By Olly Campbell: It’s incredibly difficult for me not to feel just a little bit sorry for Belfast’s Super Bantamweight sensation, Carl “The Jackal” Frampton. After beating the vastly more experienced Spaniard Kiko Martinez in a European title fight almost a year ago, he then had to watch a mixture of fate and injustice conspire to allow Martinez to capture world honors just six months later, while he was left by the wayside.
The sight of Martinez crumpled on the floor in the 9th round of that Feb 2013 clash, has led Frampton manager and mentor, Barry McGuigan to assert that the Spanish fighter wants no part of a rematch with his IBF title on the line. In an interview with BoxNation, McGuigan went further, saying team Frampton had been strung along by Martinez despite offering considerably more money than he received for their first encounter.
By Olly Campbell: Okay, now might be a good time to forget what you think you know. Who is heir apparent to the heavyweight scene? Sure, lots of names are in the melting pot; Arreola, Stiverne, Fury, Jennings, Helenius, Pulev, Chisora etc. The list goes on and on. Yet these are guys who are looking to dethrone Wladimir Klitschko, and I wish them luck with that. No, my piece today is about a guy who is set to DETHRONE them. It is of course the hottest property in heavyweight prospects, Anthony Joshua.
By Olly Campbell: Since starting to publish on BN24, I’ve asked for and received many comments and suggestions with regards to my articles, most of which are warmly received. Just yesterday, after my piece on Wladimir Klitschko, I received an email from a reader asking me to draw up a list of the top ten British.fights I’d like to see in 2014. Now, mentioning comments, I have also been asked to write about international boxing a little bit more.
By Olly Campbell: Essentially its been a little quiet again on a British front, however this week we had Frank Warren hyping his proposed June rematch between Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora. Stateside, we have had a win for prospect Bryant Jennings last weekend, and now the news that desperately-in-need-of-a-test Deontay Wilder is to face his friend and Chisora victim Malik Scott in a couple of months. It is sad that Wilder, Fury and Chisora all seem to be leveling out in terms of their competition rather than stepping it up, however it did get me thinking.
By Olly Campbell: On Friday afternoon here in the UK, the constantly twisting saga surrounding Carl Froch vs George Groves 2, took a rather dramatic turn. Various media outlets and Matchroom sports promoter Eddie Hearn, revealed that the IBF have ordered an immediate rematch, that by their rules, must take place within the next 90 days.
By Olly Campbell: They say that variety is the spice of life, so in keeping with a few of the comment thread suggestions, I’m today going to turn my focus away from British fights/fighters, and write about a subject from across the pond. I enjoy debate and controversy, so needed someone that I believed could get my fellow fans talking.
By Olly Campbell: Following my piece yesterday on what British boxing has to offer the world in terms of its prospects and potential titlists in 2014, I thought it only fair to take a look at the flip side of the coin and focus on a few fighters who for one reason or another, appear to have fallen by the wayside slightly. I wanted to assess if its at all possible for these men to bounce back and somehow enter, or re-enter, the world title picture once again.
By Olly Campbell: For an island of our size, Great Britain does pretty well in terms of representing itself on the world boxing stage. As things stand, we have Ricky Burns, Carl Froch, Scott Quigg and Stuart Hall, all holding versions of a world title. If you were to include interim champions, then you could also add Martin Murray to that list.