Order of the British Empire

“Seen this list Amir son…..what a load of……..”
  
Safeside is on a British tip this month, so in the name of consistency I’ll aim to keep the focus strictly domestic……well until I run out of ammo that is. Over on Ring.TV.com, Michael Rosenthal has come up with a list of his top ten UK fighters. I know these things are all very subjective and everyone’s entitled to their opinion yada yada yada, however this one still has me scratching my head. Here are his selections: 
  
A weekly boxing list compiled by Michael Rosenthal. This week: Carl Froch, arguably the No. 1 boxer from the United Kingdom, can become a star in his home country by winning the Super Six Boxing Classic. Here are the nine fighters from the UK rated by THE RING plus one more, Junior Witter. 
 1. Carl Froch, super middleweight (25-0, 20 KOs)
2. Amir Khan, junior welterweight (21-1, 15 KOs)
3. David Haye, heavyweight (22-1, 21 KOs)
4. Ricky Hatton, junior welterweight (45-2, 32 KOs)
5. Junior Witter, junior welterweight (37-3-2, 22 KOs)
6. Kevin Mitchell, junior lightweight (29-0, 22 KOs)
7. Jamie Moore, junior middleweight (32-3, 23 KOs)
8. Matthew Macklin, middleweight (25-2, 18 KOs)
9. Nicky Cook, junior welterweight (37-3-2, 22 KOs)
10. Rendall Munroe, junior feather (19-1, 8 KOs)
Three more: Kell Brook, Nathan Cleverly and John Murray.
 
Firstly, Khan at number two? Really? I mean admittedly the kid’s managed to reverse his career hearse with a win over Andreas Kotelnik but how does he get all the way up there with, from my reckoning, just one win over world rated oppo (unless you count the victory over a shot to bits Graham Earl-if I’m wrong please correct me)? Bizarrely, the quicksilver starlet from Bolton ranks 3rd in Ring’s light welter ratings………behind Hatton at number two……yet Hatton trails him in fourth on the list above…..with David Haye sandwiched between the pair……strange logic in anyone’s case.
 
Which moves me onto the Hayemaker’s placing…third?…. are we sure? He and Hatton are the only two fighters present to have grabbed one of those snazzy Ring belts and in turn assumed the position of top man at their weight, achievements which have to be worth something surely, despite Hatton getting pancaked against the best fighter in the world (and a probable all time great may I add) and Haye’s recent inactivity?
 
I’ll admit it’s tricky picking between Haye, Hatton and Froch. Do you go for the garrulous Bermondsey man’s wins over Mormeck, Maccarinelli and Barrett; Froch’s over Pascal and Taylor or Hatton’s better track record over a longer period offset with that brutal loss to the Pacman (remember Hatton’s the only one of them to have been anywhere near an overall pound for pound list). One thing’s for sure though, young Khan doesn’t figure in the argument, not yet anyway.
  
Here is BBC Sport’s list by way of contrast:
  
1. David Haye, heavyweight (22-1, 21 KOs)
2. Carl Froch, super middleweight (25-0, 20 KOs)
3. Ricky Hatton, light welterweight (45-2, 32 KOs)
4. Amir Khan, junior welterweight (21-1, 15 KOs)
5. Junior Witter, junior welterweight (37-3-2, 22 KOs)
6. Kevin Mitchell, junior lightweight (29-0, 22 KOs)
7. Kell Brook, welterweight (20-0, 13 KOs)
8. John Murray, lightweight (27-0, 15 KOs)
9. Jamie Moore light middleweight (32-3, 23 KOs)
10. Nathan Cleverly, light heavyweight (17-0, 7 KOs) 

That one looks a lot better at the top end, however Brook is still at British level, Murray is just about ready to leave it, whereas European middleweight champ Macklin misses out completely. Very odd-as is the fact both young guns (Brook and Murray) are ranked above the seasoned Euro light middle champ Moore. From 6-10 down I’d take Moore, Macklin, Mitchell, Murray and Munroe in that order….the ‘M’ team…..looks a bit more realistic to me anyway.

     
  • News just in that Khan will face his mandatory contender Dmitriy Salita in my beloved Newcastle which means two things; one, FW must have doubted he’d flog tickets in London for this rather hard to sell looking match-up and therefore chose the one region in the UK whose inhabitants would cough up hard earned bread to watch two flies racing up a window pane (who can ever forget the titanic Hatton-Hutchinson and Calzaghe-Pudwill card….not me I paid 50 quid for the pleasure). Two, I’ll be there, lining Warren’s coffers again whilst watching a rather predictable decision win for Khan, grumbling all the way. 
  • Back to Ring.tv.com and senior writer William Dettloff’s article titled ‘Strength of the Euro’ (cracking tag line that one mind you) where he describes Jim Watt as an ‘earnest loser’. Now I haven’t a bad word to say about Mr. Dettloff, he’s taken time out to offer me advice on my pipe dream of being a writer and even plonked my ‘tour de force’ (ahem) article on to Nigel Collins’ desk (still waiting for the call Nige….again ahem). The man’s as sound as a pound in my book, however I think Watt can feel hard done to at being lumped in with Richard Dunn and Murray Sutherland. Admittedly he was before my time and my old man didn’t rate him (he was a good judge but anyone who doesn’t appreciate Ali can’t always be relied upon totally) but with wins over Howard Davis Jr and Sean O’Grady after becoming WBC lightweight champ along with a brace of 15 round decision defeats to great fighters in Alexis Arguello and Ken Buchanan-battles in which he took a few rounds on the cards isn’t bad going in my book. 
  • This is a bit of a stretch (warning, tangent alert) however check out the video below from Adidas, part of an advertising campaign which sees the legendary Zinedine Zidane scouting for the perfect football team in a bid to sell boots:  

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Gerrard is labelled ‘The Powerhouse’, Lionel Messi ‘The Spark’ and Bastien Schweinsteiger ‘The Illusionist’……….mmmm…..lets imagine boxing became mainstream again, what heroic nicknames could Adidas come up with for our stars? Here are a few, feel free to add your two penneth: 
  • Floyd Mayweather ‘The Dodgem’
  • Chris Arreola ‘The Catcher’s Mitt’
  • Nikolay Valuev ‘The Plank’
  • Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. ’The White Elephant’
I could go on all day with these but before I finish up, wouldn’t it be good to see boxing given some attention from the big advertisers? Here are a few commercials featuring boxers from the past, when folk had more of an inkling who the characters were on our beloved beat street:
  
 

 

 

 


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