2010 to be a good year for British boxing: Haye, Froch, Hatton and Khan

By Dennis Broadhurst: As the new year has come, the British fans are looking forward to what should be a good year of boxing for us. We have some good fighters around now in Carl Froch, Amir Khan, David Haye and Ricky Hatton who should be making a comeback next year. In 2009 three of these men had a good year and one a disaster.

Carl Froch – We all know how Froch went in 2009, he dug deep in the fight with Taylor and as a true champion scored a kncokout in the dying seconds. In the recent fight with Dirrell, Froch won a split decision over the American in a terrible fight. Dirrell ran, held and complained all night long, scoring with occasional shots and then running some more but Froch looked no good as he plodded forward, throwing hard shots as he does but often missing badly. I think that had the fight been in America and had Dirrell been the champion and defending then he would have won the fight but in all honesty you cannot take a champions belt with a display like he put on, especially not in their hometown.

In April, Froch will be taking on the recently defeated Mikkel Kessler in the second round of the super six tournament. Even though Kessler was recently defeated, I see this is the hardest fight of Froch’s career. Kessler is a strong, fast, well rounded fighter who will not be afraid of trading with Froch. The main advantages Kessler has is that he has a good strong jab wich may cause Froch problems and keeps his guard high and blocks punches well. Kessler is also faster than Froch. The power of the fighters is probably six and half-a-dozen but Froch does have some adantages, he has a very good chin and he has fantastic stamina and never seems to tire. I see this as being an all out war which either man could win, either Kessler willwin by setting pu his combinations with his jab and wearing Froch down or Froch will prove too tough and will keep plodding forward and will get the better of the exchanges. I see this fight as 50-50 but I hope that Froch can win because if he can then he will prove that he is a good champion. The only fighter that I don’t see Froch beating in the super six is Andre Ward whom I think is too skillful and fast for Froch.

Amir Khan – I see 2010 as either the year where Khan is made or broken. If Khan wants to hold onto his title then he will ahve to face Marcos Maidana. Maidana is a danger to Khan as he is a very hard hitter but I do believe that Khan can outbox anybody at the moment with Freddy Roach in his corner. He is very fast and has good footwork, he is also keeping his guard much tighter now. I hope that Khan fights, and beats Maidana and then goes on to fight the best in his division. I do not believe that anyone in the world can beat Khan by decision at the moment, I believe that he is too fast to be beaten over the distance, especially with his great stamina. I see the possiblility of Khan getting knocked out again, but then to his Khan you must trade with him and that is a task in itself due to his extreme speed. I hope that Khan goes ahead and fights the best, because I do believe he can beat the best.

Ricky Hatton – Ok, so Hatton was blown away by Manny Pacquiao, but that is no shame in itself. Manny is a great fighter who can knock out almost anyone so Hatton should not be embarressed. So if Hatton comes back, which is almost inevitable as he has reportedly started training again, then he must not be too hasty at challenging the best of the best. Hatton should fight a couple of lesser fighters or blown up lightweights before taking on the best again, if he takes a year with maybe four lesser fights then he will have time to adapt again and will get back in form and most importantly get his confidence back. If people think that weight will be an issue then they are wrong, Ricky has been going up and down in weight all of his life so making weight won’t be a problem. I think Hatton still has it in him, he is one of the best in the business when it comes to body punching and if he can bring his stamina back up then I see him being able to start wearing fighters down again and getting back on top.

I do not see that Hatton should fight Khan, I see him having major troubles with Khan’s speed and maybe getting knocked out again but maybe after some warm up fights Ricky would be ready for Khan. If he could get as good as he was when he beat Tzsyu then I see him giving Khan trouble and wearing him down through body shots. I hope that Ricky doesn’t go straight into a fight against Juan Manuel Marquez either. At 140lbs, Marquez would not be great but if he came in fully blown with muscle rather than fat then I see him causing Ricky many problems. Marquez is a great counter puncher and if Ricky came straight back against him then he would be in trouble. Saying this I still think that if he had some warm-up fights then Ricky could beat Maquez through wearing him down with body punches.

David Haye – Well we know that Haye will be fighting Ruiz next year, a fight which I see him cruising through in spectacular fashion. After that then I see him fighting one of the Klitschko’s, most likely Vitali. I see Vitali maybe getting old overnight against Haye because I firmly believe that he is on the slide as a fighter. I do not think that Vitali now can support the fast, hard shots of Haye for twelve rounds and I think that Haye is still getting better. I know there is the possibility of Haye gassing out again or being knocked out by the hard hitting Klitschko but I see the fight going a little like this. Haye coming out in the first 3 rounds fighting like he did against Valuev, frustrating Vitali a little and then in the mid rounds starting to trade more, I see Haye then hurting Vitali or being hurt himself but both lasting into the later rounds. Around the tenth or eleventh I see Vitali fading due to the accumulative effect of Haye’s punching and his age and then Haye maybe scoring a corner stoppage or retirement. If Haye loses the fight against Vitali then I see Vitali reitiring and going down as a great fighter. I see Haye winning and hope for the sake of the heavyweight division that he does.

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