UK Beat Report: Year Review

by Dafs117

2009 has been a magnificent year for British boxing, with three recognized belt holders and many up and coming prospects making the step from domestic to the European scene.

British boxing froze midway through 2008 and somebody came along to press the F5 button that all stream-watchers have pressed countless times during the past 12 months. It gave British boxing, and the live stream, a refresh. We had a makeover, a transformation and many passing of torches.

Joe Calzaghe retired, and opened the door to Carl Froch. The first major passing of the torch in British boxing over the course of the year. Froch won the WBC Super Middleweight title in a scrap against Jean Pascal, before travelling to the States to stop Jermain Taylor late, and defending his title for the second time in the Super 6 Boxing Classic tournament, against Andre Dirrell, winning via close split decision.

Ricky Hatton’s retirement is inevitable. He might come back to be stopped by either Marquez or Cotto in a one sided affair, but he will leave a fan-base behind. Ricky Hatton passed his smouldering flame to King Amir Khan, who went 3-0 with wins over a one-eyed Marco Antonio Barrera, former paper champion Andreas Kotelnik and previously unbeaten Dimitry Salita.

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Sexton Breaks Rogan in Belfast

In a packed and noisy Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, reigning British Commonwealth heavyweight champ, Sam Sexton managed to prove that his first win over former champ, Martin Rogan was no fluke.

Sexton stood his ground against the motivated and hard-charging hometown favorite, doing his best work in the sixth by staggering Rogan with shots straight up the middle.

Rogan didn't answer the call for round seven, claiming an injured arm.

Up until the stoppage, the fight was on a pace to match their first encounter, a similarly see-saw battle which also ended in Rogan being forced to throw in the towel.

After the bout, Sexton dreamed aloud by calling out the winner of the Haye-Valuev fight the following night.

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The UK Beat Report (10/14/09)

by Dafs117

Welcome to the second UK Beat Report, a monthly wrap-up of the fight scene in the United Kingdom.

The month was marred by the death of Darren Sutherland (4-0, 4 KOs). The Irish bronze medallist was found dead by his promoter Frank Maloney in the boxer’s flat. Sutherland was a talented fighter and definitely one for the future.

September started off with a bang as a featherweight duel took place in the north-east. There was a decent crowd at Middlesbrough watching the highly anticipated featherweight rematch between John Simpson (20-6, 8 KOs) and Paul Truscott (13-2, 1 KO). Simpson stopped Truscott early on in the 10th on cuts.

Tyson Fury (9-0, 7 KOs) scored a controversial points victory over John McDermott (25-6, 16 KO) at Brentwood Centre, Essex. The contest was for ‘Big Bad’ John’s English Heavyweight Title. Terry O’Connor scored the fight 98-92 to Fury, while others at ringside had it 4 rounds to McDermott. The BBBofC have announced that they want the rematch to take place in the next 90 days. Another lanky heavyweight, Tom Dallas (7-0, 5 KOs) stopped Hungarian journeyman Mihaly Nemet (12-16-1, 4 KOs) in superb style in the first round. Dallas, who’s 6’6’’ and weighed only 229 lbs, knocked Nemet down 3 times and the bout was stopped 01:14 in Dallas’ quickest stoppage yet. Ashley Sexton (8-0, 4 KOs) also continued his rise with a first round technical knockout victory over Darli Gonvalves Pires (17-8-1, 8 KOs).

Clinton Woods has announced his retirement from the sport. He recently dropped a unanimous decision to Tavoris Cloud (20-0, 18 KOs) for the vacant IBF light-heavyweight title. Junior Witter (37-3-2, 22 KOs) will carry on despite calls for him to retire. He will move up to challenge at welterweight.

Ricky Hatton’s first promotion night couldn’t have gone any better with Matthew Macklin (25-2, 18 KOs) scored a stunning first round knockout over world level Finnish fighter Amin Asikainen (26-3, 17 KOs). Featherweight prospect Joe Murray (4-0, 1 KO) continued his rise through the domestic scene with a first round stoppage victory over Delroy Spencer (11-88-3, 1 KO).

Bernard Dunne’s (28-2, 15 KOs) reign of the WBA title in a very deep junior featherweight division and his first defence didn’t last more than three rounds against Thai Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (39-1, 28 KOs). He was in line for a major pay-day against Celestino Caballero (33-2, 23 KOs). Tyson Fury (9-0, 7 KOs) fought to a points victory on the undercard.

David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) was ringside at McDermott-Fury and said that his preparation for his upcoming title tilt against Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) is going according to plan. Adam Booth, Haye’s trainer, said it was likely that Haye would weigh around 230 lbs in the Valuev fight on the 7th of November in Germany. Haye is looking to spar with Tyson Fury ahead of his fight at Nurenburg. The long-awaited rematch between Sam Sexton (12-1, 5 KOs) and Martin Rogan (12-1, 6 KOs) has been postponed due to a back injury suffered by challenger Rogan. Their first bout got stopped by a mouse under Rogan’s left eye when it appeared that Sexton was out on his feet. The bout will take place at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast on the 6th of November.

Nathan Cleverly (18-0, 8 KOs) headlined at York Hall against lanky Englishman Courtney Fry (13-3, 5 KOs) on October the 9th. He won by 8th round stoppage over former Commenwealth Games champion Fry. Cleverly has been nominated to fight for the vacant European light heavyweight title against Antonio Brancalion and the fight could take place on December the 5th. On the undercard, Derek Chisora (11-0, 6 KOs) fought for the first time since his biting ban last March and won by thir round stoppage. The Heavyweight Prizefighter III draw was made by a certain ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson. Mike Holden (10-9-1, 6 KOs) was pulled out of the competition as he was floored by Tomas Mzarek (4-22-5, 3 KOs) in the third round of their scheduled four round bout. Michael Sprott (31-14, 16 KOs) also pulled out after the tragic death of his sister.

Audley Harrison (26-4, 19 KOs) won the tournament with a stoppage victory over Irish outsider Coleman Barrett (10-1, 2 KOs). Harrison still believes he could get a world title-shot next year with the help of Barry Hearn. Danny Williams (41-8, 31 KOs) was stunned by Carl Baker (9-4, 6 KOs) and will probably retire by the time of the next beat report.

The dream domestic lightweight contenst between John Murray (28-0, 16 KOs) and Jon Thaxton (34-11, 19 KOs) took place at Altincham, Chester on October 3. The bout was for the vacant British lightweight strap after Murray failed to make the weight by 1.5 oz in his previous bout against Scott Lawton (26-5-1, 5 KOs). John Murray won by fourth round stoppage and after the fight, Jon Thaxton retired from the sport.

Esham Pickering (34-9, 13 KOs) was defeated in an European featherweight title bout against Oleg Yefimovych (17-1, 11 KOs) by third round knockout. He has admitted that he will not hang up his gloves yet.

Carl Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) will begin his quest for super middleweight domination with a fight against Andre Dirrell (19-0, 12 KOs) in a battle of skill versus will at Nottingham. The fight is on the 17th of October for Froch’s WBC super middleweight title.

Jason Booth (33-5, 13 KOs) will fight at Sunderland on October 16 against Michael Hunter (29-1-1, 13 KOs) and is hoping for an impressive performance to land a title shot at 122 lbs. A bout with Bernard Dunne (28-2, 15 KOs) or Rendall Munroe (19-1, 8 KOs) could be next.

If Jamie Moore, (32-3, 23 KOs) beats Ryan Rhodes (42-4, 28 KOs) in an all British light-middleweight contest, he would get a shot at either Sergio Gabriel Martinez (44-1-2, 24 KOs) or Cory Spinks (37-5, 11 KOs). Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (40-0-1, 30 KOs) is also a name branded about. Gary Davis (9-2-1, 7 KOs) will defend his Lonsdale belt against slickster Ian Napa (18-7, 1 KO).

The next report will be at the end of October and will concentrate on David Haye’s heavyweight challenge against giant Nikolay Valuev. The Hayemaker could be set to take the British heavyweight lead from Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs) the only modern day heavyweight champion to have beaten every opponent he has ever faced.

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UK Beat Report (9/8/09)

by Dafs117

Welcome to the first UK Beat Report, a monthly wrap-up of the fight scene in the United Kingdom.

September is quite a busy month for British boxing, especially compared to the past few months.
There was a decent crowd at Middlesbrough watching the highly anticipated featherweight rematch between John Simpson (20-6, 8 KOs) and Paul Truscott (13-2, 1 KO). Simpson won via TKO in the 10th.

Gavin Rees (36-2, 31 KOs) the former WBA Light Welterweight Titleholder made his comeback with a comfortable stoppage of Johnny Greaves (2-37, 1 KO) Rees 29, will drop down to lightweight and hopefully get a world-title tilt. Bradley Pryce (28-7, 17 KOs) also fought on the undercard and was impressive as he comfortably won a shutout decision against Michael Monaghan (18-25, 2 KOs). Pryce is hoping that Enzo Calzaghe’s new strict regime can fire him up the rankings.

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Sexton Stuns Rogan in Belfast!

In a thrilling brawl in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Belfast cabbie and defending British Commonwealth Champ, Martin Rogan, was stopped in 8 by Sam Sexton.

Sexton managed to stun the onrushing Rogan several times, most notably in the 2nd and 7th, but what ultimately did in the defending champs was a swollen-shut left eye, which eventually led to the ringside doctor calling an end to the bout in the 8th.

It should be noted that Sexton was literally out on his feet at several points in the 8th, but was able to hold on- Once by pointing to the canvas in front of an oncoming Rogan, which caused Rogan to become confused, put down his hands and get tagged a couple of times by an astute Sexton.

Ref Dave Pariss' job could also be called into question in that he stopped the action at several points of the bout, many in moments where the challenger, Sexton, was in trouble.

Rogan falls to 12-1 (6) while Sexton moves to the top of the UK Heavyweight list at 12-1 (5).

The fight, by the way, was streamed live to members of the BTBC Fan Forum: http://www.btbc.proboards.com/

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