By James Oliver: I was unfortunately, yet rather unexpectedly, greeted by some unwelcome headlines when I woke up last Sunday. Reading the fight report from Atlantic City it was evident that Darren Barker (23 – 1, 14 KOs), a top level British middleweight contender, had valiantly put in a good nights work against the more talented Sergio Martinez (48 – 2, 27 KOs), albeit to no avail.
It is, quite frankly, becoming an all too familiar occurrence for the British boxing public, that many of the current crop of British talent go in search of glory beyond our shores only to come up short. This, to me, seemed a far cry from only a few years ago when I could list a string of British world champions with the promotional power to make contenders fight wherever they pleased.
There are nations of boxers who, whilst being very good professionals, are often used by promoters to help someone build a record, or reputation, on their way to better things in the future. British promoters often call upon the services of many Eastern European fighters as they are known to be a good standard, solid, durable but ultimately beatable fighters. Their services are needed in the money making fight game and in return they are able to earn a decent living for a few years before moving on to other things. What I am seeing increasingly is the acknowledgement of many British fighters as being very high level professionals with very good amateur backgrounds, but ultimately a stepping stone for future, more lucrative bouts.
A couple of years ago Eddie Hearn, the promoter of Darren Barker, would never have let one of his prized assets leave the confines of Britain’s shores to provide what is ultimately another comfortable victory for a foreign fighter. So why, I ask, are increasing amounts of high level British boxers being used in this way? Felix Sturm vs. Matthew Macklin, Saul Alvarez vs. Matthew Hatton and Ryan Rhodes, Brandon Rios vs. John Murray, Eric Morales vs. Willie Limond and Miguel Cotto vs. Michael Jennings are prime examples (any more on the back of a postcard please). I have to believe that even Ricky Burns vs. Adrien Broner, despite Burns being the current WBO champion, was established as a homecoming world title party for Broner.
Now, you could argue with some credit that British promoters have been doing this for years (doesn’t it seem odd that all British welterweights are very excited by a fight with Vyacheslav Senchenko and not Victor Ortiz?) but my question is why has it changed in recent years? Some people may say more British fighters are leaving our shores for their shot at fame, or for finances, and you could be correct. Ultimately, the one thing most of these fights have in common is that they were all reasonably competitive, provided decent value for money for the spectators and add a high enough ranked opponent onto the list of victories for an upcoming fighter. After all, isn’t that the quickest way for a promoter to make money?
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