McDonnell set for 2013 World Title tilt

"Teremoto" is set to move up to super bantamweight

It's been announced this week that current IBF bantamweight champion Leo "Teremoto" Santa Cruz is set to step up to super bantamweight after his title defence in Los Angeles next week. The busy Mexican clashes with fellow unbeaten countryman Alberto Guevara as chief support to Amir Khan's bout with Carlos Molina next weekend, meaning the title will be vacated in the near future.

Santa Cruz has made two voluntary defences already, and was set to fight his mandatory next year, that being Doncaster's in form Jamie McDonnell. Luckily for both fighters, but McDonnell especially, it seems that Leo's future lies in the bigger weight classes and probably a huge clash with Abner Mares could happen this time next year. When the title will be made vacant McDonnell will land himself fight for the belt and will take on an opponent in the top 15 of the IBF's rankings.

McDonnell after winning his eliminator

The challenger is expected to be someone who has participated in a recent IBF title fight or holds one of their multi continental belts, therefore it's expected that McDonnell will have home advantage and be a pretty strong favourite.

One opponent could be Vusi Malinga, the South African who went the 12 round distance with Santa Cruz when contesting for the vacant title in June, and was supposed to fight Jamie in a title eliminator in October. 30 year old Frenchman Mohamed Boulgehcha held the IBF International title in April 2011 and having won his most recent fight, which was a six rounder, in the weird world of Boxing, he can be classed as a contender. 

A rematch with the awkward Haskins would be very interesting

A potentially dangerous opponent for McDonnell could be unbeaten, big hitting Mexican Julio Ceja (22-0, 20 KO's) who is the current IBF Latino champion, and is ranked #14 in the world, one place above him the Doncaster bantamweight. That looks to be the most dangerous likely opponent out there, while a fight with European champion Lee Haskins of Bristol, would be very interesting, as Haskins was the last person to beat the 26 year old, claiming a 77-76 decision on the referee's scorecard in March 2008.

Hopefully McDonnell will get his long awaited title tilt next year, his recent performances have been excellent. He's done it the right way by winning British, Commonwealth and European titles, and the good news is that if this world title fight comes off, the chances of it being televised on Sky Sports is very likely, this after his last fight with Darwin Zamora was shown on the channel.

Be patient with DeGale

DeGale had to work hard in his last fight

James DeGale has his second taste of Channel 5 TV exposure this weekend, as he challenges tough Colombian Fulgencio Zuniga for the vacant WBC Silver Super Middleweight title at the Bonus Arena in Hull. This comes after a promising, if a little inconsistent, debut on the channel from the 2008 Olympic Gold Medallist, where he successfully defended his European title against France's Hadillah Mohoumadi with a unanimous decision.

DeGale has set himself up for a fall in his rather short pro career, he talked the talked against George Groves, but failed to walk the walk, in what was a very close fight. This comes after being booed on his pro debut, but I sense there could be a change in public perception towards DeGale after his move to Mick Hennessy's promotional stable. Before his last fight a feature with James was aired, and there wasn't as much of the brash, and somewhat full of hot air talk, that we've seen from him in the past. He looked confident and fresh, looking very much forward to a new start in his career after leaving Frank Warren.

Bute destroyed Zuniga in their March 2009

I don't think Warren can be blamed in James' career, he was disappointed when the renowned promoter signed rival Groves, but even after that defeat, DeGale was handed a European title shot against Poland's Piotr Wilczewski, coming through some difficult periods to narrowly claim a majority decision.

The point of this piece is with this fight coming up now, I think people shouldn't put too much pressure on James. We know what he did as an amateur, but the pro's is a completely different game and he's already achieved a lot. He won the British title in his 9th pro fight, travelling to Liverpool to face home favourite Paul Smith, and has had three European title fights already. The southpaw holds a very lofty 13th placed ranking in the world with Boxrec, which I believe he deserves as he's come through some difficult tests, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I believe DeGale is way off a world title shot. He's boxed just 75 pro rounds, and could do with at least two or three further 12 round contests.

N'Diaye lies in wait for DeGale

This bout with Zuniga could provide him with further experience, as he's taking on a very experienced opponent. The Colombian has a record of 25-6-1 (22 KO's) and the only two guys to have stopped him are a 26-0 Kelly Pavlik and 23-0 Lucian Bute. In his most recent bout he went the 12 round distance with the unbeaten in 21 fights South African Thomas Oostuhizen, who had been linked to a fight with Carl Froch earlier in the year, and showed his resilience in that bout. DeGale has had just 14 fights and I hope fans/pundits respect what's in front of him here, this will be a hard fight and it would be a great experience for James if he gets the full 12 rounds. Saying this if he is able to stop Zuniga, it has to go down as a massive statement.

Hennessy is expected to keep the man from Harlesden very busy and a mandatory defence of his European title is pencilled in at Bluewater in Kent for the 26th of January, against the hard hitting African born Italian Mohuamed N'Diaye in what could be a real treat for Boxing fans in the UK.

Thursday night thriller awaits in Vegas

A huge weekend of Boxing lies ahead for fight fans in Las Vegas, with promoter Bob Arum putting on shows on Thursday, Friday and of course Saturday. Friday sees welterweight contender Jessie Vargas return to the ring, and then on Saturday the action heads to the MGM Grand for that massive 4th fight between Pacquiao and Marquez. The action starts on Thursday however at the Mirage Hotel & Casino, with a fantastic looking lightweight headliner between Raymundo Beltran and Ji-Hoon Kim.

Beltran in his upset win over Lundy

This bout - for the NABF lightweight title - is live on ESPN2 in the USA and features two guys who are not the biggest names in the division, but are always picked for fights on the regular Friday night bills on the channel or their rival ShoBox, the main reason being they always give fans exciting fights. This fight has a lot riding on it now though, with both guys in winning form, and in the top 20 of the divisional rankings.

Beltran spiralled up the rankings with a fantastic majority decision win over Hank Lundy in his last bout, coming through some rough patches early on, to outwork the Philly man down the stretch. A lot of people knew Beltran would give Lundy a hard night's work, but it was a major upset to see him win. Kim also comes into this on the back of an upset victory, having like Beltran, outworked his last opponent, the unbeaten Russian Alisher Rahimov, for a unanimous decision over 10 rounds.

Kim (left) beat the unbeaten Rahimov last time out

This bout has the makings of a serious Fight Of The Year candidate, there might not be a lot of Boxing on show, these are two guys with great engines, they love to throw punches, and defence is very likely to go out of the window after the midway point. Dragon Boxing likes Beltran in this fight, Kim is probably the more limited of the two, and Raymundo will match him for work rate and energy.

The undercard sees some quality prospects on show, the most notable being Jose Benavidez, who fights out of the Wildcard and is unbeaten in 17 fights. He's a welterweight prospect with some wonderful skills, but comes into this fight having been shaken up in the final round of his last bout with 17-7-1 Mexican Pavel Miranda. Thursday night he's scheduled to take on the less dangerous Jesus Selig, who's a Mexican based in Arizona, and the choice of opponent suggests Top Rank are still being cautious with Jose.

Unbeaten Benavidez with the legendary Freddie Roach

A title fight on the undercard sees Jesse Magdaleno face Jonathan Arrellano for the WBO NABO youth super bantamweight belt, which means absolutely nothing to me, but will earn the winner a high ranking with the WBO and put them in the world title contention far sooner than they should be. Jesse is regarded as the most talented of the Magdaleno brothers, and has been incredibly impressive in his short pro career. Jesse is most definitely one to watch, but California's Arrellano has never been stopped and gave unbeaten prospect Roman Morales a tough night in his last bout. You want to see young fighters like Magdaleno progress in their career and this is a fight that should tell us more about him.

Take note of 12-0 Magdaleno

"The Russian Mexican" Evgeny Gradovich makes an appearance on this bill, with the world #38 Featherweight clashing with light hitting New Mexican Willie Villanueva, who was stopped in a round by a then 11-0 Gary Russell Jr in September 2010. This seems like nothing less than a keep busy fight for the exciting Gradovich, who judged by his nickname always comes to fight, and has been involved in a fair few entertaining bouts since turning pro in March 2010.

Verdejo (right) makes his pro debut

Finally the card sees the debut of 2012 Olympian Felix Verdejo, who represented Puerto Rico. Verdejo has signed with Top Rank and is set to campaign at 130lbs as a pro, four months since he reached the quarter finals of the lightweight division tournament, losing to the eventual Gold medallist, Ukraine's exceptionally good Vasyl Lomachenko, who won his second consecutive Olympic Gold. His performances as an amateur have been good and just being 19 years old, he has a lot of time to learn his craft. After what happened with Miguel Cotto at the weekend and also Thomas Dulorme a couple of months ago, Puerto Ricans are searching for the next big thing, could it be Verdejo?

Broner v DeMarco - Keys To The Fight

This upcoming weekend's main attraction in the USA is a WBC lightweight title fight between current champion Antonio DeMarco and outstanding former WBO super featherweight champion, Adrien Broner, at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City. Dragon Boxing picks some keys to how and when the fight will be decided.

Antonio DeMarco

Deal with Broner's twinned attack.

DeMarco is ready for a war

The unbeaten Broner is a joy to watch, he has unbelievably fast hands and is also a big puncher (20 of 24 wins inside the distance), therefore there's so much for the opponent to deal with. His hand speed means he can deliver three or four shots at one time, with the constant pressure being too much for his recent opponents, albeit at a lower weight class. DeMarco is not the fastest at 135, and if he can't pressure his opponent and put him on the back foot, Broner will fight at his own pace and dominate the Mexican.

Make it a scrap.

Broner was able to dominate guys very easily at 130lbs, he was fed opponents that made him look good, guys with not much of a dig, who simply couldn't fight at a high enough intensity. DeMarco is not the best boxer in the world, but the way he won this title was making his bout with the talented Jorge Linares a war, he ground out an 11th round stoppage and finally got his world title.

Take Broner deep into the fight.

Like I've mentioned already Broner has been fed an average level of opponent who haven't been able to take him into the championship rounds, with just one of his last 15 fights going past six rounds. That fight was a controversial decision over the much smaller Daniel Ponce De Leon, and there has to be questions over how Broner will deal with a bigger guy for what could be a hard 12 rounds. 

Adrien Broner

Deal with the southpaw.

Broner should face the toughest test of his career so far

As has been mentioned already in my preview, the only guy to have given Broner real problems was Ponce De Leon, a southpaw, just like DeMarco. The question here has to be how does Broner deal with a southpaw, who can match him punch for punch in this weight class. That was a big night for Broner as it was his HBO debut and he may have been a little bit nervous, but that will have been the fight that Team DeMarco will have studied the most in the run up to this bout.

Moving up in weight.

Broner had to step up in weight for this fight, he struggled to get down to 130lbs for his last bout, and there was talk of him not doing the diet properly. There may not be too much of a question here though, Broner weighed 147 on the night of his last fight against Vicente Escobedo, which is the welterweight limit. He looked just as quick, and he should hold a real dig at this weight.

Stay solid.

One of Broner's many strengths is his defence, it's probably where all the Mayweather comparisons come from, they are very similar with the left hand low and a reliance on his excellent reflexes. Other than Escobedo's right hand, there was barely a glove laid on "The Problem" in his last bout, that suggests DeMarco could have a lot of trouble to land his left from the southpaw stance.

Prediction

Many are predicting Broner for the top, his and in and out of ring persona suggests he'll follow in Mayweather's footsteps as being the guy we leave to hate. This is going to be a real test of his credentials, DeMarco has far more high class experience (151 to 83 pro rounds) and his two major fights (RTD9 loss to Edwin Valero, TKO11 win over Jorge Linares) have both been wars, which is what he has to turn this fight into. I think Broner could surprise us all though, we know he's an excellent technical fighter, but I think he might show he's ready to tough it out in this bout. He'll start off quick, but DeMarco will come into it and make it the great fight we're expecting. However I think Adrien's skills will be the deciding factor (Linares outboxed DeMarco for long periods) and he'll run out a winner on the judges scorecards. 116-111.

Brits set to clock up the air miles

"The Special One" is set for a trip to the US

Overnight three big title fights involving British fighters in 2013 have come to the fore, the first of them being Devon Alexander defending his IBF welterweight title against Sheffield's Kell Brook. For the last two weeks there's been a lot of talk about where the fight will take place, Brook's promoter Eddie Hearn was desperate to hold the fight at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester, but it looks likely that the fight will be held in either the Barclays Center, New York, or the Staples Center in Los Angeles on the date of January 19. Last night it had been reported the fight could take place at the Scottsdale Center in Alexander's hometown of St Louis, a venue that he's enjoyed one or two debatable decisions in the past, but the likelihood of that seems to be improbable at the moment.

Cleverly is set for huge showdown with Hopkins

Bernard Hopkins is set for a ring return on March 9 and he is expected to be in a world title fight with either Beibut Shumenov, Tavoris Cloud or Wales' own WBO champion Nathan Cleverly. The Welshman was successful in his first US showdown last night, stopping Shawn Hawk in the 8th round of an entertaining bout in Los Angeles. It was Cleverly's most impressive performance for a while, and because of Frank Warren's relationship with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, Cleverly has to be the front runner in the race to fight "The Executioner". Nathan made a positive impact on the US fight fans because of his exciting style, and the win last night seems to have given him a great opportunity to fight the legendary Philadelphia fighter.

Murray set for daunting Argentinian trip

The final fight involving a British fighter is set to happen on April 17 in Argentina, with St Helens middleweight Martin Murray given the difficult challenge of fighting Sergio Martinez in front of an expected 55,000 sell out in South America. Murray will become the third British fighter to come up against Sergio recently, this after Darren Barker and Matt Macklin put up brave challenges against the world #1, but both falling short and getting stopped late on. Murray is set to fight on the undercard of Ricky Hatton's fight in two weeks time, with unbeaten Venezuelan Jorge Navarro in the opposite corner. It's a shame that Murray hasnt landed a fight with someone like Daniel Geale or Dmitry Pirog, they are excellent fighters in their own right, but he could very well be the proverbial lamb to the slaughter against "Maravilla".

Godding set for surprise Hamburg showdown

Godding has a huge opportunity on Saturday

This Saturday Wladimir Klitschko rolls into Hamburg as he defends his multiple world titles against unbeaten 27-0 Pole Mariusz Wach, a fight that the unified heavyweight champion will no doubt dedicate to his deceased legendary trainer Manny Steward, who's death last week hit the whole Boxing community. 

Undercards for Klitschko bills tend to be very weak in terms of action, the obvious reason being the fact they promote the bills themselves because of the TV deal they have in Germany and they don't have many guys signed to their stable, but there's one fight that catches my eye this Saturday. It's a welterweight showdown that pits the experienced former European champion Rafal Jackiewicz against unbeaten Bolton stylist Rick Godding. 

It's a terrific opportunity for the 18-0 Godding, who I very much consider a trade secret over here, not many people know about him, but the Steve Wood managed fighter is a cracking little fighter. He's only ranked #18 in the UK, but a victory here could see him pass many domestic contenders and land a crack at new British champion Frankie Gavin, or an all Lancashire clash with fellow unbeaten prospects Denton Vassell or Ronnie Heffron.

Jackiewicz is one of the toughest European welterweights

Godding has mostly fought on Frank Maloney bills, but has not had too much attention from TV companies, probably because he's more of a technical fighter than one punch knockout artist (just three stoppage victories). What has to be noted though is he has stopped two of his last four opponents, the power is starting to come on from the 27 year old, and although he travels to Germany as a big underdog, the Pole is way passed his best, as seen by the way Kell Brook dismantled him in October 2011.

Kell Brook destroyed the Pole in Sheffield

Clearly Rick has taken this because he feels he needs to be moving into title contention now, without the support of a big time promoter in the UK, he has had to look overseas and first and foremost, he must be applauded for taking this chance. Jackiewicz has improved his form of late, he's won his last four and that includes going over to Italy to stop Luciano Abis in seven rounds, becoming the European Union champion along the way. He's a real danger, but Godding has a solid 93 pro rounds of experience under his belt now, and I could definitely see an upset.

Interestingly this bill is being shown on ESPN this weekend at 10pm, I can't tell you if any of the undercard is being shown, but could this be a sign of things to come with ESPN venturing into more live Boxing events?

Cleverly hits LA

This Saturday (November 10) WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly makes his US debut, as he defends his title against South Dakota puncher Shawn Hawk, on a big bill at the Staples Center, Los Angeles.

Cleverly is making a name for himself in LA

Being Welsh and a massive Boxing fan, this is a very exciting weekend for myself, it's great to see British fighters going over to the States and this looks like an opportunity for Cleverly to really shine. Just like proposed opponent Ryan Coyne, Hawk looks like an opponent who will make the Cefn Fforest man look good. "The Sioux Warrior" is not that much of a step up in class from Nathan's last opponent Tommy Karpency, but to me this is not really about who he's fighting, it's about looking spectacular and getting the guys over in the USA excited.

Cleverly didn't tuck into this Man v Food type meal

Frank Warren and Cleverly have been touting for a fight with the likes of Dawson, Hopkins and Shumenov for a good year or so now, and if Cleverly comes through this test, then a showdown with a top five ranked opponent has to come. If you look at the Boxrec rankings now and you will see Nathan at #6 and Tony Bellew #5, which suggests that people should get off his back in terms of who he's fought, Bellew is an excellent fighter, but what the rankings suggest is that Nathan hasn't been too impressive of late and hasn't been fighting the right calibre of opponent.

Hawk is not a big name, but is a dangerous puncher

Hawk is ranked #50 in the world with the respected online rankings, and unlike Bellew's last opponent Edison Miranda, he doesn't have a great name in the sport. He's a serious puncher with 17 of his 23 wins coming early, but last time out he was outclassed over 12 rounds by then 8-0 former amateur standout Eleider Alvarez, therefore you're expecting Cleverly to win comfortably, but I've seen Alvarez fight and he's a devastating KO Artist, so this could be a test.

It's a great weekend of Boxing in the USA, Moreno v Mares on the same bill is a brilliant fight and I'm a massive fan of Leo Santa Cruz, who's also on show at the Staples Center, but this is the fight I've got my eye on and tracking the buildup already, there seems to be plenty of hype about Nathan over there. BoxNation are showing it over here and Showtime are expected to open their telecast with Cleverly's title defence. Warren has done a great job of getting him on the bill, now Nathan needs to deliver a top class performance, and move on to a huge fight.

Bute didn't impress in a light heavyweight venture on Saturday

Interestingly Lucian Bute fought at light heavyweight at the weekend and if that proposed rematch with Froch doesn't happen, I would think of him as a perfect test for Nathan, a fresh and hungry fighter would destroy the version of the Canadian-Romanian we saw at the weekend, he looked like a fighter with a lot missing from his game.

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Plumber Price turns the tap off on Fraudley's career

It took very little time for Audley to hit the canvas

This past Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, local 6ft8 heavy hope David Price turned in a devastating display to end the career of 2000 Olympic Gold medallist Audley Harrison in a mere 82 seconds. Price deserves all the praise that's coming to him from all corners of the Boxing universe, but the focus has to be on another terrible display from "A-Farce".

Harrison has got to go down as one of the worst Gold medallist from any Olympic games in any weight class, the fact is this man has made a fortune from the sport, despite several failures. Despite that truly embarrassing display against David Haye in November 2010, Harrison still got himself many column inches pre-fight, including a double page spread in Thursday's Mirror, which I was disgusted by. In that interview he talked of being back to the form of his March 2004 4th round knockout of Richel Hersisia, but I doubt anyone would have believed his deluded hype this time around.

Before his comeback bout with Ali Adams, Harrison had talked of fighting a Klitschko and in media interviews before his meeting with Price, Audley got himself another buzz word, this time it was 'redemption'. This after his infamous "Yes I can" speech pre Hayemaker. Harrison deserves respect somewhat for defying so many critics, but there is no way he's bouncing back after this latest debacle.

Harrison in better days

The reason I've written this post is not to make fun of Harrison however, I respect what he accomplished as a Gold medallist and the legacy he left in the amateur game for the likes of Amir Khan, James DeGale and Anthony Joshua, who benefited from increased funding after Audley's Sydney success. What I did not like post-fight was people on TV and online speaking against the Echo crowd for taunting Harrison for a terrible display. Many have said it takes great bravery to enter the ring, and that's true, Boxing is a violent sport, but many of those in the arena on Saturday could have done what Harrison did and would have done it for much less money. Once again he failed to throw a power punch and like in the Haye fight he turned into a human punch bag.

His career has long been tainted and he has played his part in three of the most recognisable TV channels ending their interest in the sport. The 40 year old turned pro at Wembley Arena in May 2001 having signed a million pound deal with the BBC, and blew plenty of opponents away early, which he could afford to do for a two or three years, but the excitement and hype started to wain, people lost interest in Harrison v "a bum" and the BBC ended their coverage of live Boxing, and are very unlikely to return. Audley was then given an opportunity with Frank Warren, who had a new TV deal with ITV, but the beginning of the end started as he lost for the first time in a split decision snore-fest against Danny Williams in December 2005. He did overturn that defeat, but that was after a loss in the States against Dominick Guinn, and just three months after the Williams rematch, he was knocked out in three rounds by Michael Sprott, and Warren soon returned to Sky. Dishwater wins over Jason Barnett and George Arias followed, but after a loss to unheralded Belfast cab driver Martin Rogan, Audley split ties with the veteran promoter.

The Wembley man went on to win Prizefighter and claim the European title with a stunning 11th round knockout of Sprott, which got him the shot against Haye in Manchester. The buzz around the fight was great, Harrison talked up his chances, but his display was one of the worst seen in a world title fight. This fight was screened on Sky Box Office and the uproar from the public made Sky discontinue with charging fans extra for fights. This changed their perception of the sport and has got them to the situation we currently have, which is one promoter providing all of their content, Warren launching his own TV channel and Frank Maloney and Ricky Hatton with no TV contract for their stables.

What it may seem is that I'm pinning a lot of British Boxing's troubles on Harrison, that is not true, there are many contributing factors to the ongoing politics festering in the game, but in the last ten or fifteen years, I can't think of many figures who have tainted Boxing as much as Harrison. I don't know how anyone can justify anything that he has done in his career or how he performed on Saturday night, well done on winning the Gold, but 12 years on, he must take a long, hard look in his mirror at home and think, what have I achieved? It's hard to know what Harrison will do without Boxing, it's never easy to give the sport up, and I personally hope he finds something that gives himself the same fulfilment as he had in Sydney, but judged on the amount of PPV buys he got Sky that November, a job as a door to door salesman isn't a bad idea.

Fury v Price would be a huge fight in Britain

Let's not forget Price here though, this guy looks the real deal, a massive grudge match with Tyson Fury could beckon in 2013, this after the Manchester man launched two separate foul mouthed rants aimed at Price on Saturday night. Like Harrison, Fury could sell time to an inmate, but unlike Fraudley's fight with Haye, that could be a heavyweight fight which lives up to it's hype and puts the former's bout firmly in the back of our minds.

Purdy set for Jones test

Purdy overpowered his Argentinian opponent

It looks as though Lee "Lights Out" Purdy has earned himself another big fight for December, with a bout against American tough man Carson Jones being mooted for either the 8th or 15th. Eddie Hearn is expected to put together another stacked bill, featuring the return of Darren Barker (hopefully), a cracking domestic dust up between John Ryder and Kreshnik Qato, as well as the return of Erick "The Eagle" Ochieng.

Jones, who gave Kell Brook an incredibly tough fight in July, is set for a return to Britain and will no doubt give Purdy the biggest test of his career. It represents a real change in fortune for the Colchester man, who was handed a last minute opportunity to fight unbeaten Argentine banger Gumersindo Carrasco for the IBF International Welterweight title in September, stopping the crude 25 year old in four rounds, in what was a thoroughly enjoyable spectacle.

Purdy is never in a bad fight and judged on Jones' fight with Brook, it could be a real pre Christmas cracker for Boxing fans tuning into Sky Sports. The step up in class for the talented Ryder will be another reason to tune in as he takes on the very experienced and battle hardened London based Albanian.

Five opponents for Ricky Burns

Ricky Burns stunned Kevin Mitchell on Saturday night by completely out-muscling the Dagenham man inside four rounds to remain WBO lightweight champion. That win has led calls for an unification clash with Antonio DeMarco or Miguel Vazquez, but that won't be happening this year and is more likely going to happen in March or April. After the fight Frank Warren said that Burns is likely to be out in December and here are five potential opponents for that date.

1. Scott Harrison

An all Scottish fight with Harrison is likely for Burns

I don't think Harrison deserves a shot at the title, but this is modern Boxing and with both guys signed up to Frank Warren's promotional company, this would be an easy one to make, but would also make a huge amount of money for Warren. These are Scotland's two best boxers in the last 10-15 years, Harrison was a great featherweight, but in his two fights back, he's fought a very low level of opponent. Saturday night Harrison got a six round points decision over Joe Elfidh, and other than the first round, he showed that he was a long way off a world title fight. This is the fight that would least surprise me, even though I'm totally against it, Harrison should be nowhere near a world title fight when there's so much quality domestically and world wide at 135lbs. Personally I would like to see Harrison fight Mitchell on the undercard of Burns' next title fight.

2. John Murray

Murray's on the comeback trail

Another fight that would be pretty easy to make because of the promotional deals. Murray has been out of the ring since a brave challenge for Brandon Rios' world title in December 2011 over in New York, where he was stopped in eleven rounds. Before that Murray had lost to Kevin Mitchell in what was an amazing fight, but one he hadn't trained properly for, and he showed that he's very dangerous if he's taken his preparation seriously. Murray is back in full training at Joe Gallagher's gym, him v Burns would be a serious contender for FOTY.

3. Sharif Bogere

Bogere would be an interesting choice

Ugandan based in Las Vegas holds a high ranking with the WBO as he's the current WBO NABO champion, and is certainly a live contender at 135 as he's ranked #14 in the world by boxrec and undefeated in 23 pro fights. Is promoted by Golden Boy in the States, and they have a good relationship with Frank Warren, which certainly makes it a contest with not so many political brick walls in front of it. Bogere however is being linked for a November title fight with Richard Abril, although it's doubtful if that will go ahead, Eddie Hearn was expecting Gavin Rees to challenge for that WBA title.

4. Raymundo Beltran

Beltran has never challenged for a world title

26-6 31 year old Mexican is having a resurgence in his career, this after the biggest win of his career against then top 10 ranked Hank Lundy in July, claiming a majority decision over 10 rounds. Has lost two of his last four fights against US based prospects Bogere and Luis Ramos Jr, but the victory over Lundy has brought him into the title picture. On form this defence would hold little risks for Burns, Beltran's tough, but you would expect Burns to be far too good technically.

5. Miguel Acosta

Acosta (left) has a fan friendly style

I'm not expecting a huge name for this defence for Burns, Acosta fits the type of name who could get a title shot. The Venezuelan is a former WBA champion, but is on the slide having lost three of his last four fights. The first of those was when Brandon Rios took his title off him, and since then both Richard Abril and unbeaten Armenian Art Hovhannisyan have beaten the 34 year old, although his last fight with Art was a split decision and he did put him down. Again an opponent you'd expect Burns to beat cosily, but ranked 22nd in the world by Boxrec.

There's no doubt Frank Warren has many options for Burns, hopefully Burns v the winner of DeMarco v Broner will take place next year, but judged on these five potential opponents, there's definitely some nice appetisers out there ahead of the tasty looking main course!

Gallagher debuts in Belfast

Gallagher with his Delhi Gold

This weekend sees some huge fights at the top of the bills in Britain, with Ricky Burns v Kevin Mitchell in Scotland and Carl Frampton v Steve Molitor in Belfast. At the Odyssey Arena, Eddie Hearn has put together a stacked card, which includes some tremendous prospects. Martin J Ward, Khalid Yafai and Scott Cardle are three talented guys on show, but one making his debut and not attracting too much interest at the moment is 2010 Commonwealth Gold Medallist Paddy Gallagher.

The 23 year old from Belfast performed brilliantly two years ago in Delhi, beating Callum Smith 11-5 in the final as he claimed Gold for Northern Ireland. He joins fellow Delhi Gold Medallist Eamon O'Kane in fighting on this bill. Following that Gallagher went on to participate in the World Series of Boxing, having two fights, going 1-1, but he did suffer some disappointment last year in the Ulster Championships as he lost to the talented William McLaughlin.

Gallagher in my opinion is better suited to the pros, and it was way back in May when he signed with Belfast based manager John Rooney, becoming one of several Northern Irish amateurs to have gone pro. The intention of Eddie Hearn seems to be get more big shows in Belfast, they are a great Boxing crowd, and Rooney will be able to get Gallagher on these shows if he impresses.

Hopefully we'll get some highlights of this fight on Saturday night, or on Ringside in the coming weeks, but I believe "Patman" is definitely a good addition to the very competitive domestic 147lbs division. There's no doubt he should win, but his opponent William Warburton is a real tough kid and has been stopped in just two of his 44 fights, expect Gallagher to be keen to put on a real show, that's the key in Boxing nowadays.

In form Selby can shine in Belfast

Selby reigns the Commonwealth and in Britain

One of the biggest tests in Boxing is when you have to go into an opponent's backyard and face a partisan welcome from his adoring fans, and that's something talented Welshman Lee Selby (13-1, 5 KO's) will have to face this coming weekend on the big Sky Sports bill at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.

Selby is a fighter many people won't have heard too much about a year or so ago, but on the 17th of September 2011, he produced a fantastic performance by winning in Liverpool against Stephen Smith, stopping "Swifty" in the 8th round of a great scrap. That won him the British and Commonwealth featherweight titles, and following that he produced arguably the most impressive display of his career so far, stopping the incredibly tough Scot John Simpson, in five rounds, where Selby showed his impressive array of shots, including heavy ones to Simpson's body.

In May he had a Commonwealth title defence against unknown Ghanaian Patrick Okine, and did what he had to do by stopping him in five rounds, but the acid test comes this Saturday night. The experience of fighting in Liverpool against Smith will stand Selby in good stead, but going to Belfast will be on another level. The Odyssey is a big arena, the fans will be packed in there because of so much home interest, and Selby will have very few fans, this is a fantastic test for one of the most talented boxers in Britain at the moment.

Selby's manager and corner man Chris Sanigar has said this should be his last fight at domestic level, if he comes through this fight with Lindsay, then the best in Britain will have been beaten, and you can't deny that the 25 year old from Barry has looked unbelievably impressive in his title fights. 

Lindsay will have the home support

This has the makings of an awesome bout though, Lindsay is 19-1 with 7 KO's, but hits much harder than his record suggests and his only loss was against John Simpson, who to his credit came to Belfast and put on a real Boxing masterclass. I think we'll see a different, hungrier, Lindsay this weekend though. He's waited patiently for another title chance, Eddie Hearn won the purse bids and got him this opportunity on home soil, which provides a little off-point, credit has to go to the board for putting this fight out to purse bids and things have been done the right way, we need more of these bouts at British, Commonwealth and European level, promoters have had their chances to make fights, but many have fallen by the way side!

Credit to the aforementioned Hearn for putting on another very good show, he's certainly keeping the bar high, but his charge could be in for a defeat here. I'm delighted Selby is Welsh, he along with Nathan Cleverly could be real standard bearers for Boxing in the principality for the next two or three years, both have huge amounts of potential and can flourish with the right matches. Selby has been sparring at the Mayweather Gym in recent months and that kind of experience will no doubt improve him as a fighter. His power has developed so much in the last 12 months, at the start of his career he did struggle to make a mark in the game and no big promoter really got involved, but now with Frank Warren's backing, things are definitely happening for Lee.

Miskirtchian lies in wait for Selby

Selby has a very fluid Boxing style, from a technical standpoint he's a pleasure to watch, but he's also the type of fighter who's perfect for Hearn's show on Saturday night, he comes to fight and now with that improved power I've talked about, he delivers big knockouts. I fancy him in this fight, Lindsay's tough, but I'll be having a few quid on another knockout win. That should set up a European title fight against champion Belgian based Georgian Alex Miskirtchian, which I'm confident would take place in Britain, but also ending up in a Selby win, considering the champion has lost to Paul Truscott in the past. The featherweight division is packed with exciting fighters and Wales has it's own pocket rocket.

Mack ready for another world title attack

Macklin after his win over Alcine

This past Saturday night Matthew Macklin was handed an opportunity on the Martinez v Chavez undercard because of his deal with Martinez's promoter Lou DiBella, as he faced off against Montreal based Haitian Joachim Alcine. Boxing News had predicted a tricky night for Matt saying "Macklin should be able to withstand some anxious moments to take a decision", however he stunned the slow starting Alcine by landing a huge right hand in the first round, which had pretty much finished the fight, although he had to put him down once again and put on a lot of heat to get the job done.

I did expect Alcine to be the kind of fighter to make Macklin look pretty spectacular, he has left himself open in the past and it was only two years ago that Alfredo Angulo had destroyed him in a round. However he was on a good run of form having beaten David Lemieux, and the win has really brought Macklin back into the world title picture.

Twice Macklin has been left disappointed in world title tilts, the decision over in Germany against Felix Sturm was disgusting, and then he put a really brave performance against Sergio Martinez, who came on strong to stop him in 11 rounds. With Macklin it could be a case that he's really unlucky that the middleweight division is the most competitive in world Boxing at the moment. Martinez, Geale and Golovkin are three standout names in my eyes, but behind them is the likes of Hassan N'Jikam, Dmitry Pirog and Peter Quillin, while the UK scene is incredibly strong at the top with Martin Murray, the injury ravaged Darren Barker, and Billy Joe Saunders, who had a great win over Jarrod Fletcher on Friday night.

McGirt (second from right) could be the man to lead Mack to world title glory

Macklin has the tools to become a world champion though, he's incredibly fit, has fantastic power, and with no disrespect to Joe Gallagher, who I'm a huge fan of, moving over to train with Buddy McGirt is probably the best thing he's done. The added time of working with McGirt seemed to really benefit him ahead of this fight, and what I saw from them at the end of Saturday's fight was there's a real strong relationship between the two. For this fight Macklin trained in his new gym over in Marbella, which not only benefits himself, but also local disadvantaged children.

Macklin looks settled now, he has been in between trainers and promoters in the past, I've always been a fan of his, but I think he became frustrated in the UK with promoters. He appeared on Frank Warren and Ricky Hatton shows in his last few UK bouts, but many big fights, including one with Khoren Gevor on the Khan v McCloskey undercard fell through late on. Now that he has a deal with DiBella, Macklin seems to have the opportunity of regular fights, although I'm unsure when his next bout would be.

An all Irish fight with Lee appeals

I've always been someone who's called for Macklin to face Barker, but that one looks very unlikely now with Barker's injury problems, the Barnet man will need at least two fights in preparation for someone of Macklin's level. If he was to fight for a world title, from a fan's perspective I would love to see him face Golovkin or Pirog. Those two fights have war written all over it and all three guys have solid names over in the US. The other fight that makes obvious appeal is an all Irish bout with Andy Lee, who lost to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in his last fight, but showed plenty of quality in the first few rounds. Lee has long been established in the US, and the battle in the ring is intriguing, as well as the the battle outside the ring between famed trainers McGirt and Manny Stewart. I would love to see Macklin out before Christmas, not much energy will have been used in the first round blowout, but it's all about where DiBella stands with getting a TV date.

Another Mexican Star is Born

Santa Cruz landing one of his vicious body shots

Last night's Boxing action promised much beforehand, both Golden Boy and Top Rank put together two fantastic bills. There's no doubt that the Martinez v Chavez Jr fight will be one that lives long in the memory of most Boxing fans, mostly because of the big onslaught from the Mexican in the final round. Matthew Macklin had a superb win and Martinez v Beltran was a great Puerto Rico v Mexico war at the Thomas & Mack Centre.

At the MGM Grand, the dominant stoppage for Canelo Alvarez, that many had predicted came to fruition, Daniel Ponce de Leon became a world champion in a second weight class, while Maidana v Soto Karass delivered what I expected, that had great, fan friendly fight written all over it. 

And still IBF champ

The guy that really impressed me on this awesome night for pugilists the world over was unbeaten Mexican bantamweight Leo Santa Cruz. "Teremoto" won the IBF title with a wide 12 round decision over South Africa's Vusi Malinga in June, and that left a little to be doubted about his power. However last night he completely destroyed the very experienced Eric Morel in five rounds, targeting the 36 year old's somewhat fragile body, landing 89 shots to the mid-rift in the first four rounds.

I've seen one or two articles of late, which have followed the lack of American success at the Olympics, that Mexico is starting to become the dominant force in Boxing. Mexico have always been a nation with a fantastic tradition in Boxing, but we are now starting to see them get champions at the bigger weights, whilst a lot of these smaller guys keep coming through.

Santa Cruz from Huetamo, Michoacan de Ocampo, has risen up the #3 in boxrec's bantamweight rankings after this win, which has to go down as a huge win. Morel is a faded force and is much longer in the tooth than Leo, but Abner Mares couldn't stop him in their catchweight 120lbs fight in April, and it certainly makes a case for a massive all Mexican clash in the next 12-18 months between the two Golden Boy promoted fighters, this if Mares gets the past the uber-talented Panamanian boxer Anselmo Moreno  in November.

Moreno currently tops the bantamweight rankings, and a fight with him even if he loses to Mares, would definitely be a great seller and make for a fantastic clash of styles, Mares v Moreno looks like it will be a bit of a chess match, with both guys such excellent boxers. Just ahead of Santa Cruz in the rankings is Shinsuke Yamanaka from Japan, unbeaten in 16 fights and the current WBC champion. Both guys turned pros in 2006 and I believe that's a fantastic match up, judged on last night Santa Cruz is one who is going to progress quickly and become another huge Mexican star.

Brook back October 20th

Promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed today via Twitter that IBF welterweight contender Kell Brook will return at the Sheffield Arena on the 20th of October. It will be a third straight bout for Brook at the Arena, this after 12 round decision wins over Matthew Hatton and Carson Jones.

Brook is in training for October 20th date

Brook certainly made his promoter sweat last month against American Jones, fading badly late on and only just holding on for the victory. Many had speculated that he was to leave trainer Dominic Ingle after Hearn criticised his buildup to that fight, however reports in Yorkshire have suggested Brook is back at the famed Wincobank gym.


The likely opponent for Brook is Argentinian Hector Saldivia, in what will be a final eliminator for the IBF 147lb title, which is being defended by Randall Bailey on September 8 against Devon Alexander in San Antonio. Saldivia is a huge puncher and holds a KO% of nearly 75%, however has lost twice in his career - both times by stoppage - including at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in May 2010, when he was stopped in a round by Said Ouali.

Cuba's Abril could also feature on the bill

A full announcement of this bill will be made on Monday, there's no doubt that Hearn will put together a solid undercard, with his recent shows being incredibly successful for Sky Sports. Chief support could be a world title fight between in form Welshman Gavin Rees and tall Cuban Richard Abril for the vacant WBA lightweight title. Many insiders doubt Rees will pull this one off, especially considering Abril's height and his superb display in his most recent fight with Brandon Rios, which was one of the worst decisions I've seen in my eight years of watching the sport. Being Welsh it would be fantastic to see Rees claiming the title though and it would mean Wales have two current world champions, the other being Nathan Cleverly.

Who will be the Ring King?

What a great fight this is going to be, I see it as a battle of two undefeated fighters, Mayweather rightly has never seen his 0 go, while Cotto's two defeats have both been controversial.

The two fighters who face off at the MGM Grand

Everyone who knows Boxing knows how good Floyd Mayweather is, in my opinion the guy is a genius, he has unbelievable skills and is what Boxing should be about, which is to not get hit. He might not always be the most exciting fighter to watch, but he really is one of the best fighters of all time in my opinion.


Last time out he had a bit of a farcical fight with Victor Ortiz, it ended very controversially, but Floyd was starting to break him down and would have got a mid to late stoppage in my opinion.


Cotto is a great fighter and is the #1 in this light middleweight division, which is why he deserves so much respect. Last time out he had that massive rematch win over Margarito, breaking the Mexican down, putting serious damage on his opponent's very fragile eyes, the referee stopping the bout in the 10th.


Margarito handed Cotto is his first career loss, a serious beatdown, but then came that controversy with the hand wraps, which put major doubts over the legitimacy over the win. His only other loss was a 12th round stoppage by Manny Pacquiao, a year after that Margarito loss. This is a controversial loss as Cotto was forced to fight at a catchweight of 145lbs, 2lbs under the normal welterweight limit, which meant really Pacquiao was at his strongest and Cotto at his weakest. Considering Cotto went straight up to 154 after that fight says how much of a disadvantage he was.

Mr Flash Mayweather at the fighter's meeting earlier this week

Mayweather has fought just once at 154, which was in that big fight with De La Hoya, one Mayweather did have the edge in, but was scored a split decision. That does suggest Cotto will give him problems, especially as he's just got better and better at this weight, looking very comfortable with new trainer Pedro Diaz, an ex Cuban scholar who certainly has improved the Puerto Rican.


However I just don't think there's an active Boxer who can beat Mayweather, this is going to be a tremendous fight and occasion, but I'm backing Mayweather to win a unanimous points decision.

Lopez and Salido to dish out another cracker

I love big Puerto Rican bills and this weekend live on Showtime, we see a rematch of one of last year's Fights of the Year, plus some massively talented Puerto Rican kids are in action.

Lopez and Salido are ready to go again

Starting off with the main event, which sees the #1 Featherweight Orlando Salido (37-11-2, 25 KO's) defend his WBO title against the home favourite Juan Manuel Lopez (31-1, 28 KO's) in a classic Mexico v Puerto Rico battle. Salido stunned Lopez in April last year, stopping Lopez on his feet in the 8th round, this after systematically beating him, putting him down in the 5th. Salido has been stopped five times, but many of those early defeats where when he was inexperienced, his last five defeats have all been on points, and that includes against guys like Gamboa and Juan Manuel Marquez. Since beating Lopez, he's made two successful defences, however they've been against guys with not much of a dig in Kenichi Yamaguchi (17-1-2 at time of fight) and Weng Haya (15-3 at time of fight). The Haya fight especially brings up doubts as Salido was put down in the 3rd and 4th, before coming back to win in the eighth, since then Haya has been stopped in four against a guy with a record of 14-5-1.

Salido after his stunning win in April

Lopez was one of the hottest guys in world Boxing going into that first fight, he was being tipped up for a super fight with Gamboa, but it all fell apart in Bayamon. I still rate this guy though, before the Lopez fight he had impressively stopped Steven Luevano, Bernabe Concepcion and the legend Rafael Marquez, and again this weekend he's landed home advantage. He had a return in October and beat Mike Oliver in two rounds, you can't really ask more than that, and I think it's the perfect confidence booster for him. The feeling I get about him here is that he will have learnt from his mistakes, and I really like his chances of regaining that title on Saturday night.


I really can't wait for this fight, it's going to be a great occasion and even though some rematches don't usually live up to the hype, I think this one will. My pick is Juanma, I havent been impressed with Salido in his last two fights, and I think Lopez is going to stop him late here.

Garcia and Concepcion provide the chief support

The main headline bout sees Oxnard based fighter Miguel Angel Garcia (27-0, 23 KO's) defend his WBO NABO featherweight title against Bernabe Concepcion (29-5, 15 KO's). Garcia is trained by his brother, star trainer Robert Garcia, and judged on recent displays really isn't far off world title contention. Judged on the title he holds and his spot on this bill, the winner of the main event looks his next opponent and that fight with either would be very exciting. He's knocked out some good guys already in the likes of Cornelius Lock and Matt Remillard, but this looks a tough job. Concepcion isn't in the best form, but only Juan Manuel Lopez has knocked him out and in that fight he put Lopez down in the first. In his last two fights he's not been at his best and judged on that he wont be able to compete with Garcia.


On the undercard watch out for a flyweight called Jonathan Gonzalez (8-0, 7 KO's) who impressed me massively when stopping Samuel Gutierrez in five rounds a month ago, he did a really good job on him last night and this weekend goes for the interim WBO Youth flyweight title, which is a ridiculous belt. His opponent is fellow countryman Erickson Martell (9-3-1, 7 KO's), who's just behind him in the Puerto Rican rankings and is on a five fight winning run, but only one of those fighters had ever won a fight. McWilliams Arroyo, who also is in a title fight on this bill, stopped him in five in April last year.


There's one or two other guys on the undercard to look out for, but I don't know a great deal about them, so it will be a case of having a look at those bouts and seeing where the talent is, which we should see as Puerto Rican Boxing is and always is very strong.