[Dan_]

Froch really does put his punches together well,some think he's just a puncher but he's got all round good boxing skills.Seeing as he's mandatory contender for the world title now, there's no way he wont be getting a title shot soon.

[GiRTh]

About time. I hope he wins. I criticise him cuz he's from my home town and we went to the same gym but I honestly hope he becomes the champ.

[Dan_]

We could do with another world champion, seems most Brits are losing their titles lately.

[Dan_]

It's official. Alex Arthur has been declared the full WBO world super featherweight champion after Joan Guzman vacated the belt and moved up to the lightweight division. The Scotsman was due to face Guzman on May 3 in Edinburgh, but the fight was delayed when Guzman applied too late for a visa. Arthur, 29, was waiting for the fight to be rescheduled - but had his "interim" world champion status upgraded by the WBO when Guzman decided to campaign at 135 pounds. "I'm delighted with the decision by the WBO to give me full world champion status but I felt that I won the title when I beat Koba Gogoladze last July," said Arthur. "I'm confident that I would have beaten Guzman had the fight been rescheduled but I believe that I am among the elite super featherweights and want to prove myself as the best out there, but I'm proud to be Edinburgh's first world champion for 30 years, and am looking forward to making the first defence of my title. My reign now begins!" Promoter Frank Warren added: "Britain has lost a few of its world champions over the last few months but we have got one back with Alex now declared as world champion. I believe he will be a long-term world champion. I'm working hard at the moment to deliver a new date and challenger for Alex."

http://www.fightnews.com/fightnews_2...yrnKtUzQz.html

Looks like he was in the right place at the right time.Guzman would have given him nightmares.

[Tom]

At least its someone from the UK because as you say a lot of Brits are losing their titles.

[Dan_]

Aye, bit of a farcical way to win a world title though.It looks like fellow Brit,Kevin Mitchell is being lined up to face him.

Another Brit will be getting a world title shot in July.Frank Warren has agreed a deal with Don King to have either Matt Skelton or Audley Harrison face Nigeria's Sam Peter for the WBC heavyweight title.Neither of them deserve it lol.

[GiRTh]

Audleys finally going ot get a title shot. How do you reckon he'll do.

[Dan_]

Most likely get knocked out.The bloke just doesn't have what it takes to become a world champion in my view.He excelled as an amateur but doesn't seem to be quite cut out for the pro game.He's got good technical skills of course but he mentality just isn't there,he seems to crumble anytime he gets caught with a good shot.His chin is very questionable and all.

He's very arrogant and also very deluded on his own ability.

[Rob]

i have no opinion

[Dan_]

Originally posted by bb9fanatic
i have no opinion

Thanks for taking the time to look silly .All in the aid of post count eh?

[Tom]

Originally posted by bb9fanatic
i have no opinion

Thats nice, you should've just not posted

About Audley, I've never really rated him tbh but good luck to him if hes after the world title.

I was just looking ahead at some odds on oddschecker and Hatton and Mayweather are going back up against eachother in just over a years time, odds are already at 5/2 for Hatton and 2/7 for Mayweather. No idea what this fight is for though.

[GiRTh]

Dan is probably right Harrison will probably get knocked out. He's slow, his footwork is poor and I've heard he's a powder puff hitter.

Why would Hatton fight Mayweather again? Does he think he can actually win?

[Dan_]

It's all a bit silly having betting odds on a fight that's not even scheduled yet.Ricky's already got the fight with Lazcano this weekend and then if he wins that he will face Paulie Malignaggi for the lightwelter weight world title towards the end of the year in New York.

Floyd's already got a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya lined up for September too.

Ricky's still going about how it would be different with a fairer ref, he seems to believe without Cortez he could have beat Mayweather.

[GiRTh]

It's a sorry story that Hatton thinks he can win.

[Dan_]

He will have to get past Malignaggi to even get the rematch with Mayweather.Beating Malignaggi is no easy feat.

I'll be interested to see how he gets on against Lazcano this week, hopefully he will be throwing more combinations rather than just coming forward and making a mess of things.I think he's forgotten what a jab is of late.

[Dan_]

Anyone going to be watching the Hatton fight tonight then? I don't really think it's worth the Ł15, although it will most likely be an exciting fight it's not exactly a big name opponent.I predict Ricky will win via 10th round stoppage.Lazcano is a durable guy and he's only ever been stopped once but he's not fought since February 2007 and that's bound to have a negative impact on his fitness down the latter rounds.

On the undercard the flashy American Paulie Malignaggi defends his IBF Light Welterweight world title against the African, Lovemore N'Dou.This one is bound to go the full 12 rounds.Malignaggi's a pretty light hitter and N'dou has a granite chin.Malignaggi won the first fight via a near shutout and I expect he will do the same again.

The other fight of interest on the card involves Ricky's younger brother, Matthew.He takes on Craig Watson for the Commonwealth welterweight title, this one should really be an exciting match.Matthew has of course been in Ricky's shadow his whole career but this fight gives him the chance to make an impact against a guy who knocked Amir Khan down in the amateurs.

[GiRTh]

I'll watch the repeat. Like you say, it's not worth 15 quid.

[Dan_]

Just done watching a repeat on the Hatton fight online.I thought that Ricky did a good job, nothing really spectacular but he got the job done against the tough and very brave Juan Lazcano.

Ricky dominated the first two rounds, he showed no hangover from that Mayweather defeat and just went about his usual business with that all action style.There was an odd incident at the start of round three though with Hatton going down from a push but he looked slightly shaky when getting up and he ended up losing the round as Lazcano came back from the early pressure.

Hatton shook off that poor 3rd round and came out all guns blazing with hooks the body and head that were really catching the attention of Lazcano.From rounds four through to the seven, Hatton was firmly in control and was showing some of the old form with the bodyshots truly looking damaging.He was only getting caught with three or four punches in each of the rounds as Lazcano just looked to fire back to keep Ricky away or take the chance of a counter punch.

Round eight was the best of the fight with Ricky starting out well,be smart by just jabbing and moving before unloaded with the hooks but he got caught with a body punch that really took the wind out of his sails.Lazcano took full advantage and ended up landing about 6/7 punches before Ricky managed to comeback with combinations of his own.Ricky won the 9th round pretty easily and clearly stronger and showed that he wasn't really effected by the what went on in the eighth.

By the time round 10 came it was becoming a very messy fight with lots of holding, especially on the part of Lazcano who was getting by on bravery alone.Ricky was again in control but got caught with the same left hook that Mayweather knocked down with,funny how it happened in the same round and all.It certainly rocked Hatton's head back but a timely intervention came with an untied shoelace.Lazcano was in no condition to mount an offence though, he just stood in the corner looking weary during the stoppage.Ricky was able to close out the round with some good jabs and hooks to the body.

The final two rounds were all about survival for Lazcano, his pride and heart wouldn't allow him to not get through to the final bell.He was just holding on as Hatton rained in with viscious body punches and his head was rocked back a couple of times.I predicted a late stoppage win for Hatton but didn't count on Lazcano being quite so tough.Ricky ended up winning with scores of 120-110,120-108,118-110.Although a couple rounds were close, I could only give one to Lazcano.

Overall it was an entertaining fight and Hatton showed there's still a fair bit left in the tank yet.His fitness looked better down the later rounds than it has in some time, he was still up on his toes and look for the knockout and also held on a bit less.He was a bit short of breath towards end of rounds but that's understanble due to his high workrate.I liked that he jabbed and moved a bit more but he still was boaring in and getting caught, he cannot afford to do that at a higher level.Most impressive was the sheer venom behind those body punches.

On the undercard Matthew Hatton didn't have the same good fortune as his brother.He lost on points to Craig Watson and he will to look at getting back on track and challenge for the title again but he might have just found his level and that's not exactly a high one to be honest.

Paulie Malignaggi managed to just about scrape past Lovemore N'dou by the sounds of things, winning a split decision.Malignaggi was talking about dazzling the crowd and winning ease but didn't do either judging by the reports.He is also said to have broken his hand, that might well have had the effect on his performance.He's very susceptible to hand injuries and it might delay the fight with Hatton.I'm looking forward to the potential match-up though.

[Dan_]

Another one of those packed weekends of boxing action.We start tonight with an intriguing domestic fight for the British featherweight title between Paul Appleby and John Simpson.There is a lot of hype around Appleby,he's only 20 years old but is being touted as a world champion in the making but this is a real step up for him.Simpson is only 25 himself but has faced a lot of difficult challenges and lost 5 times already but that doesn't tell the whole story.It should be a real battle and could elevate Appleby onto big things.

Another fight of interest tonight is between Souleymane M'baye and Herman Ngoudjo.M'baye lost his light welterweight title last year to Gavin Rees but has won twice since then but this is going to be a real test as Ngoudjo has lost controversial decisions to two of the top guys in the division.The winner will surely get a world title shot.

Tomorrow we have two big events over in America.In Connecticut we have two world title fights.We have the rematch between Carlos Quintana and Paul Williams for the WBO Welterweight title.In the first fight, Quintana took both Williams title and unbeaten record.Quintana manged to overcome the massive height and reach disadvantage to win a unaminous decision.In the main even Vernon Forrest defends his WBC Light Middleweight title against Sergio Mora.Forrest is a veteran of the game at 37 years old but has shown no sign of slowing up despite several shoulder injuries.Sergio Mora was the winner of the first series of the contender and comes in unbeaten but he's been very inactive since winning the show and looked awful at the weigh-in.I think Forrest is going to have a bit too much for him.

Over in New Jersey two Brits are in action.The exciting youngster Kevin Mitchell takes on the experienced Mexican Walter Estrada.It can only help Mitchell's progression by fighting over in the states as he prepares himself to move onto world title level.In the main event, Gary Lockett challenges the undisputed world middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik.Lockett is the mandatory challenger to the belts but comes in as a huge underdog.Pavlik is rightly the massive favorite to win after dispatching of several top contenders before finally winning the title from Jermain Taylor.The one thing in Lockett's favour is that he's got big punching power and with Pavlik's style he leaves himself open and he might just get the chance.Lockett doesn't strike me as someone that really is a fan of boxing and he could fold when the going gets tough and just ride into the sunset with his pay check.

[Dan_]

M'Baye vs Ngoudjo is live at 2am on Eurosport for anyone that's interested.

[Dan_]

Pavlik well and truly destoryed Gary Lockett, it was a total mis-match.Lockett just didn't have any head movement and he was getting blasted with almost every single shot that Pavlik threw.I'm not sure I'd have even let him carry on in the second round when he went down twice and his face was a bloody mess.It was finally stopped in the 3rd round after he got caught with a lovely counter left hand and the towel came in from Enzo Calzaghe.

Kevin Mitchell was given a lot of problems by Estrada and he looked as though he was about to hit the canvas in the 2nd round but he's got a solid chin and he soaked up the big left hands before unleashing a couple of his own.He managed to come from behind to stop Estrada with a sickening body punch.Mitchell learned a fair bit from this fight and he's really going to have to sharpen up his defence, especially his head movement or the same thing will happen to him as Lockett.

Over on the other card there were some pretty surprising results.Paul Williams won his world title back with a spectacular first round stoppage of Carlos Quintana.The contender winner became a wotld champion, Sergio Mora won a majority points decision over Vernon Forrest.

[Dan_]

Kell Brook just became the British Welterweight champion after a 7th round stoppage victory against Barrie Jones.I think Kell could be a star in the future, he's only 22, so he's got plenty of time on his side.

[Kore]

It would be good for Calzaghe to fight Pavlik after Roy Jones Jr IMO.

[Stewart]

I think Calzaghe will fight only once more, against Roy Jones Jnr - and probably in America, then he will retire at the top of his game.

[Dan_]

I can see him doing the same Stewart.Pavlik's got another fight lined up in a few months and I cannot see him fighting again this year after that.Calzaghe seems to want to retire this year, so that kinda rules that one out.