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A recent spate of TV appearances by Ricky Hatton led to a flurry of speculation, plus heavy criticism, over Hatton’s weight during his prolonged period of inactivity. A clue as to the reason for his weight gain could be found by considering the above statement – Hatton has found himself waiting eight months for his next fight plus is known to blow-up between fights.
I lieu of a preamble it is only necessary to say that Boxingscene was having a cup of tea with British light-middleweight Champion Jamie Moore when Jamie asked if we would like to review his recent British title fight with Matthew Macklin - a brutal fight won by Jamie in the tenth round. BS did not need to think twice and as we settled down to watch the fight Jamie expanded on the problems he faced going into the match.
Last night in Bradford there was a brief yet absorbing tussle for the British Super-featherweight title in which Femi Fehintola – with his bravery – produced the absorption by gamely battling with the much more experienced Carl Johanneson – whose punching brought about the relative brevity.
As hard-knock lives go you would go some way to matching the hardships and tribulations faced by soon-to-be British Super-featherweight title challenger Femi ‘Fire’ Fehintola. In the ring Femi has breezed through his apprenticeship whilst amassing a 14-0 (1) record yet faces his toughest in-ring task yet when he meets Carl Johanneson for the British Super-Featherweight title in Barnsley on November the 3rd. Carl looked a thoroughbred when beating Billy Corcoran in four one-sided rounds to win the title. Carl’s compact style plus unyielding punches make him a great challenge for any fighter as well as presenting Femi with an in-ring nightmare.
This past Saturday night, Joe Calzaghe took what must surely be seen as a backwards step or two as he out-pointed a fighter who, all defense of his standing aside, is now 0-1-1 as a super-middleweight. Sakio Bika was an unsatisfactory choice as a follow-up to the beating of Jeff Lacy in March. The scrappy, often foul-invested points win scored by Joe was even more unsatisfactory given the hand-picked opponent he faced. Leading up top the fight there had been a lack of buzz here in Manchester. This is not necessarily a slur on Joe per se; it is just that somehow Joe had slipped under the radar. Bringing London ticket prices to the North was a puzzling move also. A partial reason for the lack of buzz was due to the choice of opponent, for a man who is haunted by brittle hands and a dwindling shelf-life Bika is total bunk as an opponent. However it is always best to take rumours of poor ticket sales - plus competition giveaways being used to fill seats - with a pinch of salt. Due to my being persona non gratis with Sports Network I had decided to purchase tickets for my partner and I in order to catch a glimpse of a Calzaghe – plus I wanted to see how well the show had sold. My secondary question was partially answered as we entered the arena only to be redirected to a queue of people waiting for upgrades on their tickets. Our second-tier seat had been upgraded to a lower-tier seat. The second-tier was covered under a black velvety blanket and completely closed-off, the lower-tier was in full use aside from three covered-up sections on the left-hand side of the arena. We were being packed tight for the cameras. The quickness of the eye can deceive the mind so I held fire on any judgements for a while. As people arrived it became clear that the show had sold well, yet it was not Hatton’d out by any stretch of the imagination. Still, once the main event drew near the crowd whipped up a decent volume of noise for the Joe.
March saw an event almost as significant, plus rarer, than Haley's Comet as two unbeaten, world-rated, super-middleweights collided in a title unification fight here in Manchester. Now Joe hopes to build on this win with a fight against Sakio Bika in the very same city. Although on the flip-side Joe’s impressive inroad on the division number one spot will be overshadowed when Mikkel Kessler and Markus Beyer fight to unify two of the more traditional titles (WBA/WBC respectively). Joe Calzaghe, the long unbeaten pride of Wales, took on Jeff Lacy in March and I am tempted to say the two men fought but that would be a misnomer; Joe Calzaghe fought, Jeff Lacy, conversely, copped a beating. Some experts, and people like myself who aspire to some level of expertise in this sport of ours, had predicted a one-sided whipping administered by the American heir apparent Lacy. Calzaghe had long endured the slings of brittle bone structure and the arrows of wayward matchmaking yet in his decisive moment he had emerged the clear victor has had his promoter Frank Warren. Warren had been criticised for, allegedly, keeping Joe under wraps to protect his investments only to confound that criticism and leave us thinking that maybe he had been protecting other super-middles from a shellacking at the hands of Calzaghe. Joe had been kept bubbling under and had come to boil at exactly the right moment, American critics were silenced and British fans were, truly and emphatically, converted. Joe had been moved correctly after all. Flowers blossom and grow the world over under varying conditions and it seems that the Calzaghe team, including Joe's forthright father, who called the Lacy fight spot-on, had carefully germinated his career so it could flourish during a fine final few furlongs.
I set out on a traditional Manchester Summers day to watch Jamie Moore prepare for his fight with Matthew Macklin; the sky was overcast with dark clouds by midday and torrential rains pounded the city that night to serve notice that any plans for a sun-drenched bank holiday weekend were to be dashed like dirt in the rain. The impending, heavy, sense of rainfall was fitting when one considers that I was stepping into the eye of another approaching storm, only this time it will be raining blows as opposed to, polluted, water when Moore meets Matthew Macklin on Friday for the British light-middleweight title.
Boxing is not about staying undefeated forever, headlining show after show and then heading into the sunset after a career devoid of adversity. Well, not any more and certainly no longer on the UK scene. Boxing is about failing and redeeming oneself and this is apparent in the rebuilding process of Matthew Macklin (following an early point’s loss to Andrew Facey), a process about to culminate in his biggest fight yet, a title showdown with Jamie Moore.
James Toney, and his camp, must this week have been under the suspicion that at some point they had broken a mirror by hurling a black cat at it whilst running underneath a row of ladders. To say that the decision going against Toney in his fight with Sam Peter was unlucky is to make a massive understatement as well as pushing the bounds of reason. Talk of robbery needs to be rudely wrenched aside; there are felonies in boxing but no robberies. A fixed fight card would require a criminal conspiracy to commit fraud and that is not possible, it would require mass secrecy in a sport fuelled by gossip and loose lips. What happened last Saturday was worse than a robbery. Toney got screwed out of what would have been consensually considered his finest win at heavyweight. In fact scratch that sentiment. Toney was not just screwed, he was the equivalent of a woman who made a date with a guy only for him to stand her up numerous times, call round to her house and seduce her, tell his friends about the tryst, post photos of it on the internet and then fail to call her and say thanks. Toney got screwed and the only people who respected him the next morning - judging by the forums on most boxing sites and the common consensus of the experts - are the fans who know that he controlled the fight with Sam Peter in a very expert way.
Billy Graham, trainer of Ricky Hatton, talked to BoxingScene to inform us about the career of Ricky Hatton, the slings and arrows his fighter is taking in the press and his deeply-held views on the Floyd Mayweather fight as well as the progress of the up and coming Matthew Macklin. Billy was, as is usual when talking to his favourite US site, forthcoming in his views and in his defence of his charge, Hatton, against serial sniping from the press and some, so-called, fans who have been unfair on the ‘Hitman’.