The State Of British Boxing

By Boxing News - 05/25/2011 - Comments

Image: The State Of British BoxingBy Jay Ross: I have never written an article before or even really considered it too be honest, but after reading a few articles recently it seems that I share a different opinion on British fighters than some people. Obviously its very hard for a person to write from a neutral perspective as everyone has their favourites, but that is my aim in the article. Il’ll openly admit my favourite fighters are David Haye & Floyd Mayweather, where as I don’t like fighters who seem to promise it all and never really deliver like Amir Khan and James DeGale. But then again there with people who disagree with that statement.

Now, I think its best to start with the the ”blockbuster of the summer” David Haye Vs Wladimir Klitschko on July 2nd in Hamburg. David Haye is one of those fighters who some people seem to really rate highly and other don’t seem to. As I stated, im a huge fan of the Hayemaker, I have been to his last 2 fights in the UK and I think in an era where there doesn’t seem to be a lot of personality in sport, he is great for the game. Haye came into the heavyweight division after unifying the cruiserweight division and in my opinion has looked pretty impressive so far. He has fought boxers from the older generation, but at the same time all you have to do is look at Wlad’s Manny Pacquiao to see that it seems to be the done thing in boxing at the minute. The fight against Klitschko on July 2nd could go either way. 50% of people are saying that Haye will find it impossible to get past jab and he will get worn down, where as the other 50% of people seem to think that Hayes movement will be too much for Wlad. They both posses knockout power and suspect jaws as-well. I personally think its a very hard fight to call, as both theories are right. My heart says Haye, but my head says Wlad, but that’s the reason i will paying Sky £14.99 to watch it, if I was certain of the outcome I wouldn’t.

This takes my attention to the next ‘major’ fight with a British fighter, and that’s the ‘Cobra’ Carl Froch. He takes on 42 year old Jamaican Glen Johnson on June 4th. Froch seems to have gotten a lot of praise quite late in his career, mainly due to his perceived lack of marketability, but his fights have now been taken on by Sky in the UK which in my opinion is great. Froch is an exciting fighter, he’s not the best tactician in the world, but he’s happy to get in there and bang with anyone in front of him. His last fight against Abraham was a very impressive win, but again there are those people who say Abraham looked a shot fighter, but still to do that to a fighter the quality of Abraham isn’t easy. I do feel the fight against Johnson is winnable for the Cobra, Johnson seems to be at that stage of his career where he cant get a run of wins going and I just see the Cobra’s work-rate being far too much for the Jamaican, but at the same time Johnson is not an easy fighter to fight against. If the Cobra wins, he will go onto the final of the Super six to face Andre Ward with the WBA and WBC titles on the line, I personally think that could be one step too far for the Cobra, but that fight at Super middleweight should be an interesting one.

While on the subjects of Super middleweights and the domestic scene, it would only be right to talk about the fight from last Saturday between James DeGale & George Groves. Firstly I will say, what a good night for British boxing fans. The fight was big news in the UK, had a 19,000 crowd in the o2 arena and was even shown live in Times Square in New York City. This really gave me a buzz about domestic boxing. The fight itself was an interesting affair, I think the first thing I will say is I thought James DeGale looked very shocked when he got heckled by the crowd, you can be the most confident person in the world but that amount of people booing you must throw you off your game a bit. During the fight, I thought DeGale controlled the centre of the ring well, as he has done in all his previous fights, but I think Groves & Adam Booth’s tactics were spot on. Groves was in and out, putting some good shots together, especially in rounds 2-5 and staying away from DeGale’s punches. I was very surprised with how in-active DeGale was too be honest. I gave the fight to Groves, just about agreeing with the judges. The question next is where do they go from here? I think it would be an error for Groves to take a rematch with DeGale and instead should start looking at European titles. As for DeGale, he has the potential to be such a good fighter, he’s got it all BUT he needs to get a new trainer. I saw Manny Steward touted on here the other day and i completely agree with that shout. He also needs to work on his PR, because I have never known so many people dislike a homegrown fighter so much. But I do think DeGale has a very big future in World Boxing.

On the same night, Nathan Cleverly fought against Kuziemski. Cleverly is a strange one for me. That fight last week cant have been easy to prepare for as we all know he had 3 changes of opponent but in the fight against Kuziemski he didn’t look that convincing, although having only seen one video of him on Youtube the day before, you can sort of see why. Frank Warren has been talking up a fight with Bernard Hopkins, but before fighting the Executioner I think Cleverly needs to defend his WBO Light Heavyweight title a couple of times first, as although Hopkins is no spring chicken he showed against Pascal on Saturday he is still a big threat. Cleverly, for me, needs to stop going in looking for a brawl and just get the job done. I really didn’t like it on Saturday when he was almost letting Kuziemski throw punches at him and encouraging it, but that is probably down to him still being young.

The other domestic boxer who is going to get my attention in the article is the ‘King’ Amir Khan. Now I will hold my hand up and say Khan is probably one of my most disliked boxers ever, as I think he’s had it easy, but I’m not going to let personal opinions of him get in the way here. For the UK boxing scene, Amir Khan is great and really putting us on the map. He’s being promoted by Golden Boy, trained by arguably the most well known trainer out there in Freddy Roach and all his fights being held in the big boxing venues like the M.E.N. Arena, Mandalay Bay and Madison Square Garden, which is great for British boxing, but he’s very similar to James DeGale in the fact that he doesn’t have the like-ability factor to some people. Khan, is very arrogant and to a lot of people done not a lot to back it up. In all fairness to Amir, he is WBA Light Welterweight Champion and his fight with Marcos Maidana was an absolute stormer, but I personally still feel his opponents are being hand picked for him. His fight with Paul McCloskey in April should never have happened, Amir should have been in there with someone like Zab Judah or even Kell Brook, a domestic fight I know a lot of people would like to see. But Khan took the fight and got the job done, which is all you can ask really. The fight with Timothy Bradley doesn’t look to be happening anytime soon, so hopefully Golden Boy will actually put someone in with Khan who is going to test him and get his stock up a bit. Until then, I do feel he’s going to be remembered more for his loss in less than a minute to Prescott than anything else, which is a shame.

I have to give a special mention to two other aspects of boxing. The first is a trainer, Adam Booth. I feel that we have one of the best trainers in the world in Adam Booth, at domestic level I haven’t seen a corner man like him in my lifetime. He studies opponents and drills a game plan into his fighters so they get the win. Booth does have his faults, but as a corner man there aren’t many better. All you have to do is see the condition, mentality and tactical awareness of his fighters that have been drilled in by Adam Booth. The other aspect, which is absolutely great for us is the Prizefighter Concept. Created by Promoter Barry Hearn, its a one night tournament, 3 rounds of 3 minutes and to win you need to win 3 fights. Its not what boxing purists love, but I think the tournament is a great idea, and can really get some peoples careers going. Its just all out war for one night, although I do love a tactical fight, we all love to watch some good old fashioned tear ups don’t we??

The final point I will make is back to domestic fights that are up coming that are getting headlines. John Murray & John Mitchell have just signed up to fight, in a contest that could see the winner going for the lightweight WBO Crown before the end of the year. Mitchell hasn’t fought since getting dismantled in his back yard by Aussie Michael Katsidis a year ago, so this should be a very interesting fight. Another fight that’s been signed is Del Boy Derek Chisora Vs Tyson Fury, there has been little interest in this one too be honest, even after a publicity stunt at the o2 on Saturday night where both fighters squared up to each other during an undercard fight on the ‘This is It’ Card. Its just great to have some really interesting British fights happening for the first time in a few years. There are fighters that I havent mentioned properly in this article like Kell Brook, Billy Joe Saunders and Frankie Gavin, so the future really does look good from a UK Stand point. (All we need now are jokes like Audley Harrison to not come back)

I’ve tried to right this from a neutral perspective and I’m sure many of the readers from around the globe will see some bias towards UK fighters, but I’ve tried not too!!!! I also hope you don’t see this as UK Arrogance, it was just an article written on what is on my front door I just think after a few dark years for boxing, not just domestic, but globally, were finally starting to see the sport we all love back into the headlines for the right reasons.

But cheers for reading, and any feedback is appreciated!



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