Many fans were tricked earlier this week when April Fool’s pranks infiltrated boxing.
April Fool’s Day earlier this week saw a whole host of businesses employ weird and wacky pranks, and the boxing industry was no different, with a series of pranks ranging from potentially plausible to downright ridiculous tricking fans around the world.
Bloody Knockout lists the top four here:
Joe Joyce vs Filip Hrgovic in a triangle ring
Joe Joyce will fight Filip Hrgovic this weekend in a bid to revive his career following losses to Zhilei Zhang and Derek Chisora. Joyce holds won in his last four fights, which is over Kash Ali, a man famous for biting David Price.
Queensberry joined in on the April Fool’s fun with a triangle boxing ring for the event:
The fight marks Queensberry’s first in partnership with DAZN, prompting the caption: “New platform. New ring.”
Most saw right through the prank, but one fan commented: “Is the ring going to be that small and that shape?”
Frank Bruno’s 19-man heavyweight tournament
In a post on Instagram, beloved British heavyweight Frank Bruno weighed in on the jokes, with a picture of himself, Mike Tyson, and Lennox Lewis captioned:
“I have agreed to participate in the Dubai Heavyweight Exhibition Spectacular 19 Heavyweight legends over 50 years old and me all doing 3 rounds over a period of 7 days and guess what the public vote on the winner.”
Bruno hinted at the nature of the post towards the end of the caption: “it will be a viewing spectacular that only fools will miss.”
However, this did not stop multiple people falling for it, with one fan writing: “As long as it’s in good spirit. You guys deserve to be celebrated again.”
Another said: “You’re gonna iron them all out Champ. I will be rooting for you.”
Turki Alalshikh withdraws from boxing
In his own April Fool’s Day joke, Turki Alalshikh, the man at the helm of big-money events in Saudi Arabia, such as Tyson Fury‘s fights with Oleksandr Usyk, announced his withdrawal from the sport of boxing.
He wrote: “Today marks our final day in boxing. I want to thank everyone who has been part of this journey with me.”
This, again, fooled many: “Wait what ??? Really ? So sad! Thanks for all the memories!”
Amir Khan will return against Manny Pacquiao
In perhaps one of the most realistic posts given Amir Khan‘s return from retirement to face Kell Brook years ago, and Manny Pacquiao‘s multiple exhibition bouts, it was a post on Instagram by Khan that fooled many this April Fool’s Day.
Khan wrote that the fight was officially made and was “the only fight that got me out of retirement.”
This was perhaps most believable because the pair had been in talks for a fight following Pacquiao’s loss to Floyd Mayweather, and Khan said as recently as last year that he would still like to face Pacquiao in an exhibition.
The post tricked a lot of fans, but even had two high-profile boxers fooled. Lawrence Okolie commented: “I can’t be got twice in one day” whilst Adam Azim, who fought on the Khan vs Brook undercard, wrote:
“Let’s go brother.”