So the scene is set. Boxing has risen from the canvas to offer the viewing public a fight of such dramatic potential it already draws comparison with the magnetic contests boxing was once able to supply from a position of long forgotten significance on an annual basis.
Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino with the smile and an entire people in his corner, neutralised Miguel Cotto with such aplomb last weekend he is now widely projected as the sport’s pound for pound number one. That most unhelpful of yardsticks. And in Floyd Mayweather, he has an opponent of equal brilliance and renown against whom to push his abilities to their limit and in doing so, just maybe, entice and ignite a whole new generation of prize fight followers.
Filed under: Boxing, Fight Previews, Fight Reports, Ricky Hatton, Sports | Tagged: Bob Arum, Floyd Mayweather, HBO, Joe Frazier, Manny Pacquiao, muhammad ali, Oscar DeLaHoya, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hauser, Thomas Hearns, Top Rank, Welterweight | Leave a Comment »
I’m hearing, thanks to the power of Facebook – so as yet unconfirmed – that fan friendly Light-Welterweight contender Barry Morrison is out of December’s tournament with an unquantified injury. Globe trotting contender Ashley Theophane is one option it would seem.
There was a time recently when boxing fans were entitled to wonder if a next generation of top-level fighters were ever going to emerge. The class of the 90’s hung on. Reflecting the ageing demographic tag which was readily hung on the sport as it struggled for relevance among the emergence of UFC and amid the strain of nefarious sanctioning bodies who tore it apart from within. Maybe, almost a decade too late, the new class is here. I hope a rejuvenated 
It will not prove as easy for newly crowned WBA Heavyweight champion David Haye to sell tickets to his mandated clash with American 
Poor old 
If promoting a fight is craft, then David Haye has used every tool in the box to generate interest in this Saturday’s fight with Nicolay Valuev. He is an effervescent self-promoter who has used eye-catching gimmicks, distasteful commentary about Valuev’s personal hygiene, appeared on every talk-show, press event and personal appearance in order to force this fight to transcend the confines of the boxing audience. And, glory be, its working. 
During the dim days of his post Buster Douglas career, I would maintain in the face of often fervent opposition that Mike Tyson was over-rated. That he succeeded in a weak era and through the many attempts to recycle the myth he tip toed around any of the risk-laden contenders of the 1990’s. Fighters like Ray Mercer, George Foreman, Shannon Briggs, David Tua were all punchers and held a shot** – Tyson wasn’t allowed near them. Evander Holyfield and latterly, Lennox Lewis further undermined the theory in emphatic triumphs over the ageing former champion. 
For those among the readership who frequent the virtual watering holes of boxrec.com, Eastsideboxing.com or the pop-up ridden DogHouseboxing.com then the name of Huddersfield trainer Chris Aston is a familiar one. Once a gutsy circuit pro, the flame-haired trainer enjoyed a golden period at the start of the decade as he provided stewardship to the notable careers of Mark Hobson, James Hare and Dale Robinson. Of late, Chris has been in the corner on the right hand side of the bill with under card tricksters like Youssef El Hamidi but I was delighted to read in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner that his newest batch of young fighters are now emerging. 
He remains a media phenomenon, even now two whole decades removed from the last of his boxing peak and with a whole generation of boxing fans for whom he was never a consensus world-champion now fully grown. The time when the word Tyson was part of the language of the playground, of bars, of water-coolers (not that they were present in Blighty til after he lost) alongside Rocky Balboa is a distant memory. Tyson’s name became short-hand for power, speed, aggression, brutality and pain. Today’s vague, shallow and generally transparent suggestion that the 43 year-old may yet return to the ring only serves to prove the fascination with Iron Mike has proven timeless. 
Genuine electricity in the air as fellow Liverpudlians clash for the British Super Middleweight title, thankfully officiated by Richie Davies – the most respected referee in the country. Each time these two have met in the build up to this fight, sparks have flown. It could be about who holds their composure in the red-hot arena of the Echo arena. If it does, Smith holds the greater experience. 
Unbeaten novice Ally Morrison, with old favourite Chris Aston in the corner, took on James DeGale tonight – the 2008 Olympic Gold medalist to whom the British public is slowly warming to. Very slowly. 
Spaniard Daniel ‘Rasilla, ranked #13 at 140 pounds by the EBU has agreed to step in to tackle Paul McCloskey for the European crown next week. While it will underwhelm those hoping speculating about more mouth-watering contests with everyone from Junior Witter to Gavin Rees the Spaniard – according to Barry Hearn – is close to weight, in the gym and eager to take the chance. 
Paul McCloskey is still looking for an opponent following the withdrawal of Frenchman Souleymane M’Baye – the former WBA Light-Welterweight champion – from their European title fight next week. The shopping list of potential opponents is seemingly rich, with many of the possible domestic replacements in the gym ahead of the Prizefighter 140 pound tournament next month. One fighter who wont be answering the call is EBU #4 Light-Welterweight 
I’m not quite in the camp with the Tuamaniacs, a kind of derivative of the fanaticism Mike Tyson was able to evoke even after the flush of his youthful best had passed, but I must confess to more than a passing interest in the fortunes of the once destructive Samoan. Following an apparent eternity in the wilderness of legal, financial and promotional entanglements he’s back to doing what he once did better than almost anyone. Knocking out heavyweights. 
Former world-title challenger Wayne Elcock looks to resurrect his fortunes, seemingly extinguished by Matt Macklin earlier this year, in a bid to win the vacant British Middleweight title on November 28th against rising star Darren Barker in Brentwood, Essex. A classic crossroads fight which will illuminate fans to the potential horizons of both fighters. 
The BoxingWriter.co.uk Fighter of Month award has now developed such prestige I’ve been asked if I can make an award more than twelve times a year. I’ve tried to explain how this plan has a numerical flaw but several fight figures assure me they’re 150% sure nobody will care, “look at the 17 sanctioning bodies, they’ll never notice, the fans are daft”. I’ve refused, neither of my readers are daft I protested, so for now I remain committed to a single award per month. Hiatus for July and August, so September’s winner is… 
I wrote yesterday of Frankie ‘El Gato’ Figueroa’s unique ability to self-promote through the multitude of outlets the modern world of communication affords a fighter, contemporary David Haye is another advert for the power of a fresh approach to promotion. He was conspicuous in his use of the MySpace platform a year or two ago, collecting a rich bounty of busty twenty-somethings as friends on the premise of recruiting ring card girls, and blessed with good looks and an exciting, hard punching style his refreshingly candid manner in front of camera and his willingness to challenge giants on the top of elevators has rushed him into the consciousness of fight fans around the globe. But boy has he talked himself into a fight now. 
For those who have succumbed to the phenomenon of Facebook or its instant contemporary Twitter and opted to ask Francisco “El Gato” Figueroa for friendship the Light-Welterweight is a constant companion. Such is his thirst for improvement his march toward world-championship fights has its own tag-line “Can’t Stop, Wont Stop” and should further assurance that El Gato is serious in the adoption of this mantra be required, it is helpfully adorned by the suffix, “Not a saying, a movement”. Miguel Cotto is the latest to get in the way. 
Strange how fighters flicker in and out of boxing’s VIP lounge. Irishman Oisin Fagan has twice dipped beneath the ropes dividing the obscure and the revered, first in a razor tight defeat to Mum’s favourite Paul Spadafora and then more recently by knockout to Lightweight star Amir Khan – a defeat tinged with melancholy as Oisin broke an ankle on the way to the canvas. On Saturday night, he continued his attempt to build toward a third chance.
