By Adam Fillingham:
Last weekend
After many problems with money and TV rights the controversial Hatton promotions card, tipped by Amir Khan Vs Paul McCloskey finally got underway. Unfortunately due to being somewhat tight with money I did not purchase the Primetime card but I have since witnessed two fights on it;
Amir Khan Vs Paul McCloskey WBA world light welterweight title
Pundits and fans alike had written this fight off as a complete mismatch and well, they were right. From round one McCloskey did not look like he had a chance of winning the WBA crown and Khan wasn’t even fighting at his best!
Amir as usual looked very fast with both his hands and his feet, looked like he had a good amount of power by wobbling the Irishman a couple of times and took a good couple of punches well. It seemed throughout the six rounds of action that McCloskey’s only hope was to throw a looping right hand and hope it landed flush. Against a world class operator like Amir Khan (or anyone in the top 10 of this division for that matter) that tactic is not going to work, especially with the little power McCloskey has.
The fight ended in the sixth round due to an accidental clash of heads as the two men swung inside, in unison. Unfortunately for the European champion, he came of worse with a nasty looking cut above his left eye. The ringside doctor stepped in and one of the two men (McCloskey or the ringside doctor) stopped the fight. I’m not going to give my opinion on who I think stopped or retired in the fight as the fight has been stopped now and there is nothing that can be done about it.
So for Khan now, after winning every round of the latest instalment of his career, is a unification bout with Timothy Bradley. Will this fight be world classic or a poor clash of styles like Bradley’s last bout against Devon Alexander. We will hopefully find out this June/July.
Rendall Munroe Vs Andrei Isaeu – WBA international super bantamweight title
Finally we saw the return of the “boxing bin man” Rendall Munroe after his gutsy but unfortunate loss for the WBC world title last year. Munroe looked understandably ring rusty but looked the more bruiser and defiantly threw the harder punches, backing the Belarusian up against the ropes on numerous occasions.
The final score cards were 115 – 114, 116 – 112, 117 – 112 in favour of Munroe. It was good to see the Leicester fighter back in action.
Next Wednesday
There are unfortunately no major match ups this weekend but next Wednesday Frank Maloney brings us the intriguing rematch between IBF No.3 ranked John Smith and green commonwealth champion Stephen Smith. John Smith is still defiant that he was robbed in their last bout and also has an added incentive to win this one. If the Scotsman defeats his liverpudlian foe then John should be fighting for the Vacant IBF world title.
Its hard for me to route for either fighter. I would love John to win as he is so high in the rankings and it would be a travesty for him to lose now he has put in so much work to get this far. But I would like to see Stephen win as he is a green fighter with what appears to be a lot of potential in winning the Commonwealth belt after ten fights. If I am to make a prediction I will have to go with John Smith though. I believe the incentive for a world title will be to strong and the Scotsman will want to follow in Ricky Burns’ footsteps in becoming world champion.
Also on the card is young heavyweight sensation David Price who is taking a big step up in opposition against America Raphael “the silencer” Butler. This could be a fantastic little scrap. Butler is 27 years old, won thirty five bouts with only nine defeats, carries power with twenty eight knock outs and has fought credible opponents in Eddie Chambers and Malik Scott. Although this fight looks to be fantastic I am sceptical. Is This Butler as good as his record suggests? Price has only had nine fights and has a British final eliminator coming up against John McDermott. Would Maloney and Price want to jeopardise such big money fights in the future with McDermott, Tyson Fury, Derek Chisora and others by taking such a high risk, low gain fight? I see this as a walk over for Price.
Quick News
There has been conformation that the fight between heavyweight rulers David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko will be taking place at the 57,000 capacity Imtech Arena, located in Humburg, Germany, on the 2nd of July.
Amir Khan has extended his contract with Golden boy promotions for another four fights. Golden Boy exec Richard Schaefer confirmed that they are now working on a unification fight with WBO and WBC world champion Timothy Bradley.
Carl Froch will now be promoting himself as he this week left long term promoter Mick Hennessy. This has been rumoured for a while as Froch’s sparring partner Darren Barker also left Hennessy. It is not known whether Froch will continue to promote himself after the Super six tournament or whether he will join Hatton promotions or Matchroom sport.
Vince Cleverly the father of world title challenger Nathan Cleverly has talked down the all British domestic scrap between his son and Enzo Macarinelli. Enzo hasn’t fought since his defeat to Alexander Frenkel last September but a fight with Cleverly could give the ex cruiserweight world champion motivation to get back in the ring.
The proposed fight between Irish WBA No.3 ranked Matthew Macklin and German WBA world champion has been officially announced for July 2nd.
And finally, Jason Booth unfortunately lost in Spain against Kiko Martinez for the European super bantamweight title. This means that the highly anticipated fight with friend Rendall Munroe is off. Jason was stopped in the tenth by a hard right hand.
Sorry for so few quick news reports this week, its been rather quiet.
So last week I asked you, your opinions on the proposed Kell Brook Vs Matthew Hatton fight and unanimously everyone chose Kell Brook to win that one. This week I would like to pitch Enzo Macarinelli Vs fellow Welshman Nathan Cleverly. Could Enzo pull off an upset? Or will it be a straight forward win for the young Cleverly? Give you thoughts below.
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