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Vijender Singh learned a bit about political in-fighting when he was invited to meet Keith Vaz MP at the House of Commons this week. Labour MP Vaz, who is hugely influential within the British Asian community, is a massive supporter of the Indian Olympic Bronze medallist and called upon British Indians around the country to get behind Singh’s career in the pro ranks.
It will be an intriguing night in Moscow on December 12 when Enzo Maccarinelli meets Roy Jones Jr in a clash of two former World Champions at the VTB Ice Palace, televised exclusively live in the UK on BoxNation. Maccarinelli aims to grab a high profile scalp, by defeating Jones, a former four time and three weight-division World champion. Jones, a man formerly acknowledged by many as the pound for pound number one fighter in the world, bizarrely became a Russian citizen this week after being presented with a passport by President Vladimir Putin, with whom he has become bosom pals.
So Chris Eubank snr has no doubt that his pugilistic progeny Chris jnr would wallop Gennady Golovkin. Right now. “Christopher possesses all the attributes needed to beat Golovkin,” opines the born-again Johnny English. “It’s a tough fight but Junior beats him in my view.” And naturally, Chris-the-lad concurs. ”Golovkin has got weaknesses that I feel I can exploit… I think he’s easy to hit and I don’t think he’s fought anyone who’s really been there to try and win,” he says. 
Really? Well, David Lemieux certainly wasn’t there as a dance partner and look what happened to him!
We anticipate a full house for another lip-smacking world middleweight title fight at the Manchester Arena on December 19 when Lee and Saunders finally meet for Lee’s WBO belt, especially as there will be two other world championships contested on the same pre-Christmas cracker of a bill. Manchester’s new hero Terry Flanagan will make the second defence of his WBO lightweight title and Merseysider Liam Smith flexes his muscles as the freshly-anointed WBO super-welterweight champ against a challenger to be announced shortly.
Last Saturday, Manchester Arena saw one of the truly great nights for British boxing, surely the best of the year, with two exciting and talented young Brits winning in world title fights, both of them spanking Yanks. It took us back to the sport’s good old days. I was as stunned as those two Americans were at the way ‘Turbo’ Terry Flanagan and Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith dispatched of them both. Liam hunted his man John Thompson down magnificently to claim the vacant WBO super-welterweight crown and become Britain’s eighth full-blown world champion, cleverly tucking himself up and not letting his shots go until he knew they would count.
Terry Flanagan has a new spring in his step these days. Winning a world title has not only boosted his confidence even more – and he was never short on self-esteem - but has pepped up his personality. He’s now really a believer - in himself. But I think The Turbo has a particularly tough fight on his hands and he is going to have to dig really deep when he makes the first defence of his WBO lightweight belt against leading contender Diego Magdaleno in Saturday’s world championship double-header at his home-town Manchester Arena.
What a terrific performance by Ovill McKenzie in Buenos Aires. I thought he clearly won the IBF cruiserweight title fight with local favourite Victor Ramirez, and had him ahead at the finish by a good two rounds. When you get as draw in Argentina it means you have almost certainly nicked it. Considering Ovill had only 11 days notice this surely was one of the finest performances of the year by a Brit. We have put in a formal letter of complaint to the the IBF about the scoring (one judge gave it to McKenzie by two
Unfortunately, valour was not enough for Frank Buglioni to win the world title he craved. We always knew it was a case of rolling the dice, but he certainly didn’t disgrace himself against the talented WBO super-middleweight czar Fedor Chudinov at Wembley. The Russian was savvy and a good boxer with a great jab who fights in that old Eastern block style that is so hard to penetrate. I thought it was a brave performance from Frank and a chance well worth taking.
Ovill McKenzie is such delightful guy, which is why I will be among the many in boxing on our feet applauding if he becomes the IBF World Cruiserweight champion in tonight’s BoxNation-screened title fight against Argentina’s Victor Ramirez in Buenos Aires. Here is a real trouper of the ring, never out of training, always ready to step in at a moment’s notice – one of those bags-packed, have- gumshield-will-travel pros who are the very backbone of boxing.
Talking of Frank Bruno, like everyone in boxing I am saddened that he is back in hospital having treatment after apparently struggling with a severe bout of depression for several weeks. It is such a shame that one of Britain’s best-loved sporting icons, who suffers from bi-polar disorder, should again be experiencing these mental issues. I’ve always felt that it has not been to do with the actual boxing, but some of the things surrounding it, such as when Lennox Lewis and then Oliver McCall called him an Uncle Tom. I think that shattered him. It really affected him and maybe he has never really got over it.