by Geoff Poundes The Velodrome in Manchester, UK, plays host this Saturday night to two of England’s most prestigious performers when Martin Murray and Ryan Rhodes seek to put themselves firmly back in the world title picture after abortive assaults on international honours back in 2011. Murray’s highly creditable attempt to dethrone Felix Sturn in November was one of the … [Read more...]
Top 20 Active British Boxers
Ben Randall and Geoff Poundes independently ranked their top 20 active British boxers and then consolidated their lists into the one below. Both agreed that to be eligible for consideration the boxer needed to hold a current, valid boxers licence from the British Boxing Board of Control. 1. Carl Froch Ben says: Earned his place at the top of the pile by putting his … [Read more...]
The British Boxing Year – Not So Much As A Bang But A Whimper…
It’s been a year of near-misses for British boxing in 2011. The UK entered the year with four legitimate world champions and exited with one, and in-between eleven British fighters failed to win in world title fights. December turned out to be our winter of discontent. Amir Khan surrendered his IBF and WBA light-welterweight belts to a resurgent Lamont Peterson, and promptly … [Read more...]
Aydin, Rhodes Victorious; The Rest of Saturday’s Action
Spor Salonu, Trabzon, Turkey-- In a welterweight clash, Turkey's Selcuk Aydin (23-0, 17 KOs) took a unanimous decision over Romanian, Ionut Dan Ion (29-2, 16 KOs) in a rematch of his controversial 2010 split decision win. The judges' scores were 113-112, 113-112, 115-111. Ion was down in the first and eleventh rounds, Aydin was deducted a point in the twelfth. Magna … [Read more...]
Ryan Rhodes Inches Back Into Action This Weekend
This Saturday night in the boxing backwater of Rotherham in the UK, Ryan Rhodes makes a quiet return to the ring after a disappointing summer in which he mounted a somewhat tame and ultimately fruitless challenge on the WBC Light-Middleweight title held by young prodigy Saul Alvarez. There were those of us here in the UK (your correspondent included) who thought Rhodes, 45-5 … [Read more...]