British Boxing News
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
Former World Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury has had the ban on his boxing license lifted, with Shannon Briggs the instant frontrunner to face the ‘Gypsy King’ in his return to the ring. And the odds of a 2018 clash with Anthony Joshua have been slashed by bookmakers.
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.
The hate between Dillian Whyte and Lucas Browne is real – but both men say that there’s more than pride on the line when they clash for Whyte’s WBC Silver Heavyweight title at The O2 in London on March 24, live on Sky Sports.
The Heavyweight rivals came face-to-face at a press conference in central London today and left the media in no doubt that there is plenty of true venom behind their fierce social media spats are as they traded barbs before a face-off that ended in a frosty handshake.
Carl Frampton and Nonito Donaire came face to face in Belfast ahead of their April 21 blockbuster bout at the SSE Odyssey Arena
Carl Frampton believes he may have to produce a career-best performance to overcome Nonito Donaire in their April 21 blockbuster bout in Belfast.
WBO featherweight world champion ÓSCAR VALDEZ, the man who swims with a fully-grown pet alligator, will begin the third year of his championship reign by defending his title against former World Boxing Association (WBA) super bantamweight world champion and current No. 2 world-rated featherweight contender SCOTT QUIGG. For Valdez (23-0, 19 KOs), of Nogales, Mexico, this will be his fourth title defense since winning it in 2016. Quigg (34-1-2, 25 KOs), of Lancashire, England, will be making his U.S. debut. The Valdez vs. Quigg world championship fight will take place Saturday, March 10, under the stars at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. It will be televised live and exclusively at 10:30 p.m. EST on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and stream live on the ESPN App. Additional fights on the live telecast will be announced shortly.
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.
WBO heavyweight champ Joseph Parker is the underdog going into his March 31 unification battle with WBA/IBF champ Anthony Joshua – via the betting odds and in the opinion of most fight fans – but the unbeaten New Zealander is not without his his supporters. In fact, potential rival Tyson Fury, who still holds the linear crown, is one of them.
BoxNation is set to get 2018 off to a bang this weekend when undefeated IBF welterweight world champion Errol Spence Jr makes the first defence of his title against former two-division world champion Lamont Peterson.
‘The Channel of Champions’ will air the mouth-watering clash exclusively live in the UK and Ireland this Saturday night from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Fight fans, British ones in particular, will possibly have a tough choice to make on the evening of April 21st: attend/watch at home the hugely intriguing Carl Frampton-Nonito Donaire fight in Belfast, or attend/watch at home the Amir Khan comeback fight in Liverpool.
Both British stars will engage in their respective fights, while a ratings battle will also take place, between Sky Sports, who will televise Khan’s comeback, and BT Sport/BoxNation, who will do the business with the Frampton-Donaire clash. Frank Warren, who promotes Frampton, obviously wants his show to triumph, but Eddie Hearn, who of course has just signed Khan to a three-fight deal, believes the star power of Khan will see to it that his show gets the bigger viewing figures.