British Boxing News
Lee Selby looks set to be granted home advantage in his mandatory challenge for the IBF World featherweight title held by Evgeny Gradovich, at a date yet to be set.
This was confirmed this week by Egis Klimas, the US based Russian’s manager, who also manages the affairs of Sergey Kovalev and the sensational Vasyl Lomachenko.
The title shot for number 1 ranked IBF 168lb fighter James DeGale is confirmed and is likely going to occur on April 25th in the 02Arena in London. The last point which has to be confirmed is the opponent for DeGale.
Negotiations for a meeting between number 2 ranked Andre Dirrell are underway although it would seem the American is sceptical of fighting in the UK after losing a close and controversial decision to home fighter Carl Froch back in 2009. Eddie Hearn, the promoter for DeGale has said that he wants the fight on home soil for DeGales first world title attempt. Likely this fight will get made and it will go to purse bids to get the agreement.
Despite the cancellation of that fight being a crushing blow to his career, it is apparent that Crolla has not lost focus and even with the short amount of time since the incident, he is already back in the ring preparing for his world title opportunity. His team have been pleased with the work he is doing and all indicators suggest he is in the process of a full and speedy recovery.
Carl Froch has vacated the IBF Super Middleweight title as he recovers from the injury that ruled him out of a clash with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
The four-time World champion will now consider his future before potentially defending his WBA Super Middleweight title this summer.
Mandatory challenger James DeGale MBE will now fight the next available contender for the vacant title, and the IBF will instruct Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport as to who that will be and negotiations will commence immediately.
Chris Eubank Jnr. came face-to-face with Interim WBA World Middleweight Champion Dmitry Chudinov in London today ahead of their huge clash on Saturday 28th February at London’s O2 arena.
Eubank aims to rebound from his sole career defeat to Billy Joe Saunders last November by defeating the hard Russian and a victory could see him get a rematch with the Hatfield ace.
Chudinov, in attendance with well respected Russian manager and promoter Vlad Hrunov, says he will defeat the son of the British great and return to his homeland a hero.
Tyson Fury has come out and said that he did not watch Wilders historic match against Bermane Stiverne to capture the WBC heavyweight title, but did congratulate him on his victory. The heavyweight scene is very open now with top talents like Bryant Jennings, Tyson Fury and Alexander Povetkin ready to take over from Wladimir Klitschko as the lineal champion of the world. The interesting thing is that Tyson Fury does not seem to be caught up in the hype around the newly crowned WBC strap holder and has his sights set solely on the main man in the division, Wladimir Klitschko.
The Mirror has reported that WBA/IBF super-middleweight champion Carl Froch will be forced to vacate his IBF strap today as he has failed to set up a fight with the mandatory challenger in James DeGale. This did not seem to be the case of Froch being afraid to fight DeGale, on the contrary he has been looking to find himself a farewell fight in Vegas against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, nevertheless this title will be up for grabs in the coming months and as DeGale is the first in line he will be fighting for it. The number two ranked fighter by the IBF is American Andre Dirrell, brother of WBC champ Anthony Dirrell. This is an exiting proposition as we could have brothers both as title holders in the same weight class.
In an interview with Fight Hype Eddie Hearn, promoter for IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, said that once their mandatory against Jo Jo Dan is complete, they would be looking for a big name in the summer. The names that he chose to mention were Juan Manuel Marquez, Marcos Maidana and the winner of the upcoming Thurman vs Guerrero match up.
Any of these fighters would be a fantastic match up for the 28 year old Brook, and each would most likely be viewed as his toughest test to date. Juan Manuel Marquez has been looking for a title at . Marquez was the third Mexican born boxer to become a four division champion and a win over Brook would make him the first five division champion. His only other options to pick up titles in that weight division would be rematches with Mayweather and Pacquiao so Brook has to be seen as the best route for him.
John Wayne Hibbert TKO8 Tyler Goodjohn
John Wayne Hibbert 15-2 (9KO’s) took another huge step towards a tilt at the British light welterweight title, producing an eye-catching display to halt Tyler Goodjohn 11-4 (4KO’s) in the 8th round.
Given the obligatory social media bad blood in the lead up to the contest, there was a feeling that war would be declared from the opening bell. Hibbert had other ideas moving freely in and out of range, stinging the marching Goodjohn with sharp combinations.
Dagenham-born Mitchell faces Mexican Daniel Estrada for the vacant WBC Silver lightweight and a guaranteed shot at Jorge Linares’ recently acquired WBC strap.
It promises to be a raucous occasion with a card stacked with local interest. Not least of all John Ryder’s defence of his recently acquired WBO Inter-Continental middleweight title against late replacement Billi Godoy.
Here we will take a look at what’s in store as we kick of a huge 2015 for British boxing.