Paul's Press Ups
BoxRec News correspondent Paul Foley puts this weeks boxing press into perspective...
So here we are in a new year, yet some things don’t change in that fighters are the last to know when to retire - and then actually do so.
Fighters not retiring is one thing but why do the public encourage them by paying to see a man or two who long ago lost their youth carry on just a bit too long?
The Sun’s Gavin Glicksman reported on the delay of this month's Evander Holyfield’s fight (January 16th) in Uganda with Francois Botha until February 20th.
Pro Box Promotions manager Eddie Bazira gave his reasons for the decision. “We need more time to publicise it and give the fighters ample time to prepare themselves.”
Let’s be honest Holyfield the born warrior now 47 and Botha the Buffalo 41 have both had ample career time and plenty of it.
It’s high time for both men to step aside and allow the younger generation of heavyweights a chance to seize their day.
The expected attendance was said to be 80,000. I know 2009 was a hard year for boxing. But good promoters find a way to sell. If they pull this off it should be known as the sale of the century considering both men are way past their sell by date.
Britain is still trying to fight its way off the ropes of recession.
Maybe Pro Box Promotions should run this country!
Staying in the Sun (pardon the pun this time of year!) Pat Sheehan took an insert from February’s edition of GQ which includes an interview with David Haye.
The Hayemaker thinks he will always be known as a chinny world heavyweight champion. “I’ll always have a suspect chin, anyone who has been down always will have.” (In the eyes of the public.)
“Apart from my defeat to Carl Thompson I’ve never been on the canvas for more than eight seconds.”
That considered. Is Haye really chinny? Don’t be silly. One knockout or stoppage defeat doesn’t make you chinny.
Roberto Duran was knocked cold out by Tommy Hearns yet a look at his fights tells you he wasn’t just blessed with hands of stone but a chin of similar weight.
This reminds me of what many wrote and said about former British favourite Frank Bruno having a “glass jaw”.
In Frank’s five career defeats (all stoppages) Bruno was never taken clean out by one slight or heavy shot.
He was caught clean and heavy with many shots against Bonecrusher Smith, Tim Witherspoon and Lennox Lewis. And in his two tilts at Tyson, Frank was never laid out.
Bruno could take a shot. That wasn’t his problem. So what was it? He couldn’t get out of range for a while to clear his head.
Haye has been floored several times as a professional yet apart from Thompson has always got his senses back before knocking his opponent senseless.
In hindsight are these two popular punchers really that chinny or are too many being silly?
I think the latter.
