British Boxing News
George Groves will face David Brophy in a Super-Middleweight battle of Britain at The O2 in London on April 9, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Three-time World title challenger Groves meets the Scotsman over 12 rounds on the undercard of Anthony Joshua MBE’s World Heavyweight title clash with Charles Martin, as the Londoner aims to stay on track for a fourth shot at World honours.
Recently, top British promoter Frank Warren was quoted as saying how he feels there is only one middleweight in the world that has a chance of beating the dangerous, seriously talented and avoided Gennady Golovkin, and that is his fighter, reigning WBO 160-pound king Billy Joe Saunders. Warren also spoke, at a recent press conference to promote Saunders’ next fight, set for April 30th against Max Bursak, of how the Saunders-Golovkin fight had to happen at the right time.
Liverpool’s Tony Bellew will get a second chance to become a world champion this summer, as his promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed Bellew will face Ilunga Makuba for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title. Grigory Drozd was supposed to defend against Makuba but pulled out of the April fight injured and will now become either “Champion in Recess” or will be stripped of the title completely.
So Bellew and Makuba get their chance. There is no date or confirmed venue yet, but the word is June 4th is likely and Bellew wants the fight in Liverpool. Bellew, a former challenger of WBC light-heavyweight ruler Adonis Stevenson (“Bomber” losing inside six-rounds in 2013) has won six in a row since moving up to cruiserweight where he says he feels more comfortable and more powerful. Bellew has some good cruiserweight wins on his record, most notably a revenge points win over Nathan Cleverly and a EBU title win over Mateusz Masternak, which came in the 33-year-old’s last fight in December.
Not surprisingly, Amir Khan says that if he manages to beat Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in their hugely intriguing May 7th fight, it will be the biggest and best thing he has ever done in his boxing career. The former 140-pound champion, in talking to Sky Sports, said it would be a “dream come true to be called the middleweight world champion.”
And Khan, who has been bulking up with weights as well as strength and conditioning training yet claims he is just as fast, with both his hands and his feet, is looking at an exceptional fighter’s exceptional achievement as inspiration going into the 155-pound clash: Sugar Ray Leonard’s fabulously unforgettable (and also controversial) points win over Marvellous Marvin Hagler in 1987.
If heavyweight champion Tyson Fury gets his way, the heavyweight division will see some huge and potentially thrilling match-ups take place in the coming months. Fury must first defeat former champ Wladimir Klitschko – in a return fight that has dragged on and on in terms of being officially announced; maybe the two fighters will clash in a secret location on a secret date! – but after that he wants more big names.
Trio of New Stars Emerge, Jacobs, Lyall & Crosby Impress on Debuts
Ringside report by Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro
London promoter Mark Lyons had a nightmare of a run up to his first show of 2016, that took place on Friday night at York Hall, after seven fights are cancelled due to illness or injury in the preceding ten days and Ernest Amuzu, the opponent for headlining George Hillyard WBU International Title defense, fails to secure visa in time, yet somehow Mark Lyons manages to still put on a top class show on the night.
Following various and conflicting reports as to the situation regarding Guillermo Rigondeaux, Queensberry Promotions (“QP”) would like to state the facts as to why, Rigondeaux will not be arriving in the UK to take part in his contracted fight against British Champion, Jazza Dickens at the Echo Arena, Liverpool as chief support to the WBO World title fight between Terry Flanagan and Derry Mathews this Saturday (12th March).
With all that has happened in British and world boxing over the past month or so, unbeaten welterweight Kell Brook, the reigning IBF champion, has almost become a forgotten man. Brook’s ideal big-fight opponent, Amir Khan has signed on for a massive fight with Mexican/global star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and the eagerly anticipated Shawn Porter-Keith Thurman fight (that Brook was excited to see and was targeting a showdown with the winner) has been postponed due to a car crash injury suffered by Thurman.
British southpaw Billy Joe Saunders has made it clear many times: he is not scared of any man. The conqueror of Chris Eubank Junior and the reigning WBO middleweight champion has announced how he will defend against Max Bursak on April 30th, but that fight will, hopefully, be a big step towards a super-fight with the avoided Gennady Golovkin.
As quoted by The Mail, Saunders has spoken to his promoter Frank Warren and he wants a summer stadium fight with GGG this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3by7TeAinQ
Unbeaten heavyweight title challenger Anthony Joshua is less than five weeks away from his shot at IBF heavyweight champ Charles Martin and today, speaking live with Sky Sports News, the 15-0(15) contender said he is currently engaging in plenty of heavy sparring with southpaws from Europe and America.