by James Slater – UK fight fans are in for a real treat this coming Saturday night, as no less than five title fights take place, with a further five fights scheduled that are well worth watching. Top of the bill, worldwide significance-wise, is the Andriy Kotelnik-Amir Khan WBA light-welterweight title match taking place in Manchester, but the other bouts taking place either on the under-card at The M.E.N in Manchester or at York Hall in London could wind up giving fans more action..
In Manchester, before Khan gets his chance to become world champion, we will have the exciting and very promising Kell Brook defending his British welterweight title against the capable Michael Lomax, we will have Enzo Maccarinelli in his must-win fight against the unbeaten Denis Lebedev at cruiserweight, we will have Matthew Hall and Anthony Small squaring off to decide both the British and Commonwealth light-middleweight titles and, as if that wasn’t enough, we will also have unbeaten prospects James DeGale, Billy Joe Saunders and Frankie Gavin in action. Whew! That’s quite a line-up. Pay-Per-View on Sky Sports the Manchester show may be, but a pretty good value for money show is on offer, most will surely agree.
But there’s still more boxing going to take place in the UK on the same night. And the London show, to be shown on ITV 4, is not Pay-Per-View!
In action in the nation’s capital at around the same time Khan, Kotelnik and their supporting cast are getting it on will be, amongst others: the unbeaten duo that is Nathan Cleverly and Danny McIntosh, fighting to decide both the vacant British light-heavyweight title and the Commonwealth belt, heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury against a yet to be confirmed foe (almost sure to be huge 6’9″(!) German-based Russian Evgeny Orlov – 10-5-1(7) ) and the returning Jon Thaxton. Again, this is quite a line-up.
The biggest problem fans may have will be in choosing which bouts to watch live and which to record to watch later. With all that leather flying there could well be a classic or two taking place on Saturday.
But which of the ten or so top class fights taking place looks like being the best of the lot? For my money, the British and Commonwealth light-middleweight affair between heated rivals Small and Hall has the look of the best of the bright bunch. Hall can really bang, and the unorthodox Small is really a talent to see.
The Brook-Lomax clash could be a great fight, too. Lomax arguably represents the highly touted Brook with his biggest test yet, as he is both a fighter who has never been stopped as a pro and a former winner of the popular “PrizeFighter” tournament. Not as big a puncher as Brook in any way, Lomax has fine skills and he is coming into the fight full of self belief.
The Maccarinelli-Lebedev fight could well produce fireworks. Say what you want about the Welshman’s ability at world level, but Macca is never in a dull fight; win or lose. Knowing he simply has to beat the unbeaten Russian or he can say goodbye to his career, Maccarinelli will really come out firing bombs. This one could end early, while there is a chance we could see a knockdown or two as well.
Of course, it would be flippant not to get somewhat excited about the Kotelnik-Khan fight as well. Sure to result in a fight that brings out the class skills of both men, a highly engrossing chess match looks likely.
All in all, a potentially superb Saturday night of boxing lays in store for British fight fans.