British Boxing News
WBO lightweight champion, Terry Flanagan (29-0, 12ko), has sent out a warning to his divisional rivals ahead of his Feb. 13 title defense against Liverpool’s Derry Mathews, saying ‘I want to unify.’
The unbeaten Manchester ace must first get past former WBA (interim) titlist ‘Dirty Derry’, who vacated his strap in order to make the fight and who also lost a previous 3 round decision to Flanagan in 2012 as part of Matchroom Sport’s ‘Prizefighter’ tournament series.
New lineal heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, will happily trash his IBF title on principle after the sanctioning body threatened to strip him for immediately rematching Wladimir Klitschko, rather than face their #1 contender Vyacheslav Glazkov.
Both Fury’s trainer and Uncle, Peter Fury, and Promoter Mick Hennessy have been enraged by the sanctioning body’s decision to order a purse bid for the Glazkov fight less than a week after Fury’s monumental win over Klitschko, and despite the fact Fury is contractually bound to rematch the 39 year-old Ukrainian next year.
World title contender Billy Joe Saunders has taken a pop at former boxer and ‘I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!’ contestant Chris Eubank.
The undefeated London fighter, who faces middleweight world champion Andy Lee on December 19th at the Manchester Arena, took a swipe at the father of his arch-rival Chris Eubank Jr, labelling him “annoying” and “pathetic” during his stint on the ITV show.
Paulie Malignaggi says he will fulfil a lifelong dream when he challenges Gianluca Branco for the European Welterweight title at The O2 on December 12, live on Sky Sports Box Office. The Italian-American was born in Brooklyn but spent the his early years in Siracusa, Sicily before returning to the Big Apple, where he has become one of America’s most popular fighters.
Tyson Fury has again confirmed that he will not fight returning countryman, David Haye, under any circumstances, claiming he would rather vacate any titles on principle should the ‘Hayemaker’ work his way into a mandatory position to fight for them.
Fury remains adamant that former WBA champ, Haye, will never get a shot at any of the IBF/WBO/WBA heavyweight titles as long as he owns them, given that he pulled out of fighting Fury twice shortly before he retired in 2013, costing the 6’9″ Brit his ranking at the time and delaying his eventual shot at Klitschko.
New WBO/WBA/IBF heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, has revealed his fears that the Klitschko team may have resorted to drugging him before or immediately after Saturday night’s title fight, openly calling the brother’s ‘cheats’ and revealing he flew home dehydrated for fear of drinking any contaminated fluid.
The Klitschko’s have been notorious for securing every advantage in many of their fights in the past, using numerous different [psychological] tactics to unsettle their opposition, which in Fury’s case included a postponement to the original date, as well as fight-week rows over gloves and foam beneath the canvas – all things the new champion says had no effect upon him, despite the best efforts of the Klitschko team.
New lineal heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, has stated that his dethroning of dominant former champion, Wladimir Klitschko, was a moment a long time in coming, going on to say that the Ukrainian was ‘forced into’ the fight, and had been avoiding him for ‘a long time.’
Speaking at today’s homecoming press conference in Bolton, Fury was greeted by jubilant fans keen to share the moment with the new WBO/WBA/IBF titlist, telling his captive audience how the 39 year-old Klitschko had known all along what was coming to him, even if everybody else outside of his immediate team didn’t believe it.
IBF 168 lb champion, James DeGale, has restated his intention to press on with plans for a unification fight with WBC belt holder, Badou Jack, in the wake of the Londoner’s hard-fought points victory of veteran former champion, Lucian Bute at the weekend.
After a fast start to the fight, ‘Chunky’ had to battle through an aggressive and gutsy showing from a seemingly reinvigorated Bute, who at 35, showed he isn’t a spent force just yet, with the Brit eventually taking the fight over the stretch by UD scores of 117-111 (x2) and 116-112 that were perhaps a little wide for some observers.
Matchroom Boxing boss, Eddie Hearn, has sent his congratulations to Tyson Fury on his fantastic world heavyweight title win over Wladimir Klitschko, though warned he feels his fighter, London 2012 Olympic gold medalist, Anthony Joshua, is the man who will end up with the belts in due course.
It’s likely that a rematch clause in last night’s fight contract will be activated and Fury will face Klitschko again in the spring, a fight Hearn sees Fury winning by KO, leading onto an eventual massive money all-UK showdown for Joshua with the new champion as he continues to build his star.
Much has been made of Tyson Fury since it was announced that he would realise his dream of challenging Wladimir Klitschko for the right to call himself undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.