How Kash Ali's bites and headbutts highlight British boxing's cult of mismatches and a hall of shame

Every weekend men and women discover they have chosen the wrong way to earn a living. Some bite to escape the fear, others fake an injury and most just fiddle their way to the final bell and then quit the cruellest of sports permanently

When Kash Ali fell on David Price and tried to bite a lump out of Price’s chest it was certainly a disgrace, a final act of cowardice and, at the same time, it was a truly desperate chance for Ali to avoid getting hurt.

Kash Ali gets his place in a boxing hall of shame with other men that bit to escape, the men who refused to fight and lose the old-fashioned way. He will now get mentioned next to Mike Tyson, which is like Mad Dave the one-eyed goalkeeper from the Nag’s Head getting a mention alongside Thierry Henry.

On Saturday night Ali was out of his depth, biting and butting Price in every round of the fight at the Echo Arena once he realised that fifteen straight wins against some of Europe’s most pathetic fat men was poor preparation for a boxer with Price’s talent. The end in the fifth round was grisly, comical and welcome, but as Big Kash retreats in shame, it is perhaps too easy to be critical of him for not standing, fighting, taking a beating and losing like a brave fighter. He tried our game and fell short, it’s that simple, but there are some factors to consider before we forget him. Or, build a pyre.

Big Kash (just typing Ali and coward seems wrong) has barely broken a sweat in his pampered boxing journey, playing the role of the big bully wonderfully as he biffed men like Moses Matovu and Remigijus Ziausys, with their combined record of 24 wins in 102 fights. There are others on his pampered record, men having their third or fourth fight, often without a single win when they met him. That is not sport, that’s just a form of human hunting.

Only two of Big Kash’s opponents had won more fights than they had lost and one of those two had fought just once. It is a real list of shame and if anything positive comes from Saturday’s debacle then perhaps the British Boxing Board of Control will curb some of the human flesh traders and their weekly import of garbage fighters from boxing’s filthiest corners. Perhaps, who knows, Big Kash could have been a boxer if he had met somebody better on his way to the sordid endgame against Price.

During the week of hype and noise in Liverpool, as the last tickets were shifted, Kash had suddenly started to shrink as Price, an Olympic medalist, former British heavyweight champion and veteran of savage fights where he never once looked for a way out, lost his cool with his opponent.

Price, truly one of British boxing’s most decent men, was raging at Big Kash’s arrogance. It was, we now know for certain, delusion and not arrogance. The Birmingham fighter - perhaps that should be wannabe fighter - has sponsors, a loud entourage and they all helped create the illusion, the illusion that Kash Ali was a contender. In modern boxing, a hapless choir of camera-carrying cheerleaders is very important. Price is virtually a one-man band.

Disgraces in boxing come in different shapes and sizes, but surely building a young fighter a fanciful record, giving him the false hope that he can fight and then matching him in a real fight is also a disgrace. The cult of the mismatch in modern British boxing is now an epidemic and that is the main reason Big Kash was thrown out on Saturday night. He discovered that he was simply not good enough when he finally had a real fight; he had no answers, no idea what to do when the man in front of him refused to fall over and he took the easiest route - he bit out in shame. He will now get fined and banned, but should avoid a permanent ban. Drug cheats and men that throw tables at press conferences get a second chance.

Every weekend in rings up and down the country, men and women discover that they have chosen the wrong way to earn a living. Some bite to escape the fear, others fake an injury and most just take a deep breath and fiddle their way to the last bell and then quit the cruellest of sports permanently. Last week, at the Clapham Grand in south London, I saw a man jump from the ring after just one round of a white collar fight, flee to the dressing room and leave the building minutes later with fright still in his eye. He briefly shared with Big Kash that same moment of utter fear in the ring when he realised that there was nothing he could do to avoid getting hurt. He ran, Kash bit.

David Price highlights the bite mark left by Kash Ali (Getty)

Big Kash had a large spotlight on his collapse and that means infamy. He will become a tiny viral sensation for all of the wrong reasons and might just be dumb enough to think that is cool. Trust me, boxers bite other boxers every Saturday night in British rings at tiny venues where there is far less neon shining on the stained canvas and certainly no television cameras. However, taking a little nip is a standard tool used by seasoned men to annoy young prospects and hopefully make the young fighter lose his cool.

Kash Ali’s crime was discovering that he is not the fighter he thought he was. His shame is, I hate to say, also boxing’s shame for allowing men like Kash to remain unbeaten and untested. It is a sport that kills and making false monsters is a dangerous game.