David Haye believes he will have to step up another gear from his victory over Nikolai Valuev to defeat John Ruiz this spring. Haye, the WBA world heavyweight champion, today confirmed he will fight mandatory challenger Ruiz at Manchester’s MEN Arena on April 3 in what will be his first defence of the belt since he took it from Valuev in Nuremberg last November.
European middleweight champion Matthew Macklin will team up with revered American trainer Freddie Roach as he steps up his bid to win a world title. The Birmingham-born Irish boxer enjoyed the best year of his career in 2009 as he finally won the British and European titles after joining Manchester trainer Joe Gallagher’s stable.
Andre Berto pulled out of next week’s WBC welterweight title fight with Shane Mosley, saying the pain of dealing with the horrific earthquake in Haiti has taken too big a toll on him emotionally.
Rising heavyweight star Larry Olubamiwo’s explosive power has been compared to former world champion Frank Bruno by trainer James Cook. The 31-year-old from Clapton, London, (6-1) faces fellow banger Scott Belshaw (10-3) in Brentwood on Friday and Cook insists the ‘War Machine’ is getting better all the time.
Jamie McDonnell claimed a controversial victory over Ian Napa to become British and Commonwealth bantamweight champion. Napa, a classy operator at domestic level, entered the fight as favourite and had his sights set on regaining the European belt he lost last year with a fight for the vacant title set for March.
John Duddy will head straight back to the gym on Monday morning after scoring a first-round knockout that earned him a fight on the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey undercard on March 13.
Promoter Frank Warren has branded Amir Khan disloyal after the WBA light-welterweight champion defected to America. Khan, 23, left Warren after five years last weekend to join up with American giants Golden Boy Promotions.
Audley Harrison admits there will be “no excuses” when he bids to finally land a major title against European heavyweight champion Albert Sosnowski in April. On the back of his victory in the Prizefighter tournament last year, the 2000 Olympic champion has been granted a shot at new continental belt-holder Sosnowski of Poland, scheduled for April 9 at Alexandra Palace in London.
Carl Froch says the prospect of fighting great Dane Mikkel Kessler on his home turf will spur him on to glory on April 17. WBC super-middleweight champ Froch puts his unbeaten pro record on the line in his second bout in Showtime’s Super Six tournament.
Krzysztof Bienias has warned Kell Brook he is a hungry fighter ahead of their February 13 clash. Former European title challenger Bienias will take on rising British star Brook in an eliminator for the WBO World Welterweight crown at Wembley Arena on the huge Night of the Champion extravaganza promoted by Frank Warren.
