In This Corner with Russ Anber
TSN
What does any of us really know about Canada except that it’s cold, there’s a certain amount of French speaking going on there and that they say ‘eh’ after every sentence? Well, we know that it’s going through a boxing renaissance at the moment with an unprecedented four world champions and guess what? A couple of them can actually box. Further to this, the moosefuckers produce the best 30 minute weekly boxing magazine you can find. For just over three years now, coach Russ Anber and presenter Darren Dutchyshen have been putting out In This Corner and the show seems stronger than ever.
"A couple of the Canadian champions can actually box. Further to this, the moosefuckers produce the best 30 minute weekly boxing magazine you can find"
Boxing fans can dig it because the sport is not well covered by television. Anber is passionate, knowledgeable and fiery whether discussing incompetent refereeing, corrupt sanctioning bodies or useless corner work. Each show features a roundup of boxing news, highlights and discussion of the previous week’s action and previews of the next weekend’s fights. The In This Corner crew do weekly coverage of Canadian boxing which naturally nobody cares about but what are you gonna do?
"In This Corner do weekly coverage of Canadian boxing which naturally nobody cares about but what are you gonna do?"
The regular feature Russ’s Final Flurry has the coach answer three minutes worth of quickfire questions sent in from viewers. "Who would win between Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather?" and "just how much of a ducking turd was Roy Jones jnr in his time?". They rarely get through the number of questions they’d like to and Anber gets cranky with Dutchyshen for his slow delivery of the questions. The truth is that Anber likes the sound of his own voice and does tend to rattle on a bit. Fortunately for him he also gets the Russ’s Outstanding Eight slot when he gets to give his top 8 of whatever it is this week.
"Boxing is not a sport that lends itself well to the weekly magazine format – long weeks go by without any of the sport’s finest exponents actually getting busy in the ring."
Boxing is not a sport that lends itself well to the weekly magazine format. World champions may only fight twice a year and long weeks go by without any of the sport’s finest exponents actually getting busy in the ring. But there’s always the C and B level fighters to discuss, the young prospects, the fading stars. And when a big fight does come along, there’s really nothing like it in sport. The resurgence of Canadian boxing has been mirrored in the UK with authentic elite fighters like Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton playing their part in bringing back to the front of the nation’s consciousness where it belongs. With Calzaghe winning Sports Personality of the Year this stage seems set for the likes of David Haye and Amir Khan to become the household names that successful boxers always used to become.
The best thing about it: Whenever the coach gets his teeth into the judges
The worst thing about it: The six minute weekly turd joust of Canadian boxing
The verdict on In This Corner with Russ Anber: Comfortable UD.
Marks out of 10: 7.5
Imagined: 27th February 2008