By Frank Warren
IF crystal balls worked — a promoter's life would be easy.
It is the hardest job to grind and plot a boxer's career towards big fights.
Unfortunately, it's down to your instincts to make fights at the right moment... and when the odds could be in your guy's favour.
As a promoter and manager you're trying to look one, sometimes two, fights ahead.
But when an upset happens — it can throw all the best laid plans into disarray.
Upsets are what make boxing such an exciting sport.
The chance a champion isn't the same guy or doesn't take his challenger seriously.
The chance the opponent puts in the best fight of his life or one huge punch turns everything around.
Probably one of the most famous upsets abroad involving a Brit fighter was in 1986.
So-called no-hoper Lloyd Honeyghan beat the pound-for-pound best at the time, Donald Curry, in Atlantic City.
Even The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, who had lost to Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, was expected to lose to younger, unbeaten George Foreman.
Big George had KO'd nearly every one of his 40 opponents.
However, in the Rumble in the Jungle epic in 1974, Ali used his rope-a-dope tactic to shock the world.
Most felt Ricky Hatton would come a cropper against champion Kostya Tszyu when they met in 2005. It was the then-unbeaten Manchester star's first big super-fight.
But Hatton's youth and relentless punching was too much for the old champion.
Welshman Joe Calzaghe was written off when he took on unbeaten American IBF World Champion Jeff Lacy. But Joe put on a masterclass to win every round in 2006.
Still, what I and many others consider the biggest upset of all was when James 'Buster' Douglas KO'd the seemingly invincible Mike Tyson in Tokyo in 1990.
Only one Las Vegas sports book offered odds on the fight at 42-1 against Douglas.
Motivated by the death of his mother, Douglas pounded Tyson with his extra reach.
Obviously, I'll be looking for Dereck Chisora to cause a seismic upset in Germany next Saturday when he takes on Vitali Klitschko.
Chisora can look at Leon Spinks for inspiration. Spinks had only seven pro fights under his belt when he beat Ali in 1978.
The last man to beat WBC heavyweight king Klitschko, Lennox Lewis, says Chisora has a good chance.
"All it takes is one punch on the chin to win," he said.
Lewis is right.
Chisora has been written off in the media.
And Klitschko is already talking about a fight with David Haye, which is disrespectful to say the least.
The Ukrainian is confidently predicting a win in the eighth — which is his lucky number.
Where's that crystal ball?
Handy Manny
THEY both confirmed they are fighting — just not against each other.
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have lined up big bouts.
Mayweather has a one-fight license before starting a 90-day jail sentence and will bid for Miguel Cotto's WBA super light-middleweight belt on May 5.
Pacquiao puts his WBO world welterweight title on the line against Timothy Bradley on June 9.
