What\’s Next For Britain\’s Boxing Heavyweights?

Most people will agree that the past year for British heavyweight boxing has been one filled with potential. However, most people will also agree that the potential has been anything but fulfilled. On Sunday, 11 December 2004, Danny Williams was set to step out into the limelight in order to try and capture boxing’s most prestigious award, the World Heavyweight Championship against Vitali “Iron Fist’ Klitschko. Slightly lower down in the ranks, Audley “A force’ Harrison continued to beat his opponents and improve upon his record. The A-Force “train” that Harrison refers to, seemed to be finally gathering pace and there was hope that he would fight a real “’contender’’ in the near future. Meanwhile, a few months later in the shadows, a new star was gaining momentum by moving through the ranks, undefeated, powerful, in good shape and British. Matt Skelton, 37 years of age and holder of the British Title, was aiming to become world heavyweight champion, with his trainers claiming that he would take a fight against the champion Klitschko, even with his record standing at just 16-0.

However, from that point on the British heavyweight hopefuls have failed to achieve any of the things that they had set out to do a year earlier. Williams bravely went down to the champion Klitschko in an eighth round stoppage, while Harrison continuing to fight against low ranked opponents and made no real attempt to get into the ring with a big name. While Skelton continued to move up the ranks, he finally got a fight worthy of his achievements, verses Danny Williams. All looked to be set for a thriller, which was deemed as the fight to bring boxing back to ITV, until at the last minute Williams pulled out claiming he had the flu a day after weighing in at a gigantic 20 odd stone (280lbs+). With fighters such as Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Amir Kahn currently continuing to take the interest in British boxing to new levels, we ask what’s next for Britain’s heavyweights?

The career path that each fighter has chosen will have a huge impact on what they will be able to achieve in the next few years. Some people, including “A Force” himself predicted that he would be heavyweight champion within five years after his Olympic win, one which made him famous through mainstream TV, rare for a boxer nowadays. However the fights he has chosen have been questionable in the quality of opponent and many people have turned to the opinion that he is just making all the money out of the sport that he can while making sure he didn’t get hurt and that he has no intention of even fighting a top 10 contender. Audley however has denied this on several occasions and has been in the spotlight recently after an impressive win against Robert Wiggins. But being thirty-three years of age, time is not on Harrison’s side and he will need to make a decision quickly about his future in boxing and which path he will take.

Skelton on the other hand, is already ranked at number thirteen in the IBF rankings after just seventeen fights, while Harrison is number sixty. Skelton, who has previous experience in K1 mixed martial arts competitions, had his first pro bout at thirty-five years old and winning a title at that time seemed an impossibility. He is now thirty-eight and the rumours are is that he has re scheduled the bout with the “Brixton Bomber’ Danny Williams for sometime in early December. If he wins this fight there is a good chance that he may soon break into the top ten rankings and from there a title shot is not too far away. Meanwhile, the prospect of Williams getting another title shot seems to of been washed away since the beating he took from Klitschko and then his last minute pull out against Skelton. Although there may be a chance for redemption within the boxing world, if he manages to win impressively in his next fight.

It seems that if there is going to be any joy for Britain’s heavyweights in the near future, it rests in the fists of Matt Skelton, as at this point in time he seems most likely to get a title shot. Williams may get another, however it seems unlikely considering the current circumstances and it is unlikely that he has the skills to beat people such as Hasim Rahman and Chris Byrd along the way. Harrison has not got long to fight a real contender before his time as a boxer may be up and he must show that he is ready to trade with the big boys soon.

Unfortunately though for now, the focus seems to be on Amir Kahn and Ricky Hatton until one of these three heavyweights steps up into the big time!