By Mark Boyles – The new year brings some good news for British boxing fans.. Firstly there’s all the talk of Hatton and Pacquaio. As a fight, it should be one to watch, with arguably two of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. Pacquaio hasn’t been hit with anything close to the power that Hatton has, and hasn’t been tested at this weight. I’d not call the Oscar De La Hoya fight a test personally, given the way that fight played out, and the way Oscar went in to it. It should be an amazing fight. Given the pay per view figures for De La Hoya and Pac-man, I am left wondering if it will happen in Vegas though, as surely it would make more sense to hold the fight in London in front of 80,000 fans and many more on UK TV than it would to offer it up to a disinterested American public on Pay Per View. I’d say it’s a fight that could go either way too, which makes it a much more interesting affair than Hatton-Mayweather II would be.
February 2009 also sees Enzo Maccarinelli fighting to regain the WBO Cruiserweight title against Jonathon Banks, a fighter with 20 wins, 14 by KO and no losses. In his last fight, which was scheduled to be against Banks, who pulled out through injury, Enzo looked to be in the best shape of his career, and I would fancy him to become the first Welshman to regain a world title. The entire division at Cruiserweight has never really been packed with great names, and former heavyweight world champion Herbie Hyde is possibly the biggest name there, despite his age. I would love to see an all British World title fight later in 2009 between Hyde and Maccarinelli. with Hyde bidding to become the first heavyweight to drop down to cruiserweight and win a world title. Hyde has power at cruiserweight, but for me, Enzo is too big a puncher for Hyde to stand up to. Hyde suffered at heavyweight against big punchers after all Still, the Herbie Hyde saga should prove interesting, and hopefully will bring some much needed attention to the an unloved weight class, even if it is a faux-heavyweight circus kind of appeal.
2009 should be a big year for Carl Froch, with a fight against Jermain Taylor early on, if HBO go for it (and rumours are they’re against it!) which should, if nothing else, earn him some recognition in the US should he win. Taylor definitely has the tools to cause some serious trouble for Froch, although on recent form specifically the laboured win over Jeff Lacy, I wasn’t impressed. Froch is talking about unification fights after that, with the likes of Bute, Inkin (who’ll no doubt run for the hills again rather than fight Froch) and Kessler. At long last he’s stopped talking about a fight with Joe Calzaghe. Probably the best Christmas present Froch could hope for is Calzaghe retiring if we’re honest. If Froch beats Taylor the world will be his Oyster, if he gets really lucky he’ll get to beat on Kelly Pavlik for serious money rather than fight Kessler too. As Pavlik proved just how mediocre he could be against Hopkins. I would imagine Froch and Bute would make the best unification fight, as personally I think Kessler will be too much for him, and Inkin wouldn’t give him much of a fight at all. Still, I have been wrong in the past.
Where would us Brits be without our Olympians? Fortunately Beijing gave us a new batch, and hopefully the next generation will get their careers off to flying starts. I would hope that Frank Warren doesn’t match them with bums, considering that in the Olympics they were fighting much better opposition. The previous Olympic hero, Amir Kahn looks like he’s managed to salvage his reputation and should be able to get back up to speed in 2009. Whether he goes for a world title remains to be seen. I wouldn’t expect him to go for the European title, as Thaxton is a hard hitting fighter with a great chin. Thaxton himself should be champing at the bit for a world title, and if Pacquiao vacates his WBC lightweight title, which looks likely, 2009 could be a great opportunity for Kahn and Thaxton to get themselves into contention for a world title shot. Finally, I sincerely hope that we’ve seen the last of Sydney medal winner Audley Harrison. His latest defeat must surely be a sign that it’s time to hang up the gloves and get a nice high-paying job in the media.
Junior Witter could also be fighting to regain a world title in 2009, having exorcised his mental demons, a rematch with Bradley would certainly be worth watching, and I would fancy an in-form Witter to beat Bradley comfortably. My only real concern with that would be Witter returning to form and spending another 5 years calling out Ricky Hatton.
2009 could well be the year that Heavyweight boxing regains an ounce of credibility too, with David Haye set to fight one of the Klitchko brothers, apparently Wlad now. This has to be the answer to Haye’s Christmas wishes, as Wlad is a far more beatable opponent for Haye than Vitali ever was. Wlad’s been proven suspect against raw power, and raw power is Haye’s mainstay. Vitali on the other hand, has a granite chin and would most likely have just walked Haye down and battered him. Wlad being the quicker, smaller one also suits Haye down to the ground. He made his name fighting smaller quicker guys, usually around the 200lbs mark. That would be the Cruiserweight division then. Wlad is a dangerous opponent, but by no stretch is he as tough an opponent for Haye as Vitali would have been. Of course, for an added twist of comedy, I’d love to see Wlad pull out and big boy Valuev step in. Assuming the WBA investigation doesn’t tie up his schedule.
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