Below The Belt - Episode 5

Below The Belt
31/05/2016 11:52am

Welcome to Episode 5 of Below The Belt. The BTB team break down the potential Haye-Briggs show at The O2, discuss the fall out from Canelo vs Khan and the future of both. We drop knowledge on sanctioning bodies. We also discuss Alexander Povetkin's failed drug test and the potential sanctions following it. We also talk drugs in boxing and people's response to it. We heap praise upon Anthony Crolla but bash the May 7 undercard, talk about the other leading lightweights and much more.

Sunny side

Shaun Brown
30/05/2016 9:35am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2xfds6Mg34

After eating chopped pork on toast at Billy Nelson’s house I was off to watch Ricky Burns spar John Simpson. It was May 2009 and Nelson’s Fighting Scot’s Gym had been open for two years thanks to the graft and finance of Nelson who was also trainer to the ‘Rickster’ at the time. Decked out in modern equipment there was also memories of Scott Harrison’s illustrious career on the wall before things spiralled out of control.

Been there, done that

Shaun Brown
27/05/2016 11:09pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RfsXBz6lBI

Tony Bellew likes to talk about Everton Football Club. He started supporting them when he was a kid as an act of rebellion toward his father who was a Liverpool fan – city rivals to Everton. Bellew, nicknamed ‘Bomber’, loves Everton and loves football. He would rather be playing for The Toffees than in a boxing ring with an opponent looking to knock him out. “I say to people do you think I enjoy getting punched in the face? At the end of the day you’ve got ten men backing you up when you walk on a pitch."

Ham ready to eat up the pressure

Shaun Brown
27/05/2016 1:57pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSG-tp-AhXc

The night before travelling to India for the Commonwealth Games in September 2010 Joe Ham (7-0, 5 KOs) was inside Glasgow's Kelvin Hall. The Kelvin Hall is a venue steeped in Scottish boxing folklore. One that staged Jim Watt’s victory over Alfredo Pitalua to win the vacant WBC World lightweight title in 1979. It is a cauldron of noise that helped Ricky Burns to his first world title, a bout that will live long in the memory after Burns’ overcame what looked like the impossible, to take down the big punching Puerto Rican Roman Martinez after a horrendous first round.

Benson aiming to light up the competition

Shaun Brown
26/05/2016 9:57am

A Ricky Burns fight week always brings the same questions. Who will take over from him once he retires? Who and where is the next star to come out from Scotland? How long will it be before boxing returns to Scotland if Ricky gets beat? And so on, and so on. The 2014 Commonwealth Games Scottish boxing team has proved to be a welcome talent pool for Scottish boxing which are aiming to answer those questions in due course.

The Big Question: What do you think of David Haye's comeback so far?

Boxing Monthly
25/05/2016 11:17am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeHMM_ht12I

Two fights and two wins but David Haye's return to boxing hasn't been met with balloons and banners. Despite packing out The O2 Arena in London and fighting on free-to-air television the knives are out after less than three rounds of action against the heavily over-matched Mark De Mori and Arnold Gjergjaj. Is Haye's comeback littered with good intentions or is it simply a money-making exercise before cashing out against an Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury. We asked the Boxing Monthly online team what they thought of the former cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion's comeback so far. 

Upbeat Ajisafe looks to the future

Chris Williamson
24/05/2016 5:29pm

Commonwealth light heavyweight champion Bob Ajisafe (16-3, 7 KOs) was feeling upbeat when Boxing Monthly caught up with the 31-year-old back home on British soil after a spirited IBO title challenge against unbeaten Russian Umar Salamov (16-0, 12 KOs) in Moscow on Saturday night. “I take a lot away from the experience,” said Ajisafe.

Crackpot idea

Marcus Bellinger
24/05/2016 1:36pm

As May reaches its conclusion this year’s Olympic Games in Rio draw ever closer, and thousands of athletes will either have their dreams for filled or shattered. For boxing fans it’s a chance to take a glimpse at tomorrow’s future stars and for the big promoters to scout potential signings, and of course all the participants involved will aim to make the last four years of toil count and capture the much prized and treasured gold medal.

Promoter discusses WBC's Ontario ban

Shawn W. Smith
23/05/2016 7:41pm

The news dropped like a bomb across the Canadian boxing scene when the World Boxing Commission (WBC) announced it would no longer be sanctioning fights in the Canadian province of Ontario after evidence from a recent bout suggested that the province's handling of fighters was dangerous. While the news is frustrating for local promoters looking to build world title contenders, Lee Baxter of Lee Baxter Management said he "supports the WBC's decision, especially with what has happened in the last few weeks”.

 

 

When Moir met Burns…

Luke G. Williams
23/05/2016 9:28am

As Tyson Fury prepares to defend his lineal World Heavyweight Championship against Wladimir Klitschko on 9 July in Manchester, Boxing Monthly re-examines the first ever occasion on which the gloved World Heavyweight Championship was contested in the UK – James ‘Gunner’ Moir’s 1907 challenge to Tommy Burns at the National Sporting Club in Covent Garden …