Safe Side Of The Ropes

Knock out artist Edwin Valero showed that there’s more to him than meets the eye with an impressive victory over Antonio DeMarco last night. A pro DeMarco crowd in Monterrey, Mexico stood witness as Valero extended his amazing knockout streak to 27 stoppages from his 27 outings, however this was only half the story.

The big noise post fight centred on the skills the Venezuelan had displayed in halting yet another foe as he unveiled feints, jabs, combinations and a tricky defence all backed up with pulverising hitting. As a US showcase it went about as well as ‘El Dinamita’ could have wished for, save for a horrendous gash he suffered on his forehead from a DeMarco elbow in round two.

Forging on with a face masked in blood, Valero brought to mind at times the version of Manny Pacquiao who blazed his way through the divisions just south of lightweight with his speed, power and aggression. Although DeMarco was game, he was inhibited by Valero’s power pretty early in the contest and although he could take the bombs bouncing off his chin, his ambition ebbed away round after round until he could take no more after nine.

The win could set up lucrative bouts with the likes of Timothy Bradley in the short term and Manny Pacquiao further down the line, although personally I’d like to see him stay at lightweight where his power remains freakishly potent. Rising to his third weight division in pursuit of the man he craves, our pound for pound leader, could diminish the very thing he stands for. Bone crunching hitting ability.

I just picked up the year end award issue of Ring magazine which featured a ‘Superstars of the Decade’ feature from Eric Raskin. I was pleasantly surprised to see Britain taking top honours in three of the divisions with Lennox Lewis (heavyweight), David Haye (cruiserweight) and Joe Calzaghe (super middleweight).

Ricky Hatton can feel hard done by in losing out to the man he dethroned at light welterweight, Kostya Tszyu although his dalliances at welterweight cost him dearly.

There were also mentions for Calzaghe and Clinton Woods at light heavyweight (numbers 6 and 8 respectively), Carl Froch at super middle (number 6), Junior Witter at light welter (ranked 8th) and Scott Harrison and Naz Hamed at featherweight (numbers 6 and 7 respectively).

I was most interested to see Raskin’s take on the heavyweights after myself compiling a similar list whilst on holiday last summer. Raskin’s list reads as follows:

1. Lennox Lewis 2. Vitali Klitschko 3. Wladimir Klitschko 4. Chris Byrd 5. Hasim Rahman 6. John Ruiz 7. Oleg Maskaev 8. James Toney 9. Ruslan Chagaev 10. Alexander Povetkin.

My top six was as read (albeit with the top three in a different order) and only Chagaev made the bottom half of my picks which can be found here:

http://safesideoftheropes.com/2009/08/23/rating-the-heavyweights-of-the-deacde/

I lamented bumping Lewis for Wlad after submitting the article yet found myself stuck in a moral quandary, trying to be impartial when judging one guy I had followed with a passion against another I find rather insufferable. Thankfully Raskin’s version will find itself a way bigger audience.

There were a couple of boxing snippets in the Sunday papers which is always good to see, the first an article in The Observer about sons and daughters following in the footsteps of famous sporting parents. Shane McGuigan and Chris Eubank Jr. both featured alongside their more illustrious pops, who interestingly both attempted to dissuade their boys from following in their footsteps. Time will tell if the pair can carve out legitimate careers for themselves or if they’ll find their surnames too much to live up to as Messrs Witherspoon, Hearns, Camacho and Chavez have done in recent years.

In a more downmarket periodical (not mine honest) I found a saddening article on Howard Clarke, the former journeyman who lived out his own Rocky fairy tale with a gig against Fernando Vargas on the undercard of Lewis-Holyfield I. Clarke is now suffering badly from frontotemperal dementia, a direct result of his overextended role as human punching bag on the domestic circuit.

As young McGuigan noted in his interview,

“The people that get pugilistic dementia are those who don’t know when to stop”.

Unfortunately for Clarke and for countless other fighters, it’s knowing when to stop which is the hard part.

“I was stupid and I guess too greedy. I never thought my career was going to end, but if I could get a licence to fight now, I would”.

How do you suddenly stop being someone you’ve trained all you life to become anyway?

A couple of posts ago I was finding it kinda hard to get enthused about 2010’s upcoming schedule. If there’s one good thing about our much maligned sport however, it’s that events can change overnight. A shrewd deal here, a couple of signatures on contracts there and gloom can rapidly turn to optimism.

Dan Rafael reported on Monday that Golden Boy are interested in making an Amir Khan-Juan Manuel Marquez match. Even better than that, Victor Ortiz is being lined up against Nate Campbell on the undercard. Both bouts would pit budding light welter stars in Khan and Ortiz against grizzled lightweight veterans in intriguing and exciting crossroads fights.

There’d be something for everyone here. Khan-Marquez could turn out to be a wonderful fencing contest, whilst Ortiz-Campbell would see two aggressive punchers looking for redemption after the pair were accused of showing a lack of appetite in recent bouts against Marcos Maidana and Timothy Bradley respectively.

Incidentally, Khan and Marquez’s alphabet mandatories (Maidana and Michael Katsidis) may elect to stay busy against Victor Cayo and Robert Guerrero.

Katsidis-Guerrero would be another tremendous match up (lest we forget Mosley-Mayweather trundling along the pipeline). I’m very happy with Richard Schaefer and pals right now, can you tell?

Elsewhere, Hayemaker promotions have made an offer to Britain’s Olympic hero James DeGale for him to tackle their own super middleweight shooting star George Groves on the Haye-Ruiz undercard. Hayemaker have offered Frank Warren Promotions the princely sum of £50, 000 for DeGale’s services, an offer which has next to no chance of being successful yet one which signals the first shots being fired across the bow in what will likely be a protracted build up to an eventual showdown.

Groves-DeGale could be this generation’s Benn-Eubank and while it doesn’t make much sense at all for Warren to match his flashy 5-0 prospect against Hayemaker’s 8-0 puncher, I’d be elated if it came off having purchased tickets last week (one can dream).

I had intended to write a positive piece on Floyd Mayweather (yep you read that right) this week however his stalling in signing the Mosley contract has me perturbed. Cold feet or stage management? All will be revealed.

There are a clutch of decent contests this weekend with Glen Johnson (rated #3 at light heavy) and Yusaf Mack (#7) battling for the right to face light heavyweight alphabet titlist Tavoris Cloud (#6). Elsewhere, lightweight knockout machine Edwin Valero (rated #1 behind champ Juan Manuel Marquez) faces the gangling Antonio DeMarco (#9) in Monterrey, Mexico whilst at home, the resurgent Jason Booth puts his British super bantamweight title on the line against West Ham’s Matthew Marsh in Nottingham.

Johnson-Mack should be a tough and gruelling contest for both with the big question centering on just how much petrol the 41 year old former Roy Jones conqueror Johnson has left in the tank. Johnson will be favoured to pull out a hard fought points victory.

There’s intrigue every time the dynamite punching Valero puts on the gloves as fans wait to see whether the Venezuelan can extend his amazing knockout record beyond his current 26 knockout victories in 26 bouts. DeMarco, who brings to mind former featherweight title holder Manuel Medina in terms of style (although DeMarco fights southpaw), should provide a test, but will do well to last the distance.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Booth perform again after his mesmerising victory over Michael Hunter last time out. Booth should know far too much for his battling opponent.

2010 is catching fire.

In a Boxing Monthly preview piece from 1999, Steve Farhood carried out an analysis of boxing “superfights” over a 20-year period. In order to determine just how many of the sport’s biggest nights were what they had been purported to be, the writer used a three-point criteria, which was as follows: Are both fighters in their primes? Are both at their best weights? Are both legitimately great fighters?

The piece is worth a second look because of the recent maneuvering of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao (read  more via the link):

http://queensberry-rules.com/2010-articles/january/anatomy-of-a-superfight.html#comments

I’m not often a fan of what comes out of people’s mouths and this week’s been no exception. I’ve been left with my own trap hanging wide open on three separate occasions, with each of these fly catching opportunities resulting in a feeling of (in turn) slight anger, amusement and bemusement.

After a month of cancellations, accusations and fights dates going up in smoke (is it summer 2009 again?), beleagured fight fans felt bouyed by the performances of rising starlets ‘Juanma’ Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa this past weekend. After Lopez scythed down Steve Luevano and Gamboa blew through Rogers Mtagwa on their second successive headlining fight card together, fans naturally did the math and declared an interest in seeing the pair matched together.

“I know what people want and they can go [expletive] themselves,” Bob Arum declared.

There’s that hope dashed then. Arum did elaborate on his charming retort further though.

“I want to wait and build this to be the biggest featherweight fight of all time. It’s my job as a promoter to do that. When they fight, they’ll fight to be best featherweight in the world. I want to see those two clean out the division and I don’t want to see them rush to fight each other. There’s no way I want to rush and do this.”

Mmm, fair enough Bob but seriously, the last thing the most poorly rewarded fans in all of sports need right now is abuse from one of its senior matchmakers, especially for simply wanting to see a good fight.

It wouldn’t wash in any other industry. Imagine Stuart Rose declaring that M&S shareholders keen on reducing plastic bag usage could go and ‘eat their own [expletive]’…..or ‘suck his big fat [expletive]’. There’d be protests amid the ailses of pre-washed salads. When Gerald Ratner labelled his company’s product as ‘crap’, he instantly wiped £500m from its coffers; Arum’s damn lucky he doesn’t deal in jewellery.

I’d love to see old Bob ostracised like Ron Burgundy, cocooned in his own glass case of emotion.

Next came more nonsense from the Mayweather family who really are overdue their own ‘Osbournes’ type fly on the wall show. Floyd’s uncle Roger (the Ozzy of the clan) recently threw his hat into the PED debate with some astonishing comments about Manny Pacquiao on a recent radio talk show.

“That mother***** is on the A-side meth, that’s what the f*** he’s on,” “It’s called the A-side meth. He on that or he on something else. The A-side meth is what they used to have 500 years ago. Remember when the Philippines were fighting the US soldiers? They were shooting them motherf****s with 45s. And 45s were bouncing off their motherf****ng ass. They weren’t even dying!”

Whaaaaaa…………….???

There have been some hilarious forum discussions on the subject with some folk fairly confident that Roger has himself confused with mythological amulets rather than this bizarre ‘A-side meth’ he keeps rambling on about in the interview. I’ve saved you the bother of listening to his crazy lip flapping by omitting a link, most of the recording is filled with him repeating himself anyway.

“how can that motherf***** turn down $100 million just so he didn’t have to take the test”

Bizarre but hilarious all the same.

Finally, I read this quote a couple of days ago from the Golden Albatross himself.

“John Ruiz is a very experienced fighter who knows what it takes to dominate in the heavyweight division and to win when it counts in a big fight,” De la Hoya said. “I expect a great fight that fight fans shouldn’t miss.”

I haven’t too much to say on this latest pearler from Oscar. If anyone can advise on an occasion when the WBA’s love child (Ruiz) has dominated even a fight never mind a division, I’d be intrigued to hear it. I’m also not entirely sure just how Haye-Ruiz can possibly be a great fight but it’s an interesting one nonetheless, certainly enough for me to snaffle £50 tickets to attend (ringside seats were going for £600, whoa that’s hefty).

• Frank Warren’s bad month goes from strength to strength. Firstly Khan decides the grass is greener on the other side of the Atlantic and then Sam Sexton withdraws as headline act on Warren’s huge February card at Wembley. To make matters worse, Sexton’s opponent Danny Williams then balks at the idea of Derek Chisora replacing the Norfolk heavyweight………before agreeing………only to subsequently pull out due to a ‘virus’. Bit of a nightmare there then- I’m now not quite sure who Warren’s referring to with his ‘Night of the Champions’ tag line.
• Still no news on Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler or John Murray-Anthony Mezaache tickets, which is a bummer.
• Is it me or is it quiet? Haye-Ruiz, Hopkins-Jones, Adamek-Estrada, Urango-Alexander, Smith-Dodson, Klitschko-Chambers……………sheesh, kinda hard to get excited about much right now.
• If Haye whups Ruiz and elects to face Audley Harrison or Bernard Hopkins next in big money novelty fights, he’ll deserve all of the criticism coming his way and more. He has to lure a Klitschko into a fight after Ruiz (and then show up).
• The alphabet mafia are considering a super heavyweight division? Imagine how much Chris Arreola could eat whilst still comfortably retaining his place as a top ten contender. It’s NACHO time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Boxing’s most exciting double act swing back into action this weekend, sharing headline status at the WaMu Theatre in NY.

Puerto Rican puncher, Juan Manuel ‘Juanma’ Lopez invades featherweight to tackle the number two ranked man in the division, the tough and seasoned Steve Luevano. Sharing the bill, flashy Cuban Yuriorkis Gamoboa, ranked tenth at 126 lbs, goes in with the man who gave Lopez hell last time out, the hard and gnarled Tanzanian, Rogers Mtagwa.

The idea here is to build interest in a Lopez-Gamboa blockbuster further down the line, to try and reach the masses and spread the type of excitement building within the industry since the idea of such a shootout first reared its head. One has to wonder quite how long the trailer will last before the big feature and whether Bob Arum, the man at the helm, is over egging the pudding with these double header showcase events.

Prior to their last outing, Lopez would have started favourite against the greener Gamboa, yet Arum’s ‘Latin Fury 12’ card in October evened the odds up beautifully. Lopez looked vulnerable for the first time against Rogers Mtagwa, whilst Gamboa looked sensational in scoring a stoppage win over Whyber Garcia. As of today I would find it excruciatingly tough to pick a winner, yet tomorrow evening may change this perception once again.

Lopez-Luevano

Lopez (27-0, 24 KO’s) is a powder keg punching phenom whose struggles last time out have prompted a departure from super bantamweight. There is a general theory within the sport that fighters who slim down to an unnatural weight, can wield extraordinary power early in fights as a benefit, yet can suffer down the stretch with diminished stamina and punch resistance.

This would explain perfectly Lopez’s hellish problems in the Mtagwa fight, when, after wailing away on his indestructible foe, ‘Juanma’ came within a smidgen of being knocked out. It made for a fight of the year candidate (and a winning one in my eyes), yet did nothing to enhance the Puerto Rican’s standing in the sport. I was slightly surprised at Lopez’s protestations that weight was the overriding issue here. Juanma didn’t appear to be big for a super bantam, could it be that this was the simplest way for the undefeated fighter to accept that he’d been beaten up for the first time?

“I’m not Superman” Lopez lamented post fight.

In Luevano, (37-1-1, 15 KO’s) Lopez will be facing a guy who himself struggles to make weight, which may mean that the smaller man is actually the stronger man on the night. Luevano, who currently holds a featherweight world title, is a tough southpaw boxer with a busy right lead and good movement. He began his tenure as WBO titlist in July 2007 by putting a whipping on Nicky Cook in London and has defended his belt on five occasions since. Despite his solid credentials, Luevano has stuggled of late and in fact, won his last fight flat on his back with his senses scrambled.

The opponent was Bernabe Conception, who back in August troubled Luevano early on with powerful punching, especially with the right hand. Luevano managed to make adjustments before boxing his way into the fight, utilising his good right lead to control his man from outside. Conception however always appeared to have enough kick in his shots to end matters, which he eventually did. Unfortunately for him and trainer Freddie Roach, it was a couple of seconds after the bell to end round seven, meaning he was disqualified. Luevano has also been on the deck in two of his other five title defences, against Terdsak Jandaeng and Mario Santiago, both times after fielding left hands.

Despite having his mitt raised last time, Luevano was knocked senseless (albeit illegally) by Conception and this will undoubtedly have affected his mindset in the run up to the bout. Doubt may lead to tentiveness, which may see him give up ground to Lopez early.

Lopez also will have doubt preying on his mind. He showed guts and a good chin against Mtagwa, yet he ran out of gas and caught too many shots flush in what was, rather worryingly, the first time he’d navigated the twelve round distance.

Luevano will have seized upon this and will be aiming to avoid Lopez’s power early before establishing his jab and coming on late in the fight. Lopez meanwhile, will probably be more economical with his shots in the fight’s first quarter, using range finders to feel his distance before punching with more devil as the fight progresses and any stamina doubts dissipate.

I can see both fighters opening tentatively. Luevano could be the busier of the pair in terms of punch output yet Lopez will be the one landing the bigger and more eye catching shots. Gradually, Lopez will begin chopping away at Luevano with classy combinations and despite stubborn resistance, Steve will be hit too hard and too often to be able to continue. Lopez should win in nine.

Gamboa-Mtagwa

Yuriorkis Gamboa, (16-0, 14 KO’s) just keeps improving. ‘El Ciclone de Guantanamo’ struck gold at the 2004 Olympics at flyweight before defecting from his homeland in 2006 to chase success in the pro ranks. Matched tough from the off, Gamboa has grown up in public, picking himself off the floor in bouts to triumph thanks to his fantastic blend of speed and power.

Gamboa reminds me at times of Philadelphia speedster Meldrick Taylor with his bursts of flashy, two handed punching, which is high praise indeed (Taylor is one of my all time favourite fighters). In taking on Mtagwa, he’ll be looking to eclipse Lopez’s effort in October, further bolstering his hopes of victory once the dynamic duo finally cross swords.

His opponent, Rogers Mtagwa (26-13-2, 18 KO’s) is a far better fighter than his record would suggest and the very definition of a man who can take a licking and keep on ticking. The Philly based tough guy’s effort against Lopez was extraordinary, wading through ‘Juanma’s’ punches like some ridiculous Hollywood bad guy pursuing the hero through all manner of fire and brimstone. He came within a whisker of victory, showing bull-like strength to barge his way in close before launching pineapples at his man with crazy abandon.

There are many, including Lopez, who feel that Gamboa’s speed and power will allow him to have his way with Mtagwa however I’m not so sure. If Rogers can put in a similar shift to the one he did against Lopez, I feel he can again cause problems for the unbeaten fighter.

I fancy that both men’s styles will make for a tough inside battle. Gamboa likes to work his way in close before getting off with two handed salvos, which inevitably forces him to square up on his man. As Mtagwa lunges forward to retaliate, there is the possibility he can catch Yuriorkis with one of his unorthodox humdingers, especially if Gamboa fails to protect his chin as he has been prone to do in previous bouts. There’s also the small matter of Mtagwa being rough as hell inside and with the pair bumping and boring together, we could see head clashes and cuts coming into the equation.

Despite this, I fancy Gamboa will at times be able to tee off on his man, dragging the crowd off their seats with prolonged barrages of shots. Rogers meanwhile will keep chugging forward with his head down regardless, hoping to hit a home run.

Mtagwa will wind up playing Jake Lamotta to the Cuban’s Sugar Ray and whilst he’ll again win oddles of respect, he’ll come up short on the cards. I hope he’s being paid well. Gamboa by unanimous decision.

It’s quiet this weekend, the famine before the feast. The new boxing decade really kicks into life next weekend, with the NY Juanma Lopez-Yuriorkis Gamboa double-header serving as an appetiser before the Shane Mosley-Andre Berto main course seven days later. In a bid to stave off your hunger, here are a few random ramblings I’ve rustled up for you to nibble on in the interim.

Good news for George Groves fans this week, with Boxing News reporting that the Hammersmith prospect has landed a slot on the Mosley-Berto show in Vegas. Groves must come through a fight in Brentwood on Friday unscathed (against that fearsome opponent TBA) to ensure he takes his place on what looks a very good undercard. I always see it as a good sign if fighters are willing to learn some of the early ropes Stateside, with men such as Ricky Hatton, Scott Harrison, Wayne McCullogh, Chris Eubank and Steve Collins benefiting from the experience. Groves needs to be careful here however. His quote, “Oscar said he’d get me a tough Mexican” scares the bejesus out of me as one who’s like to see Groves remain unbeaten.

More optimism for Groves fans comes with news that he’s been drafted in to spar Super Six combatants, Arthur Abraham and Mikkel Kessler. Adam Booth has also expressed an interest in George having a crack at British super middleweight champ Paul Smith……….this summer!! Smith (who appears at number 20 on my list of Britain’s best fighters) has had more than four times the amount of fights Groves has, although at the rate George is motoring, he could be into double figures by summer. Reading this stuff (and seeing him fight), you’d assume ‘Saint’ George was a badass but he actually comes over as a happy go lucky fella, which makes me like him even more.

Frank Warren’s latest column (my flatmate left his tabloid in the netty, honest) has the headline ‘a real weighty old problem’ and as usual, leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. Warren, in his own inimitable way, explains that our superfight failed due to Mayweather’s demands for drug testing. He continues:

“Although I can’t remember a fight falling through for similar reasons, it could become more common in the future. In the States, fighters seem to move through the divisions more freely than Europe. That could provoke suspicions in certain camps. Interestingly, the best British fighters of the last 20 years or so have tended to stay in and around the same division. Naseem Hamed, Joe Calzaghe, Nigel Benn, Steve Collins and Ricky Hatton never went much above the weight they made their debuts at. It’s not quite been the same for the outstanding American fighters of the last decade. Oscar De La Hoya and Mayweather began at super-featherweight before meeting at light-middleweight. Roy Jones Junior and James Toney both started out below middleweight but wound up contesting versions of the heavyweight world title. Toney has been caught taking performance enhancing drugs while Jones has also been involved in a drugs controversy. Shane Mosley has gone from lightweight up to light-middleweight, while Pacquiao has gone from being a flyweight to glory at welterweight.”

Thanks for that Frank, that’s almost as bad as Oscar’s recent quip:

 “Wow. Those Mosley punches, those Vargas punches and those Pacquiao punches all felt the same.”

Good game fellas. Warren also gets in his usual kidney punch at David Haye, which is great for those of us who hate change.

What else have I picked up? Hmmm. Well here’s one of those fabulous HBO ‘face off’ snippets between Mosley and Berto:

I like these. I like to think I’m perceptive when I see a couple of fighters come face to face. They say that every picture tells a story and more often than not, when I see a snap of two guys facing off at the final presser, I can pick the winner. I’ve long felt that there’s a great angle here for an article so I’ll not proceed, my point really being that these clips can act as an extended version of the familiar head to head pic.

The recent Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto clip showed Pac happily sizing up Cotto up like a lion eyes a gazelle. This one here has me veering towards a Berto win. Andre appears genuinely confident around the great man and is speaking sense, whilst Shane looks a tad battle scarred to me. For those who like to get on a bet early, Berto on points (I can’t ever see Mosley being stopped) can be picked up at 11/4.

I’m constantly checking the Hennessy Sports website to obtain dates for John Murray-Anthony Mezaache and Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler, two fights I intend to be front and centre for. I’m also excited at news that David Haye-John Ruiz will be in London, possibly featuring Joan Guzman and Michael Katsidis on the undercard. I’m having to back heel Warren’s stacked Wembley card to accommodate, which is a bummer.

Elsewhere there are now a trio of fighters looking for 140lb-ish opposition. Floyd Mayweather has no viable options on the table as far as I’m concerned, other than Paul Williams and I’ll be expecting to see ‘Dancing on Ice’ live from Hades before I see that one.

Amir Khan has been presented with Marcos Maidana as his next opponent, yet may reject this proposition for more marketable and more winnable fights. Rumours are abound that Amir is looking to make a Malignaggi fight, although Lou Dibella doesn’t seem keen due to Khan’s low profile in the States. Khan’s been linked with more men than Lindsay Lohan in the past few weeks, one of which is the third of our single men, Ricky Hatton.

Incidentally, does anyone else see a similarity between Ricky in his present state and Janette Krankie?

Where was I? Oh yes, trying to second guess who’ll land money gigs with our three amigos. Paulie Malignaggi has been talking up his chances as one would expect, yet I personally, don’t want to see him in with any of them. Michael Katsidis is popular too, he bleeds a lot, can be outboxed yet makes for good fights, which makes a Hatton-Katsidis battle an attractive one. Unfortunately, Ricky has himself nominated a ‘world champion or pound for pounder’ which could rule out Khan (if he relinquishes his belt) and would bring in Juan Manuel Marquez for a moderately intriguing battle between two of boxing’s good guys.

Back to Khan, who’s next step is a mystery yet will tell us much about his future intentions. His contract situation appears to have changed as I write, with reports coming in that he’s signed with Golden Boy (beware of the GBP first fight curse). If this is true, Warren has a new heavy bag to wail away on.

Maybe Khan and Hatton can fight each other in a highly lucrative domestic showdown which has me thinking of Joe Bugner-Henry Cooper for some reason.

As for Floyd, who knows? He’s stymied himself, which serves him right really and helps make my boycott of his next fight all the more easy. He needs one hell of an angle, like Apollo Creed did in ‘Rocky’. Just don’t look for him to fight a ‘snow white underdog’ in a gimmick fight dressed as Uncle Sam. He’ll probably fight a Mexican on Cinco de Mayo or a Puerto Rican during their annual parade weekend and play the man in the black hat all the way to the bank if fans let him.

Having just finished scrawling an article which previews the year ahead for British boxing (for boxing blog ‘The Queensberry Rules-published tomorrow) I’m due a rest, however the whole exercise got me thinking about that little grey sidebar on the right hand side of your screen entitled, ‘Britain’s Best’.

I added that some time ago in an attempt to be innovative. Let me explain.

The BBC currently ranks the top ten Brits (pound-for-pound if you will) in their boxing section and Mike Rosenthal from ‘RingTV.com’ came up with his own picks a while back, but apart from that there aren’t many lists of this sort around (maybe it’s an American thing?).

The boys at the Beeb are surprisingly high on Kell Brook and have him head scratchingly ranked above more accomplished men (to date) such as Matthew Macklin, Junior Witter and Kevin Mitchell, yet their ten picks overall are pretty good and are on the right lines.

Rosenthal meanwhile, is even higher on Amir Khan, ranking him the absolute top of the pops, above David Haye, Carl Froch and Ricky Hatton (despite Khan ranking below Hatton in the Ring light welter ratings at the time Mike drew up his list). Here’s what he had to say about the quicksilver light welter titlist after the recent Khan-Salita match:

Amir Khan: ‘….. he must get down to some serious challenges. Among the possibilities: Timothy Bradley (if he beats Lamont Peterson), Victor Ortiz (if he beats Antonio Diaz), Ricky Hatton (if he doesn’t fight Juan Manuel Marquez), Juan Diaz (if he beats Paulie Malignaggi), Marcos Maidana, Michael Katsidis or Edwin Valero. It really doesn’t matter which direction he goes. None of these guys will beat him. He’s the real deal.’

Wow, that’s pretty gushing praise and explains Rosenthal’s top spot rating however for me, wins over Kotelnik and Salita don’t quite compare to the recent work of Haye, Froch and Hatton.

So, as my Pops was always so keen on telling me, if you want a job doing right, you’re better off doing it yourself, which is exactly what I set about doing, however I’d now like to take it one step further and make it into a top 20.

This was a tricky task. Having consulted various sets of ratings including those of Boxing News, Boxing Monthly and the IBO and using the old grey stuff between my ears (no comments about cement please), I’ve come up with the following.

Please feel free to take umbrage if you feel I’ve dropped a clanger with it, I’m more than open to suggestions and I’ll make changes if you put across a decent enough case.

Here we are then, Britain’s top 20:

1)       David Haye (23-1)

Okay, Nikolay Valuev is no great shakes however Haye’s achievements in recent years have been admirable.

After winning the European cruiserweight title with a one punch finish against Alexander Gurov in 2007, Haye defended against decent opposition including the unbeaten Giacobbe Fragomeni. After blasting out Tomasz Bonin, Haye invaded Paris and wrenched the undisputed cruiserweight championship from Jean Marc Mormeck with a stunning win. After a quick knockout of domestic rival Enzo Maccarinelli, Haye leapt to heavyweight and within two fights, he has a WBA title around his waist, and he did it the hard way once again on away turf.

2)       Carl Froch (26-0)

It wasn’t very long ago that Froch was predominately known for being the guy who hadn’t really fought anyone and seemed obsessed with Joe Calzaghe. How things change. Calzaghe’s gone and in Carl’s last three fights, he’s defeated current WBC light heavy boss Jean Pascal and ranked US fighters in Jermain Taylor and Andre Dirrell. Froch’s next two fights could propel him to top spot.

3)       Ricky Hatton (45-2)

Hatton, along with Haye, is the only guy on the list who’s been a true and linear world champion and in the process, managed to get his hands on a Ring championship belt. His future remains uncertain yet a win over top opposition would likely elevate his standing.

4)      Amir Khan (22-1)

Khan had a resurgent ’09 after a pretty terrible ’08. Now a WBA light welter titlist, a fight with Hatton would be huge in the UK.

5)       Junior Witter (37-3-2)

Witter, like Hatton, is coming off a bad defeat, the man from Bradford losing a vacant WBC title challenge to Devon Alexander in August after retiring with an injured mitt. Despite this ‘The Hitter’ holds notable wins over Demarcus Corley and Andreas Kotelnik and pushed Tim Bradley close when losing his championship.

6)       Kevin Mitchell (30-0)

Mitchell  produced the performance of his career last time out to tame Breidis Prescott and stands on the verge of a lightweight title bid.

7)      Matthew Macklin (26-2)

Macklin is on a roll right now and holds the European middleweight title.

8)      Ryan Rhodes (43-4)

Rhodes, the former ‘Spice Boy’ from the Ingle gym in Sheffield produced the best fight of his life to dethrone European 154 lb champ Jamie Moore in October. Rhodes stands on the cusp of an unlikely world title shot.

9)       John Murray (28-0)

Murray, Manchester’s next generation pressure fighter is due to make the step up to European level in 2010.

10)    Nathan Cleverly (18-0)

Cleverly too is an unbeaten young gun with his eyes on a European title. He’s likely to challenge for one at light heavy in his next bout, which may now take place on home ground.

11)    Rendall Munroe (20-1)

I’ve been in a bit of a quandary over Munroe’s placing after analysing his recent good work as European and Commonwealth super bantamweight champ. After a sleepless night, I’m sticking with him at number eleven (just) despite his greater experience at European level compared to the men above him, however there’s really not a heck of a lot in it.

12)   Jamie Moore (32-4)

Moore was reportedly on the verge of a WBC title challenge before succumbing to a resurgent Ryan Rhodes in his last outing. Despite the loss, Moore remains a seasoned campaigner who’s mixed at Euro level and holds an impressive win over Macklin and a handy one over Michele Piccirillo.

13)    Nicky Cook (29-2)

Cook is a former WBO titlist who, like Hatton, was pancaked in his last bout against Puerto Rican, Roman Martinez. If Cook does not return to the ring pretty soon (he isn’t scheduled to) he’ll depart due to inactivity.

14)    Gavin Rees (31-1)

Rees is hard to place. An unlikely former world titlist, he’s only been defeated once against Andreas Kotelnik and holds a win over Soulymane M’Baye. His recent ‘Prizefighter’ victory however, may have earned him a date with WBC 140lb champ, Devon Alexander.

15)    Jason Booth (34-5)

Booth, like Rhodes, is in the midst of a late career flourish. A sweet technician, Booth holds wins over Michael Hunter and Ian Napa. Booth’s next bout is against the number four ranked domestic super bantam, Matthew Marsh.

16)    Kell Brook (20-0)

Brook is aiming for a world title fight in the very near future.

17)    Darren Barker (21-0)

Barker currently holds the Commonwealth middleweight title and is chasing a huge fight with Matthew Macklin.

18)    Ian Napa (19-7)

The diminutive Napa is the current British bantam boss and a former European champ. ‘Dapa’ Napa holds wins over his top two rated domestic contenders, Gary Davies and Martin Power and is taking on the guy just below them, English champ Jamie McDonnell next up.

19)    Paul McCloskey (20-0)

McCloskey is European champion at light welterweight. Now 30, the man from Northern Ireland will be hoping for big nights ahead, although a recent plea for a fight with Amir Khan is unlikely to come to fruition.

20)    Paul Smith (28-1)

Smith took the British super middleweight title last time out from local rival Tony Quigley and faces the number four rated domestic super middle, Tony Dodson, in his next bout.