Boxed In

Every day I read up on my boxing news, and I have to admit to having mixed feelings today when I read about Audley Harrison potentially close to sealing a deal to fight David Haye. It is a big fight in the UK but it is a mis-match and shouldn’t really be happening. This comes off the back of Vitali Klitschko signing up to fight Shannon Briggs last week. There are so many fights out there that would be amazing to watch, but so many politics that are preventing them from happening. The dream fight of Pacman and Floyd is the biggest one out there and the one which everybody would love to see but seems unlikely to be happening in the near future. There are so many like that, and it frustrates me intensely.

Boxing right now is in a really difficult situation and is struggling economically. Not only are fans less likely to shell out big bucks to watch a fight in an arena or on pay-per-view, but television companies are not prepared to throw money at boxing any more. At such a difficult time, you would expect those involved in the sport to be rallying around and trying to spark interest by staging the best possible fights. That is not happening. In fact, quite the reverse. The fact is, that while so many promoters refuse to work with others, and some boxers avoid fighting others, it is completely understandable that folks are losing interest.

Think about it from another perspective and one that has become extremely evident in recent weeks and months. The betting perspective. Look at the last 3-6 months of fights, and see how many shocks or surprises there have been. Not many at all. Try predict the outcome of as many fights as possible in the next six months, and I would put my neck on the line and say that I could successfully predict 95% of the fights that will be made. That is not to say I can make money from it – the bookies are not stupid. But what other sport can expect to retain such an interest when the probability of the favourite winning is something like 95%? This has been the secret of the UFC’s success – evenly matching fighters against each other and putting the best against the best.

Try betting on UFC fights – it is not easy at all. That said, there are far more opportunities to pick good bets than in boxing. It is very rare for a boxing fight to be close to 50/50 in the betting market, even 60/40. Many of the fights in the UFC are. I have to admit to not being a big fan of betting on either of the sports however, and it is rare I do. Individual sports are notoriously tough to bet on – how do I know whether a fighter has a stomach bug coming into a fight? It is one example, but there are many pitfalls on gambling on these two sports and I am not a huge advocate apart from betting for fun.

Anyhow, if the promoters and fighters will not put the fights that everybody wants to see together, then I am going to do it – albeit on my blog that nine people follow.

David Haye v Vitali or Vladimir Klitschko – A number of journalists have identified Tomasz Adamek as a great opponent for Haye and I would love to see it too. That said, there is so much history with the Klitschko’s now, it has to happen with one of them and it is the biggest fights out there at Heavyweight.

Manny Pacquiao v Juan Manuel Marquez – I do not want to see Pacman face Margarito or Cotto again, and if it is not going to be Floyd, the Marquez is the only other fighter in recent times who has come close to beating him. Personally, I thought he won at least one of the fights they had, and there is unfinished business between the two.

Amir Khan v Tim Bradley – I fear that Khan will be paired with some more older and slower fighters like Barrera who he will be able to dominate. I would love to see him line up against Bradley and it would be a really close fight. I like Bradley a lot ever since watching him beat Junior Witter. He takes on all comers and is rock solid without being spectacular. It would be a very close fight and a tough one to call.

Lucian Bute v Carl Froch – This will almost certainly not happen until 2011 or even 2012 as Froch is tied up in the Super Six tournament. However, this fight, in Montreal, would be unmissable and a classic fight in my view. I’ve rambled before about my dream to watch a big fight, UFC or Boxing, in Montreal and this could be the one. Bute is a star in Montreal and I would love to catch him against Froch who would bring a decent amount of English fans over which would really spark the atmosphere as well as being a great fight