British boxing legend and former light-welterweight king Ricky Hatton is one of a few experts who likes the idea of superstar Floyd Mayweather making his next defence against Amir Khan. Hatton, writing in his debut column for The Manchester Evening News, says he feels Khan is one of just a handful of fighters who can match Mayweather for speed.
“Amir deserves his shot against Floyd,” Hatton wrote. “It is a career-defining fight and would be his biggest payday, so he’s definitely got to go for it. Amir lost to Lamont Peterson and then Danny Garcia, but he’d reached the top. He doesn’t need money, he needs a challenge – and you cannot get bigger than Floyd. The one thing that comes to mind with Floyd is his defence. He can attack, but he prefers to defend, sit on the ropes. I can’t remember too many fights where he’s had to go on the front foot and attack.
For any boxer starting out his career, to become a champion is the ultimate goal. For those that succeed in becoming a champion, the next step is to become a great champion. Boxing enthusiasts are a hard bunch to please though, and the “great” label is a tough nut to crack. It is a label made even harder for fighters to attain by critics who choose to move the goal posts, even when a champion has excelled above and beyond his peers in those aspects typically used to define “greatness”. Floyd Mayweather is one such victim.
Ruslan Provodnikov – 139.8 pounds
Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (19-0, 13KOs), the 2008 U.S. Olympian and one of the most decorated American amateur pugilists, will get his long awaited opportunity at a world title after several delays and opponent changes, when he takes on the former 2004 Olympian, Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan (33-0-1, 21KOs) on November 9th in Corpus Christi, Texas, for the vacant World Boxing Organization`s (“WBO”) Junior Middleweight Championship.
Before facing Alexander Povetkin, it was quite a while since Wladimir Klitschko was placed against a formidable opponent with the promise of an exciting match. Most of Wladimir’s opponents were written off by the boxing community before the first bell ever rang, similar to how Mike Tyson used to tune the boxing public to believe that the fight was never going to be competitive.
On this week’s edition of “The Pugilist KOrner”, expert trainer and former Lightweight contender Joel Diaz gave the listeners his thoughts on Tim Bradley’s boxing future in 2014.
Unbeaten welterweight contender Kell Brook had an open workout in his native Sheffield earlier today, training in front of enthusiastic fans at a big shopping mall. Brook said afterwards that he is “counting down the days” to his October 26th bout with Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Senchenko and that he is relishing the idea of the Ricky Hatton conqueror giving him a stern test.
The heavyweight boxing division is drowning. There is a clear lack of formidable competition for either of the Klitschko brothers, and as time goes on, the remaining tiny pool of fighters is becoming dangerously dry.