Anyone with a passing interest in heavyweight boxing over the past twenty years will hold a mental image of one sort or another of heavy punching former champion Oliver McCall. Whether it be the crunching right-hand which felled Lennox Lewis, his emotional implosion in the rematch or the various drug fuelled episodes which have blighted his attempts to construct another run at the championship he lost to a grateful Frank Bruno in 1995. Last night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel he dropped a clear decision to peripheral contender Timur Ibragimov spelling the end of any residual potential the now 45-year-old could claim.
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Posts Tagged ‘wbc’
Flying over the cuckoo’s nest for the last time? Oliver McCall defeated
In Boxing, Fight Reports, Mike Tyson, Sports on June 16, 2010 at 3:12 pmHarrison, Haye and Klitschko. Among the madness, bluff and silence is there a fight to be found?
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Olympic Boxing, Sports on June 11, 2010 at 10:56 pm
In an era before nutritionists, public relations and conditioners, during that simplistic period when heavyweights ran, hit-bag, sparred, chopped wood and often took a stiff drink or three the night before a fight it is hard to imagine how they would have viewed the flimsy media battle being contested by heavyweight trio David Haye, Klitschko and heaven help us Audley Harrison. It may be nostalgic romanticism to suggest fighters like Jack Dempsey or Jim Jeffries simply signed to fight an opponent, trained and then settled it in an often gruelling, unforgiving fight, but it is with some confidence that I propose they wouldn’t have been comfortable with the shallow misinformation all parties appear to be peddling even if avoiding opponents is an oft-overlooked aspect of boxing at the beginning of the 20th century too. Read the rest of this entry »
Old? Check. Fat? Check. Unambitious? Check. Brian Nielsen next for Vitaly?
In Boxing, Fight Reports, Mike Tyson, Shop on June 1, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Did you hear the one about Vitaly Klitschko and the hungry, young contender? No, nor did I. Admittedly, Vitaly Klitschko hasn’t fought during a particularly glowing period for heavyweights. His tenure, interrupted by a now mysteriously cured knee problem, as the leading heavyweight began when Lennox Lewis retired and has continued through soporific contests with Danny Williams, Kirk Johnson, Corrie Sanders, Sam Peter, Juan Carlos Gomez, Chris Arreola and latterly Albert Sosnowski. So maybe, the revelation Danish pastry Brian Nielsen is making a comeback aged 45 will be welcome news in the Klitschko castle if nowhere else. Read the rest of this entry »
Sosnowski, Subbuteo, Sanders, Snooker and me
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Reports, Mike Tyson, Sports on May 25, 2010 at 3:56 pm
I’ve always found an attic or loft to be a fascinating place. It probably originates from the joyous isolation it provided me as a child, resplendent with snooker table, dart board, train set and Subbuteo it was a place of dreams, solace and make-believe. On the baize I was Davis AND Higgins, on the Astropitch I was everyone from Peru to Peterborough and with darts in hand I was toothless Jocky Wilson and the Crafty Cockney.
Incredible Rhodes wrecks Moore in 7
In Boxing on October 23, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Sheffield’s Ryan Rhodes emerged from a British fight of the year contender to win the European Light-Middleweight crown from Salford’s blue collar hero, Jamie Moore tonight in seven pulsating rounds. Read the rest of this entry »
Moore and Rhodes step out of the shadows
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on October 23, 2009 at 3:41 pmTwo of British boxing’s longest serving fighters will clash tonight for the European Light-Middleweight title, a bout which doubles as an eliminator for the WBC world title belt, or at worst a qualifier to face Julio Cesar Chavez Junior in a final eliminator for a crown held by slippery Sergio Martinez. It will also offer an opportunity for both fighters to finally step out of the shadow contemporaries Ricky Hatton and Prince Naseem Hamed threw across their respective careers and prove the old boxing truism, that styles make fights.
Exclusive: Witter v Alexander not for the title? WBC withdraw sanction!
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on July 31, 2009 at 7:15 am
In disturbing news, I’ve learned the WBC looks likely to withdraw sanction for the clash between Junior Witter and Devon Alexander due to a row over the assignment of officials. This weekend’s clash was to include Britain’s premier official, Richie Davies, as one of three ringside judges all assigned to the fight by the World Boxing Council. For reasons beyond the logic of any boxing observer, the Californian State Athletic Commission has rejected Davies. Presently, the fight will be officiated by a Californian and judged by officials from California, Mexico and Nevada and unless the stand-off is resolved, the WBC belt will not be on the line. Whether Witter would even go through with the fight without the prize is highly unlikely. Read the rest of this entry »
BoxingWriter.co.uk readers go for Kessler
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on July 15, 2009 at 10:05 am
In the immediate aftermath of Showtime’s exciting announcement of the Super Six tournament to be held at 168 pounds over the next two years, I asked readers to predict who they felt would emerge from the groundbreaking series as champion. As you might anticipate the outsiders, Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell only landed 2% of the votes cast but it was Danish hard-man Mikkel Kessler who fans felt most likely to prevail. 60% of the votes went to Kessler with Froch (21%), Abraham (9%) and Taylor (8%) trailing someway behind. Read the rest of this entry »
Careful what you wish for; David Haye gets his appointment with destiny
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Mike Tyson, Sports on July 15, 2009 at 9:50 am
Following an unfortunate series of injury induced withdrawals of late, notably Mayweather v Marquez, Kotelnik v Khan, Haye v Wladimir Klitschko, fans will be reluctant to presume David Haye’s mooted September 12th clash with 37 year old Vitali Klitschko is actually going to happen until the two men are staring across at each other with just a referee between them. However, in the interests of positivity – and the sport needs a pick me up following the sad loss of Gatti, Arguello and Caldwell in the past week – I’m willing to celebrate the news David Haye finally has his chance to back up his words with actions. Read the rest of this entry »
Froch rolling with the big guns
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on July 10, 2009 at 9:13 am
Originally, the news Carl Froch was to feature in a six man round robin over two years on American network Showtime was met with little more than pithy sarcasm at BoxingWriter towers but now, two days later, it seems the proposed Froch, Taylor, Kessler, Abraham, Dirrell and Ward tournament is genuine and will begin with Froch v Dirrell in October – a twin venue double bill with Abraham v Taylor live from Germany. Read the rest of this entry »
The view from portside; will Klitschko really pick a southpaw?
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Mike Tyson, Sports on June 5, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Since the disappointment of David Haye’s withdrawal from this year’s biggest heavyweight title fight and a potential record breaking event to boot it has been widely assumed Ruslan Chagaev would prove to be the natural replacement for the former Cruiserweight king. Similarly shorter than Wladimir, with a reliance on speed and movement the WBA champion is a far more obvious replacement, physically at least, than Nikolay Valuev, the near 7ft Russian who offers a polar opposite opponent than the one the younger Klitschko has spent many weeks preparing for. Bu this thesis overlooks one obvious factor, the 6ft Uzbekistan fighter is a left-hander. Read the rest of this entry »
Guest: Wladimir doth protest too much; Dr Steel Hammer indeed
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on March 27, 2009 at 10:54 am
Regular visitors will be accustomed to the acerbic analysis of Andrew Mullinder, our resident correspondent in Moscow. I’m sure Andrew has all the usual creature comforts we enjoy in the West but I prefer to adapt the usual visual triggers employed by third rate cold war thrillers to conjure an image of Andrew huddled over an ageing type writer, all fingerless gloves, one bar fires and cheap vodka, manically venting on the issues of the day from his down trodden apartment block in some mafia run ghetto. Why? Well it just makes sense of his withering contributions, and the latest, a deconstruction of the most artificially created ring moniker in boxing must have come after a slurp or two of the strong stuff. Read the rest of this entry »
“Deep water and hope he can swim”. Yada, yada, yada; Jermain Taylor leans on cliche
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on March 24, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I’m excited about the WBC Super-Middleweight contest between Nottingham’s Carl Froch and Arkansas’ Jermain Taylor, it pitches two fighters together who are in their respective primes. It doesn’t rely on nostalgia, nor does it feature a network favourite and a cherry picked opponent. It isn’t quite the choice Froch has framed it to be, pursuing Taylor is noble given the posturing of preceding champions in the selection of foes, but Taylor, lest we forget, is Froch’s mandatory as he won a vacant title and Taylor beat Lacy in a final eliminator. However, for all the glass half full gloss it still beats Taylor’s reliance on an age old cliche to promote the fight. Read the rest of this entry »
The Great Guzman and the WBA’s weight of responsibility
In Boxing, Fight Reports, Sports on October 3, 2008 at 2:34 pm
It might be the stiff wind from the Urals which makes guest writer Andrew Mullinder such a cantankerous observer of the noble art. Mullinder is not implored to write by the science or the beauty of boxing, only the muck, the politics and the fractious infrastructure of the sport evoke his withering invective. His latest target is the WBA, for whom the dietary plans of Joan Guzman appear to have been but a distant theme from a distant land. Mullinder thinks its time governing bodies started, well, governing. Read the rest of this entry »
Awkward as ever, Junior Witter speaks out
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on August 27, 2008 at 11:00 am
Defining Junior Witter’s style has stumped greater minds than mine. Unorthodox is the ubiquitous descriptive and through generic, probably the most accurate. The former WBC Light-Welterweight champion is almost impossible to pigeon-hole, once the slippery, pitter-patter runner he blossomed into a destructive two fisted puncher but threw in enough disjointed performances to never fully engage the Yorkshire public or television audiences. Now as a former, rather than current World champion the one thing he is, without fear of contradiction, is avoidable. Read the rest of this entry »
Venerable Manuel Medina fights on
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on August 27, 2008 at 9:40 am
For all the criticism I aim at the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones and Evander Holyfield for their unwillingness to accept the passing of time and talent and for all the disappointment I feel hearing Marco Antonio Barrera and Chris Byrd are set to return to action it conversely provides great comfort to learn plucky veteran Manuel Medina is still performing close to his best well into his thirties. James Toney and Vitali Klitschko may garner more attention but neither has contested the number of world-titles the 37 year old Mexican has.
Klitschko persistence; Peter in October
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on August 22, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Vitali Klitschko, 37, was never a great fighter. He certainly wasn’t a great heavyweight champion. In fact, I’d go further I’d say he was a poor heavyweight champion and little more than a mediocre fighter. Like many in the curious, contrary world of boxing his repute grew more in gritty defeat to an ageing Lennox Lewis than in any of his victories, of which I would struggle to summon a single performance of historic significance.
Hope grows for Froch v Pascal
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on July 24, 2008 at 2:13 pm
A quick note to connect up the stories and theories currently swirling around the Super-Middleweight division. Interesting to record Jean Pascal has withdrawn from the purse process for his proposed fight with Karoly Balzsay for the Interim WBO title – the belt Calzaghe is porbably keenest to remain custodian of. As mentioned in conversation on Steve Bunce’s boxing hour on Setanta, Pascal is the next most likely opponent for Carl Froch if the much maligned preference of Lou DiBella and HBO to match Jermain Taylor with Jeff Lacy comes to pass. Read the rest of this entry »
Broken men; Froch and Lacy
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on July 24, 2008 at 8:33 amAs children, we all pushed our noses to the shop windows, whether it be sweets, a BMX or a Scalectrix set. 
We’ve all steamed up the glass to try and get closer to our dream. Poor old Carl Froch must still feel like the child on the wrong side of the glass watching the rich kids tucking into mountains of Fruit Salads, Gobstoppers and Coconut mushrooms. Despite a long unbeaten record, status as the WBC number one contender and victories over peripheral players like Brian Magee, Robin Reid, Henry Porras and Matthew Barney he remains sweet less, friendless and excluded in the Super-Middleweight scene. The news Jeff Lacy laboured to another points victory last night will not have cheered the spirits of the confident puncher. Read the rest of this entry »
Behind enemy Lynes against bucking, ducking Branco
In Boxing, British Boxing, Fight Previews, Sports on May 16, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Most writers will confess to soft spots for certain fighters. I pointed out my own affection to John Ruiz, the most unloved of heavyweights, only this week but the reasoning or events that form and fuel these affiliations are often curious and minuscule. It doesn’t stop at boxing, I always urged old Rex Williams on in the snooker championships because we share a birthday. Tenuous but a rivet-strong bond all the same. Colin Lynes is another fighter for whom I always wish good fortune.
