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The two Liams hit the road this week, with Messrs Smith and Williams visiting each other’s respective cities to set the scene for their potentially barnstorming battle on April 8 on the neutral territory of Manchester.
There has long been a fascination over who would emerge victorious if the stars of various codes of combat were to engage. Back in the day the biggest curiosity tended to focus on who would be the last man standing between the lords of the boxing and wrestling ring. Of course, film buffs will well recall Rocky getting chucked around the ring by Thunderlips – played by Hulk Hogan – before casting aside the gloves and letting a few go to the body.
It is my confident prediction that the WBO heavyweight title will, once again, be in the possession of the Fury family come April. Hughie Fury may only be 22, but I really do believe his time has come and that he will prove me right when he goes in against the recently crowned champion Joseph Parker.
The circus rolled into West Kensington on Saturday night and two all too familiar clowns, once again, were providing the comedy at London’s Olympia, the one-time alma mater of Bertram Mills. They told us the one about wanting to fight Gennady Golovkin before chipping in with further one-liners about Billy Joe Saunders and James DeGale.
Regular readers will know only too well that I am a huge advocate and supporter of televised boxing – no matter what channel or who the promoter is. Punching to the widest possible audience can only be good for the game and the home boxers. As long as the opponent is of a decent enough calibre to hit back.
BoxNation viewers were treated to an all-Mexican slugfest in the early hours of Sunday morning, a brutal affair that saw a first defeat inflicted on Francisco Vargas, who was relieved of his WBC world super featherweight title. The man now in possession of the belt is a familiar face to us. It was Miguel Berchelt, who last year clinically dispatched George Jupp to the canvas after the Belvedere boy had given a good account of himself in what was a short-notice challenge for the WBO interim title.
As many fight fans I no doubt will recall, I have in the past not been a huge advocate of women’s boxing or displayed any great enthusiasm for promoting the female game. I am not going to be a hypocrite or attempt to rewrite history, but my thought process at the time mostly revolved around the fact that there wasn’t any great depth or quality in the women’s ranks.
I don’t think anyone can have too many complaints over the unification clash between James DeGale and Badou Jack being scored a draw. When there are so many conflicting cards floating around at ringside it is difficult to make a compelling case either way and the logical outcome is normally just to do it again.
A heavy consignment of raw fighting talent arrived at our office this week and I am thrilled that we are now charged with the duty of steering the career of young Daniel Dubois.
Over the weekend, the man who once liked to be referred to as A-Force – although Spent-Force would have been more appropriate – in his wisdom chose to pen an online letter to Chris Eubank congratulating him on his recent link-up with ITV.