The Next Step For Anthony Joshua ? Dillian Whyte Clash Inches Closer

06/05/2015 Olly Campbell

The fire of excitement surrounding London 2012 gold medallist Anthony Joshua, from both the hardcore fight fans and those who follow the sport a little less closely, has been burning intensely for months now – and following his seemingly effortless destruction of Kevin Johnson last weekend, expectation and interest in the Watford star has reached a career high level.

Arguably the freshest, strongest and most talented heavyweight prospect that the UK has seen since the days of Lennox Lewis (who won his Olympic gold for Canada), those growing more and more convinced he will – over the next 18 months/2 years – develop into the finished article, are now left with an awkward situation on their hands, asking the same questions as promoter Eddie Hearn.

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Linares & Mitchell Set To Do It Again?

06/04/2015 Olly Campbell

Those that witnessed it saw something special last Saturday when Dagenham lightweight Kevin Mitchell tragically fell short of his world title dream against Venezuelan WBC champ Jorge Linares, when he was stopped at the end of the 10th round after giving an heroic account of himself – flooring the champion along the way and sustaining an horrific eye injury from an earlier clash of heads.

For those that had doubted whether Mitchell truly belonged at top level, things became a little clearer given his performance. In a thrilling contest, at the time of the stoppage, Mitchell was up on 2 of the cards and things were level on the third. A fitting testament to the drama that left those in attendance and watching at home crying out for more.

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Shawn Porter: No Concerns About The Catchweight – Porter v Broner

06/05/201506/04/2015 Olly Campbell

The catchweight situation is at the forefront of boxing more than ever right now, most notably with Miguel Cotto, who is using it as the preferred method of defending his WBC middleweight title this weekend against Australia’s Daniel Geale – a visibly larger fighter.

A similar situation, although not quite as extreme, surrounds welterweight Shawn Porter, who fights Adrien Broner as part of Premier Boxing Champions on June 20th at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas at a 145lb catchweight – though unlike Geale, he has a 10lb rehydaration clause woven into the contract that means he won’t be able to “blow-up” on the night beyond 155.

Talking to ThaBoxingVoice about the fight and the catchweight stipulation imposed by Team Broner, Porter was relaxed and confident about the job in hand;

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Kell Brook Clears Up The Khan Situation

06/04/2015 Olly Campbell

Many many column inches are being devoted to the potential Brook v Khan fight, that so far continues to elude us thanks to Amir Khan’s stubborn insistence that Brook is somehow ‘undeserving’ of sharing a ring with him.

It’s a fight the British public in particular are desperate to see – and thankfully, down to this day and age of media saturation via the internet – every verbal barb and excuse is visible and it’s growing increasingly obvious who is stopping this fight from happening – even to the man in the street and the “casual” fan, if you will.

And it’s not the IBF 147lb champion, who has once again gone on the record to state his position unequivocally regarding Khan, telling Sky Sports;

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Robert Garcia Concerned By Coming To The UK – Brook v Rios

06/04/2015 Olly Campbell

He was in London at the weekend to corner his fighter Evgeny Gradovich in his (unsuccessful) defence of the IBF 126lb strap against Lee Selby – and following that TD loss, Robert Garcia has spoken to fighthype.com to voice any concerns he has about making Brook/Rios in the UK, hinting that contractually there are already a number of things he doesn’t like – even going so far as to question the neutrality of British officials – and even the ringside doctor!

Never shy, Garcia said;

“Brandon wants the fight, we want the fight too but there’s already a few little things that I’m not liking. First of all they told us we wouldn’t be able to wear the (Everlast) MX gloves. They said the commission in London or England, whatever (BBBofC) – that they’ve pretty much banned those gloves. I think that’s just ’cause of us, ’cause they know what we wear and they’re worried.”

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Froch Hits Back At DeGale : ‘Wouldn’t Get Past 8 vs Me’

06/03/201506/03/2015 Olly Campbell

After he vacated his IBF title instead of facing James DeGale (his then mandatory) in the first instance – something that allowed the Londoner to box – and beat – Andre Dirrell in Boston last month for said title, Carl Froch has spoken out (again!) to hit back at DeGale for his recent pu*** slur on him, insisting he is too experienced for the new champion to deal with – and certainly no pu***.

Speaking to TalkSport to criticise DeGale’s history making performance against Dirrell, Froch said;

“I thought he did just what he had to do to win the fight. I thought he could have pressed it home a little bit more when he scored the knockdown, (but) he seemed off the pace and on the back foot towards the end.”

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Khan Says Brook Needs Him & Having An ‘Easy Run’

06/03/2015 Olly Campbell

It hasn’t taken long for Amir Khan to find his way home following Friday night’s laboured victory over Chris Algieri – and after initially appearing to concede his performance may have dented his chances of a Floyd Mayweather fight – a series of interviews with various UK media outlets appear to show the Bolton man has changed his mind.

Last night on regional news in the North-West and now in an interview with TalkSport radio, the former Athens Olympian addressed both the issues of Floyd Mayweather and more pertinently, domestic rival Kell Brook – a man he is ostensibly avoiding, all the while insisting the IBF 147lb champion is yet to prove himself.

He said;

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Deontay Wilder’s Gimme Fight – Wilder v Molina

06/02/2015 Olly Campbell

I’ve said it countless times before. Deontay Wilder is a fighter I really WANT to like and after winning his WBC title in January against Bermane Stiverne, I’d taken baby steps toward that in terms of the Bronze Bomber answering some of the questions that fans had about him – most notably his 12 round engine and ability to take a shot.

So I joined everybody else groaning in despair at his ‘gimme’ defence against Eric Molina that has been picked up Sky Sports in the UK as opposed to Boxnation – and found myself laughing out loud at the title of the Showsports press release this morning – encaptioned ‘Deontay Wilder Hopes Eric Molina Fights Back on June 13.’

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Mikey Garcia – Eyeing Return At 140lb Later This Year

06/03/201506/02/2015 Olly Campbell

As the Top Rank contractual saga surrounding his inactivity rumbles on, a seemingly optimistic Mikey Garcia has spoken to fighthype.com to further clarify the situation regarding his in ring return – a fight he intends to make at 140lb before reassessing his options.

The talented former WBO 126 and 130lb champion always seems extremely cheerful in his interviews, this latest being no exception. Something that must be very difficult given how long it has been since he was last in a ring – January 2014 vs Juan Carlos Burgos.

He said with a smile;

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GGG Intends To Be Ringside For Cotto v Geale

06/03/201506/02/2015 Olly Campbell

It could well be more bad news for Miguel Cotto ahead of this weekend’s WBC middleweight clash with Australia’s Daniel Geale, as his mandatory challenger, Kazakh wrecking machine Gennady Golovkin plans on making an appearance at the fight – ostensibly to force the Puerto Rican into facing up to his mandatory responsibilities.

Golovkin, who last month beat Willie Monroe Jr into submission with his power punching has told fighthype.com

“I want to watch this fight in person and look forward to fighting the winner to show who the real WBC middleweight champion is.”

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