s much more aesthetically pleasing for the winner (and sometimes loser) to be interviewed right there in the ring. It gives the crowd a better view, it gives the viewers at home a more pleasing look rather than a giant LED screen behind them, and most of all, it gives it the classic boxing feel. In-ring interviews are a must.
The last thing on the list of “bad” for this event is just communication errors. Mainly, no one on misfits told Swarmz to stick around following his fight interview. Halfway thorough Swarmz being interviewed on the stage, the lights cut out, the Undertaker’s gong hit and Luis Pineda made his grand entrance all to call out Swarmz. The issue was, no one told Swarmz to wait on stage and once the lights cut off, he left. So, this ruined a potential face-off between possible opponents. Not one production crew member or even the interviewer was briefed and could’ve told Swarmz to stay? It’s not a huge deal, but communication errors like this rob us from entertaining moments.
Much like pro-wrestling, if you’re going for the entertainment aspect, you have to brief someone that something is going down, or else it’ll fall apart much like this did. Hopefully we don’t see big entertaining moments fail in the future like this.
The Good:
Much as I said before, the fights were all decent to good, but one I’d really like to highlight is Paigey Cakey vs. Tennessee Thresh. These are two young women both made their boxing debuts and to many outside of the TikTok space, were relatively unknown until now. These two had beef on TikTok and decided to settle it in the ring. They went in there and gave it their all and ended up having one of the most entertaining fights of the entire event.
I don’t think anyone is watching a cross-over boxing event and expecting spectacular technical boxing, but when two people go in their and at least try their best and put on a show, fans will respect that and that’s exactly what’s happened with Thresh and Paigey. Fans are already clamoring for them both to be brought back and Mams Taylor himself said in the post-fight press conference that he would also like to have them both back. Standing ovation for both women, good job!
Much like the two ladies mentioned above, stars are constantly being made with Misfits Boxing and that’s one of the big upsides to the promotion. People going from semi-known to internet megastars overnight and we can’t talk about new stars without mentioning Anthony “Pretty Boy” Taylor. The underdog, the MMA fighter turned Boxer who’s taken losses to the likes of Tommy Fury and Chris Avila. He was counted out against the Happy Punch Promotions Golden Boy, Salt Papi, but Anthony proved every doubter wrong.
Anthony made a grand entrance to “Party Like A Rockstar” and even came out with a guitar. He had the crowd on their feet with a fun entrance, all while sporting flashy new gear with colorful tassels that made him look like prime Macho Man Randy Savage, and he did what needed to be done, out-boxed Salt Papi and then celebrated his win in very emotional fashion, even crying in the ring before being named “Prime Fighter Of The Night” and getting a $25,000 bonus. Well deserved too.
Not only for the fight, but during the lead up as well, from coming up with names like “peppa pig Papi” and even stealing KSI’s money at the press conference after sneaking in like James Bond alongside Deen The Great, Anthony Taylor was very entertaining the entire fight week. He has defiantly gained a new set of fans and is now a staple and star of Misfits Boxing.
The Elbow:
By now I’m sure you’ve heard what happened. KSI knocked out Joe Fournier in very controversial fashion when he went for a right hook and ended up hitting Joe in the chin with his forearm, causing the knockout. While many can sit around and debate whether or not the glove did connect first, with most camera angles seemingly showing it was all forearm, the sad part is the big damper it put on the event.
It’s never fun when you have a good, solid show and then the main event ends controversially, leaving the fans walking away feeling more confused and unsatisfied than anything. Not only that, but it leaves the fighters feeling unsatisfied as well, with Joe Fournier already filing a appeal to the PBA, and KSI feeling like all his hard work really didn’t pay off because it ended in controversial fashion. It sucks for all parties.
KSI has said on today’s episode of the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani that though it sucks, he’d be at peace with the PBA overturning the fight to a no-contest. He mentioned that a DQ loss would make him mad, but a no-contest is understandable. With Joe already wanting a rematch, KSI points out that there really is no point and the intrigue for the fight has now passed.
I would have to agree with KSI on this one. We’re fans excited to see KSI test his skill against a pro-boxer in Joe Fournier? Yes. Are the fans excited enough to see it twice? No. Especially when Tommy Fury hops in the ring and goes face-to-face with KSI following the fight, insisting that he’s next for the YouTuber turned boxer. Whether or not it gets turned to a no-contest, fans have already moved on from Joe Fournier and the ship has sailed for a rematch.
I do however, believe that Joe could come back to Misfits and fight against someone else, possibly an Anthony Taylor. The two got into it a little bit at the press conference when Anthony claimed they offered Joe to fight him and he turned it down, while Joe says that’s not true and he doesn’t even know who Taylor is. Well, he does now and we already have a build in story for the potential match-up.
Overall, Misfits 007 will go down as a success with a few minor mishaps that can and hopefully will be fixed in the future. From new stars being born, to current stars being stopped in their tracks, Misfits put on another great event with more to come in the future. Until then, we will have to wait for the unannounced Misfits 008 card and date.
By: Brady Alexander
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