Deontay Wilder: Fighter or Fraudster, and a look at Jennings, Szpilka and Fury.

deontay899By 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.

Now, much like his rival Tyson Fury, the name Deontay Wilder only need be mentioned to spew forth a plethora of comments, some hyping, some hating. With all of my articles I try to state the facts, pepper them with a little opinion and let my fellow fans draw their own conclusions. I have also been asked a couple of questions regarding Wilder and both British and American heavyweight talent, so as we progress, I shall do my best to nail everything.

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Damaged Goods and Forgotten Men?

price1234By 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.

Many of the fighters I am to look at were once tipped as shining lights of the British fight game, and despite various set backs for all of them, I wanted to ask the questions; do they still have it? And, did they even have it in the first place?

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What We Have To Offer: 2014

burns5By 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.

The last couple of years alone have also seen David Haye, Amir Khan and Nathan Cleverly holding world straps amongst others. And historically it gets even better with some real legendary names added to the list. Think of the likes of Ken Buchanan, Duke McKenzie, John Conteh, Lloyd Honeyghan, Nigel Benn, Frank Bruno, Chris Eubank, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe. Naseem Hamed also, one of the greatest featherweights the world has ever seen.

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Great Brits #3: Joe Calzaghe

calzaghe56736735By Olly Campbell: Joe Calzaghe has long divided public opinion among fight fans. Not brash, loud, obnoxious or self promoting, he has always had something to prove. Especially to the American audience who long doubted the boy from Newbridge, South Wales had what it took to become their idea of a pay-per-view star.

For those who have followed the epic career of Joe closely, they will know that such pre-occupations were never really a consideration of his. The longest reigning British world champion in history, his incredible tenure as top of the super middleweights, cemented his place in the record books for those who really mattered.

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Great Brits #2: Frank Bruno

By Olly Campbell: I have already experienced some criticism for my use of the word great in my last piece in this series, on Naseem Hamed, so I can well imagine that some of those very same critics will be spitting out their coffee when reading the headline of this one!

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Great Brits: Naseem Hamed

hamed4362445By Olly Campbell: Anyone who has been following my articles on this site will know by now that I am primarily concerned with representing British boxing in all forms, past and present.

If the refreshing remarks in my comment threads are anything to go by, it has been proven to me that even many American fans are now sick and tired of the whole Mayweather/Pac Man debacle and the constant “next Floyd opponent” rumblings propagated by the attention seeking element of this page.

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The Golden (Yet Tragic) Era of British Boxing

mcclellen2By Olly Campbell: Since I began posting to this site very recently, I have been truly humbled by the kind words and fantastic responses received from you, the reader, my fellow boxing fans. My most recent article on my top three domestic dyer ups of the last decade, created some real debate, and threw up some very interesting points. It is that very opinion and debate that has led me to this article today.

An article about a bygone era in the British fight game, when we undoubtedly boasted some of the best middle and super-middleweight fighters modern boxing has ever seen. It was a magical time that those of us lucky enough to live through, will remember forever. I was but a young boy 20-25 years ago when the following three fights took place, but the fantastic (and tragic) legacy created by those contests are largely responsible for igniting my life long love of The Hurt Business”.

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Dust Ups of the Decade: Britain’s Best Fights, 2004-2014

hatton4643333By Olly Campbell: One of the things I love most about reading, and now writing for, BN24, is the nature of the fierce debate in the comments section after an article has been published. Like absolutely everything on the web, the contributions and input vary from the bizarre, stupid and ridiculous, to the sensible, intelligent and knowledgeable…..and EVERYTHING in between.

To achieve a large comment thread, it appears that just like the pop music charts, a writer (artist) must be current, yet somehow trendy, superficial and shallow. In short, if you desire popularity, it is imperative you write about Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao. It seems the standard modus operandi is to regurgitate the same tired old bs, shifting things ever so slightly so it appears to be different.

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Fury vs. Chisora 2: What Happens?

chisora5665 - CopyBy Olly Campbell: With today’s announcement that British Heavyweight Tyson Fury (21-0, 15KOs) has inked a promotional deal with Frank Warren’s Queensbury promotions, the answer to a question I posed recently on this site, (What’s Next For Tyson Fury?) has become just that little bit clearer.

At today’s press conference ahead of Feb 15th’s “Rock The Box 3” show at the Copper Box arena, London, UK, Warren told the assembled press of his intention to once again match Fury with EBU heavyweight champ Dereck Chisora (19-4, 13KOs) in a repeat of their 2011 British title clash.Warren told IFLtv he intends for a June clash to be a final eliminator for the WBC strap to be contested by America’s Chris Arreola and Canadian Bermane Stiverne. This is of course, if both men come through clashes on the February show; Chisora against unbeaten Ukrainian Andriy Rudenko (24-0, ) and Fury against an as yet unnamed “international” opponent.

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Audley Harrison: Say It Aint So!

harrison564By Olly Campbell: Over the last couple of hours news has been trickling out of yet another (yes, ANOTHER!) possible comeback from dreary, over the hill, 42 year old British heavyweight pantomime villain, Audley “A-Force” Harrison. (31-7, 23KOs).

I usually prefer to write articles of a balanced and objective nature, so you will have to forgive the somewhat sarcastic tone and derisive feel of this piece.

Audley first burst onto the British consciousness back in 2000, having become the first Brit to ever win an Olympic super heavyweight gold medal.

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