By Curtis Bagley

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In just one week, the Boxing world has been flabbergasted by the scenes in recent press conferences from the likes of David Haye and Tony Bellew, and more recently, Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte. But how legitimate are these so called press conference ‘bust ups’?

In UFC 202, Conor McGregor faced Nate Diaz in a rematch fight, which eventually lead to McGregor gaining revenge. However, the UFC 202 press conference took the internet by storm, after Nate and his gang decided to bombard McGregor with bottles and abuse, which obviously irritated the cocky Irishmen. With the video of the press conference being watched by millions all over the world, it tempted people to tune in to fight night, resulting in 1.65 million pay-per-view viewers, a UFC record. Since then, press conferences in boxing seems to have become a lot more heated. Is boxing trying to replicate the public reaction of this UFC 202 press conference?

David Haye faces his new boxing rival Tony Bellew next year, which is the most anticipated fight of 2017 so far. However, in the recent press conference, tensions seemed to spill over, after the two fighters viscously squared up to each other, leading to Haye taking a swing at his Scouse opponent. The fight seems too good to miss right? But was this the objective? To make sure they gain as many viewers as they can? In the same week, during a press conference, Derek Chisora seemed to get rather angry at his opponent Dillion Whyte, leading to him launching a table in the direction of Whyte, completely unprofessional behaviour.

As it turned out, Haye and Chisora have some history of their own in press conferences. Back in 2012, Chisora and Vitali Klitschko were in a post match press conference, when Haye interrupted, and started verbally abusing both boxers. Chisora then confronted Haye, which lead to a savage brawl. Funny how these boxers have a history of brutal press conferences. This begs the question, are the press conferences real, or just PR stunts?