Could Willie Kickett threaten Amir Khan
19.08.08
Aussie 2007 hot prospect of the year "Cool" Willie Kickett (11-0, 5ko's) may not be a name too familiar with boxing fans in Europe and the States, but soon he will be.
Due to fight at the Wyong Leagues Club on the NSW Central Coast against experienced Vicente Martin Rodriguez (21-1) in only his 12th fight, he will be looking to claim the WBO super featherweight youth title - all inside his first 18 months as a pro.
Victory against Rodriguez, ranked No.11 , could pave Kickett's way to a dream world title eliminator.
Speaking to reporter Jay Clark, Willie's trainer Craig Christian said the bout was a huge test for the super-featherweight, but insisted the 21-year-old rising star was not out of his depth and would be looking for his next win.
"It's a huge fight for Willie and a big step, as Rodriguez is one of the best young boxers in the world and he's on the rise,'' Christian said.
"But Willie is ready. He's improving rapidly all the time and all his fights from now on will be big fights like this.''
Standing at 5'4, Kickett has been described as the Australian Amir Khan with fast hands and feet - and an aggressive attacking style.
Kickett fought Amir Khan opponent Gary St Clair in a ten round two months ago and floored the tough St Clair in round two and round eight.
With Willie Kicket at Super featherweight (130lb) and Amir Khan campaigning at Lightweight (135lb) a potential fight would require Kickett to step up in weight which would be no problem for the stocky Australian who has weighed up to 140 since he professional debut in 2007.
Here is Kickett in action in his 7th Pro fight :-
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Junior Witter set to return
16.08.08
Junior Witter looks set to fight for the European Light welterweight title held by Italian Gianluca Branco.
The European Boxing Union has set today as the deadline for agreement or purse bids between the Italian and Witter's promoter, Mick Hennessy.
If Hennessy is succesful then the fight could be on the undercard to the WBC super middleweight world title soon to be contested between Carl Froch and Canadian Jean Pascal, which is anticipated to take place on Saturday November 1st.
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Sicknote Denis Inkin returns
14.08.08
German-based Russian Denis Inkin (33-0, 24 KOs) looks set to return on September 27th against fellow stablemate Karoly Balzsay (19-0, 14 KOs)on the Universum promoted 'Champion Night' in an undercard fight to the main event of Firat Arslan, who defends his WBA world title against mandatory challenger Guillermo Jones.
Inkin, who was due to fight Froch for the WBC final eliminator spot in March, claimed he was sick only two weeks before the fight. Then again, two weeks before the rescheduled May date he suddenly suffered with a bad back.
The winner of the WBO interim title, will become the full champion, should Calzaghe decide not to defend it.
If this occurs, they will join other German stablemates Sergiy Dzinziruk and Zsolt Erdei who also own WBO titles.
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Robin Reid to return from Retirement
13.08.09
Robin Reid is allegedly considering to be making his return to Super Middleweight boxing, with potentially the soon-to-be vacated British title currently held by his conquester Carl 'the cobra' Froch.
Potential opponents include Belfast's Brian Magee who ironically has already lost to Robin Reid for the IBO title once already after being floored several times. He was also KO'd for the first time by Froch in tough fight at the York Hall 2 years ago.
Should Reid decide to fight for the title and Magee gets his shot too, it could be a long awaited opportunity for the Irishman to vanquish the past his best Runcorn warrior.
Reid made his intentions known at the Murray vs Meager fight and let it be known that a British title fight would interest him.
Meanwhile Welshman Nathan Cleverly has decided to take his chances in the Light Heavyweight division and is expected to make the 175lb division his permanent fighting weight.
“I’ve been experimenting between the weights and I just feel that I’ve got more energy at light-heavy,” He said. “I feel I can train better when I’ve got a bit more weight on. I feel stronger in general and my punches feel a bit more snappy as well.
“Obviously I’m gonna be fighting bigger men but if I can take my speed up then it’ll be no problem.”
It also appears that this new weight class will allow ‘The Clever Boy’ to showcase his skills against a higher level of opposition, with a possible fight against reigning British and Commonwealth champion Dean Francis being muted for October.
“It’s yet to be confirmed, but Francis is on the cards.” Admitted Cleverly. “It’s the fight my mind is set on at the moment. He (Francis) is a dangerous fighter. He’s very experienced and there’s no doubt it’ll be the fight of my life.
“I know that he’s a massive puncher but my chin has been tested before. I’ve taken some big shots in sparring and I know that my chin isn’t a problem. Obviously I don’t want to get hit if I can avoid it but I’m not afraid of his power going into the ring.
He added: “I’ll have more youth about me. It’s my time now to take over. It’s time to have a younger athlete in the picture.”
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Rendall Munroe and Mathew Hatton return
11.08.08
RENDALL MUNROE will make the second defence of his European super-bantamweight title against Frenchman Arsen Martirosian at Nottingham’s Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre on Friday September 5.
The punching dustman has rapidly become one of Britain’s best-supported boxers since snatching the European crown with a shock points win over world rated Spaniard Kiko Martinez five months ago.
When the 28-year-old stopped Salem Bouaita in May hundreds of his fellow bin men packed the arena dressed in industrial yellow fluorescent jackets to support the working class lad.
And promoter Frank Maloney reckons southpaw Munroe will eventually become as popular as fellow Leicester boxers Chris Pyatt and Tony Sibson.
Maloney added: “Rendall is one of the few British fighters who can emerge as a superstar over the next 18 months.
“ He is becoming more and more popular in the Midlands, but could become a household name.
“ He is a down to earth kid and gets up at 4am each day to go running, then empties dustbins before going to gym in the afternoon.
“ Rendall’s fans have made big impression with the work jackets they wear and they are going to become as familiar at his fights as the sky blue of Ricky Hatton and the sombreros of Michael Gomez.”
Munroe said: “I’m certain I can back up the belief shown by Frank, my manager Mike Shinfield and trainer, Jason Shinfield.
“ It seems like yesterday I was making up the numbers on shows, but now I’m headlining on Sky Sports.
“ Martirosian will be tough but I would also like to get another defence in before I face the mandatory contender, Martinez in a rematch.”
Martirosian, 31, lost his professional debut to Nordine Barmou in January 2004, but has won 12 on the spin since and also avenged the sole blemish on his record.
Munroe’s only defeat in 16 professional fights came in April 2006 when he stepped out of his division at short notice and lost a narrow points verdict to Andy Morris in a British featherweight title challenge.
Meanwhile Ricky's younger sibling, Mathew Hatton makes his return under the new expert guidance of Lee Beard, the newly appointed trainer.
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Frankie Gavins Coach Furious
10.08.08
Tom Chaney, Frankie's coach last night accused the British squad’s leaders of letting down their star fighter, by sending him home saying he could not shed the final 3lb.
The 60kg division was widely expected to be Gavin's chance of gold but Hall Green ABC's Chaney blasted the GB team for their treatment of Frankie.
Chaney said that they were aware of Frankie's ever increasing weight and ignored the advice for him to move up a division. Frankie was reportedly suffering from cracked tongue and other dehydration related signs in the run up to the event.
Speaking to reporter Ian Johnson :-
“Everybody who went to the Olympics had to sign an agreement not to talk about their experiences when they got home without permission yet Frankie hasn’t had that permission as yet and therefore cannot say anything except how sorry he is about what happened and that he is gutted at being sent home.
“What many people do not know, but Team GB did, was that for the last few months Frankie has been killing himself in training just to keep his weight down.
“As part of the team’s preparation they meet up every week in Sheffield and train from Monday to Thursday before returning to their home gyms.
“Frankie Gavin went to the Olympic Games proud to be British, proud to be a Brummie and proud to represent Hall Green ABC.
“He has come back severely hurt, let down, angry and, in my view, conned out of a gold medal.
“It goes back to the World Championships in Chicago earlier this year where he had a huge problem to get down to the 60-kilo weight. But he did it, went on to win the gold medal (the first Brit ever to do so) and to qualify for the Olympic Games.
“Frankie and I sat down and decided that it was the right time to turn professional. He was world champion and big offers came in from the pro ranks.
“But the amateur authorities came back at us. Frankie was offered a larger grant, which is a million miles away from the reported £70,000 he is supposedly getting, and told him they would get him ready for the Olympics.
“We wanted Frankie to move up to the 64k division but they wouldn’t have that. Bradley Saunders was in that division and it would have meant one of them dropping out after a box-off to go to Beijing.
“That would have weakened the team. They wanted two boxers with medal-winning prospects not one.
“Frankie was worried about the weight problem. He was told quite categorically not to worry and that they would ensure that they got the weight off him. The lure of the Olympics played a massive part. Winning a gold would have been huge and it would also have been a big incentive when joining the professional ranks.
“We decided to stay amateur and I accept my part in making that decision. But the end result is that Frankie has been let down.
“They promised to look after him and they didn’t.”
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Michael Jennings v Paul Williams rumoured
06.08.08
Chorley Welterweight Michael Jennings has been short listed alongside former Ricky Hatton opponent, Luis Collazo for a proposed title shot at current American star Paul 'the Punisher' Williams.
The 30 year old boxer will be fighting for the WBO title, is anticipated to take place in October sometime.
Speaking to the Chorley Citizen he said: “I was due to fight in Manchester in September but when this WBO shot came up, they pulled me out.
“It’s going to be a massive fight for me and to go to America and be seen by an audience over there would be fantastic. You live for fights like this and I just can’t wait to find out who I’ll be fighting. I’ve met Frank Warren and now it’s a case of continuing my training and stepping it up once I know who I’ll be up against.”
Dan Goosen, The Punisher's promoter, has already hinted at Jennings being in the frame for an interim fight.
However they are also looking at a November date in what many will see as a mouthwatering fight, between Antonio Margarito and Williams.
Williams already outpointed the newly crowned WBA champion a few months ago. But since Margarito's win over Miguel Cotto, suddenly he has captured the fight fan and more importantly HBO's imagination.
If it makes money, it makes sense as the old saying goes.
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Carl Froch off to Canada
06.08.08
By Gomez
Current British champion and #1 ranked WBC contender, Carl 'the cobra' Froch is to head to Canada at the weekend to cheer on his stablemate 'Dazzling' Darren Barker (17-0, 11ko) who defends his title against Larry Sharpe (22-4, 10ko) which is being held by Hennessy Sports at The Venue at River Cree, Alberta, Canada on the 15th August.
"I'm looking forward to getting out to Canada again." said Froch
"I went out there with the England squad to fight their Canadian team and beat a lad called Donny Orr I think. He was an a Olympian i believe."
"It was about 7 or 8 years ago. When little Jean Pascal was still at school".
"If they (Pascal's promoter) win the purse bid to stage the WBC title fight in Canada, I will be more than happy to go over and take little Jean back to school again"
"Obviously i'd much rather the fight be staged in Nottingham, so my fans can get there easily. Especially as it's the World title at last. But in pure boxing terms I'm not remotely fussed about boxing in his back yard."
"It will just be a little bit more embarrassing for him when all his little chums watch him get his boot's smoked by the Cobra".
"As an amateur i boxed from Canada to Copenhagen and all over Eastern Europe, winning pretty much everything like the Box-cup etc in my division."
"Apart from one occasion in the Eastern Bloc when i bounced a kid off the canvas about 6 times and broke his nose and yet still lost on points." Laughed Froch. "But that's the way it goes sometimes out there (boxing away)".
"But make no mistake, this fight isn't going to points." He said in a serious tone.
"Let's just hope he shows up".
It is anticipated that the fight will hopefully be organised between Hennessy and GYM for mid October to early November with American television hopefully broadcasting this fight Stateside.
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