CALZAGHE LACY KICKS OFF MARCH MADNESS IN BRITAIN
By Frank Maloney |
March sees one of the most exciting months
in British Boxing. People talk about America being the heartland
of boxing, but when you look at what has taken place in the UK
over the last few years and what is going to take place this
March, I think that Britain is on par with any country for
producing big fights. We kick off "March Madness" on the
fourth of the month when Joe Calzaghe meets Jeff Lacy in a super
middleweight unification contest promoted by Sports Network.
This is a fight that has eagerly been awaited on a worldwide
basis and takes place at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester, a venue
that has seen such great nights already with the Ricky Hatton -
Kostya Tszyu fight last year and Mike Tyson's first appearance
in Britain. There are a lot of questions to be asked
of young Mr. Lacy and also questions as to whether Joe still has
the desire and commitment after having campaigned as a world
champion for over seven years, currently the longest active
reign in boxing. But knowing Joe the way I do, this is the sort
of fight that he needs. It's the opportunity that he has been
looking for that allows him to prove his contention to the world
that he is the number one fighter in his division and that there
is no one out there that can live in the ring with him. I think
fighting in front of a British crowd will be the lift that Joe
needs to make sure of victory on the fourth of March.
A few weeks later on the
24th of March, the greatly celebrated David Haye makes the first
defense of his European Cruiserweight title on one of our
Maloney Promotion shows at the York Hall. Haye is the new kid on
the block and everyone has been talking about him since his
spectacular knockout of former world title contender and
European Champion Alexander Gurov. This is Haye's 16th
professional fight but it's his first appearance in the capital
of London since January of last year. It's amazing that a man
with his pedigree and charisma hasn't been selling out
substantial venues in his hometown. We at Maloney Promotions
mean to change that and I believe that by this time next year,
Haye will be one of the hottest properties in boxing and will be
selling out the Excel Center, the M.E.N. or even the new Wembley
Arena, but time will tell and you can log onto
www.frankmaloney.com
to follow his progress during the year. The very next day we have Scott Harrison,
in what many people are claiming will be his hardest fight to
date as champion, meeting former WBO Super Bantam titlist Joan
Guzman on a Sports Network show in Glasgow. Harrison has been
the WBO Featherweight Champion for over three years now and has
only had two glitches over his entire career. The first was
early on when he was stopped on cuts and the second was when he
lost his title on a bad night at the office against Manuel
Medina. But like a true champion, Scott soon recovered the belt
by stopping Medina and showed that a loss doesn't mean the end
of a career. Scott Harrison's reign has been built upon
determination, dedication and fighting instinct. As I've always
said, he is a real throwback to the old days. I believe that
Harrison would have enjoyed himself if he had been a fighter in
the era of one of his heroes, Roberto Duran. Scott would have
lined up to fight "Hands of Stone" at Duran's peak, never
worrying about weight, purse or location. Harrison just wants to
get in the ring and fight, as Guzman will soon find out,
but Scott is probably a dying breed. So, there are three fights here in Britain
this March and they have really whet the appetite of the
domestic fight fans. If Calzaghe, Haye and Harrison are
successful in their respective defenses, British Boxing will
simply continue to ride the current crest. All in all, 2006
could be a very big year for boxing here and we may even see
Danny Williams, hot off a split decision victory over Matt
Skelton last weekend, make another run at a major world title.
There were 8,000 fans in attendance at the ExCel Centre to see
Danny beat Matt and 12,000 at the same venue in December to see
Williams turn back Audley Harrison. And both of those contests
were for the Commonwealth title; imagine how many would turn up
for a heavyweight world title fight in London? People who say that boxing is going
through a bad patch in Britain should take a closer look at the
great mouthwatering action that I've just described. These
contests are all 50-50 propositions and something that true fans
can really sink their teeth into. And they all are taking place
in Britain. Speaking of which, one of the things that
really annoys me is when I read about fans saying that British
fighters should go across to America to fight. Why should they
if the promoters of this country can deliver the big fights on
our home shores and the fighters can get the same sort of
money here? I ask the question, why is Lacy coming over here?
Why is Guzman coming over here? It's because American fighters
generally don't draw big live gates like British fighters do. Football teams know the power to be
realized by playing on their home turf, so why shouldn't a
fighter have home advantage? It's very important to keep a
fighter fighting in front of his fans. Even when Lennox Lewis
fought abroad, we worked very hard to get as many British fans
to travel as we could. When Lewis fought Holyfield in Madison
Square Garden, there were as many British fans in the Garden and
at the rematch in Las Vegas as there were Americans. I believe it all speaks to just how
important it is to maintain the home advantage in boxing and
during the month of March, if Calzaghe, Haye and Harrison are
successful, it will send a message across to the United States
that Britain is the capital of world boxing.
3-04-2006
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