By Scott Gilfoid: Whether Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) ends up fighting both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009, I think Hatton’s career will be forever tainted unless he steps it up and gives both Junior Witter (37-2-2, 22 KOs) and Timothy Bradley (23-0, 11 KOs) at some point in time. Hatton, for obvious reasons, would be better off fighting them sooner rather than later, because he’s now 30 and his many ring wars are starting to show their effects on him.
Boxing News
Comparing Legacies: Hamed and Calzaghe
By Matthew Thomas Potter: Writing in his online blog for The Ring Magazine website, columnist Michael Rosenthal gave his opinions on the ten best British fighters of all time. At number four on the list was Joe Calzaghe (46-0, KO 32). Naseem Hamed (36-1, KO 31) was only granted an honourable mention, essentially a footnote; an afterthought, on the list of the greatest British boxers.
Is Jeff Lacy a Shot Fighter?
By Dan Ambrose: After recently suffering his second one-sided loss in the past two years, there are whispering in the boxing community that super middleweight contender Jeff Lacy (24-2, 17 KOs) is a shot fighter, that he doesn’t have it anymore due to his vicious beat down at the hands of Joe Calzaghe two years ago. That may or may not be true, but what is true is that Lacy doesn’t seem to be the same fighter that went 21-0 with 17 knockouts at the time that he met up with Calzaghe in March 2006.
My Choice For Fighter Of The Year – Joe Calzaghe
By Michael Lieberman: For his two victories over the prehistoric fighters Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr., I have to give Joe Calzaghe my vote for the number #1 fighter of the year. There were a couple of others that came close, but Calzaghe took the cake with his wins over the two 40ish fighters, showing that he has enough ability to beat two of the best fighters of the 90s, even though both are clearly on the downside of their careers.
Will Khan’s Poor Chin Limit His Success In 2009?
By Matt Stein: With his total destruction by Breidis Prescott in September, lightweight Amir Khan (19-1, 15 KOs) appears to have his work cut out for him if he wants to someday win a major title in the lightweight division. His loss to Prescott, a 1st round TKO, dropped Khan from the top rungs of the division to the bottom, where he now is trying to rebuild his shattered career.
Why Samuel Peter Will Be Champion Again
By Dave Lahr: Ever since his 9th round stoppage loss to Vitali Klitschko on October 11th, former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (30-2, 23 KOs) has been written off by the boxing community, a lot of whom are saying that he’s finished as a fighter, that he’ll never be a champion again and that he was exposed by Vitali. It seems as if a lot of people are writing him off way too soon, being hasty in their estimation of his future potential.
Who’s Next For De La Hoya?
By Chris Williams: Just because he got the living daylights whooped out of him doesn’t mean that Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) needs to retire from boxing. Heck, De La Hoya’s probably been shot for at six years, yet he’s continued to fight and get wins over a number of small-time fighters and the public hasn’t minded. From what I can see, there’s a lot of good fighters that he can still fight, and more than enough boxing fans still interested in seeing him fight just as long as he has an even small chance of winning.
Has Calzaghe Already Damaged His Legacy?
By Scott Gilfoid: After carefully guarding his precious legacy as if it were the crown jewels or something, unbeaten Joe Calzaghe (46-0, 32 KOs), seems to have undid all the accolades that he might have received with his recent comments about the sport of boxing dying. With that comment alone, it made it seem as if Calzaghe, who is leaning towards getting out of the sport and retiring, is self-serving chap, someone who is ending his career after having made his fortune in the sport.
A Christmas Wish List For Every Boxing Fan For 2009
By Adam Laiolo: So here we are already, end of the year and looking forward to another exciting calendar ahead of us. We’ve had a bit of everything this year, dominant performances we expected, some upsets, controversial wins and losses, mega money fights, titles changing hands and title reigns, comebacks and retirements, and most importantly some bright performances from the next generation of world beaters.
Oscar De La Hoya – It’s Time To Pass The Torch
By Adam Laiolo: Lets put opinions aside of what you think of him right now, whether good or bad, and just take one look at his record from a neutral perspective. Forget Oscar the man, the promoter or the golden boy. Forget the Donny Osmond smile and the sophisticated demeanor and the millions upon millions he’s made for the good or bad for boxing. As a fighter you can never deny god given talent, and he has it by the truckloads. The truth is he has the ability, just not the body to cope with top level professional boxing. Being past your prime doesn’t just mean you’ve faded as a fighter, it also means your past your physical peak.