British Boxing Explosion

brook67By Matthew J. Hunter: Is the recent explosion of elite or at least championship quality British Boxing a trend that will continue? With the number of champions at 12 it looks to be better than ever. Looking at the breakdown of champions by region, it becomes clear that Europe, with the help of the rise of British boxing, has skyrocketed.

Central America and the Caribbean, which includes historic boxing hotbeds Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, have the second most champions at 25. Several questions arise at this, is this trend purely a trend? Will the fact that big money boxing is usually in America hinder the progression of European champions? Is the connotation that boxing in America is the highest level put doubt on the credibility of these British and European champions?

Tyson Fury, James Degale, Liam Smith, Kell Brook, Anthony Crolla, Terry Flanagan, Lee Selby, Scott Quigg, Carl Frampton, Lee Haskins, Jamie McDonnell, and Andy Lee all represent the UK and Ireland going forward.

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Jacobs wants Andy Lee unification fight

Daniel Jacobs vs Peter Quillin(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Scott Gilfoid: WBA “regular” middleweight title champion Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (31-1, 28 KOs) made easy work of #5 WBA Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (32-1-1, 23 KOs) last Saturday night in turning back his threat in an easy 1st round TKO victory in another round of the “battle of Brooklyn” at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. We already had the “Battle of Brooklyn” fight take place two years ago with the Paulie Malignaggi vs. Zab Judah mismatch that took place in December 2013 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, last night’s fight between Jacobs and Quillin turned out to be even more of a mismatch in the “battle of Brooklyn” part 2.

Quillin, 32, fought like a fighter in his 40s. The 28-year-old Jacobs proved to be the much younger fighter and clearly the more intelligent of the two in taking out Quillin with a storm of punches after hurting him with a right hand to the head. Quillin could have possibly saved himself if he had the sense enough to take a knee or clinch Jacobs to ride out the storm, but he foolishly chose to fire back with wild shots until the referee Harvey Dock stopped the mismatch at 1:25 of the round.

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Saunders: I’m going to beat Andy Lee

saunders43By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBO contender Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) is feeling pretty good right now about his chances to beat WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) in their fight in a little over two weeks from now on December 19th at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.

New heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is picking the 26-year-old Saunders to beat the older 31-year-old Lee in their important fight. Fury is the cousin of Lee, which makes it somewhat odd that he’s picking Lee to lose the fight.

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HBO considering televising Andy Lee vs. Billy Joe Saunders

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By Scott Gilfoid: The December 19th fight between WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2, 24 KOs) and #1 WBO Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) could be televised by HBO Championship Boxing. HBO is evaluating whether to televise the fight or not. The fight is taking place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.

The likely reason why HBO is thinking of televising the fight is because it would help build up a future unification fight between the winner of the Lee-Saunders fight against IBF/IBO/WBA heavyweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in 2016.

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Andy Lee says he has equal power as Golovkin

lee564By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) faces #1 WBO mandatory challenge Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) on December 19th at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Lee, 31, looked horrible in his last fight against Peter Quillin last April in getting dropped twice and then having to settle for a 12 round draw in this non-title fight. Quillin failed to make weight for the fight, so Lee’s WBO title wasn’t on the line.

Lee’s career has been an up and down affair with him doing well for stretches at a time, but he’s also failed big time in knockout losses to journeyman Brian Vera and former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

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Andy Lee not looking past Saunders towards Golovkin clash

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By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) says he’s not looking past his title defense against #1 WBO challenger Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) on December 19th at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.

There has been talk that Lee, 31, is already in discussions for a good money unification fight against IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, but Lee denies this. He says he’s totally focused on his title defense against Saunders, as he should be. Saunders has enough boxing skills to beat Lee, and we’ve already seen Lee have to rally to win his recent fights against John Jackson and Matt Karobov.

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Andy Lee wants to unify title when/if he beats Saunders

lee1By Scott Gilfoid: WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) hasn’t faced #1 WBO Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) yet, but he’s already counting it as a victory in the win column for their December 19th fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Lee, 31, says he wants to unify the middleweight titles by facing the other middleweight champs instead of sitting on his title and trying to milk his title like some of the other champions tend to do.

As far as Lee unifying the middleweight titles, the only champion at 160 that he has any real chance of beating is WBA “regular” champion Daniel Jacobs. That would be a very, very tough fight for the 31-year-old Lee, and I have my doubts that he’d win it.

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Andy Lee – Billy Joe Saunders fight rescheduled for 12/19

lee4By Scott Gilfoid: #1 WBO 160lb contender Billy Joe Saunders (22-0, 12 KOs) will be facing WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) on December 19th in their rescheduled fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Thus far, the Lee-Saunders fight has been postponed twice due to Lee suffering an illness and Saunders getting cut in training. Now hopefully the fighters can make it in the ring in one piece to finally face each other on 12/19 in Manchester. You never know though. Anything can happen when you’ve got two guys that are having problems while trying to make it to the ring. For Saunders, 26, it’s a good time that he’s getting more time to train because he looked really flabby in his last fight against Yoann Bloyer last July.

Saunders weighed in for that fight at 173lbs, and he looked a lot heavier than that when he stepped foot into the ring. My guess is Saunders was in his mid-180s for that fight, and that’s a lot of weight for a middleweight. By having the Lee vs. Saunders fight take place on December 19th, it gives Saunders more time to melt off the weight that he put on.

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Andy Lee vs. Billy Joe Saunders on December 19th

WBO World Middleweight Champion Andy Lee and challenger Billy Joe Saunders will finally collide at the Manchester Arena on Saturday 19th December in a Christmas extravaganza.

The premier 160lb fighters are raring to get in the ring and decide who is the best after seeing two previous postponements of their fight – Lee with a viral infection and Saunders with a cut eye – and both are promising to close the year with an explosive ending, live and exclusive on BoxNation.

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