British Boxing is Back in the Ring

By Jonathon Fell - 03/28/2015 - Comments

By Jonathon Fell: Unquestionably British boxing is in a great place right now. What I’m finding really captivating and gripping is the amount of upcoming bouts between British fighters who have earned their stripes by working their way up the rankings with a particular body and on certain occasions working their way in to the mandatory position for that respective strap.

Take George Groves, James DeGale, Lee Selby, Kevin Mitchell & Jaime McDonnell who are all fighting for world honors over the next 6 months. It is really fascinating and intriguing looking at how these fights will pan out. Some will travel, some will get home advantage but it has to be said that all of the above are taking a great, calculated risk towards realizing the absolute pinnacle of boxing.

Through the complexities of interactions between rival television networks and boxing bodies, British fighters and their promoters have left nothing to chance and have deployed the strategy of working their way up the rankings and towards that mandatory position rather than relying on their promoter to win a type of “who shouts loudest” contest in an attempt to land them the lucrative shot they crave.

This has seen more British fighters than ever willing to travel to fight not exclusively for a lucrative shot at a strap but also to develop their experience and their name overseas. Also, bringing champions over to the UK is becoming more commonplace as it was in the 1990s. Take Mitchell and Selby who are fighting Jorge Linares and Evgeny Gradovich respectively on May 30th on home soil. This really is a masterstroke from Eddie Hearn and Matchroom. Backing his fighters to the hills by paying out a pretty penny to get every advantage possible for his boys to land their dream.

In addition, I see fighters, promoters and their teams working harder than ever in pursuit of their goals and ensuring their time in the sun is a fruitful as possible, both financially and reputation wise. I see for example the likes of IBF 147lb strap holder Kell Brook and his team leaving no stone unturned through incredibly strict training and dieting to ensure that when that chance comes there is nothing left to chance.

Britain really has fallen in love with boxing again and the increasing popularity can only be seen as a good thing. More desire from different television networks to be involved, fighters being built in to more household names back to the days of Ricky Hatton is what Brits crave and seeing them mix it with the Europeans and the Americans does wonders for developing that sense of backing. It promises to be exciting times in 2015 and beyond for British boxing.



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