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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ajQYi16OKM

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 …

Trout aiming for more title memories

Shaun Brown
21/05/2016 9:33am

Nothing would please Austin Trout (30-2, 17 KOs) more than winning his second world title at super welterweight. What would make him even happier is to be able to recall tonight’s fight against unbeaten IBF World Champion Jermall Charlo (23-0, 18 KOs) in the years to come. Something to tell his children and grandchildren; stories about the night he schooled Miguel Cotto in the Puerto Rican’s Garden and, he hopes, taming a young lion in Las Vegas almost three and a half years later.

Dempsey & Tunney – different fighters; different people

Sean Anderson
20/05/2016 11:11am

Since the publication of the Queensbury rules some infamous rivalries have shaped the history of our great sport. Such rivalries have divided the opinion of many fight fans. These conflicts are often built up by the media and fans through the two boxers being the polar opposite of each other, be it the boxer versus the slugger; the poor versus the middle class; the arrogant versus the modest or the extrovert versus the introvert. One of the greatest examples of this can be seen in the rivalry of The “Manassa Mauler” Jack Dempsey and the “Fighting Marine” Gene Tunney.

Moving up and moving home

James Oddy
19/05/2016 2:12pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTuHOKVNuz0

It goes without saying that boxing is a tough trade. But the job of a fighter without huge home support can make the game that much harder to navigate. Cambridgeshire warrior Tyler Goodjohn (12-4, 4 KOs) knows that struggle only too well. “You have to play to the business a bit,” the articulate Goodjohn told Boxing Monthly. “If you can sell tickets every month and your fans are just happy to see you beating guys who are there to be beat, then fair enough. For me, all my fights have been in London and Manchester. For me to sell 120 tickets every three or four months is hard work. It’s meant I’ve had to be the away fighter a few times. But I love that.”

Just in case you've forgotten...

Luke G. Williams
19/05/2016 10:54am

Luke G. Williams argues that Fury-Klitschko 2 is the only genuine World Heavyweight Championship fight on the horizon … Regular readers of Boxing Monthly online, specifically my ‘Ranking the Heavyweight Champions’ series, may already be aware of the strictly lineal approach I take towards the World Heavyweight Championship. Nevertheless, in the lead-up to the Joshua versus Breazeale and Fury versus Klitschko fights in June and July respectively – and at the risk of sounding like a broken record - I think it is an approach worth restating.

Surprise packages

John A. MacDonald
17/05/2016 2:19pm

Last Saturday, Lee Haskins made the first defence of his IBF bantamweight title with a wide points victory over Ivan Morales, live on Channel 5. Haskins performance was relatively dominant, but failed to capture the imagination of those in attendance or the viewers at home.

Stepping forward

Andrew Harrison
17/05/2016 9:32am

Murray’s Machines Boxing Gym sits on a congested, dead-end industrial estate in Reddish, on the outskirts of Stockport, sandwiched between a bedroom company and a professional make-up artist. A red brick building, it is almost impossible to locate in darkness. From the main road, it looks abandoned with shuttered doors and grills on the windows. "I’ve got a sign but it’s blown down,” says the owner, former European lightweight champion John Murray. “It’s on the road there with an arrow pointing up this way.”

Asian Boxing Scene: Inoue eyes US, Higa vs Diale is on

Marcus Bellinger
16/05/2016 5:57am

Marcus Bellinger rounds up the latest news from the vibrant Asian boxing scene including a hat-trick of victories for the Inoue clan and a potential barnburner between Daigo Higa and Ardin Diale.