Fury - Chisora "Still Bad Blood"

issue #14 NOVEMBER 2014 01STILL BAD BLOOD?

boxing madmagazine

noVembeR 2014 issue 14

BELLEW JOSHUA

NOVEMBER 2014 issue #14 issue #14 NOVEMBER 201402 03

x

co

nt

en

t

02

04. MAIN EVENT NEWS

10.ASK THE FANS

12.DREAM DOMESTIC

DUST UPS

18.CURTIS RISING

24.THE REMATCHBELLEWS JOURNY

28.ANTHONY JOSHUA THE HOUSEWIVES CHOICE - BUILDING A BRAND!

32.STILL BAD BLOOD?

36.READY OR NOT

38.HOPKINS VS KOVALEV

COMBAT. COMFORT. STYLE .

A fresh new range of clothing for the Martial Arts and Gym world.

10% OFFCode: KOBMAG14

www.knockoutclothing.co.uk @Knockoutclothin ClothingKnockOut

http://KNOCKOUTCLOTHING.CO.UK


x

m a i n e v e n t n e W S

Date: 7//10/14

MatchrooM Sport proMoter, eddie hearn, believeS riSing Star, anthony JoShua,

could be on a colliSion courSe with fellow britiSh heavyweight, david haye.Joshua, 24, has demolished all those who have been put before him, which has led to the wat-ford-born pro accumulating a perfect 8(8)-0 record. it’s still early days in Joshua’s career, but at the rate he is demolishing his opponents at, a potential domestic showdown with haye, 33, could come to fruition next year.

“In the world of boxing and particularly in this country, a fight between David Haye and Anthony Joshua in 2015 is a stadium event,” said hearn.

“It’s a huge, huge fight with massive potential and I think again the rate that Anthony is progressing - by the time the winter comes round in 2015 - these are the guys that anthony is going to be facing. “if he wants to win world titles, these are the guys he has got to demolish on the way and i’m sure that he will demolish these guys as well. I don’t think anything is going to stop him.”

Haye has not fought since July 14, 2012, and took a leave of absence from the sport after pulling out of two scheduled fights with Tyson Fury in 2013. As we approach the end of 2014, the ‘Hayemaker’

Burns Unimpressive Again: Battle linesFormer two-weight world champion Ricky Burns aged 31 made his debut at light welterweight on the undercard last night and to be perfectly honest it was just more of the same from his last few fights. Burns has looked out of sorts for a good few fights now and he appears to have lost much of what made him a solid world champion. last night was no different as Burns was unimpressive and unimaginative with his work. It is not for want of will or determination as burns has proved himself to be a true professional over the years and he is a very likable individual. Burns faced off with 32 year old Frenchman Alexandre Lepelley who only had one loss on his record coming into the fight but also only had 3 knock outs on his 17 win record showing that he isn’t the biggest puncher around. burns was expected to come and put on a big performance to prove that he does have what it takes to progress back to higher levels of the sport but he failed to do so. instead of using his height to his advantage and using his solid jab he chose to stand up close and trade with Lepelley. Burns looked vulnerable to counters and took a good few body shots in the fight. Lepelley had a point taken away in the seventh round for use of the head which seemed a bit harsh but that wasn’t to make a big difference to the outcome of the fight as despite Burns being unconvincing he was winning the fight clearly. Burns claimed the win but yet again more questions than answers remain. Is he moving back down to lightweight? Can he ever get back up to world level?

SaM c coulteriMage lawrence lustig/MatchrooM boXing X2

looks set to return to boxing and eyes another shot at a world championship. He may or may not get that opportunity again, but what we do know is that money talks and if Hearn was to approach Haye with a lucrative offer to fight Joshua, it could well materialise. The fight would without a shadow of a doubt be a massive event and has all the ingredients to be explosive as both heavyweights pack a punch.

Joshua is next out on October 11 in London where he faces Russian, Denis Bakhtov, in what will be Joshua’s first scheduled 12-round contest. if he comes through that unscathed, which he is expected to, he will face fellow-brit, Michael Sprott, on november 22 in Manchester in a british title eliminator.

JaMeS McKnight


x

TWITTERSOCIAL HUBTyson Fury has said that Anthony Joshua ‘would not last three rounds’ with him in the ring and has challenged his fellow british heavyweight hope to a December meeting. In typical Fury fashion, the 6’9” slugger took to twitter to launch an outburst at Joshua’s promoter eddie hearn, claiming that the Matchroom chief would avoid risking British boxing’s hottest new property against himself.

addressing the discussions of many fans, tyson tweeted: “@eddiehearn would never dream of putting @anthonyfjoshua in the same ring as me so stop going on about it! #wouldntlast3rounds. booooom.” hearn then offered a sharp response, replying to fury’s tweet: “@tyson_fury @anthonyfjoshua correct - you wouldn’t last 3 rounds.Time will tell-concentrate on your fight..hope it happens for you good luck.”

Fury added that Hearn should ‘make the fight happen’ and that he’d be ready to do battle with Joshua in December after dispatching Dereck Chisora on November 29th. In the wake of Joshua’s win over Denis Bakhtov in October, Hearn claimed that if the olympic champion were to be matched with fury, chisora or david Price he’d beat them all but that they were risky fights that he didn’t need to take yet.

The hype surrounding Joshua is like nothing the British heavyweight picture has seen since we had bruno and lewis in the early nineties, but there are some detractors who feel that the 6’6” powerhouse is in serious need of a step up in competition. harsh considering the 25-year-old – a baby in modern heavyweight terms – has only had ten paid fights and has progressed considerably during a year in the professional ranks, but on the other hand there must be sterner tests than Michael Sprott – Joshua’s next opponent – if Hearn would back him to beat Fury already.

http://custom-diets.co.uk


x m a i n e v e n t n e W SRematch a long shot for Smith

here was a time when it would have seemed unlikely that Paul Smith would ever earn a world title shot. a stalwart of the british super middleweight ranks, the Liverpudlian veteran had

come up short in his two biggest tests, suffering stoppage defeats to prodigious talents James degale and george groves. but following a career resurgence with four straight wins heading into this summer – including his impressive dismantling of tony dodson in their rematch last year – and a promotional switch to link up with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom outfit, the ‘Real Gone Kid’ received a long-awaited and well-deserved chance at the big time, with an opportunity to challenge arthur abraham for his wbo strap in germany.

Smith snatched that opportunity with both hands and put in the hardest training camp of his life for the battle on September 27th, before storming out of the blocks against the heavily favoured champion, edging the first two rounds at Kiel’s Sparkassen Arena. abraham then found his feet and would command the middle sessions, landing the more telling blows, but remainedtypically inactive and the challenger rallied to finishstrong down the stretch.

At the final bell, the proverbial knights in King arthur’s corner could not have been certain that the home fighter had retained his crown. a draw was a realistic outcome from what had indisputably been a close fight, with either man able to lay claim to deserving the decision by a round or two. but as has often been the case on german soil, the judge’s scorecards did not accurately reflect the action that had taken place a few feet from their tainted eyes. abraham was announced the victor by awfully wide scores of 117-111 (twice) and 119-109.

wbo president paco valcarcel even publicly condemned the scoring, assuring fans he would review the fight and insisting that fernando laguna – who favoured abraham by

Tten rounds – “screwed up”. but the sanctioning body then announced that they would not force an immediate rematch, with Valcarcel taking to Twitter on October 17th to insist that despite the wide scores, the right man won the fight:

“resolution on #abrahamSmith to be notified on Monday. Rematch petition is denied. what caused controversy was margin of scores, not result.” - twitter @paco valcarcel

the news came as a bitter blow to Smith, who was understandably aggrieved in the wake of the controversial defeat, yet the 32-year-old remained positive about his chances of securing a return bout:

“gutted that the wbo aren’t making a straight rematch. I do believe i’ll get the rematch voluntarily, though. i’ve proved i belong up here.”- twitter @paulSmithJnr

that sentiment was echoed by abraham, who informed media that he would be open to fighting Smith again, although it would ultimately be down to the promoters to work out a deal.

and that is where the problem lies for Smith,despite Kalle Sauerland also insisting he was keen on the Smith return. Given the fallout from the fight it’s the politically correct thing to say, but with bigger money fights on the table for the declining Abraham – who turns thirty-five in february – a second bout with Smith is unlikely to be a priority for a fighter with limited miles left on the clock.

november 8th sees an all-german super middleweight affair between robert Stieglitz and felix Sturm in Stuttgart, with the winner a mouth-watering target for abraham’s next title defence. as german boxing’s biggest stars, interest in a clash between

abraham and Sturm has been widespread for years, with the prospect now a realistic one given that the latter has finally moved up from 160lbs. abraham and Stieglitz have clashed three times already and done big business in germany, where the public would love to see them meet again.

Money talks in this game and the likelihood of Smith getting another shot at abraham is therefore slim, but due to his gutsy performance he has at least retained a high ranking within the WBO. A notewor-thy victory to kick-start 2015 could propel him towards a second title shot later next year. unfortunate-ly though, he’d likely have to battle German judging again.

BMM

jfollow all the boXerS in thiS weeKS Main event newS at:

@ p a u l S m i t h J n r

@ t y s o n _ f u r y

@ d a v i d p r i c e

@ a r t h e r a b r a h a m

@ p a c o v a l c a r c e

@ f e l i x S t e r m

@ t e a m S a u e r l a n d

@ e d d i e h e r n

@ d a v i d h a y e

@ R i c k y B u r n s

@ a n t h o n y f j o s h u a

@FrankBrunoBoxer

@ l e n n o x l e w i s

@ s k i l l 4 r e a l 2 3

f o l l o w boXing Mad M a g a Z i n eon twitter

@ b o x i n g M a d M a g

for all of the lateStnewS and d i S c u S S i o n S

www.boxingMadMagazine.com


x

ASK T

HE FA

NS! JO

SH

UA

vS

HA

YE

BOXINGMADMAGAZINE.COM


x

DREAM DOMESTIC DUST UPSWRITEN BY JAMES McKNIGHT MICHAEL HARVEY

ILLUSTRATION - LND BOx

B elow is a list of ten british domes-tic fights that I believe boxing fans would love to see in the near future. i have arranged them in order from 1-10,

with 1 being the most anticipated fight and 10 being the least anticipated (but when the time is right to make that fight, it will gener-ate a great deal of interest...in my opinion anyway). you may or may not agree with my list and you may not agree with the order. You may have other fights that you think should be included in the top 10. That’s what makes this so great, because you have so many fights to choose from and you could easily take one out and add another fight in (and it’s not as easy as it seems to compile a top 10 either!). enjoy!

1) billy Joe SaunderS vS chriS eubanK Jr

This fight is going straight in at number one!

Why, you ask? Well, Eubank Jr has finally put pen to paper and signed on the dotted line. He will take on Saunders this November in what promises to be an explosive domestic grudge match!

there is a feeling of intense hatred between the two 25-year-old middleweights, with each of them promising to knock the other out. Saunders has even said that he would retire if he could not beat Eubank Jr, but I think you have to take that with a pinch of salt. What we do know is that Saunders does not need to take this fight, but he wants to shut Eubank Jr up before moving on to big-ger and better things.

Eubank Jr is stepping up in class by some way, having not faced anyone in the top 50 ineurope and not boxed past eight rounds. Saunders is currently ranked in the top 10 in europe and holds the british, commonwealth and european middleweight titles. he is far more proven than Eubank Jr and favoured by many to shine when they finally come to blows, but, this is boxing and Eubank Jr may

have what it takes to silence his critics.

My pick is Saunders here. I think the ex-perience he holds over Eubank

Jr will lead him to victory. JM2) carl fraMpton vS Scott Quigg

These fighters have to collide in 2015. when Carl Frampton beat Kiko Martinez to join Quigg as a world champion, everything fell into place for this fight to happen. A fight in either Manches-ter or belfast would sell out in minutes and has all the ingredients to be the fight of the year. We have heard time and

time again that styles make fights and the brash come forward style of frampton is a perfect fit for Quigg’s calculated classy style. This is the biggest fight in the division for both fighters. Neither is likely to make the step up to face the dangerous guillermo Rigondeaux, and apart from a fight with Leo Santa Cruz, this is the biggest fight out there. Let’s just hope that Eddie Hearn can strike a deal with Frank Warren and Barry McGuigan to make this happen. Mh

3) Kell Brook vs Amir Khan

let’s face it, there is no love lost between Brook and Khan. Over the years the pair have fired insults towards one another, with each man confidently predicting a win over his domes-tic rival. Before, Brook-Khan was like stew in a pan on the hob simmering slowly, but now, the matchup has reached boiling point and boxing fans demand they end their war of words and finally get it on! It makes perfect sense to make the fight happen at Wembley in early 2015. Brook, 28, now holds the IBF welterweight belt and Khan, 27, now fights at the 147.lb limit. there would a great deal of money to be made for both fighters and stylistically it would be a one hell of a contest! JM

4) george groveS vS calluM SMith

This fight is a little way off but there is a very possible chance of it happening. callum Smith fights Nikola Sjekloca on November 22nd, and should he win, he will fight in a final eliminator for the WBC title. The final eliminator will mean he would face the win-ner of current champion anthony dirrell and george groves. groves was catapulted into the big time after 2 huge fights with Carl Froch. He lost both but his stock in the box-ing world is still pretty high. callum Smith is the new golden boy for the Super Middle-

weight division and should the Groves fight happen, it would be a chance to win a world title in only his 17th fight. Mh

the prospect of groves and Smith sharing a ring together whets your appetite. groves, 26. is well known in the UK and has a large fan base, even more so now after his two epic battles with carl froch. having unfor-tunately been knocked out by Froch in May, Groves is on the comeback trail, hungry still to claim a world title.

Many have tipped Smith, 24, to become a future world champion and at the rate he is disposing of his opponents, he will get that shot much sooner rather than later. but let’s face it, tougher tests will come and more questions will be asked of him. At the min-ute, he is unbeaten and his stock is rising dramatically with each passing fight. Groves would pose a formidable test and if these two do lock horns, you can expect there to be fireworks as both possess a knockout punch! JM

5) anthony JoShua vS tySon fury

Joshua’s pro career has started perfect-ly...8(8)-0 to be exact. the 24-year-old is a mountain of a man, in the shape of his life, producing stunning performance after stun-ning performance. his popularity is growing by the second, but Joshua is the type of per-son who keeps his feet firmly on the ground. He doesn’t have a brash or cocky persona. the same can’t be said about fury. you ei-ther love him or loathe him.

A potential fight between these two heavyweights would be huge in britain and i see no reason why they can’t get it on a year or two down the line.

you can imagine fury would be the one to do most of the talking at press conferenc-es. Joshua, on the other hand, would be


x

ILLUSTRATION FLETCH LEWIS

DREAM DOMESTIC DUST UPS

more tame and in control, taking it all in his stride. when it comes to the weigh in, fury, 26, stands at 6’9’’, about 3’’ taller than Josh-ua, but there is a very distinctive difference in shape between the two fighters. Fury ex-humes confidence, but even though he holds advantages in height and reach over Joshua, he is not as muscular or as powerful looking as Joshua is. I think once Fury comes face to face with Joshua and takes a closer look at him, he might just start to ask himself ques-tions inside that head of his. JM

6) carl froch vs James degale

I think many fans do not feel that excited about a potential Froch-DeGale fight, but I believe people will come to terms with it if it goes ahead and will look forward to see-ing how DeGale fares against a 37-year-old froch.

Stylistically, degale, 28, brings something different to the table than what groves did. it would be an interesting clash of styles. on one hand, you have people who believe degale is all wrong for froch. on the oth-er hand, you have many people who believe degale is out of his depth. you see, already there are questions surrounding this matchup that I’d like to be answered, and I know you do too! JM

7) LUKE CAMPBELL VS TOMMY COYLE

campbell and coyle are good friends, but if they were to meet in the ring none of that would matter. Their fight would be enthralling and one the fans would thoroughly enjoy. it would be a good test for campbell who has pretty much had it all his own way through the pro ranks. Coyle, 25, would come to win and Campbell, 27, would have to be fully fo-cused throughout the contest. It would make most sense to host this event in hull, seeing as both men are from there. JM

8) Matthew MacKlin vS Martin Murray

Macklin and Murray have often voiced their dislike for each other and at one point it was looking likely that the two middleweights would settle their differences once and for all, but as of yet, the pair have still not met inside the ring.

there was once a real buzz generated at the prospect of these two exchanging blows. fans could have witnessed a real humding-er of a fight, maybe even a sequel or even a trilogy!

both men are 32 years of age now so it’s not too late for them to get it on, but do you think the Macklin-Murray bubble has truly burst, or would pulses be set racing if they finally signed to fight? I think the latter! JM

9) JoSh warrington vS lee Selby

Dubbed the ‘’Welsh Mayweather’’, Selby has no shortage of fans having produced the goods time and time again. The 27-year-old is a special talent who has held the british, commonwealth and european featherweight titles and now aims to prove he can mix it with the best in the world. he is getting ever so closer to a first world title shot.

Stable mate, warrington, on the other hand, has been somewhat of an overnight sensa-tion. the 23-year-old from leeds has fol-lowed in the footsteps of Selby having re-cently added the

european featherweight title to the british and commonwealth straps he also owns. he is hot on the heels of Selby.

if things go to plan, the pair, who are currently the top two featherweights in brit-ain, could fight for a world title. Promoter, Ed-die hearn, has expressed his desire to match the two at elland road (the home of leeds


x DREAM DOMESTIC DUST UPSunited f.c), which holds just under 40,000. JM

10) paul butler vS Kal yafai

butler has hit the headlines this past few months having claimed the ibf world bantamweight title. he is even attempting to win a second version of a world title in a second weight division, by moving back down to super flyweight. Yafai, on the other hand, has had a stop-start career due to injuries, but he is now producing

eye-catching performances.

butler and yafai have a bit of history, having fought each other as amateurs. yafai prevailed on that occasion and i’m sure he would love another crack at the Liverpudlian when the time is right. hopefully butler would love to avenge that defeat. these two could potentially meet down the line in what would surely be a high-octane fight! JM

other fightS to watch out for!

andy lee v Matthew MacKlin

A fight that has been talked about for some time. neither particularly like each other, which always makes for a good build up and fight. Andy lee has improved a lot since teaming up with adam booth. he showed his power with a fifth round KO of John Jackson in Madison Square Garden back in June. Macklin is on the come-back after being KO’d by Gennady Golovkin with wins over Lamar Russ and Jose yebes. Mh

anthony crolla v ricKy burnS

Ricky Burns’ career has been on the decline after losses to terence crawford and dejan Zlatacanin but if he can work his way back then a fight with crolla would be a good watch. burns has moved up in weight but I don’t think that would necessarily stop this fight happening. Crolla has gone from strength to strength after

big wins against gavin rees and John Murray. i am sure he will be looking for a world title shot but

a fight with Burns would surely be a big seller. Mh


x

that the weight i’ve put on will need time to come off properly, with this in mind we are realistically looking at February as my first fight back.

bMM dave ryan won the the vacant commonwealth title at the weekend, I know you won a majority decision over him back in 2012 – would this be an opportunity for you to fight again for the commonwealth title?

cw firstly let me congratulate dave on his win, the kid has done it the hard way and totally deserves any success that comes his way. in regard of me fighting him again, I am just about recovered from our last fight which was an all out war. (laughs) when i won my british belt every Tom, Dick and Harry queued up immediately to call me out, that’s not my style. let dave enjoy his recovery and success and i’m sure his team will have plans for him going forward, if the fight comes up down the line then of course I would think about it but let the lad enjoy it first. I really fancied dave to beat tyrone on Saturday, he is battle hardened and been there and done it with some really tough opponents where as for Tyrone this was his first big test. undoubtedly tyrone is the more skilful fighter but that heart you gain from being in hard battles can’t be replicated without doing it, dave had that and I knew it would be the difference.

bMM So which targets have you got in mind upon your return?

CW I have always wanted to fight the best,

oxing Mad Magazine caught up exclusively with former british light welterweight champion curtis woodhouse, to find out what was behind his decision to fight on!

bMM it is four months since you last fought and announced your retirement, why have you decided to carry on boxing?

cw i retired in June but at no point was that my decision, i was under constant pressure after winning the british title from my family, my fans and even my management team. they all had my best interests at heart and to them i had achieved what i set out to do, I did manage to get one more title fight before folding under the pressure but in my heart I knew that I wanted to fight on.

bMM how does your wife feel about your decision to continue?

cw She has never been happy about me boxing and would of been happy if i’d retired eight years ago, she hates it as does my mum. i understand their concern, i’m the same when my daughter goes horse riding and all the time she is doing it I’m panicking over what might happen – it’s only natural to worry for those you love. realistically though this is my job, i’m healthy and fit and have medicals before every fight to monitor that, everything has risks but that should not stop you – it just means you need to take more care andprepare properly to minimise those risks.

BMM What weight are you looking to fight at and have you discussed a plan with Dennis in regards upcoming fights?

cw i will be staying at light welterweight and could of had my comeback fight as early as December. After speaking with dennis and ryan we are all in agreement

B PHOTOGRAPHY LAWRENCE LUSTIG WRITER DAVID MATTHEWS

ILLUSTRATION CALLUM HARRIS

CURTIS RISING


xI’ve never shirked a challenge or ducked anyone and that won’t change. i’m focusing on getting a ranking with the main bodies and in my opinion the best fighter at 140lb is Bradley Saunders. This fight would create big interest and test me to my limit but this is what i’m about, brad is a great lad and the most feared in the division but as a boxer you have to beat the best to be the best. I’m hoping this fight will be made down the line and hopefully for an interna-tional title but I will focus on my fights one at a time and see what dennis can come up with.

bMM what reasons did dave coldwell give for not continuing as your promoter?

cw dave has been great and we had one hell of a journey on the way to winning the British Title, he personally feels we fulfilled our aim and has no interest in going the international route with me. we are still big friends and both happy that dennis Hobson has taken up the role, Dennis has done great things for his fighters on the international scene and i’m excited to see how far we can go.

bMM ryan rhodes who trains you has done wonders in a short time, he trained you to a British Title and recently Ross Burkinshaw to a commonwealth title. tell us all a little bit

about why you feel the gym has been so suc- cessful.

cw ryan has been there and done it, the man can still box us all

to bits in sparring and the atmosphere

he promotes has become the strength of the team. As you know, the banter is second to none but the hard work guaranteed – the ban-ter makes the hard work easier because you enjoy

being there. although we are all individuals there is a real

team ethic and we all know we have each other’s back, it’s just special.

bMM let’s look back to the Limmond fight, what went wrong that night?

CURTIS RISINGcw i got beat by the better man, willie was a lot trickier and slick than I thought he would be and on the night i was beaten fair and square. Personally I felt flat but that was down to me and I would never take a dig at a mans victory or make excuses for my defeat.

bMM twitter was buzzing again with you and Scott harrison the other day, is it pantomime or is the dislike real and could we see you two fighting?

cw Strange one, Scott jumped on to one of my tweets and was mocking it and I replied in kind. Before long it was getting personal and out of hand with both of us slinging insults back and forth. I regret some of the things i said but for anyone who has read the timeline they will see i was replying to some really personal things regarding my Mum, wife and family. whether you’re Scott harrison or King Kong there is no way i’d put up with that so it got nasty. with regards fighting him that’s not going to happen, which promoter or fighter would invest all that money and time in a training camp knowing that a few weeks before Scott would pull out because of legal issues or because he was in trouble again.

BMM Do you think Twitter gets too much at times?

cw no it’s just theatre, i have more knockers than most but none of it affects me. i have always believed that it is better to have people love you or hate you – than not care at all. if they love or hate then they are emotionally involved and interested, like publicity there is no such thing as bad attention.

bMM will you continue your job as goole Manager now you are back in boxing full time?

CW Yeah definitely, it is something I love doing and only 5 miles from my house so

doesn’t take up a lot of time. I want to get into league management once i retire properly from boxing and goole is a great place to learn my trade at ground level.

bMM did you ever consider becoming a Boxing Trainer like Ryan when you finished, that way you could still fill your need for boxing but via a different role?

CW No that’s not me at all, if I went back in the gym then I would want to fight again within minutes. when i retired fromprofessional football it was two yearsbefore i even watched a game on tv! every boxer who has retired thinks about coming back on a daily basis, I was talking to Jamie Moore in Hull last week and he said it’s something he constantly struggles with – it’s hard to walk away.

“No it’s just theatre, I have more

knockers than most”BMM Hull went well last week and raised a lot of money for Jerome wilson, it was a great day and it is fantastic to see Jerome is making headway in his hardest fight to date.

cw it is fantastic to see Jerome on the mend, the kid has unbelievable fight and I’m made up to see him doing so well in his recovery. it really brings it home that boxing is a dangerous sport and although rare these kind of things can happen.public support for the event was fantastic and along with Tommy, Jamie, Luke and the rest of the guys from boxing it was nice to be able to do something to help.

bMM on a personal note let us congratulate you on your Special achievement award from the bbboc, what did it mean to receive recognition from your peers.

CURTIS RISING


x

/

CW Thank you, it was very special indeed. i have said many times that winning the british title was the best night of my life and that was a close second. when i came over from football I was a bit of a joke case amongst the established boxing community, I have stuck at it and fought the likes of Frankie Gavin, Derry Matthews, darren hamilton and willie lim-mond to name a few and slowly but surely i have earned their respect. to be called up in front of boxings top brass and recognised for my achievements was very special, it is something i craved and the award shows that boxing accepts me. when robert Smith read out the list of former british

title holders i was so humbled to be mentioned amongst them.

Boxing Mad Magazine would like to thank you for another exclusive Curtis and look forward to wherever this journey takes you.CW Thanks for the opportunity, I know I’ve got some great nights left in me and hope everyone comes along for the ride! bMM

FOLLOW CURTIS WOOD-HOUSE

ON TWITTER @WoodhouseCurts

The rematchBELLEWS’ JOURNEY BACK TO HIS OLD FOE NATHAN CLEVERLY IN LIVERPOOL WRITER JAMES BHAMRA PICTURES LAWRENCE LUSTIGILLUSTRATION CALLUM HARRIS

tony bellew, once a weight drained and grumpy light heavyweight, faces his first significant fight since moving up to cruiserweight when he gets into the ring with fierce rival nathan cleverly on november 22nd at the echo

Arena in a rematch of their 2011 fight down at 175lbs. With Bellew now at a weight he feels comfortable at, allowing him to focus more on his training rather than melting down to make weight, ‘the bomber’ has vowed to end his foes career once and for all.

as a 16 year old, bellew acted as a bouncer alongside his dad on liverpool’s nightclub scene, also spending time as a dJ, lifeguard, trainee accountant and labourer.

but boxing was his real passion, and one man in particular fuelled his desire to become a prize-fighter. John Conteh. Arguably one of Britain’s greatest ever fighters, at the peak of his career conteh won the wbc title at light heavyweight. “John conteh is an idol and an icon in liverpool and this country, he is possibly the greatest fighter from this country, and he was that good. but what he means to me is hard to put into words”.

in no time, bellew found himself in the surround-ings of the famed rotunda abc in liverpool, which has produced the likes of all four smith brothers and natasha Jonas recently. with them, Bellew won back to back ABA titles in 2002 and 2003, stopping every single one of his opponents bar one on his way to victory, and then stepping up to the 91kg heavyweight limit and winning another aba title in 2006.

Deciding the time was right to make the step op to the pro ranks, Bellew signed a deal with Frank warren and left the amateur scene behind with a record of 40 wins and 7 losses.


x

the contentious thing at this point in his career was for Bellew to decide to fight at light heavyweight. having fought at heavyweight (which transcends to cruiserweight in the pro game) his entire amateur career, moving down to light heavyweight seemed like a strange choice, especially considering the vast difference in weight. the fact John conteh won and defended his wbc title at light heavyweight may have had something to do with it, but that’s just speculation, but it’s no secret that rom the beginning of his career Bellew struggled to make the 175 limit, having said further on in his career that he walks around at 205lbs.

Making his debut on the 6th of October 2007 against Jamie ambler, bellew easily dispatched his opponent in the second round, showing that he had carried his power down with him, despite his opponent being nothing more than a journeyman. In his next fight he beat Adam wilcox at the millennium stadium, on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe’s fight with Mikkel Kessler. By 2009 he had advanced to 12-0 and was starting to get more and more people to talk about him, and with 8 of those 12 victories coming by knockout, it appeared Bellew did have some power in his fights at light heavy, even if the opponents weren’t on his level.

In his 13th fight, Bellew fought for his first belt, the commonwealth title, against atoli Moore of Ghana. The fighters were never on the same level and bellew had an early night, ending the fight in the first round.

In his next fight against Bob Ajisafe, Bellew had to recover from the first bit of adversity in his career, a flash knockdown in the 5th round. However, Bellew got back up and went on to win a unanimous decision.

His next fight would be the toughest of his career to date. the rugged and tested ovill Mckenzie, who is seen as a gatekeeper type

/FOLLOW TONY BELLEW

ON TWITTER @TonyBellew


xof fighter, would pose a challenge that Bellew would have to adapt for. But, in the first round Mckenzie was quick out of the blocks, and sent bellew crashing to the canvas before doing the same in the 2nd round. the biggest test of his career was going horribly for bellew. but he fought well in the third and eventually the momentum began to swing back towards ‘the bomber’. in the 8th round, after the panic of the first two, Bellew managed to knock his opponent down and keep him there, winning the fight and overcoming immense adversity to do so. it was a real indication of Bellew’s talent as Mckenzie separates the good from the bad, overhyped to the real deals.

a few months later, with Jurgen braehmer having pulled out his scheduled WBO title fight with nathan cleverly, bellew stepped in as a late replacement with only three days to go. as such, bellew was forced to lose 16 pounds in one day, no doubt putting him in the foulest of moods in the run up to the press conference, which was explosive to say the least. with george groves and James degale already providing entertainment with their verbal exchanges, Cleverly and Bellew took things to a different level. verbals were exchanged, cleverly calling bellew a bum and bellew responding with jibes about Cleverly’s level of opposition. It didn’t take long for the pair to try and trade blows, but it was ended swiftly by the security personnel on hand. In the end, Bellew couldn’t make the weight in such short time. But make no mistake about it, this is where the rivalry between the two began.

With a fight with Cleverly off the cards for now, Bellew decided to give Mckenzie the rematch that many thought he deserved, with the british title also on the line. as they say, rematches usually aren’t as good as the first fight, and this was very much the case again, as bellew cruised to a relatively simple unanimous decision.

With his record now standing at 16-0, Frank warren couldn’t resist the temptation of matching up his two leading light heavyweights, who just happened to hate each other. bellew has since claimed he was a novice at the time and wasn’t ready for a world title fight. But he did have the advantage of the fight being in liverpool.

With the fight starting at a ferocious pace, Bellew repeatedly landed solid punches in the first few rounds, even wobbling cleverly in the second.

with his dreams of emulating John conteh on the line, Bellew came into the fight fired up, but eventually cleverly was able to tame the prover-bial bull in the china shop and go on to win a close majority decision, with scored of 114-114, 117-112 and 116-113. Broken hearted, he knew the only place to go from here was the drawing board, as well as up.

The road back to major honours started with an easy 5th round win over danny Macintosh, regaining the british title in the process.

In the midst of that fight, the relationship between Frank Warren and Tony Bellew had become strained, so much so that bellewdecided to move over to the still upcoming Matchroom sport stable and take on the dangerous edison Miranda in london.

with the support of david price and paul Smith in the crowd, Bellew knocked the savvy veteran out in the 9th round and followed that win up with a unanimous decision victory over roberto bolonti, despite suffering a bad cut early on.

With his star now firmly re-established, Isaac chilemba was brought over to liverpool with the mandatory challenger status on the line. one step away from fighting for a world title again, Bellew knew the stakes were high, and in Chilemba he had a slick opponent who would be tough to beat in front of him. Like the Cleverly fight, Bellew started well, landing good crisp shots looking energetic for the first few rounds. eventually though, the tables began to turn and chilemba started to get on top, making Bellew miss and frustrate him in the process. Eventually, when the final bell finally rang, a draw was announced, with both fighters outraged at the result.

The fight was made for November 31st, none other than bellew’s birthday, in Stevenson’s hometown of Quebec, canada. with the odds already stacked against him, struggling to make the weight did not help, and knowing he would likely need a knockout or a very clear clinical like boxing display to win, bellew had a mountain to climb.

When the fight got underway, Bellew was outboxed for the majority of it. Struggling to get himself into things at all, Stevenson’s superiority was glaringly obvious. in the sixth round, hopes of emulating John conteh were evaporated.

a crisp left hand from Stevenson ended the proceedings in the sixth round.

Again, Bellew had to go back to the drawing board. deciding that light heavyweight was too hard to make, he moved up to cruiserweight.Since then valery brudov and Julio cesar dos Santos have been dispatched, with only brudov putting up a bit of a fight.

this has led to one thing. the rematch. after losing his light heavyweight belt to the hard hitting Sergey Kovalev, cleverly also moved up to cruiserweight, and has also beaten two over matched opponents. the rivalry between the two is intense. the hatred genuine.

bellew says that at cruiserweight he hits harder, and he can back that up with ius amateur exploits. In this writer’s opinion, 175lbs was suited to cleverly, whilst 200lbs is suited to Bellew. And with the fight also taking place at the echo arena again, the advantages are all with bellew in my opinion. but we will just have to wait and see what the fight, and the future, hold for Tony ‘the bomber’ Bellew. BMM


x

ANTHONY JOSHUA THE HOUSEWIVES CHOICE -

BUILDING A BRAND!

On the 22nd of September 2003, the British media took the misguided step of trying to destroy the adoration of a nation towards a single sportsman. that sportsman was Frank Bruno, and he had just been detained under the

Mental health act to provide treatment for his, yet undiagnosed, bipolar disorder. headlines included “Bonkers Bruno....”, which is a fairly foul reflection on just what people who should know better think about mental health - a problem which still occurs today; the uK’s most famous boxing journalist once referred a couple of years ago to people with mental health problems as “people who give me a laugh”. Almost overnight, Frank Bruno’s reputation went through a huge upheaval. and in this sport reputation and the outward face you portray is almost as important as what you do in the ring.

but with the shift in the focus towards bruno (from sporting praise, to support and admiration), there left a gap in the big man market - which had never been filled since Frank retired. nobody stood taller than anyone else, and no-one filled Frank’s shoes as “The great

uK hope”, the “nice guy”, and as a safe pair of hands to sell aftershave or holidays to Spain. the lovable heavyweight had disappeared from the scene in this country. until now...

I watched Anthony Joshua beat Dennis Bakhtov at the weekend in a style which - if I try really hard and use the english lexicon fully - was a case of AJ “Smashing Bakhtov’s face in” and I thought: here’s the new great uK hope for the punters, you, me and, more importantly, the people selling stuff. no wonder eddie hearn was grinning even more widely than usual. big Josh is the media dream we thought we’d forgotten when Big Frank struggled off the canvas and into Panto.

I like Anthony Joshua, both as a person, and as a boxer, and it is this very likability which won’t have gone unnoticed to the eyes and wallets of the ad men. He’s a good looking, clean (small cannabis charge excepted..) living, olympic champion with a physique that stops me looking in the mirror when I get out of the bath in case I break down in tears. He’s also a softly spoken, thoughtful, communicator, and has done nothing but tow the Matchroom pr line since he signed with them. in short, he plays the game.....and he plays it well. and now the hype is

PHOTOS - RUSSELL PRITCHARD X 3 - WORDS - BEN THOMSETT


x

building beyond all common sense and reality.

Shortly after Dennis Bakhtov was saved by ian John lewis from possibly being the next Magomed abdusalamov, the SKy commentators proclaimed “aJ is the real deal”. it certainly looked like it from where Bakhtov was standing, but could they be right? AJ does have some skills and he obviously has large reserves of power, but others do and they operate at several levels higher than Denis Bakhtov. Few would seriously back Josh against Wladimir Klitschko right now. Is AJ good enough to take Deontay Wilder’s best right hand, or tyson fury’s brawling? Questions, it’s all we’ve got at the moment. Some say he is developing a mean streak - though I’m not sure how they can tell since the only difference in aJ during the Bakhtov fight from all of his other cakewalks was a bit more smiling and poking out his tongue. Hardly a mean streak. Josh celebrated his win with a trip to a trendy nightclub, it could be the 1990s and essex all over again, just with the absence of white stilettos. this is what champions do though, don’t they, show off their undamaged face to the pub-lic, prove they really are the better man.anthony Joshua has a long and cliché-strewn

road to move along before he gets within standing distance of a world title belt, he’ll have to avoid or take on David Price, Dereck chisora, tyson fury, deontay wilder, and at least 23582 unknown Eastern Europeans if Eddie has his way. and he’ll have to do some serious winning - and i don’t mean just Ko’ing everyone, that kind of thing hasn’t guaranteed deontay wilder anything other than a swim in the Don King memorial shark tank - and we all know how that always ends. He’ll also have to test that chin out, and his stamina - both things which are vague at the moment. big punchers are always dangerous, but there is always the freak who will take your best and ride you like a rodeo bull until you tire out. then it’s anyone’s game.

at the moment anthony Joshua is bathing in his deserved glory, building the #Stayhungry brand, and looking good while he’s at work - both in the ring and stepping suavely out of nightspots in expensive suits. he’s earning too. it’s all eddie Hearn could ask for. For the time being Big Josh remains the new bruno, the acceptable face of british heavyweight boxing. the current housewives choice.bMM

PHOTO ABOVE - Dickie Pelham


x

After months of hype and anticipation, British fight fans were hit with a severe hammer blow. Tyson Fury vs Dereck Chisora was off, Chisora citing a broken hand sustained during training just over a week before fight night.

the interest for the rematch was huge, but with the grudge match re-arranged, it is ques-tionable at how much interest is being shown this time around, the build-up merry-go-round not quite taking off like it did 6 months ago. compare it to setting a release date for the new iphone, then changing that release date to later in the year. the excitement and anticipation would not quite be at the same magnitude the 2nd time around.

Billy Joe Saunders and Chris Eubank Jr class on the undercard in a bout that is certainly drawing more headlines, and the week before Tony Bellew is set to take on nathan cleverly for a second time in a bitter rivalry – although at this time the fight is taking on the wrong kind of publicity with fans fuming at eddie hearn and Sky deciding to air the show on Sky Box Office.

It’s easy to say now that the fight has lost its shine, but it still presents itself as a significant fight in the world heavyweight scene, with the winner looking on the verge of a world title shot, being an eliminator for Wladimir Klitschko’s wbo heavyweight crown. on the global scale this bout holds great significance.

it seems pretty clear however that tyson won’t have much to say – if anything – on the matter. taping his

mouth shut at the press conference to

SaM coulter (bMM Staff writer)Fury on points. I think he’ll be more disciplined than normal and use his reach but I think it will be tough and chisora will put in a good performance.

Jordan Stone (bMM Staff writer)I think Fury wins, I think Peter Fury will come up with a game plan that if fury sticks to he’ll win easily on points. I think Chisora will come out of the blocks fast but tyson will weather the storm and as the fight progresses he’ll take over. Fury ud for me.

peter wellS (bMM Staff writer)while i expect a much better showing from chisora this time around, it’s hard to see past the physical advantages that fury possesses. chisora must get inside early if he is to have any chance on the cards, otherwise he’ll be relying on occasional bursts to break down the often vulnerable fury.


xannounce the fight in protest to the british boxing board of Control’s fine they slapped on Fury after his outburst in front of media ahead of the original date in June. tyson’s mouth drew as much intrigue to the fight as the contest itself.

Should Frank Warren be worried about the lack of attention to this fight?not really, the anticipation will grow as the fight nears. Fans have seen the build up to it before, so that presents little interest. but as the contest approaches the hype will increase and view-ing figures will be high.

The fight itself will be the selling point, not the trash talk and bad

blood. tyson is the favourite, but always a vulnerable f a v o u r i t e . c h i s o r a ’ s resilience and strength will keep him in the fight even if Fury is firmly on top.

Some fights and some cards just speak for themselves; I certainly believe that fury-chisora 2 will be one of those.

PETER WELLS

who winS chiSora fury ii?writerS picKS

JaMeS McKnight (bMM Staff writer)

I see it as pretty much a 50/50 fight, both men have added motivation for this one and have their reasons to be confident about winning. Both have their vulnerabilities too. but i’m going with Fury I think. He just has that bit more about him, exudes confidence and doesn’t know when he’s beat.

adaM canavan (bMM Staff writer)

i’m going for chisora by stoppage. i feel he’s foughtthe better competition, learnt more and improved his technique to get more power in his punches. Personally I think he’ll catch Fury late on, but it is a real 50/50 fight in my opinion!

JacK SuMner (bMM editor/writer)though it started competitively, fury eventually ran out a pretty comfortable winner in their first bout, but Chisora was clearly out of shape and has dramatically improved his condition-ing since. not only that, but of the two Chisora has been the more active fight-er since their first meeting and has fared well against better competition, making big improvements as a fighter overall.


x

hris Eubank Jr has really got under Billy Joe Saunders’ skin; he seriously has. Saunders simply does not like him and the feeling is mutual most certainly, The Hatfield

southpaw has even gone as far to say that he would hang up his gloves for good, if he could not beat a man whom he labels a ‘’fraud’’; a man living off the name of his famous father, Chris Eubank Sr.

This is a fight of interest and intrigue and it is set to take place on November 29 at the ExCel Arena in Docklands, London. In one corner you have a 25-year-old fighter who has earned his stripes, having claimed the british, commonwealth and european middleweight titles; proudly unbeaten in 20 fights with 11 knockouts to his name. In the other corner you have a fighter (also 25 years of age), who has hardly been tested at all, bragging a 17(12)-0 record having feasted on ‘’bums’’. due to the fact that he has not beaten anybody of note as yet in the pro ranks, Eubank’s record has been scrutinised by many in the boxing vicinity; especially the fans. the vast majority of them have come to the conclusion that he is not as good as he makes himself out to be; an arrogant individual who imitates his old man down to a tee.

The Brighton fighter receives tons of abuse from ‘’haters’’, especially on the online social networking service twitter. He does not actually follow anyone on twitter, hardly shows up to press conferences and

c rarely gives interviews. In fact, anything Eubank Jr does (or does not do), seems to get under people’s skin. Does he really deserve all this hate?

it is true that the middleweight prospect has had it pretty easy so far though his career, but it is difficult on the whole to gauge just how good he actually is until he faces somebody like Saunders - who will be aiming to defend his british, commonwealth and european belts on the night. What we have seen of young Eubank is that he likes to bide his time, especially during the early stages of a contest. not before long, he explodes into life showing flashes of brilliance, demonstrating fast hands, power and good timing. carl froch sparred chris junior ahead of his rematch with george groves and said that he is a good fighter with decent skills and fast hands and has a decent dig on him too. froch’s trainer, rob McCracken, has also stated that he is a young, fast, sharp good fighter with a big career ahead of him. Despite these positive reviews, he still looks very much like an unpolished fighter and it is because of this reason that many doubt he can beat a fighter of Saunders’ calibre.

This is the most anticipated fight in Britain right now. i am sure of it. a battle between two domestic rivals with a point to prove. there is a feeling of intense hatred between bothfighters, which adds fuel to the fire. It has all the ingredients to be something very, very special.

Is Chris Eubank Jr ready or not? Only time will tell!

READY OR NOT?

WRITER JAMES McKNIGHT - ILLUSTRATION P4PPOSTERS

Age is only a number, nobody personifies that more than Bernard ‘The Alien’ hopkins and on Nov 8th, at 49 years old, he attempts to con-t i n - ue to defy father time and break more records as he takes on

Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev to try and unify their light heavyweight world titles.

Hopkins has had an extraordinary career so far, arguably the greatest of this ‘era’, he has been in or around title bouts for around 20 years now: he was the longest reigning middleweight champion of all time (he held his middleweight titles from 1995 to 2005), he made a record 20 consecutive defences before losing to Jermain Taylor. In 2011 Hopkins broke George Fore-man’s record to become the oldest champi-on ever, but then lost his title to chad dawson and then went on to upset the odds in 2013, beating and schooling the highly rated tavoris Cloud, breaking his own record again and be-coming the oldest ‘unified’ champion too, pick-ing up beibut Shumenov’s wba strap a couple of fights later, putting in another masterclass.

Hopkins has been in with the likes of Roy Jones Jr, Glen Johnson, Felix Trinidad, Winky wright, Jermain taylor, Joe calzaghe, and so on. Win or lose, these fights mean that Hopkins has a huge advantage over Kova-lev when it comes to pro experience, where-as Kovalev only captured his first title last year.

Kovalev, however, does have some attributes that Hopkins does not possess: he had an ex-tensive amateur career at a high level and he has unbelievable power, Hopkins had no amateur ca-reer and hasn’t stopped anyone for several years.

As phenomenal as Hopkins has been, there is a reason why Kovalev is a 2/5 favourite with the bookies. He seems like an unstoppable force in the light heavyweight division, he has steamroll-ed a decent run of opponenta during his 25(23)-0-1 career, most notably pummeling nathan cleverly in 4 rounds to win the wbo champi-onship. the russian banger also has solid wins against gabriel campillo, cornelius white, ismayl Sillah, Cedric Agnew and Blake Caparello, all by stoppage, all within the distance. that’s no easy feat, but the opponents do often get dismissed.


x

ge is only a number, nobody personifies that more than Ber-nard ‘The Alien’ Hopkins and on nov 8th, at 49 years old, he attempts to continue to defy fa

ther time and break more records as he takes on Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev to try and unify their light heavyweight world titles.

Hopkins has had an extraordinary career so far, arguably the greatest of this ‘era’, he has been in or around title bouts for around 20 years now: he was the longest reigning middleweight champion of all time (he held his middleweight titles from 1995 to 2005), he made a record 20 consecutive defences before losing to Jermain Taylor. In 2011 Hopkins broke George foreman’s record to become the oldest champion ever, but then lost his title to chad dawson and then went on to upset the odds in 2013, beating and schooling the highly rated Tavoris Cloud, breaking his own record again and becoming the oldest ‘unified’ champion too, picking up Beibut Shumenov’s WBA strap a cou-ple of fights later, putting in another masterclass.

Hopkins has been in with the likes of Roy Jones Jr, glen Johnson, felix trinidad, Winky Wright, Jermain Taylor, Joe Calzaghe, and so on. Win or lose, these fights mean that Hopkins has a huge advantage over Kovalev when it comes to pro experience, whereas Kovalev only captured his first title last year.

Kovalev, however, does have some attributes that Hopkins does not possess: he had an extensive amateur career at a high level and he has unbelievable power, Hopkins had no amateur career and hasn’t stopped anyone for several years.

As phenomenal as Hopkins has been, there is a reason why Kovalev is a 2/5 favourite with the bookies. He seems like an unstoppable force in the light heavyweight division, he has steamrolled a decent run of opponenta during his 25(23)-0-1 career, most notably pummeling nathan cleverly in 4 rounds to win the wbo championship. the russian banger also has solid wins against gabriel

axxvkovav

@p4pposte

””


xcampillo, cornelius white, ismayl Sillah, cedric Agnew and Blake Caparello, all by stoppage, all within the distance. that’s no easy feat, but the opponents do often get dismissed.

this truly is one of the most anticipated and in-triguing matchups in recent times and the rea-son why is simple, there are so many questions that nobody knows the answers to until the final bell rings: can Kovalev keep up with the box-ing smarts of Hopkins? Can Hopkins, at his age, take Kovalev’s power? Can Kovalev even land enough with that power? will Kovalev gas? and is Hopkins truly an Alien? I say yes, undoubtedly.

a lot has been made of Kovalev’s power and comparisons have been made to Hopkins-Pav-lik where Pavlik, a then undefeated banger, was a big favourite but Hopkins dominated the ac-tion throughout and won a lopsided decision. Kovalev, however, has a lot more than Pavlik. The ‘Krusher’ is more than just a big punch, his timing is exceptional. he cuts off the ring very well and adapts to opponents very quickly. It is true that Kovalev hasn’t faced anyone as good as Hopkins and Hopkins’ form has been brilliant recently, but, cloud, Murat and Shumenov really are not on the level of Kovalev either and the defeat to dawson really wasn’t too long ago to dismiss yet.

I don’t think this will be a fight of the year con-tender, but rather an intriguing battle of wits in the centre of the ring, a series of adapta-tions, at least for as long as Hopkins can take Kovalev’s power; Hopkins has always had a terrific chin, but with Kovalev it doesn’t mat-ter, even blocking the punches doesn’t matter!

approaching 50 years old this could be a po-tentially dangerous fight for Hopkin’s health and career, it’s entirely possible that Kovalev could just dominate and stop him, but Kova-lev is also in a lose-lose situation: if he wins they’ll say age finally beat B-Hop, not Kova-lev, and if he loses then he lost to an old man.

will the torch be passed to Kovalev? or will the executioner turned extraterrestrial con-tinue to defy the clock en route to achiev-ing his goal of becoming the undisputed champ at 50 years old? either way, this is a can’t miss event so make sure you tune in!

NOVEMBER 2014 issue #14042

x

Fury - Chisora "Still Bad Blood"

Documents

Transcript of Fury - Chisora "Still Bad Blood"