One of the genuine good guys of the sport, British great Herol Graham – arguably THE finest British fighter to have never won a world title – is in a pretty bad way right now. Reportedly, Graham is in hospital fighting depression, while his wife has advanced cancer and can no longer earn an income.
A web site has been set up for those fans who wish to help: www.justgiving.com
One of the hottest young fighters in the world today (calling him a prospect is no longer accurate), Scotland’s Josh Taylor believes he is “two or three fights away” from a world title shot, and the unbeaten 140-pounder will face another former world champion in his next fight – another big name from Mexico.
Well, that didn’t last long. Yesterday a “news” story that claimed Manny Pacquiao and his team were ” in negotiations” for a fight with reigning pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko caused something of a stir. The story began to gather some steam, with a number of prominent boxing websites picking up the story.
We needn’t have bothered.
The career of one-time Pound-for-Pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez looked to be over back in September of last year, when the Nicaraguan was brutally KO’d by Thai fighter Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in their rematch. Leaving the ring as a 46-2 former champ, Gonzalez heard the talk from some people, who urged him to, if not flat-out get out, then at least drop back down in weight. Junior-bantam is simply a weight division too far for Gonzalez, these people said, and Gonzalez should drop back down to flyweight if he wants to fight on.
The first big fight postponement due to injury has come about here in 2018. Unfortunately, Mikey Garcia’s bid to become a four-weight world champ will have to wait just a little while longer. According to a breaking news piece from Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, reigning IBF 140 pound champ Sergey Lipinets, who would have defended his belt against Garcia on February 10, has suffered a hand injury. The fight, and the whole card, will now take place at a new, as yet undetermined date later this year.
There has been some talk of the possibility, no matter how small, of a fight between all-time great Manny Pacquiao and current and reigning pound-for-pound king Vasyl Lomachenko before – and there is more talk on the subject currently taking place. According to Pacquiao his team are discussing a fight between he and the current WBO 130 pound champion, and that the main obstacle to be overcome is weight, as in what weight the fight – really a modern day Dream Fight if ever there was one – would take place at.
The upcoming clash between WBA and IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua and WBO ruler Joseph Parker is intriguing enough – but for fans to really feel the urge to part with some pay-per-view cash a solid under-card may be needed. It seems Eddie Hearn is trying to provide one.
Has there ever been a heavyweight slugfest where the action was so intense, so fast and relentless that the fight could be compared to the epic middleweight showdown between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns? Probably the closest we’ve seen to it is the classic Foreman-Lyle war, where, like Marv and Tommy, the two combatants went at in a a real hell for leather manner; caring nothing defence.