Boxing Perspective: The Future Of Jamie Moore

What’s Down The Road For The British Light Middleweight Champion?

After impressing fans with his spectacular tenth round knockout and hospitalization of fellow Brit Matthew Macklin, Jamie Moore is ready for bigger and better things in many people’s eyes. There is no doubt that Jamie Moore would be a big draw, and therefore the options open to the man are many. In the Macklin fight, despite enduring attacks similar to that of Ricky Hatton, Moore managed to survive the opening rounds and then started to fight back in the middle rounds.

Click for larger image © Jane Warburton Saddo Boxing

The Salford man paced himself perfectly to outlast his opponent and came on strong in the 9th and 10th rounds after a frantic 8th round in which it appeared Macklin was throwing out all that was left in his reserve tank, which in the end was not enough.

The fight ended with an uppercut, then a one-two bomb from Moore which left the exhausted Macklin out cold for five minutes on the canvas. At the time of the stoppage, two judges had Moore ahead with the other having the fight equal.

After appearing in nine British or Commonwealth title bouts in the last three years, Moore, 25-3 (18), is ready to step up.

A match up against the European Champion Michele Piccirillo, 46-3 (29), would certainly be a chance to showcase Moore’s skills outside of the domestic scene. Piccirillo, a former IBF Welterweight Champion, won one of two bouts with current IBF Light Middle Champ Cory Spinks, and only last year lost a vacant WBC Light Middleweight battle with Ricardo Mayorga via a twelve round decision.

A fight with Piccirillo would be a good measure of how far Moore has come since his last loss to Michael Jones due to disqualification, as well as if he is ready or not to fight for world honours before his self imposed retirement at the age of 30.

Moore has already expressed interest in this fight after declaring that he would give up his British title in order to claim a European one. If Moore could through a fight with Piccirillo unscathed, then a world title shot would surely have to be on the cards.

While pairing Moore with WBC Champ Oscar De La Hoya may be slightly ambitious, a bout against the relatively untested but also undefeated Ukrainian WBO Titlist Sergiy Dzinziruk would make for a fantastic clash with both fighters having high KO ratios.

The fight with Macklin, who is no doubt an excellent talent, showed that Moore is ready for the next step. He has proved himself numerous times at British and Commonwealth levels and if he is to achieve his dream of a world title before retiring, then a European title fight is one he really needs to take, and one the people need to see.

Is Jamie Moore up to the challenge? World Champion? Maybe. European Champion? Definitely.