Amir Khan, still suffering the effects of a cold shoulder, will be keeping a watchful eye on the potentially fiery proceedings at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles tomorrow night when former nemesis Danny Garcia meets Robert Guerrero for the vacant WBC welterweight title.
After Tyson, Uncle Peter now feels the media’s fury I see that Lord Sebastian Coe, a good friend of boxing an ardent and knowledgeable fight fan who once served as Board of Control steward, is following those trendy celeb fashionistas by sprouting a small beard.
While appearing on Buncy's Boxing Hour, promoter Frank Warren revealed that WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12KOs) is going to make the first defense of his title in the coming months and then have a huge summer headliner in what is going to be a big promotion.
Exciting Manchester super-featherweight prospect Zelfa Barrett, nephew of former British and European champion Pat ‘Black Flash’ Barrett, is delighted to have signed a promotional deal with Frank Warren.
It is eight months since Amir Khan last pulled on a pair of boxing gloves and went to work in the ring, winning an uninspiring points victory over Chris Algieri in New York. And it seem it will be a further six months before he fights again.
Scotland’s John Thain has been rejected by the WBO as an opponent to face Gary Corcoran on February 6 in Dublin. Thain (13-2, 1 KO) had been in the running to fight Corcoran (14-0, 6 KOs) for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental light middleweight title, live on Boxnation, after original opponent Joe Selkirk was pulled out due to injury.
Liam Smith could defend his world title against Mexican superstar Saul Alvarez. The Liverpool super welterweight, who holds the division’s WBO crown, is currently resting ahead of a potential May ring return. Smith (22-0-1, 12 KOs), 27, made a successful start to his reign as world champion at the end of last year, stopping voluntary challenger Jimmy Kelly (16-1, 7 KOs) inside seven rounds at Manchester Arena on December 19, live and exclusive on BoxNation.
Zelfa Barrett has signed a long-term promotional deal with Queensberry Promotions. The 22-year-old Manchester lightweight will make his BoxNation debut next month after being added to the undercard of an all-North West world title fight, live and exclusive on BoxNation. Barrett is managed by Steve Wood and is set to appear on ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’ on February 13, which is topped by the WBO lightweight title showdown between Terry Flanagan and Derry Mathews, at the Liverpool ECHO Arena.
There is little doubt in my mind that the use of illegal substances is a greater menace to the credibility and well-being of sport than the financial scandal that has ripped Fifa apart. For doping is becoming endemic across the entire spectrum of sport, a problem now as noxious as the so-called performance-enhancing drugs themselves. Athletics is certainly in an unseemly mess, yet it is by no means alone in having a drugs problem, massive as it is.
Boxing Channel Media Ltd, the trading name for BoxNation, reported a loss of £1.7m for a 14 month financial period to March 31, 2015. The figures, which have been lodged with Companies House, are down from losses of £3.4m in 12 months to January 31, 2014.