PREVIEW: Haye v Klitschko

After what seems like years of build-up - actually this is literally true, the fight was first mooted in 2009 - boxing fans will finally get the opportunity on Saturday night to see whether David Haye has what it takes to, in his own words, 'clean up the heavyweight division'.
Some of the pre-fight build up has been pretty tedious and some of it has bordered on the bizarre. But all is fair when there's box office tickets to sell and this one could break all the records. Certainly the appetite is there in Germany where TV audiences for boxing have been huge in the past. Saturday's fight in Hamburg is expected to attract a 60 per cent share of the TV audience in addition to the 50,000 fans crammed into the Imtech Arena. It's a welcome reminder of the days when the heavyweight championship really was the biggest prize in sport.
As for the fight itself, it could be a classic. If Haye keeps to his word and retires before his 31st birthday in October, this could very possibly be his last fight. He has to leave everything in the ring or he will regret it for the rest of his life. But it won't be easy to wrestle the belts from Klitschko that he's held since 2006. The Ukrainian has a strong jab, a longer reach and the ring nous to do just what it takes in front of sympathetic judges on home turf. If Haye let's it go to the cards, he'll be in big trouble, but then very few Haye fights go the distance. The major exception was his fight against Valuev in which he boxed sensibly, moved in and out of range and only took risks when it was clear the big man was dead on his feet. Klitschko is a completely different prospect. To win, Haye will have to knock him out, but that is by no means beyond him. The omens are good. Klitschko's two previous conquerers - Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster - were heavy-handed shorter men in the Haye mould. Sanders is 6 ft 4in and Brewster 6ft 2in, while Haye is right in the middle at 6ft 3in. Throughout his career, the one thing that has never been in doubt about David Haye is his power. When he connects, it's goodnight Vienna.
Like Lennox Lewis, I'm torn. My heart says Haye, my head says Klitschko. So I'm going to split myself in two with a bet on Haye to win by KO or TKO in rounds 4 to 6 at 8/1 with Betfred and a saver on Klitschko on points at 15/4 with Bet365.

Preview: Pacquiao vs Mosley

This has been a big week for boxing, for all sorts of reasons. On Sunday the British fight game lost one of its most iconic figures. Sir Henry Cooper - our 'enery - typified the spirit of the age in which fought and was, as his most famous opponent Muhammad Ali said, 'a great fighter and a gentleman'. He will be missed.
On Saturday night the ever-popular Prizefighter series goes international with a night of heavyweight boxing from Alexandra Palace in north London. Being a bit of a boxing traditionalist I wasn't a big fan of the format when it first appeared in 2008. But I have to admit, I'm a convert. It will be interesting to see if the concept takes off internationally and helps revive interest in boxing, as Steve Bunce clearly believes.
Over in Las Vegas, Nevada, boxing promoters are having little difficulty stimulating interest in Pacquiao's next outing, even if we're no closer to the mulit-million pound superfight with Mayweather we all want to see. 'Sugar' Shane Mosley has had a great career and is a tough cookie, but at 39 most people expect him to be too slow for Pacquiao's whirling fists. Pacquiao has fought three times since he destroyed Hatton back in May 2009 and although Cotto, Clottey and Margarito presented very different challenges, they all had something in common. They all managed to take the contest into the twelfth round and they all ended in convincing victories for the Filipino great. Mosley meanwhile has made it to the twelfth round in five of his last six fights. If the pattern is to continue, the 25/1 on offer from Sporting Bet for a Pacquiao victory in Round 12 looks tempting. I'm not quite that brave though, so I'm going for rounds 10-12, a 6-1 shot with newcomers Unibet.

Review: The Fighter

On Monday night I was lucky enough to attend a preview screening of David Russell's new Oscar-nominated film, The Fighter, which stars Mark Wahlberg as 'Irish' Micky Ward.
Ward is an unlikely subject for a boxing biopic but then this isn't really a film about his career. If it was it would never end before the fights which made him famous - an epic trilogy against Arturo Gatti (pictured above). It's really a film about his family and in particular his brother Dick Ecklund, an ex-boxer and crack addict, brilliantly portrayed in the film by Christian Bale. It's a crazy, helter-skelter performance that has to be seen to be believed and Bale is as short as 1/9 to take home the Oscar at the end of the month. Ecklund is a compelling character, a local legend around Lowell on account of his 1978 fight with Sugar Ray Leonard (he had Leonard on the canvas, but lost on points). The HBO documentary which chronicled his sad decent into drug addiction - and which features in the film - is now available to view online.
But back to those Gatti fights. If you've just come back from the cinema and you want to know what happened next, then I urge you to go on YouTube and look up Gatti-Ward.
The pair fought a total of three times, two victories for Gatti and one for Ward - but that doesn't tell the half of it. Two of their three contests were subsequently voted 'Fight of the Year' by Ring magazine and they still take the breath away, even on second, third, and fourth viewing.
Their first encounter was one of those rare occasions, in boxing and in life, when two men with an abundance of what fight people call 'heart' met in a head-on collision the like of which we may never see again. Like two cars driving towards each at full speed, they never let up the tempo, each daring the other to be the first to pull out. All three of their fights were over 10 rounds and it is interesting to speculate how they would have turned out over the 12-round championship distance. Both men gave literally everything they had, and walked away with the satisfaction of knowing they had left their blood, sweat, their very souls on the canvas.
Despite the ferocity of their fights, both became close friends after their boxing careers were over, sharing a bond few people will ever understand. Ward was devastated when Gatti was found dead in a Brazilian hotel room in 2009. His death has never been satisfactorily explained, but the fight world lost one of its most charismatic figures.
When I first watched those Gatti-Ward fights I always sided with Gatti, I'm not sure why. But knowing something of Ward's own extraordinary back story means I'll watch them again with new eyes.
The Fighter is a helluva film and deserves every one of its seven Oscar nominations. Amy Adams is also a revelation as Ward's feisty girlfriend Charlene who gives as good as she gets against Ward's mother and seven sisters. In real life there's no love lost between them to this day. The movie ends with Ward's 2000 victory over Shea Neary, a promising fighter who had previously been unbeaten but retired just two fights later. Both men played strongly on their Irish roots: Micky Ward was known simply as 'Irish' while Neary went by the nickname, the 'Shamrock Express'. In the movie though, most of the crowd in the London-based fight are wearing Union Jack t-shirts. A minor point, because the movie as a whole is superb.

Treat in store for fight fans

After the travesty of Haye v Harrison last month, a fight that simply never should have happened, boxing fans tuning into Frank Warren's 30th anniversary fistic extravaganza tonight are in for treat.

Top of the bill in Liverpool is Olympic gold-medallist James 'Chunky' DeGale against home-town favourite and former 'contender' Paul 'Smigga' Smith. Now I'm a big fan of Degale and he was hugely impressive last time out against Carl Dilks on Warren's 'Magnificent 7' bill. But he's only fought as a professional eight times and many people think he may have bitten off more than he can chew against Smith. Frank Warren won't mind what happens. Both fighters are part of his stable, although Degale is surely the better prospect. Still, Smith will have vocal support tonight inside the Echo Arena and Skybet's 9-2 about a Smith victory is grossly overpriced.

In Las Vegas meanwhile, Amir 'King Khan' takes on highly-rated Argentinian Marcos Maidana. I'm going to have to put the coffee on to stay awake (the fight is scheduled to start at 3am) but this has all the makings of a classic. Maidana has an impressive 90 per cent knock-out rate and is unlikely to rein in his big-hitting style now he's hit the bright lights of Vegas. Expect fireworks right from the start. Khan has turned into a top notch fighter under Freddie Roach and happens to have the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world as a sparring partner - Manny Pacquiao. I think Khan will be too slick for Maidana on the night but the Argentine is a tough nut to crack and it might be worth a punt on Sporting Bet's standout 11/4 on a Khan decision.

PREVIEW: Haye vs Harrison

In case you weren't aware, there's a big pay-per-view fight on telly tonight. But while boxing fans the world over will be staying up late to watch ring superstar Manny Pacquiao, British fans have been caught up in the hype surrounding the Haye vs Harrison knock-about in Manchester. And why not, it's a genuine all-British world title fight (albeit for the less respected WBA version of the heavyweight title) between two former friends who clearly despise each other. Look, you see, even I've bought into the hype. But back in September I called this fight a 'farce' and I stand by that. There's a very good reason the promo material for this fight keeps showing slow-motion footage of Harrison's crushing 12th round knockout of Michael Sprott; it's probably the only decent punch he's thrown in the last ten years. I exaggerate, but only slightly.
People forget that Harrison had probably lost every round up to that point and was staring, not for the first time, at boxing oblivion. But from somewhere he pulled out an absolute peach of a punch to set himself up for an unlikely shot at a heavyweight title.
Don't get me wrong, I don't blame David Haye for taking this fight. There's clearly plenty of public interest in seeing them get it on (motivated I suspect by a desire to see a perennial boxing bogeyman get his comeuppance) and Haye is due a big payday. The Klitschkos will still be there in a few months time and Haye knows, everyone knows, that he will have to fight them at some point. Why not pad out his 24-1 record against a former Olympic gold-medalist?
Harrison may be big, but he's slow, and Haye can duck and weave with the best of them. Some people seem to be predicting a Harrison victory on the back of a single punch against a second-rate opponent. I don't see lightning striking twice and I predict a Haye victory inside the first three rounds, available at 5/2 with Betfred.

PREVIEW: Pacquiao vs Margarito

Earlier this year, November was penciled in as possible date for the Pacquiao v Mayweather superfight that all fans want to see and that boxing badly needs. That fight still hasn't happened, as everyone knows, and when this somewhat unlikely match-up was announced instead, I have to confess, I was a little underwhelmed by the prospect. However, as the fight has got closer, I've started to get excited, as I do whenever the dynamic little Filipino enters the ring. Already assured of his place in boxing history and with an era-defining fight with Mayweather still out of reach, Pacquiao has been pursuing, what you might call, other interests. Like, being elected to the House of Representatives in the Philippines.
There are suggestions from the Pacquiao camp that his training hasn't been as vigorous as usual and trainer Freddie Roach isn't happy. In contrast, Antonio Margarito is that most dangerous of beasts, someone with pretty much nothing to lose (I'd argue Harrison is the same, although more of that later). He weighed in five pounds heavier than Pacquiao and could enter the ring with as much as 15-20 pounds over the smaller man. But size alone isn't everything, as Pacquiao has proved time and again in his relentless rise through the weight divisions. It's been well over two years since Margarito put in a decent shift, and even that victory against Cotto looks slightly dubious in light of what happened before the Mosley fight. Still, he's tall and rangy, an awkward customer with a decent chin and I don't expect Manny to have an easy night in Texas. He'll still win, and I think he'll do so inside the distance: 4-7 with Bet365.
Skybet offer 4-1 on a Pacquiao victory in rounds 7, 8 or 9 and that's the Twelfth Round selection.

Haye v Harrison takes us into realm of the absurd

The big news in boxing this week is that David Haye will fight Audley 'A-Force' Harrison at the MEN Arena in Manchester on November 13. There are so many things wrong with that sentence, I hardly know where to start.
Perhaps the least obvious though, is the location. Why Manchester for God's sake? I've got nothing against the city, apart from a certain football team I'm not going to mention, but why on earth have they chosen to stage a fight between two London fighters, with big London-based support, in er, Manchester. It makes as much sense as moving the Manchester derby to bloody Wembley.
Anyway, that said, it's an intriguing proposition wherever it's held. Harrison is best described as a joke without a punchline, while Haye is obviously taking time out from his oft-stated mission to 'clean up the heavyweight division'. Some have said, rather unkindly, that Mr Harrison doesn't deserve a shot at the title. Which may be true but at least he holds the European heavyweight title and the fight is of interest to British fans if only to enjoy the spectacle of two former friends swinging their fists at each other. But before all that, we've the even bigger spectacle of Haye/Harrison 'trash-talking' in the media to look forward to, for ooh, the next eight weeks or so. Harrison, who will be 39 when he climbs into the ring, certainly talks a good game, as he proved at the press conference. And apparently he does still have some fans, as proved by his appearance on Soccer AM this morning. Will whoever these people are please make themselves known at reception...

In other news, one of the men who Haye should have been fighting, Wladimir Klitschko, defends his IBF/WBO/IBO world titles tonight against Nigerian Samuel Peter. In their last meeting five years ago, Peter managed to put Klitschko on the canvas three times before eventually losing on points. However, having reviewed the footage just now on YouTube, they looked like pretty soft knock-downs, and I don't think the big Ukrainian was ever in real trouble. Still, it's probably the most-entertaining encounter the younger Klitschko has been involved in for the past few years, which isn't saying a lot considering he's played a starring role in some of the biggest boxing snooze-athons of all time. While Peter has an impressive 73% knock-out rate, I don't think he'll pull it off tonight and old Wlad will probably wrestle his way to another points win (2/1 Betfred), taking another little piece of boxing's ravaged soul with him.