By Daven: In essence, British boxing is enduring testing times. Nathan Cleverly and Jamie McDonnell both lost their world titles last year , albeit through differing circumstances. At the start of 2014 Ricky Burns was only one of four world champions to hail from the United Kingdom, yet he was comprehensively defeated back in March.
That only leaves Carl Froch, Stuart Hall and Scott Quigg flying the flag for the Brits. With all the doom and gloom, my article will attempt to allay the idea that the trend of losing titles will continue. The following five British fighters are the most likely in my view to become world champions; that doesn’t mean I necessarily believe they will achieve the status of champion, I am merely saying they have more chance than all the other British fighters.
5. Kell Brook. Special K is lucky to make this list after witnessing the way Porter destructed his challenger Paulie M on Saturday night. However let’s not forget that Brook does have a guaranteed title shot for the summer and has been training accordingly. It’s hard to call Brook the favourite in a fight against Shawn as we really don’t know how he’ll react to being in the ring with a world class fighter. The bottom line is Kell has never shared the ring with somebody as talented as Porter, I hope Brook is working on his jab and double jab for that matter, he cannot allow Porter to bully him on the inside and needs to keep him away. I rate Kell’s chances as 30-70, that’s not to say he has no chance or anything, it’s just that there is a big question mark on whether or not he’s world class due to the lack of competition he’s faced. Whereas Porter is more established following his wins over Diaz, Alexander and Paulie.
4. Carl Frampton. Although the Jackal has already knocked out a current super bantamweight champion in Kiko Martinez, there is no guarantee he’ll emerge victorious over a trickier foe in Leo Santa Cruz. If the fight does materialise later this year, it’ll be a 50-50 fight but in Belfast I’m sure the Northern Irishman will fancy his chances. He’s at number 4 and not higher due to the fact he isn’t guaranteed to get a shot this year especially as Hearn is in negotiations with team Santa Cruz over a unification fight between Leo and Quigg.
3. George Groves. Through all the whining and the drama, Groves has earned himself a rematch in probably the biggest boxing rematch of the year. Did anybody really care about Pacquiao- Bradley II besides Bob Arum? Anyway Groves has his shot at revenge on May 31 and many in the boxing community predict he will win. I believe he will do it but only if he uses his superior boxing skills, he will need to box smartly, that means fight behind his jab and move around the ring efficiently. The last thing he should do is try and engage in toe to toe warfare with the Cobra, if he does he will lose. Groves has had stamina issues for a while and in his last fight, he was clearly gassing out as a consequence of his naivety in throwing too many punches, thus exerting too much effort for little reward. The fact he’s up against a world class opponent is why he is only third most likely to be become world champion, the two fighters at 1 and 2 have much easier tasks if one is being blunt about it.
2. Jamie Mcdonnell. Jamie is really unlucky not to still be world champion in my opinion, he didn’t fight his mandatory within the crazy time period dictated to by the IBF and paid the consequences for it. Fortunately he has a shot at the vacant WBA bantamweight title against an unheralded opponent. The Yorkshireman’s conditioning should equate to him getting a comfortable points win although it won’t be a guarantee. Hence why he is ensuring that this training camp is his most challenging yet.
1. Paul Butler. He’s number one because he has a guaranteed world title shot in June and it’s against a weak champion in fellow Brit Stuart Hall. Whilst this won’t enhance the number of British world champions, it will at least preserve the number. Butler has looked impressive in his young career thus far and should be able to win comprehensively over a much slower Hall, who as many know has been well beaten twice before in his career by domestic opposition. All in all the scouser’s speed and combination punches should put Hall away inside 8.
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