Saturday night in Hull sees perhaps the highest profile fight of London 2012 Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell’s fledgling professional career.
Arguably the most talented young fighter in the country, “Cool Hand” (11-0, 9ko) goes into battle against fellow Hull native and former friend Tommy Coyle (21-2, 10ko) in an official WBC lightweight eliminator that most can only see going emphatically the way of the former amateur standout.
Joseph Parker is back in town preparing to face hard hitting Tongan Bowie Tupou on August 1st at Stadium Southland, Invercargill. While comparisons are often odious it isn’t until our interview has concluded and we have reached the training gym that one begins to see the results of all the hard work Parker has been putting in with Kevin Barry over the past 24 months and the difference in how he now physically looks from the fleshy fresh faced rookie who began his tutelage with Barry back in 2013.
While always being a decent sized heavyweight, Parker’s physique now resembles that, to use the English vernacular, of a brick outhouse. The shoulders are noticeably broader, the chest and arms now filling out as Parker continues to grow into his frame. And just in case anyone is wondering, if watching him hit the mitts is any indication, he hasn’t lost any of his trademark speed.
WBA (reg) 160 lb champion Daniel Jacobs (29-1, 26ko) returns to the ring on Saturday on the Garcia/Malignaggi PBC on ESPN undercard in New York, looking to make a statement and be the first man to stop former Contender winner and WBC 154 lb champ Sergio Mora (28-3-2, 9ko).
The 34 year old “Latin Snake” only holds 9kos from 28 wins and was showing serious signs of decline in his last fight in February, tasting the canvas and making hard work of defeating Abraham Han by 12 round SD.
This Saturday in Hull, Scotland’s former 2 weight world champion Ricky Burns returns to the ring, fighting back down at 135 lbs against Ghana’s Prince Ofotsu following May’s awful Stateside loss to Omar Figueroa in which Burn’s was fighting not only his opponent but the referee, and was extremely hard done by given that history will record the fight as a wide points loss, thus not acknowledging the hard shift the Coatbridge man put in.
While Ofutsu (15-4, 11kos) – a fighter who hasn’t boxed outside his native Ghana – will present nothing but a routine piece of business for Burns on Saturday, the focus is surely on the bigger picture, and with a burgeoning lightweight scene in the UK that includes the likes of WBO champ Terry Flanagan, Anthony Crolla and former foe and current sparring partner Kevin Mitchell, Burns is keen to get right back in the mix and prove that he isn’t done yet.
Danny Garcia makes his welterweight debut this Saturday against Paulie Malignaggi in New York on the PBC on ESPN card in a non-title fight that has been heavily criticised by many fans as meaningless.
Given Garcia’s recent questionable performances against Mauricio Herrera and Lamont Peterson either side of last years Rod Salka mismatch, many question why he is fighting a light-hitting 34 year old who has been inactive 15 months and is coming off a brutal beatdown at the hands of Shawn Porter last April.
Saturday night sees the debut of Danny Garcia at welterweight, when he fights Paulie Malignaggi on the PBC on ESPN card from the Barclays Centre, Brooklyn, NY.
Garcia has come under fire from some quarters for his victories over both Mauricio Herrera and Lamont Peterson either side of last year’s awful Rod Salka mismatch, with some fans on social media renaming the Philly fighter Danny “Gift” Garcia in lieu of him controversially getting the nod on those occasions.
Ahead of Saturday’s fight with Malignaggi, Garcia has spoken to ESPN.com to say he is feeling stronger at the weight and has no concerns regarding his 34 year old opponent, who is boxing for the first time since being destroyed in 4 rounds by Shawn Porter 15 months ago.
After all his pitiful Floyd Mayweather chasing came to nothing – with the P4P king looking at a ‘soft’ defence against Andre Berto in September – Britain’s Amir Khan is being forced to look at other options, and has insisted that 2016 is going to be his year, with a potential fight against the returning Manny Pacquiao possible for Dubai.
Speaking to the National, Khan insisted;
“There have been talks of an Amir Khan fight in Dubai for many years now,. Everyone knows my position: I am ready to fight if they are serious about it. Bob Arum has contacted my team to fight Manny Pacquiao around March or April in Dubai. Let’s see how that develops.
Although there has yet to be any ‘official’ announcement regarding Floyd Mayweather’s September 12th opponent, the consensus in the boxing world is that Florida’s Andre Berto has got the call to be Mayweather’s 49th dance partner, and Britain’s Amir Khan – who had been so desperately pleading for the fight – has been left on the sidelines, jilted before he even got to the altar.
It would seem to most right-thinking fans that the best fight for both men would be an all-British clash between Khan and current IBF 147 lb champion Kell Brook, yet Khan has been aggressively insistent that he feels the champion is undeserving of a fight against him, given he thinks he is the bigger name and attraction (having fought at a higher level) in spite of him not being a current, reigning world champion.
If British boxing fans in particular have resided themselves to the fact that we aren’t going to see an Amir Khan/Kell Brook fight just yet, those very same fans cling to the hope that we may yet still see a bumper super-bantamweight clash between IBF 122 lb boss Carl Frampton and Bury’s WBA (reg) champion Scott Quigg.
The two camps have thus far failed to negotiate a satisfactory deal for the contest, with Eddie Hearn recently and very publicly offering Frampton a flat £1.5 million, that when the financial minutiae had been scrutinized – according to Frampton – seemed to favour Quigg, who doesn’t yet actually hold a “full” world title given the WBA’s ridiculous insistence on having 3 champions per weight class. (Guillermo Rigondeaux is their ‘real’ champion at the weight.)
Tyson Fury goes into his world title challenge for the undisputed heavyweight championship against Wladimir Klitschko in October brimming with confidence and full of self belief, convinced that his sheer size and skill-set will present the long dominant champion with a set of unique challenges that will ultimately be enough to see him through to victory.
Speaking to iFLtv his trainer and Uncle, Peter Fury, has said that while Tyson is indeed fearless going in against Wladimir, it is up to him to assess things realistically and come up with the right strategy for his nephew to win the fight, something no other man has managed in over 11 years.