By Adam Fillingham: This year has been full of highs and lows for British boxing. Three unsuccessful world title challenges. Two successful ones. A legend fell and three more may have been born.
The first of these future legends is Nottingham’s Carl Froch. Last December, Carl Froch claimed his WBC world title belt against Canadian Jean Pascal. His first defence came in April when he fought former middleweight world champion Jermain Taylor. Froch was the champion and yet he was made to travel to America’s Foxwoods Resort.
The fight did nothing to gain respect from American fans. Froch was knocked down for the first time in his career on this venture to America. His slow start did nothing for him in the fight and he could not seem to find his range or connect with anything worth while until the last four rounds. Before the twelfth round began Froch knew he needed a knock out and that is exactly what he accomplished. With fourteen seconds remaining the referee stopped the fight after Taylor groggily rose from the canvas and continued to take punishment.
Nearly Six months later and Froch defended his belt a second time. This time against undefeated Andre Dirrell as part of the Super Six tournament. Once again Froch looked unconvincing although on my card won the fight. Froch looked too slow in parts, although was the aggressor so got more points than the backtracking Dirrell. Froch won a split decision which to me seems as much as he deserved. Froch deserved to lose the fight but dirrell did not deserve to win.
Froch now travels into Europe to continue in his quest of the super six tournament when he faces Mikkel Kessler in 2010.
David Haye last year moved up to the heavyweight division when he faced and defeated Monte Barrett. June this year was supposed to home the highly anticipated fight between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye. Unfortunately that fight didn’t happen and neither did the fight with Wladimir Klitschko’s brother Vitali. Haye pulled out of both fights due to a back problem and due to contract issues respectively. Haye finally settled on fighting the much less daunting prospect of Nicolay Valuev.
Although being 7ft tall, Valuev’s power is minimal and his speed is non existent. Haye gave out a lot of banter and got under the big man’s skin before the fight and fought his and Adam Booth’s (his coach) tactics to perfection. Haye fought off the back foot in what was a negative manner but Valuev did not connect with anything. Finally in the final round Haye threw a massive three punch combination that rocked Valuev like he has never been rocked before. This was all with a hand which was damaged in the first round. Many heavyweights must now be wary of Haye’s massive power. Once the fight went the distance Haye won a majority decision. This flatters Valuev as there was no way the fight could have been scored a draw.
Early next year we will see Haye back in action against mandatory challenger John Ruiz.
2009 became the turning point for Amir Khan. Whether you like him or not you cannot knock the fact that he has turned a corner in the last year. A short fifteen months ago Khan was knocked clean out by the tough but not great Breidis Prescott. In three fights this year he has improved greatly to improve his guard and defensive performance.
First up was Marco Antonio Barrera in March. Khan fought exceptionally well in the five rounds it lasted although it was a cut above the eye of Barrera that finished the fight. Barrera was very overweight and some say is past it so it did take a lot of the victory away.
Second this year was Amir’s first world title challenge against Andriy Kotelnik. Khan fought fantastic that night to secure the WBA world title. He eventually won a unanimous decision winning almost every round along the way. Once again the win had little bite, as Kotelnik was thought of as a paper champion.
Finally this year Khan fought Undefeated but unproven American Dmitriy Salita. Salita was ranked number one by the WBA but was blasted out by Khan in just over seventy seconds! That must have demanded some credibility but still nothing. This is due to Salita having no substance to his thirty wins.
Khan has a lot of options in 2010. These include Timothy Bradley the undefeated WBO champion, Paulie Malignaggi the former IBF champion, Marcos Maidana the interim champion for Amir’s belt and lovable Brit Ricky Hatton.
If it was a good year for the three above fighters then it was a bad year for my next one. Ricky Hatton once again challenged the P4P king and was once again defeated soundly, knocked out in the second round. Manny Pacquiao has showed that maybe Hatton should hang up his gloves and enjoy retirement.
There are options there for him. Amir Khan would love the fight and would be a real money spinner in the UK. Juan Manuel Marquez is another very big option that could also generate a lot of money.
On other lows Ola Afolabi, Michael Jennings and Junior Witter all fought unsuccessfully for world titles. Afolabi the most recent went for the WBO cruiserweight title against Marco Huck and was soundly taken to a unanimous decision. Junior Witter fought for the WBC light welterweight title in August. Witter retired on his stool after the eighth round due to an injury to his left hand. Finally we have Michael Jennings’ poor showing against the far Superior Miguel Cotto in February. The Lancashire man took the WBO champion a good five rounds before he was taken out. Jennings should not have been in the same ring as Cotto and his No.2 rank status was highly inflated.
Whether you take it as a high or a low, Ryan Rhodes defeated Jamie Moore in seven of the best rounds this year. This fight was undoubtedly the domestic fight of the year, after Moore started off the aggressor firing off shots while Rhodes began slow on the back foot, running slightly. Suddenly in the forth round the tides changed and Rhodes looked more aggressive and fired the more cleaner shots. In the seventh round Rhodes finally got his man and knocked Moore to the canvas before taking more punishment from Rhodes. Rhodes claimed not only the European belt but also a high spot in the WBC ranks.
And finally in brief…
Matthew Macklin won both the British and European belts this year with quick knockouts over Wayne Elcock and Amin Asikainen. After claiming and defending the Commonwealth title last year, Nathan Cleverly defended the belt another four times and claimed the British belt when he fought in a great domestic fight with Danny McIntosh. After winning the European belt early last year Rendall Munroe defended his belt easily twice and claimed the commonwealth belt taking his defence count to a massive five times. John Murray defended his British belt twice after being made to vacate due to coming in over weight. Murray will be looking for bigger things now after retiring Jon Thaxton. And Finally, Kell Brook has shown his class this year with two successful defences of his British belt. Kell is hunting for a fight with former WBO challenger Michael Jennings.
2009 has brought about a fantastic up and coming domestic British scene. We have the likes of Tyson Fury, Derek Chisora, David Price, Tom Dallas, Larry Olubamiwo and the slightly more experienced Sam Sexton. My pick of the new domestic scene would have to be the understated Richard Towers.
Finally to top off the year was Joe Calzaghe’s retirement. On the 5th of February Calzaghe announced he was hanging up his gloves after an amazing career that included five world titles.
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