Frank Maloney’s Successful Return to Vegas!

I recently went to Las Vegas with my fighter, WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison and his father/trainer Peter, in order to call out the winner of the epic third fight between Marco Antonio Barrera and his arch nemesis Erik Morales. I must admit that it was good to go back to Vegas. I’d forgotten what it was like but being there, I realized just how much it is still the capital of boxing. It can still produce the super fights, it can still produce the atmosphere and the crowd like nowhere else. I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world that can compare to it. It was very good for Scott to have gone to Vegas. While there he met the American media, met the head of HBO and met Bob Arum. Scott also bumped into Wayne McCullough, Jeff Fenech, who is one of Scott’s heroes and he also met Danny Green. He sat and enjoyed the fight between Barrera and Morales and really saw what boxing is like at that level. Scott’s exact words to me were “I would love to be in that ring and as my manager, I really want you to make me a fight over here. I want to fight over here.” I thought that was a good sign and Scott was well received by the American press as he spent a bit of time speaking with a number of journalists and members of the media.

We very much would like Scott to fight Barrera and I think that would be a very good start for him in the superfights I’m trying to line up. I think it would be a great contest and one that the fighter with the best work rate and biggest heart would win. Without sounding too big headed or arrogant, I think that Scott is the fresher fighter between he and Barrera. I don’t know how much Barrera has left anymore or if he just pulled out one last big performance against Morales, but a Harrison – Barrera fight would be a great one.

We’ve already made contact with Barrera’s promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, and we’ve let them know were available and would love to make the fight out in Vegas. I’ve made a commitment to Scott that I will try my utmost to make him a superfight in 2005, with the help of Sports Network. The other thing that I’d like to do is secure a world title fight for British Lightweight champion Graham Earl. After Graham has one more British title defense, I’d like to go for one of the four major belts, be it IBF, WBC, WBA or WBO.

That fight would be down the road a bit next year but in the meantime I’ve read an article that Michael Brodie is interested in fighting Scott Harrison. That caught my attention because we are looking for an opponent for Scott early in the New Year. If Brodie wants the fight it can definitely be made but Scott doesn’t need him. That fight could be a shortcut for Brodie back to the big time or it could be the end of his career. It would be a great domestic fight and in fairness to Michael Brodie, he is a good fighter, but in boxing I find that talk is cheap. We’re not going to chase Brodie and if he wants to really fight Scott Harrison instead of just mentioning his name to get in the press, he can have his manager call our matchmaker and I’m sure that they can sort out the financial arrangements.

Something very big here that has returned boxing to the back pages of newspapers in Britain is this weekend’s WBC heavyweight title fight between Danny Williams and Vitali Klitschko. Everyone in Britain is talking about it. If Danny pulls it off, it would be a great prize for British boxing, which would really be on the way up going into 2005. The sport of boxing is only as good as the heavyweight division and if we can get Danny Williams to win it, it just may turn the sport around in this country. For 12 years Britain was at the top of the pile with Lennox Lewis and it’s a chance for the sport to make a return once again. I think that Danny really fancies this fight and he believes that he can do it. That’s obviously a great plus when a fighter can go in confident, believing in himself because that’s half the battle won already. I think that Klitschko will make a lot of mistakes and Danny Williams will capitalize on those to become the new WBC champion.

Lastly, the recent English lightweight title out between my fighter Danny Hunt and Lee Meager was one of the best fights I’ve been involved in for a long time. Both boxers gave their all and at the end of the day the third man in the ring gave his decision and I’m not interested in anything that Meager or his people have to say. I’m getting on with Danny Hunt’s career and planning the direction he should go in. There’s and saying that goes “empty vessels make the most noise”. Meager and Hennessy Sports are empty because they haven’t got any titles. The English Lightweight title is held by Danny Hunt and no matter what they want to say. All they are doing is making a lot of noise, like some empty bottles rattlin’ around together.

Frank Maloney