British Boxing News
‘RESURRECTION’ Matchroom’s foray into the British heartlands – set to take place this Saturday in Birmingham – has been impacted by schedule changes and drop outs that have seen the UK’s premier promotional outfit call in the cavalry.
Premier prospects Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell and Callum Smith will step in to fill the void left by home favourite Frankie Gavin – who will now challenge IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook on 30th May in London’s O2 Arena.
Britain’s former 140lb world champion Amir Khan, who fights American Chris Algieri on May 29th appears to have climbed down on his earlier insistence that any fight with Floyd Mayweather would only happen if Mayweather moved off his penciled in September date for the final fight of his Showtime deal.
The devout Muslim was previously thought to be left too little time following the period of fasting to train for a September Floyd fight, yet Sky Sports are reporting that the Virgil Hunter trained Khan has had a change of heart – no doubt fuelled by the mega-money a fight with Floyd can bring.
Khan said;
Big punching British heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua (11-0, 11ko) – tipped as a future star by many – takes another step toward his “acid-test” fight with solid American veteran Kevin Johnson on May 30th with a scheduled 8 rounder against South American journeyman Raphael Zumbano Love on Saturday as part of Matchroom Sports Sky Sports broadcast from Birmingham.
Whilst nothing but a win is expected, the Olympic gold medalist is making all the right noises ahead of the contest, promising an “explosive” performance.
He said to Sky Sports;
One normally doesn’t associate the North Yorkshire city of Hull with Hollywood A-list glamour, but British media is alight with the news that a business graduate from the city blagged his way ringside for last Saturday’s mega-fight and ended up meeting a horde of boxing figures and celebrities including the fighters themselves.
Steve Carruthers, who had managed to obtain a $2000 ticket for the fight, told the Hull Daily Mail how after following actor Mark Wahlberg down to ringside – and pretending to be a part of Leonardo Di Caprio’s entourage, he spent the evening swigging champagne in the VIP bar with fighters and famous faces, taking selfies with Christian Bale, Donald Trump and Michael Keaton.
This weekend Scotland’s Ricky Burns (37-4-1, 11ko) will enter the proverbial “Lion’s Den” when he attempts the monumental task of dethroning unbeaten former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa Jr (24-0-1, 18ko) as part of Al Haymon’s PBC brand – in his opponents home state of Texas.
Despite insisting he ultimately wants to remain at lightweight, the Coatbridge fighter is moving to 140lb to fight the Mexican-American who stopped Daniel Estrada in his last fight some 9 months ago.
It’s certainly going to be a tough, tough ask for the former world champion who, since losing his title on home soil to Terence Crawford in March last year, has faced questions over whether he still has what it takes to operate at top level.
Britain’s biggest promoter Eddie Hearn, who looks after IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, has poured scorn on suggestions that Floyd Mayweather will face his fighter for the final fight of his Showtime contract in September.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Hearn said of the suggestion;
“Kell Brook is not a big enough fight for Floyd Mayweather. Floyd doesn’t want to fight young lions and that includes Brook and Amir Khan.”
The news that dropped earlier that both WBO 160lb mandatory Billy Joe Saunders (21-0, 11ko) and bitter rival, WBA interim champ Chris Eubank Jr (19-1, 14ko) are OFF Frank Warren’s May 9th Wembley show, hasn’t actually come as too much of a surprise to me.
Before today’s news, in the fights they were meant to be in, neither man was really going to set that card alight anyway. Billy Joe, returning from injury still hadn’t a named opponent and Eubank was meant to be making a very routine defence of his own title against unheralded Australian veteran Les Sherrington.
British former unified cruiserweight and WBA heavyweight champion David Haye has been arrested in the Islamic state of Dubai over claims a £341,000 cheque for a property he is building bounced.
Numerous media outlets in the UK are reporting that the “Hayemaker” has had his passport seized, which would explain his no-show at a BAMMA MMA event at the weekend. 168lb Super Middleweight champion Carl Froch filled in instead.
Mandatory WBO World Heavyweight Title Challenger Tyson Fury is closing in fast on his dream clash with WBO World Champion Wladimir Klitschko following the Ukrainian’s victory over Bryant Jennings.
The WBO will now order a 30-day negotiating period to start between both promotional camps to reach an agreement for the mouthwatering showdown. If an agreement is not reached in the given period then a purse bid will be set for the fight.
Promoter Frank Warren, in association with Mick Hennessy, will now look to bring the fight to the UK and stage it at an outdoor stadium in one of the biggest heavyweight fights on these shores in recent years.
This weekend lineal heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3,53ko) returns to America to fight Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings (19-0,10ko) at Madison Square Garden in New York, the big Ukrainian fighter’s first fight on American soil in seven long years.
Nobody expects relative novice Jennings to trouble the dominant champion in a fight that is for all intents and purposes a mismatch. Jennings has only been boxing for 6 years in total, amateur AND professional and the question lies more in who is going to be the next star of the division?