The 17th edition of the Haringey Box Cup takes place at Alexandra Palace with boxers from Canada to Canterbury hoping to follow in the footsteps of some of the sport's biggest names.

Anthony Joshua won the super-heavyweight category at the Palace on the Sunday in 2009 and 2010. "Haringey Box Cup is the must-do event for aspiring professionals," said Joshua, who can often be found watching the boxing with the punters these days. "I was lucky enough to win it twice."

On the second of those, a 23-year-old Irishwoman called Katie Taylor from the Munster Select team won her category and was named Best Female Boxer of the year. Two summers later, she would claim Olympic gold around 10 miles south east at Excel London.

The tournament’s organiser, Brian John, who has been there from the start, can always spot a Box Cup winner whenever he sticks the boxing on at the weekend. Winning at Haringey, in one of the five rings erected inside the magnificent Great Hall, is a proper feather in the cap.

"Somehow it keeps getting bigger and bigger," John says of the Box Cup. "It's getting more and more popular even after all these years. A lot of the pros are using it on their resumes now and that’s always nice to see.”

John, the head coach at Haringey Boxing Club, speaks to The Ring a few days before the boxing starts in earnest on Friday afternoon. After managing more than 560 entries, he is now handling the usual multitude of drop-outs.

Anyone who has ever been involved in amateur boxing will be able to relate, especially when the entrants this year are coming in from 14 different countries.

“Two from Canada this year,” he says. “We usually get a few from there.

“One year we had boxers from New Zealand too. This year we’ve got Italians, Portuguese, Belgium, Holland, most of Europe. Of course the Irish too, we always get a lot of them.”

Speaking of the Irish, in 2018, at the tournament's 10th birthday edition, I watched a bleach-blonde kid by the name of Paddy Donovan in his semi-final bout on the Saturday. To this day, it remains the best amateur boxing performance I’ve ever seen.

It is the beauty of the Box Cup that the stars of tomorrow all converge in what must be the best venue in all amateur boxing. The Great Hall of Alexandra Palace, built in 1873 and used to house Belgian refugees fleeing the German invasion during World War One, provides an exquisite backdrop for the action.

In John’s opinion, it is what makes Haringey Box Cup the one everyone remembers.

"The venue is what gives it that little bit of magic," he says. "Unless we took it somewhere like the Royal Albert Hall, I don’t think there's another venue out there that would have the prestige that we do now. There's not many venues big enough for a start."

The boxing will start on Friday afternoon and run until Sunday's finals, where some boxers will have their third bout in as many days. Some stars, like those of previous winners Chris Eubank Jr, Nicola Adams and Anthony Yarde, will rise, some will fade out never to be see again after this weekend but that is all part of the magic.

As the Haringey Box Cup website puts it: "A tournament to be proud of".

In an incredibly competitive field, Lerrone Richards’ split defeat to Albert Ramirez on Thursday night was one of worst decisions in many many years.

As first reported by The Ring on Monday, Richards and his team are now appealing to the WBA, who sanctioned the fight for their interim light-heavyweight title, to declare a no contest or, at the very least, order an immediate rematch.

Boxing’s reputation takes a hit every time a decision like this slips through and the WBA owe it not only to Richards but to the whole sport to ensure that justice, in some way, is done. If they rewatch that fight and agree that Ramirez, as good as he is, won seven rounds then what are we even doing here anymore?

Perhaps the best story of the week involved WBO champion Daniel Dubois, or ‘Bubois’ as the WBO website puts it.

The London puncher, resplendent in top hat and tails, could not wait to take in the Epsom Derby on Saturday afternoon, the only problem was, he turned up at Ascot. Thankfully, his intended destination was only 40 minutes away so he still made it in time for the big race. Never change, Daniel.

Zuffa Boxing have already sent a few shockwaves through this sport and they are nowhere near finished yet. However, one thing they should make a top priority is what happens next at cruiserweight.

Chris Billam-Smith marked Zuffa's first show outside the USA with a hard-fought stoppage victory of Ryan Rozicki at Bournemouth International Centre on Saturday night. Now, given that their stable also houses Ring Magazine champion Jai Opetaia, there is only one fight to make at 200 pounds.

Let’s not sit on it, let’s not marinate anything, let’s not do what has become customary in modern boxing. Let’s just get those two men in a ring to see who’s best. Next.