Boxing News Mix: Herbie Hide Calls Out David Haye, Ricky Hatton, Billy Graham, More

Matthew Hurley: After knocking out unbeaten prospect Mikhail Nasyrov in the sixth round for the WBC international cruiserweight title belt former WBO heavyweight champion Herbie Hide called out WBA and WBC cruiserweight champion David Haye. Haye, who was in negotiations for a possible unification bout with WBO champion Enzo Maccarinelli, has stated that he cannot make the cruiserweight limit anymore and would be moving up to heavyweight. He was in initial negotiations for a fight with former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman but that bout looks doubtful now because of money issues..

Hide, who looked impressive against Nasyrov, flooring the young fighter four times before stopping him was ecstatic after the bout.

“This twenty-five year old boy (Nasyrov) had the chance to become a champion and fought for his life but ‘The Dancing Destroyer’ stopped him cold. Now I will go on to become world cruiserweight champion. Tell Marco Huck and David Haye that I will knock them out on the same night if they want.”

Huck is scheduled to fight Steve Cunningham on December 29th for the IBF cruiserweight title in Germany.

In other news Ricky Hatton’s trainer Billy Graham told the Manchester News that there was never any rift between him and his fighter and that the rumors of them splitting up after Hatton’s loss to Floyd Mayweather on December 8th were nonsense.

“I’m really angry about this,” Graham said. “It’s not true and I aim to get to the bottom of it. These stories have been denied by Ricky and I’d like to know where they’ve come from. I tend to leave Ricky alone after a fight, but I saw him a couple of times in Las Vegas and he never said anything to me about this. I would have been able to tell if he was thinking about it.”

Hatton himself went on television after returning to Manchester and dispelled the rumors by saying that Graham would continue to train him in the future.

Finally, Ring Magazine has announced its awards for 2007. Floyd Mayweather was named ‘Fighter of the Year’ for the second time in his career. He was also named in 1998.

Israel Vazquez KO 6 Rafael Marquez II was named ‘Fight of the Year’.

Israel Vazquez – Rafael Marquez II, round number 3 was named ‘Round of the Year’.

Nonito Donaire KO 5 Vic Darchinyan was named ‘Knockout of the Year’.

Nonito Donaire KO 5 Vic Darchinyan was named ‘Upset of the Year’.

Paulie Malignaggi was named ‘Comeback Fighter of the Year’.

Floyd Mayweather – Oscar De La Hoya was named ‘Event of the Year’.