Max Kellerman's controversial take has fans fuming

For boxing fans of a certain age, Max Kellerman is the voice of boxing.

Or at least he was before he rebranded himself after a couple of years out of the spotlight, only to return as the voice of the next iteration of boxing; Zuffa.

It's easy to see why Zuffa chose Kellerman as their voice. Very few people are as knowledgeable about the sport, and perhaps more importantly, even fewer can talk about it in an interesting way. He's not always right, of course (Kellerman thinks Tyson Fury won the first fight against Deontay Wilder, absolutely absurd), but Max was once a trusted member of the boxing community at large.

His affiliation with Zuffa boxing is such a catch-22.

On the one hand, the very reason he was chosen as the media face of the new organization is his cachet in the business. But on the other hand, his relationship with Zuffa seems to be rapidly eroding the public trust he built up over decades of boxing coverage.

Take his latest "hot take" for example.

Kellerman is drawing the ire of (mostly) UK boxing fans because he said last weekend's heavyweight war between Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley was not a "great fight," despite Dubois recovering from two knockdowns to stop a battered and beaten Wardley in the 11th round.

"It was a great spectacle, and it was great to watch. It was not a great fight. It was a one-sided beating," Kellerman stated on the Inside The Ring show.

Social media reactions during and after the fight disagree with that assessment. I even saw one person call it the greatest heavyweight bout in 10 years.

Opinions run social media, and everyone is entitled to theirs, including Kellerman, but the idea that Dubois v. Wardley is the best heavyweight bout in 10 years is bollocks, of course. Prisoner-of-the-moment syndrome is huge in boxing.

Max has a right to his opinion, which I actually agree with (more on this later), but that hasn't stopped boxing Twitter from laying into him over his take.

The most common refrain used to attack Max these days is that everything he says is part of an advertising pitch for why Zuffa Boxing is necessary to save boxing.

This new reputation doesn't come unearned for Max. He has definitely sounded very "shilly" recently. Over the past 8 months, since Zuffa officially became a thing, Max has spent much of his public commentary time disparaging the sport, its belts, and its legacies, all in service of his new broadcast partners.

So when he says the heavyweight bout between Dubois and Wardley wasn't great, many fans automatically assume he's back to downplaying anything that isn't related to Turki Alalshikh, Dana White, and Zuffa Boxing.

I don't weep for Max, of course, because not only has he enthusiastically embraced his new role within the boxing framework, but I'm sure he is also being paid handsomely for his efforts.

But as a fan of HBO Sports Max, it's not fun seeing him constantly raked over the coals for his opinion... especially when he is right.

Max Kellerman is right, Dubois v. Wardley wasn't a great fight

The Daniel Dubois vs. Fabio Wardley fight wasn't great, but it was damn sure entertaining.

Dubois was knocked down 10 seconds into the fight (10 seconds!). He went down again in the third round, but neither knockdown seemed to take much out of the hulking 250 lber. He got back on his feet and dominated the rest of the fight.

He was able to sweep so many rounds because Wardley seemingly only had one punch to offer: the overhand right that knocked Dubois down in the first place. Wardley spammed that same move over and over, rarely setting it up with a jab, the whole fight.

You would have to be a moron to keep falling for the same punch over and over again, and Dubois has proven through his illustrious career that he's no moron when it comes to the squared circle.

This was not a skilled heavyweight fight. This was two rock 'em sock 'em robots trying to knock each other's blocks off. Damn a body punch. Damn a hook or uppercut. Dubois and Wardley were in a race to see who could land their overhand right the cleanest.

Dubois has proven to be a master of distance, and most of Wardley's punches never even came close. After a while, Dubois had measured Wardley so thoroughly that he barely reacted when another right hand would woosh past his left shoulder. He knew his jab was strong enough to keep Wardley at bay, and his lack of fear of Wardley's offense ultimately led to the beatdown we witnessed.

It wasn't the most skilled exhibition, but you'd have to have no pulse to say that seeing a fighter get up off the ground twice to win isn't exhilarating. But the fight wasn't great, or even an all-timer.

For me, it was similar in quality to the Jarrell Miller fight from last month and the Deontay Wilder fight before that.

Both of those fights were equally as entertaining as the Wardley/Dubois match, yet no one called them the greatest fights ever. Because they weren't. And neither was this.

Not every fight needs to be the greatest fight you've ever seen. Some fights are just good and entertaining, which is what Dubois and Wardley was.

But as Max said, it wasn't great.

Related: Fabio Wardley chases early success in brutal Daniel Dubois loss

Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 1:49 PM.