British fight promoter Frank Warren listed a number of fights that he would like to see take place in 2014, and one which is potential math-up between James DeGale (17-1, 11 KO’s) and the unbeaten middleweight #4 WBO, #11 IBF, #11 WBC, #15 WBA, Billy Joe Saunders (19-0, 10 KO’s). Warren sees this as a good fight that would do well in the UK in terms of making money and pleasing the fans.
The 6’0 1/2″ DeGale, #2 WBO, #3 WBC, #7 IBF, fights at super middleweight and would have a slight size advantage over the 5’11” Saunders. Both guys are southpaws, so it wouldn’t be a case of one of them being thrown off by the southpaw style of the other. That wouldn’t be the excuse for the loser one would hope.
Unbeaten British giant Tyson Fury is ready to put a largely frustrating and unproductive 2013 behind him and enjoy a “big” 2014. Fury, who last fought in April of 2013 (getting up from an early knockdown to halt Steve Cunningham in New York) saw long months of his upwardly mobile career go down the drain due to his British super-fight with David Haye falling apart not once but twice.
If George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) is going to get a rematch against IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s), then it’s probably going to take a change of tactics for him to get Froch to start showing interest in giving him a second chance. 
British heavyweight Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KO’s) hasn’t had much luck in getting a heavyweight title shot against the Klitschko brothers. Fury is asking Wladimir to give him a heavyweight title shot straightaway without him having to fight for the shot in an eliminator.
Photo: ©Russell Pritchard – Belfast sensation Carl Frampton has opened the door to a spectacular world title showdown with Leo Santa Cruz next year.
Last Saturday, Ireland’s top-rated middleweight contender and world title challenger Matthew “Mack the Knife” Macklin (30-5, 20KO’s) once again put himself back into the title picture with an impressive 10-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated highly regarded prospect Lamar Russ. The bout against Russ came on HBO, the fourth consecutive bout for Macklin on their airwaves.
It was in January of 2013 that I first met the Fury family. I’d just beaten the snow out of the UK by twelve hours and was sitting in a freezing Dutch ferry terminal waiting for a lift from Peter Fury – a man I’d never met – to spend a week in the famous Fury training camp in Belgium. The Ferry ride had been tortuous; high seas and an even higher crew had meant a sleepless night and much paranoia. I was the first writer or journalist to ever set foot in the remote Fury HQ. It was a land few had even considered. Rumours of the harshness of the camp had reached my ears, but there was little in the way of facts. I had to see for myself, for good or ill. Two and a half months later, Tyson Fury would bamboozle the American press, beat Steve Cunningham without Peter in his corner, and sing to a bemused Madison Square Garden crowd. I wasn’t to blame.
In the aftermath of his controversial 9th round victory over unbeaten George Groves, Carl Froch is left with an array of options. The manner of the stoppage win left many fans with more questions than answers after referee Howard Foster appeared to stop the fight prematurely. Groves protested that he was not that badly hurt and could have recovered, while the Froch camp argues that the referee stole a convincing knockout victory from them. Either way, the ending robbed both fighters of a satisfactory conclusion to the bout.