Caly Boxing

Scottish Boxing Update:Burns,Limond,Young,McAllister,Anderson all in action !

2009-11-01T10:32:00.000Z

December sees a busy month for Scotland's title holders. Probably the worse kept secret in UK boxing at the moment but Ricky Burns is fighting Kevin Mitchell on the under card of Amir Khan/Dimitry Salita. The fight will be unification for both the Commonwealth and British straps,however it could also be used as some sort of eliminator for the WBO belt as both fighters are ranked quite highly by the WBO. Expect this to be announced formally soon next week.

Also in action on the same night is Greenock's John Simpson. Defending his commonwealth belt he will return to England's north east for a second defence against Andy Bell. This fight was signed previously however it didn't go ahead due to injury .

Glasgow Pavilion is the venue which will play host two Scottish title fights on 15th November: Gary Young v Gary McMillan (welterweight) and Cairan Duffy v Paddy Pollock (light welterweight).The undercard includes Willie Limond ,Santiago Caruana and Craig Windsor. Tickets are reasonably priced starting from £20 -£40 and are available from 01413321846.

After depositing of Charlie King I understand that Aberdeen's Commonwealth champion Lee McAllister next defence will be in Glasgow ,probably at the Kelvin hall or Bellahouston sports centre. Previous talk about European title shots to me seems a bit premature however seems to rest a lot on the provision of a sky sports slot.

Kenny Anderson is back in action at the end of November .The bout is being used to shake of any ring rust that the Edinburgh fighter may have accrued over his lay off. After this fight he will then move onto a British Title Eliminator in January. This fight will be the first fight with new trainer Kevin Maree in his corner.

Gary McMillan and Gary Young go head to head in an all Edinburgh battle

2009-10-02T11:27:00.001+01:00

Being out of the ring for just over 2 years ,Edinburgh welterweight Gary Young (17-1) is looking to bring himself back into the boxing wilderness with a Scottish title shot against fellow Edinburgh resident Gary McMillan (9-1).

McMillan,who trains at the Lochend gym in Edinburgh,is currently in LA training at the famous Wild Card gym and is a regular sparring partner of Alex Arthur. The only loss on his record was actually on his début were he lost on points to Scott Woolford. Since then he has been on a nine fight winning streak winning most fights on points and just one knock out.

Not really a cross road fight as neither of the fighters are veterans,but I am sure Young will be looking at the fight as stepping stone to better things and help him continue his winning ways he had become accustomed to. I understand in the run up to this fight the will be using the services of Aberdeen Commonwealth champion Lee McAllister.

With both fighters being not only form Edinburgh but from the south of the city,this will add another dimension to a fight that could certainly take either fighters reputation to a higher level in the city.

Both fighters will contest the vacant title on a card promoted by veteran promoter Alex Morrison. A venue is still to be dictated but I am confident they could hold a fight of this significant in Edinburgh.

The untelevised bout will take place on November 28th,and ticket details will be announced soon .

Sugar Ray Leonard To Visit Glasgow!

2009-09-04T09:16:00.002+01:00

Former World Champion and Olympic Champion Sugar Ray Leonard is visiting Scotland!Maree promotions is giving Scottish fans the unique opportunity to meet a true legend of the sport .

Sugar Ray Leonard will be at Celtic Park on Saturday October 10Th.Tickets are available by by visiting wwww.mareepromotions.co.uk or telephoning 07899953543.

Scottish Boxing Update!

2009-08-26T20:12:00.000+01:00

In the midsts of a quiet period of domestic boxing it comes as no great surprise there is not much to write about !

Starting the new season sees John Simpson make his defence of his commonwealth title on Friday week. The Sky sports covered fight is at the Eston Sports academy in Middlesbrough,and is a rescheduled fight after bizarrely being rained off the last time.

With this being a rematch expect both fighters to fight more cautiously,however I am hearing that Simpson is hitting the hardest he ever has in training.

Continuing his way back into world title contention Alex Arthur looks to march on in his next fight. Being confirmed as the main support fight on the Rogan/Sexton rematch he should be fighting a ten rounder against a credible opponent ,this is in Belfast on October 9th.

Also making a surprising addition to the card is Ricky Burns .As I understand Burns is scheduled to fight an eight rounder ,however no opponent has been finalised yet ,I would imagen this fight would be looked upon to keep him busy ahead of a possible defence of his commonwealth belt come December.

Also I expect to be announced soon an evening with a true legend of the sport, in Celtic park on Saturday October 10th .Details should be released soon however,i can assure you it is a night not to miss!

Craig McEwan Interview,

2009-07-27T17:04:00.003+01:00

Recently seeing the effect that Freddie Roach has had on Amir Khan its safe to say that there are some people who have high expectations on Craig McEwan. While its maybe not the weight of a nation,the opportunity to prove that Roach's faith has not been waisted is as much motivation than anyone needs.

I caught up with the former Commonwealth Bronze medallists to get his insight on how things have progressing for him .Since I last spoke to him Craig has extended his record to 16-0,however its fair to say he has a mixed bag of opponents

“All my fights have been tough and I have learnt a lot. My first fight (of the year) was against Ivan Stovall,he was a bit of a trash talker. I stopped in him in the seventh round,but he kept coming up. There was another guy I fought in Vegas,but he never showed up”

He adds “Then there was Brian Vera form the contender,he gave me a good go and tested me. My last fight was against Darnell Boone,but I had a hairline fracture in my hand .I didn't really punch till about ten minuets going into the ring ,the first 5 rounds went well ,and the rest just went to pot”

Working out of the Wild Card and with Freddie Roach in some demand for one of McEwans fights he had to rely on the services of Pepper Roach,albeit it was only for a short time but this didn't really effect him much “It was a little bit different as Pepper does things a bit different.”

In fighting the experienced Brian Vera he was headlining for the first time ans was also being shown nationwide on American TV on the popular ESPN show “Friday fight night”.McEwan reflects that this didn't really phase him “It happened so fast I didn't really have time to think about. It happened in fort worth Texas and it was roasting.”

He adds “I didn't think about heading it,i thought about the game plan an anything else. When I watch it back I do think I could have stepped it up a bit and knocked him out .He's a tough cookie,but I am tougher”he laughs .

While having to put up with fighting Brian Vera,He was put in the strange situation that there was no chasing facilities at the venue (which was in a car park in the town centre!) so he had to get changed in the hotel and make his way to the ring from two blocks away “We were two blocks down the road in an air conditioned hotel. The room was freezing so I said to Freddie I need to warm up. So I had all my gear to warm up and I thought there was a car to pick us up,but there wasn't”

Smiling and laughing he adds further “so we had to walk up form the hotel;Me,Freddie and my manager and me all gloved up .it was like a ring walk form two blocks away!then when I am standing at the traffic lights,someone asks 'are you a boxer?' I replied 'Yeah what gave it away'”

Starting out at middleweight it would appear that he is carving out a career at light middleweight. I asked if he could clarify the current situation “Its still ongoing,my manager is a crafty bugger. He thinks ill be better at light middleweight,and there are bigger fights like the Angulo's and the Citrons and the Duddys. My last fight was 158 (light middleweight limit is 154),so slowly and surely im getting there.With the right training and eating I should be able to make it”

His last fight against experienced journeyman Darnell Boone ,McEwan didn't sparkle in it ,this lead to a lot of criticism of him. I had heard from the McEwan camp that he had carried an injury going into the fight ,Craig spoke frankly and opened up about it “The preparation was there,none. I was fit,i did lots of running and shadow boxing. But the boxing side of it wasn't there. I had a hairline fracture on my hand and I was supposed to fight on the 18th of July (on the Marquez/Mayweather under-card) but it got pulled .That got rescheduled to September 19th”

He then mentions how the Boone fight was hastily arranged “ So they then decided to give me an eight rounder against Darnell Boone. They said he has a good record,but he's better than his record and fought few good guys. I was working on the hand constantly Freddie was taping it up,i didn't really punch at all,no sparring no nothing”

He recalls about the fight itself and the criticism he received after the fight “the first four or five rounds I thought I did really well ,but then I lost track .The criticism is there so ill take it ,it wasn't the best preparation for a fight. But I will take some of it on board”

While being based out in America ,the fighters critics still raise the point that he should try and fight over here against British opponents. While this is becoming a more frequent asked question of McEwan I felt I would give him the opportunity to answer it ,and hopefully bury the question for good “I would take a fight against a British fighter,especially if it was in Scotland. Some of the critics say to me that I am not good enough to fight for American boxing,but good enough for British title.so what does that say about British boxing?I want to learn from the best that Is why I am out”

While its something he cant see happening in the near future it is something that he can see happening at some time “My ideal goal is to win a world title in America and come in back door and defend it over here. I want to fight at Easter road!”

McEwan has been in Los Angeles for a good few years now,and has settled into the American Way of doing things and with his promoter,Golden boy I am sure he will surge forward with his world title ambitions quite well.

Scottish Boxing update

2009-07-13T21:46:00.000+01:00

With not much happening at the moment and the season coming to an end we take, most of out content today form the lower weights.

Paul Appleby’s European title shot against current champion Oleg Yefimourich has been confirmed (well at least by EBU by way of notice on the BBBoC website) to go ahead on Saturday October the 3rd in Donetsk in the Ukraine.

In losing the purse bid promoter Matchroom will see there fighter fighting away for the second time in a row .With this being just under 4 months away, I personally cant see Appleby taking the fight and even would go as far to say I cant see the former champion fighting any more this year, this is just my opinion though.

With no official announcement from his manager Tommy Gilmour, I have to wonder if they feel or at least think the same as myself.

Appleby’s former opponent and current commonwealth champion John Simpson is defending his belt against the fighter who he grabbed the title form .Simpson is looking to repeat his previous victory against Paul Truscott on Friday night, The sky covered bout is not in Scotland however the champion is given way home advantage to the challenger .I have to ask why this has happened as Simpson is a good ticket seller with a style that is always crowd pleasing.

With Billy Nelson in his corner, Simpson will have to do a lot more in this fight to be successful however, I feel he can pull off the victory and return to Greenock still champion.

Also making his American debut on Thursday night is Gary Young. After what seems like a lifetime since we have seen the Edinburgh fighter in the ring he looks to start a new chapter in his career by taking on American Tony Hirsch .This is a four rounder and with Gary’s experience I am sure he will want to make quick work of the American with a view to fighting 8 rounder’s.

Also in the Notices from the Board of Control was a purse bid for Ricky burns to take on Londoner Kevin Mitchell. This mouth-watering fight was to take place last year before Mitchell suffered an injury to his hand. However, with Mitchell’s long awaited step up to world title level I think this will not happen but I would expect Burns to be fighting for the British belt at some point in the last quarter of the year.

Craig McEwan overcome injury to go 16-0!

2009-06-28T18:31:00.000+01:00

Edinburgh boxer "Scottish" Craig McEwan extended his unbeaten run to 16 fights when he beat tough veteran middleweight,Ohio's Darnell Boone on points over 8 rounds at LA's Staple Center on Saturday night.

Cheered on by his promoter, Goldenboy Promotion's Oscar Dela Hoya, McEwan finished the bout with a badly gashed left eye which later required stitches.
The Scot's build-up to the fight was marred by the diagnosis of a stress fracture to a bone in his left hand just 4 weeks ago, necessitating a preparation free of sparring until 7 days before the bout.

"I sparred 3 rounds last Saturday and the hand held up so we decided to go ahead with the fight. It wasn't an ideal way to approach a bout against such an experienced, awkward opponent but I was desparate to fight".

McEwan, who is known more for his slick movement and silky skills, was forced into a torrid, toe to toe battle at times, which suited his opponent's brawling style.
However, the Scot, who is trained by top coach Freddy Roach in Hollywood's Wildcard Gym, took control in the middle rounds and was able to survive a final round rally by Boone to take the fight.

"I'm happy with that performance", said the former Clovenstone amateur, "I knew that my timing would be a bit suspect after 4 weeks without sparring but I proved to myself tonight that I could punch my way to victory with one of the toughest guys around and that's very satisfying. I've been promised a crack at a title soon and this win will hopefully bring that a step closer."

Scottish Boxing Update

2009-06-25T20:55:00.001+01:00

After a busy night of action in both Glasgow and Aberdeen the dust has settled on what was a busy Friday night in Scottish Boxing; One commonwealth belt gained, one retained and Scotland’s last world champion came back at a new weight.

Lee McAllister finally made it into champion status with a convincing third round KO of Godfred Sowah in front of a packed audience in Aberdeen’s Beach Ballroom. While the fight didn’t have the TV audience the outcome of the fight was far different from Ricky Burns commonwealth title defence against Kevin O’Hara.

McAllister now will have a few months to decide who his first defence will be against either Willie Limond or prize-fighter star Gary McArthur. With promises of a ‘Friday fight night slot’ and the opportunity to fight at the AECC, I am sure McAllister will want to prove his champion credentials

Burns, making the third defence of his title came in with a point’s victory; however Sky pundits had it closer than the ringside judges. It wasn’t classic performance by burns, but I do feel he won it by at least three rounds.

Refusing to be drawn on any potential opponents Burns seems confident he is improving each fight, and also must be fancying his chances at a shot at the British Title or even the full WBO world title.

Also making a short lived comeback was Alex Arthur who blew out French Algerian Mohamed Benbiou out in first round. The fight didn’t show too much of Arthur’s skills, but while short it did show Arthur looked comfortable at his new weight.

With the first win under his record hopefully we will see him back in action soon and re-cement his power, speed and all round skills

Recently there was a purse bids announcement for Paul Appleby v Oleg Yefimourich for the EBU championship. This has a closing date of Tuesday 30th of June .As for this fight it will be interesting to see if Appleby’s promoter Tommy Gilmour will look to out bid the Ukrainians promoter.

Coming off a loss to Martin/Lindsay it would be a hard task for Appleby to go over to Ukraine to fight for the Belt, however with the right guidance and training it is certainly something that he could achieve.

Scottish Boxing Update

2009-06-01T19:19:00.001+01:00

Willie Limond on Friday night was crowned the ‘WBU’ world champion after a points victory over current English champion Ryan Barrett .The fight ended with unanimous decision for Limond over his English rival.

Having started quite strong in the fight Limond continued to dominate the fight and boxed strongly through the 12 scheduled rounds to take the vacant title.

The fight now sees a possibility of a first defence at Firhill stadium, were Limond’s football team Partick Thistle play. The other option available to him is a potential all Scottish clash with Aberdeen’s Lee McAllister, should he come through his commonwealth title shot…

On the undercard a stable mate of the Limond made his debut.Exoctic sounding Santino Caruana made his professional debut. The lightweight had to put up with a pit fall of the professional game with his opponent pulling out at the eleventh hour, and was replaced by Fettercairn journeyman James Ancliffe.Caruana went on to score a points victory.

Rated highly by his trainer Billy Nelson, he is next getting an outing on the undercard of Ricky Burns v Kevin O’Hara on June 19th were he fights a four rounder. Also on the Bellahouston undercard is Kris Hughes, Gary McMillan and Craig Windsor.

Notably Edinburgh’s Alex Arthur is making his lightweight debut with an eight rounder against Algerian Mohamed Benbiou.The bout is designed to get his career back on the straight and narrow and hopefully lead to a shot at an international/intercontinental title bout on the upcoming Kevin Mitchell world title bout.

And lastly the Prize fighter stars Gary McArthur and Ryan Brawley are in action in a show on June 12th at the play dome in Clydebank. The card also includes rising star Davie Savage and Richard Barclay.

Interview with Ricky Burns

2009-05-19T20:51:00.001+01:00

Moving from his victory over Michael Gomez, Ricky ‘Rickster’ Burns (26-2) is looking to show his credentials as a worthwhile champion by taking on Belfast’s Kevin O’Hara at the usual surroundings of the Bellahouston sports centre in Glasgow on June 19th.

The fight happens the night before David Haye attempts to become the ‘giant slayer‘, and while most of the boxing media will be focusing on the fight in Germnay,Burns will attempt to make headlines of his own
“I never go out to with the intention of knocking someone out. If it happens it’s a bonus, I train for every fight the same. I train for a hard 12 round fight, but I think I will have too much in the locker for O’Hara come fight night”

Coming into this fight, Burns was last in action against Michael Gomez. In that fight some people think that he gave his best performance of his career to date. I asked if he could contribute that performance anything in particular “Since I switched trainer (to Billy Nelson) we have been working more on sitting down into punches more. Everybody knew I could box on the back foot, but nobody knew I could go and have a war with people. There are times were you have to stand your ground and things are coming together nicely”

In the run up to the fight Gomez was seen to be doing his usual pre fight antics, something that the Rickster expected and by his own admission didn’t really faze him on the night “I just blocked that out my mind. See the way he is at press confrences,that was expected and it didn’t intimidate me .I told people at the time it wasn’t working with me, and I do my talking in the ring“

In his corner for the fight is the familiar face of Billy Nelson, who informs us he doesn’t believe that his fighter’s best performance was not against Gomez, but instead Yakubu Amidu “I think his defence against Amidu, as he was possibly a more live opponent. He came into this fight with 17 wins and 16 knockouts, so he was more a big puncher”

He adds “I thought Ricky’s movement was good, and he proved that he has sufficient power to hurt somebody with a single shot now”

The qualified social worker adds what they have been working on since the Gomez fight “Since we have been back in the gym, we have working on his combinations. I noticed in the fight Ricky was throwing combinations in three or fours, but to reach the very top you need to throw more punches than that.“

Having switched to Billy Nelson over a few years ago, I can see the improvement in the Coatbridge fighter. I put this to Nelson and asked what improvement’s he has seen “When Ricky came to me he was just a box and mover. He was moving on the back foot. I told him he wouldn’t win a title of any distinction .But he has improved a 100%“

Having worked beside Peter Harrison previously, Nelson has had the experience of helping a fighter to becoming a world champion (Scott Harrison).He hopes to use this experience to help burns fulfil his potential “It will help Ricky and it will help everybody who steps in my gym. I was fortunate enough to be associated with the best trainer in my eyes Britain has ever produced .If you look at what Peter Harrison has achieved with the small group of fighters he has worked with .The guy is a legend as a trainer“

Should he come through this fight, Burns has a few big potential big domestic bouts. The main one on his radar would be against Dagenham’s Kevin Mitchell, who has a WBO (the same organisation were Burns currently holds a 4th place ranking) championship shot against Puerto Rican Roman Martinez sometime in July.

So while Kevin O'hara stands in his way for his next fight its fair to say there is a lot more at steak for the Coatbridge fighter than his Commonwealth belt.

Scottish Boxing update

2009-05-06T20:49:00.000+01:00

After his surprise defeat to Ulsterman Martin Lindsay, Paul Appleby is taking a well deserved break. I understand once he came back from the defeat he spent a few days in Cyprus training. No firm date has been agreed for his come back however I understand that September is the preferred time for a comeback fight.

Meanwhile former opponent John Simpson is due to defend his commonwealth belt against Steve Bell on the undercard of Kotelnik v Khan, at the o2 arena in June 27th.This will be the first defence of the belt he won form Paul Truscott .

Lee McAllister confirmed today he is fighting in Aberdeen’s, Beach Ballroom on the 19th of June for the vacant Commonwealth title. The belt will be contested by McAllister and Ghana’s national champion Godfred Sowah for the belt vacated by Khan. It’s worth noting as well this fight will clash with the Burns/Foster jnr fight, which is scheduled to be fought at the Bellahouston leisure centre.

This Friday night sees Edinburgh fighter Craig McEwan making his first scheduled fight over 10 rounds, when he fights former Andy Lee conquer Brian Vera. The fight will be covered by ESPN’s popular Friday night fights, and syndicated nationwide in the states.

This is a high profile fight for McEwan and a victory will certainly help improve his title chances with a possible NABO title shot on the horizons.

Paul Appleby Interview :Im ready to rock

2009-04-22T19:08:00.002+01:00

While Carl Froch is struggling to get mainstream coverage on Saturday night’s fight with Germaine Taylor, Set anta is carving an almost tastier fight .On Saturday evening two undefeated prospects put that record on the line to win the coveted Lonsdale belt

Both Martin Lindsay(13-0) and Paul Appleby (14-0) are currently undefeated and are on a collision course for Saturday night in an eagerly awaited bout.Appleby,the champion is coming into this after a 1st round ko over former Spanish champion Juan Garcia Martin, has lost home advantage to the challenger.

Lindsay is coming into this bout with an impressive win over Derry Matthews; by knocking the Liverpool fighter clean out. With a high profile victory over Matthews, Lindsay will be looking to extend this to Appleby.

I took the time to speak to Appleby ahead of his fight with Lindsay. I opened the forum by asking him what he thought of his opponent “I have seen a few of his fights and he is good. He has a good technique; he takes his time with his punches. But all together he is a good fighter”

The fight has been put back from the begging of March, since then Appleby has been away training in Cyprus “While I was away I was working mostly on strength and stamina. I also sharpened up with lots of sparring as well.“

After the last fight the champion worked on what he felt he needed to improve on “My timing wasn’t good for (Esham) Pickering, so I needed to work on that. But I am sharp now and ready to roll”

With 2 of his last 3 fights going the full distance Appleby certainly has the advantage over the challanger,however Appleby makes us aware that he doesn’t think the experienced gained here will help him that much on the night “ I don’t think it will help at all ,as he doesn’t have a high work rate. So I think he will do the full twelve rounds, however I think if I push him hard he might not be able to do it. I know he hasn’t pass ten rounds. ”

He adds about experienced gained “I thought I learnt a lot from Pickering, because I was losing the head because I couldn’t hurt him. I fought the wrong tactics I should have cut him off instead of chasing him. The most important lesson I learned is that you can’t knock everyone down”

Over the weekend Appleby’s promoter Tommy Gilmour, was quoted as saying he was ready to put Appleby in the mix for the Euro title, should he come through this fight. I asked Paul if he was offered this would he take it so early in his career “I couldn’t turn it down, that is what I am like if I get offered the European title I cant turn it down .That is what I am in the sport to do win belts ”

Scottish Boxing update

2009-04-14T20:18:00.001+01:00

Over the weekend former Scottish commonwealth gold medallist Craig McEwan extended his record to 14-0, with a first round KO over the Experienced Alexis Division. The bout was on the undercard Williams/Wright at the Mandalay Bay.

The bout came after weeks of sparring between McEwan and Winky Wright. McEwan, who also was used as a sparring partner for Bernard Hopkins in the run up to his fight with Joe Calzaghe, may find himself as a late addition to the undercard of Pacquiao/Hatton.

Current Super Featherweight champion Ricky Burns will be back in the ring on June 19th .I understand the opponent being lined up is Salford’s Steven Foster Jnr.No stranger to Scotland ,Foster Jnr was last seen pushing Alex Arthur in his defence of his WBO interim title in December 2007.

The winner of the bout could possibly face London’s Kevin Mitchell who is fighting for the WBO belt in July, should he come through that defence.

Kenny Anderson hoping to take Super Middleweight division by storm!

2009-04-10T09:29:00.002+01:00

Over the last 20 years the Super middleweight has given the British boxing fans some memorable fighters; whether it was Joe Calzaghe, Chris Eubank or Nigel Benn .On Friday night former commonwealth gold medallist Kenny Anderson takes his first steps to aim to join that club.

Recently while the euphoria in Glasgow of Ricky Burns win over Michael Gomez was being celebrated Anderson was in the hospital having his rib checked out after having it broken in the Celtic title fight with Nathan King.

Although the victor in the fight, Anderson has to play the waiting game for waiting for it to heal “It is hard to gauge It the now. The injury is in the earlier stage where it has to be properly healed and rested .At moment I am not doing much, normally after a fight I usually have a spur on and want to train more.“

He adds abut the timescales “It will be full rest at the moment, then about 6 weeks it will be building back into full training. At the start of the training I will work around the injury with running and other training”

After a strong amateur career ,which seen Anderson win the commonwealth gold medal in Melbourne 2006 in light heavyweight ,he then decided to turn professional .After various offers he accepted the offer from Frank Warren and made his debut on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe v Sakio Bika,and has moved down to super middleweight.

Anderson currently has seven KO’s form ten outings. I asked him what he puts his high knockout ratio down to “I put it down to my boxing ability. The is an abundance of guys there with a big dig: but for me it’s all about your footwork, positioning and movement. Your boxing a guy into position to throw the right shot, .If it wasn’t for my boxing ability I wouldn’t have knocked them out.

“Domestically, the super middleweight division is a strong division that is packed with a strong roster of fighters with the likes of Carl Froch and Brian Magee currently recognised as the best in the division.

I asked Anderson how long he thinks it will be before he is mixing it up with them, and he thinks he is at that standard already “ I would take any of the top guys in my next fight .I don’t think I am miles away form it. I didn’t look to hot in my last fight, but that was because a broken rib. I know I am a lot better than what I have shown in all my fights. I would be happy to take them on tomorrow if my rib wisent broken. It is not my decision aswell, its Frank Warrens too”

So while Anderson is forging ahead with his title ambitions, there is anew crop of Super middleweights who turned pro after last years Olympics. I asked him what he thinks of James DeGale and Darren Sutherland and other Olympians “It is hard to gauge; everyone is talking about what these guys will do. Just because they won an Olympic medal doesn’t mean they will have successful professional career. That goes for me as well; just because I won a gold medal at the commonwealth doesn’t mean I could have a great pro career”

Anderson goes to point out the difference between the professional and amateur fight games “There like two different sport’s .The format, the defence side of it so different. They are good fighters, and good fighters can adapt, however they have not to think they can get it on merit.”

Given how vocal some of the ex Olympian’s have been since turning pro Anderson doesn’t feel it is his position to pass comment “It would be rude for me to judge I feel. When I am at a stage of my career where folk will have doubts about me .Until I have been there and done it, I won’t pass comment”

So at the moment Anderson may not be on everyone’s radar, however a few more wins could certainly put him in the right direction. With the British title held by Tony Quigley it certainly could only be a matter of time before they both meet.

Kelvin hall preview-Burns/Gomez and Anderson/King

2009-03-25T22:00:00.000Z

Kelvin Hall Preview
On Friday night Manchester based Irishman Michael Gomez looks to extend his winning streak against Scottish fighters, by taking on Coatbridge’s Ricky Burns. Having previously disposed of Alex Arthur and Craig Docherty, Gomez is no stranger to Scottish fight fans.

On the line is Burns Commonwealth title belt, having previously defended it twice against African opponents. This fight does represent a slight step up in class for Burns against fighter who famously had Amir Khan on the ground with attacks to the body, as opposed to Khan’s much discussed glass chin.

Going into this fight Gomez has had 3 successive victories since the loss to Khan. While the victories have been won, it is relevant to note that these fights have only been scheduled for 6 rounds. This fact is something I think will make a difference on Friday night, as Burns is the younger, fresher fighter of the two; but I think Gomez is just as hungry as Burns.

While the undercard has seen many changes the main supporting bout is a Celtic title fight. The fight is at super middleweight and is between Edinburgh’s Kenny Anderson and Welshman Nathan King. With King having more experience and more fights at this level it would be hard to write him off.

King, haven taking the fight after Stevie McGuire pulled out, will be looking to use the experience over former commonwealth gold medallist Anderson. Anderson has never fought at this level but has an impressive 7 KO’s from 9 fights.

I think this fight is an intriguing one, while King is beatable; Anderson is certainly stepping up in taking this match up. Anderson will be tested in this fight and will give him a good stern test however I do think he will come through and take the victory on points or late KO

Also appearing on the undercard is former British Featherweight champion Andy Morris, who is making his debut at lightweight. Kris Hughes looks to build on his previous wins by taking on fetter cairns James Ancliffe and the exotically named Santino Caruana makes his debut.

Gary Young: Hatton only has to fight Manny Pacquiao for 12 rounds; I will have to do it every day

2009-03-12T22:06:00.000Z

After a long tome out of the boxing scene Edinburgh welterweight Gary Young has made a decision to push forward on his promising career. However the pushing will be over in the states where he hopes to build on previous experience and build towards world title contender.

After a strong start Young currently holds a record of 17-1, with the one loss coming by the way of a quick KO at the hands of Scottish rival Colin McNeil. After that loss in April 2006, he then returned to win his next two successive bouts, but since then has been hindered by injuries.

Young explains about what lead to the long lay off “I have been in and out of plaster, I had broken my hand in the first round of the (David) Kirk fight. I had been doing seeing various physios and specialists, to try and avoid having to get surgery on it. It was a real patience game”
Young goes to mention how it affected his fitness work “I was still trying to keep myself in shape, but there was a time were I couldn’t run as I had to keep my hand elevated all the time”

When he first turned pro young was promoted and co managed by Sports network but was also co managed by Frank Maloney. I asked him if this unique management pairing of Frank Maloney and Frank Warren helped him with his career “At the early stages of my career it was fantastic. Because I was so young everything was made to run smooth and slowly, and I understood at that point in my career why that was”

“But I felt it never picked up from there. I do feel for the sake of getting exposure it was easy to put me in a four rounder, were as for the sake of my career it would have been better to push up for an six or eight round fight early in my career”

Of the early fights Young explains the fights helped him a lot in learning, and helped him build on his amateur experience “ When I thought Ivor Bonavic over 8 rounds in Glasgow; he was a strong gutsy fighter. I knocked him down 5 times in the 8 rounds, with the fifth time being in the eight round. To build up to the final knock down, I tried to finish him and he kept getting up .This was a good test to my temperament .It showed me how to work a fighter down. This fighter wasn’t going to crumble at the first combination or left hook”

So with the injury that plagued his career over the last few years out the way Young has turned his attention to fighting in America. This started last year when he went to the Wildcard gym and he states his plans to go out there were not actually just to train, but to get away from domestic pressures

“The training was getting repetitive over here. I just had my cast off and people were throwing fights at me. The hand wasn’t completely fixed. So to be honest I went to America to train with out the pressure of people trying to get me to fight. I knew my next fight had to be a big fight to launch me back on the scene. While I was over there I had some hard sparring and training,”

He then goes on to explain the advantages of fighting in the states as to continue to fight in the UK “The training facilities, my good manager I have (Jason Slazenger) and the financial side of it. I am looking to fast track myself towards a world title. ”

While he has fought at domestic level, Young explains he sees himself having to push to another level while stateside “I am going to try and push that bar higher than they envisage. I want to show them just because I haven’t fought at that level before, doesn’t mean that I wasn’t at that level before. I started my career sparring with Scott Harrison, Alex Arthur and Willie Limond.Some of my sparring was better than the fights themselves. I felt if I was pushed earlier in my career I could have had the opportunity to show myself”

And he also recently found out he has been selected to be Manny Pacquiao sparring partner, ahead of his fight with Ricky Hatton .I asked him about the prospect of this and he beamed “This is a fantastic test. I am going to learn so much .This is going be excellent preparation. He (Manny Pacquiao) actually said that if he was going to fight Hatton I would be his sparring partner, and Freddie (roach) has signed it”

He laughs “Ricky Hatton has only has to do it for 12 rounds, I will have to do it for every day!”
So in the short term things are looking up for Young, I asked him for his long term plans .He reveals he is planning to stay at Welterweight “We are going to be campaigning at welterweight. There is something about the welterweight division; I owe it to myself to win a belt at that weight.Im just a little Scotsman, I am quite short, I can’t envisage going up to middleweight”

I seem that while things have slowed down recently for young it would appear he has given himself a good opportunity to prove his credentials in a division that currently is gleaming with

Willie Limond looks to make waves as both promoter and Boxer

2009-02-25T18:45:00.001Z

This Friday Glasgow boxer Willie limond makes his promoting debut, in Paisleys Lagoon Leisure centre. He starts his new career with a strong card featuring some of the best of Scottish boxing talent at different stages of there career.

The Headlining fight is the promoter himself; fighting a twelve rounder against Zambian national champion Godwin Mutampuka.The bout is for the current vacant WBU lightweight champion, but more importantly it is designed to give Limond a strong start to his 2009,and hopefully working towards a British title shot.

One of the main reasons He states he has started to do this is to keep himself more busy ,and maximise the opportunities for his fellow Scottish Boxers.

And he intends to start that promise with former British champion Kevin McIntyre, who is making his comeback after a freak first round loss to Kell Brook last year. They had hoped to field McIntyre in a title fight but after not being able to pit the postman with a suitable fighter they have arranged to match him with Isle of Wight’s Jay Morris. This bout is scheduled over 8 rounds.

Jason Hastie will also be looking to show off his skills he learnt while sparring last year with Manny Pacquiao .The Gilmerton fighter is looking to go one step better this time when he takes on Robin Deakin in a rematch .Having fought last year the fight swung in Hastie’s favour ,but Deakin protested he thought he had won the fight and in a bizarre twist even took his argument’s to the world of social network site Bebo.

As it stands at the moment the full card is :
Willie Limond v Godwin Mutampuka
World Boxing Union Lightweight Championship
12 x 3
Kevin McIntyre v Jay Morris
8 x 3
Gary McMillan v TBA
Jason Hastie v Robin Deakin
4 x 3
Kris Carslaw v Duncan Cottier
4 x 3
Kris Hughes v Delroy Spencer
4 x 3
Stevie Weir v TBA
4 x 3

Ringside tickets are still available priced at £40 ,and are available from :
Lagoon Leisure Centre: 0141 889 4000
Scottish Promotions: 0141 554 7777
Colin Bellshaw: 07731 808 381

Craig McEwan looks to third time lucky with Ivan Stovall

2009-02-17T21:46:00.002Z

Unbeaten Edinburgh Middleweight boxer, Craig McEwan (12-0), who is now fighting out of the Wildcard Gym in Hollywood, Los Angeles, tops the bill on Thursday night as his twice postponed bout against highly rated Ivan "Sitting Bull" Stovall finally gets underway.The bout is the first bout of the year for McEwan.

The show,at the Irvine Marriott Hotel, kicks off the 25Th anniversary Battle in the Ballroom series which is one of California`s top annual boxing occasions.The McEwan v Stovall contest is particularly keenly awaited as the pair were originally schedule to fight in December, when Stovall (10-2)failed to get down to the agreed weight and then again in January when McEwan`s coach, the legendary Freddie Roach, asked for a postponement for unspecified reasons.

This last call-off infuriated Stovall, who accused McEwan of being "scared" and launched a furious attack on him in a filmed interview which he later posted on YouTube (search-YouTube/Stovall v McEwan cancelled).

Although the Scot refuses to be drawn into a slanging match, supporters of both boxers have weighed into the debate on line.Stovall who is, at present, rated higher at super middleweight than McEwan is at middleweight, starts as narrow favourite, but the Edinburgh fighter will not countenance defeat.

He says "Stovall has said some unpleasant things about me but that has made me more determined than ever. I know that he has had difficulty with boxers who fight like me and I prefer to fight "come forward" boxers like him.

he adds "He`s one of California`s most popular boxers and will bring a huge, noisy support with him.Its going to be a great night"

If things go right for McEwan this would help him in his step towards a spot on the undercard of team mate Manny Pacquiao's fight with Ricky Hatton.With the history involved in this match up mixed with what could be on offer for the winner this should ensure a good match for the paying public of Irvine,California.

Morrison back in Action on March 13th

2009-02-12T19:33:00.001Z

Former British light welterweight champion Barry Morrison (17-3) is back in action on March the 13th as he challenges again for the British belt.

Morrison will be in action against new champion Paul McCloskey at the now familiar Everton park sports centre ,a venue where he has already fought David Barnes for the famous Lonsdale belt.

While he gave a valiant performance against Barnes, he came off the fight with a points loss.
Since that fight Morrison has fought once, beating Jason Nesbitt on points in a six rounder. This is his third attempt at this belt and he will be looking to regain the belt, and with this move to possibly fighting for European honours.

Also fighting on the card will be fellow Tommy Gilmour managed boxer Paul Appleby who will be fighting In an eight round warm up bout ahead of his British title fight against Martin Lindsay on the 25th of April.

Both bouts will televised on Sky sports and will provide both fighters with a good opportunity to show there skills and extend there recent winning runs.

Limond reveals first card as promoter

2009-02-01T11:32:00.001Z

To keep himself busy over the coming year, and possibly work towards a British title fight Glasgow fighter Willie Limond has taken the step of promoting himself.

His first card is at Paisleys lagoon leisure centre on February 27th.I can reveal that Limond will be fighting for the WBU lightweight championship in the main event on the evening. The man in the other corner will be Godwin Mutampuka.

Also on the card Limond has secured quite an impressive list of Scottish fighters; Local fighters Kris Carslaw and former British champion Kevin McIntyre are pencilled in to be fighting. Both men being locals this will give them an opportunity to showcase there talents in front of there hometown fans.

This will be McIntyre’s first fight since losing to Kell Brook in November, and will be looking to get back to winning ways.

Carslaw also will be looking to extend his record to 6-0 on the night.

Also on the card is Edinburgh featherweight Jason Hastie, who will be fighting a six rounder. This is the first time he has fought since last October where he scored a points victory over Mark Bett, at the same venue.

He will also be joined by welterweight Gary McMillan and Ryan Scott. This card is good effort for Limond with a mix of talent from across central Scotland, and pros at different stages in there career.

Tickets for the event can be bought from the venue itself on 0141 889 4000.

Alex Arthur:I am starting afresh ...

2009-01-26T20:17:00.001Z

After a surprise loss to Londoner Nicky Cook in 2008, Alex Arthur had to face some serious decisions about his future and where he wanted to go with it. The question he had to resolve was it possible for him to continue at super featherweight, or would he move up to lightweight.

The decision was then made by Arthur that he would move up to lightweight, and have a crack at gaining the world championship; and emulating Scottish boxing legend’s Ken Buchannan and Jim Watt.

Having fought his entire professional career at super featherweight, he makes his debut at lightweight on March 27th.This is a decision that his promoter Frank Warren has called for over a long time, but it was the loss to cook that spurred his decision “It was one of the reason I moved up. Frank (Warren) tried to get me a rematch with Cook, and he did push but was told by Cook it wasn’t going to happen. Making the weight has become a real struggle; I have never made it comfterable since beating (Koba) Gogaladze.Ever since then it has been bordering on impossible. So I decided then it was time to move up“

He then moved to clarify what is the short term plan for him. “Over the next six months I am going to be really busy. I don’t want to be out of the gym for more than a week at a time. I am fighting on March 27th (on Burns v Gomez undercard) and if possible back in the ring in May. Then providing I am injury free and not fighting for any title then I think July is a possibility”

He further adds “I would like to be kept much, much active than what I have been .I’m sure that is Frank’s (Warren) plan aswell,as he wants to keep me busy. In the next 6 months I would like to be in the ring at least three times, two times at the very worse”

He then discussed his recent training “My training has settled down so much. I have also been to see a sports psychologist. We have just spent a bit of time doing strength and conditioning”

He goes on to explain a bit more about his strength and conditioning training “Prior to the (Nicky) Cook fight we had to work on losing a lot of muscle, so I didn’t have to severely dehydrate. I had to lose 3-4 kg of muscle to make the weight relatively safely, which was very hard. So over the last 12 weeks we have been working on putting that muscle back on. It has worked really well for me I feel”

“I have managed to regain my muscle and strength. All my weight gaining exercise’s are back up to were there were”

Recently Arthur has reconciled his training with former coach Terry McCormack; a decision he feels will help him in the ring as well “I made a long term decision to go back with Terry, and I am back at his gym. I now believe I will end my career there, and I am training there every day with Terry. I don’t feel pressure to bring in a big name coach anymore, now I am starting from scratch again”

He then explains why it was an easy decision to reunite with his former coach “Terry has always brought the absolute best out of me. The sports psychologist has got me to think of my best performances; those were against Willie Limond and Boris sinister. These performances I was coached by Terry McCormack. I feel I belong with Terry McCormack”

“I feel we are starting afresh. We have fresh incited and we are looking forward to rebuilding for the future. We have been working on the old stuff that made me exciting to watch “

In defence of Scott Harrison….

2009-01-19T18:55:00.002Z

After serving a sentence just shy of four month’s, Glasgow’s former two time world champion was released from prison on December 31st.The sentence was for various offences from assault to drink driving, and in December he had the term reduced by two months .

It has been a hard time for anyone associated with Scott Harrison over the last few years. It seems that regardless of what happens to the former champion, the media seem to always be there to report his actions and are quick to capitalise on it and give there readers another one of there ‘Exclusives’.

What I find it hard to stomach is when ever Harrison is written about in Scotland’s red tops the journalist who is writing is 99% never a boxing ,or a sports journalist. While I can appreciate that high profile sports people are going to be in the public eye, I get the impression the Scottish red tops seem to have the same attitude towards Scott Harrison, which the English red tops seem to have towards to Sven-Goran Erikson.

When Scott Harrison became world champion, he was an exciting boxer, and was without a doubt is one of the best boxers we have produced for a long time. Selling out the Braehead arena, Kelvin Hall on several occasions is just testament as to how popular a fighter he was, and also it is fair to say he was at the forefront of a boxing revival up here.

Now I am not in any way advocating Harrison’s behaviour over the last few years. In fact, I would be happy to go on paper to voice my disgust with his actions. However he has been dealt with by the Scottish justice system, and having to live with the knowledge of what he has done in the past on a daily basis.

So what now for Scott Harrison? Well he still is in limbo really, with a looming court case in Spain for an assault. This was delayed previously due to the fact the judge fell ill. But what I don’t understand is why has it taken so long for a case to be heard?

While Harrison may or not be guilty surely the fact that the case has taken long to be heard should be taken into consideration by the BBBoC? It will be approaching nearly 18 months that the case in Spain has been delayed. This unheard of, for a court case to take this long to be heard.

He previously applied to box again in the UK and this was turned down last year. I think this was done on the grounds of outstanding court cases for Harrison. The BBBoC have a job to do and one of them is to protect the image of boxing in the UK, which is understandable.

I feel the way they have handled Scott Harrison is now really going to require a different approach. I feel that they should give him his licence back. The reason I feel this is because the focus and drive he would get from this would certainly help him keep himself out of trouble, and focus on getting himself back in the title mix.

I have heard he is back in training and looking as sharp as ever. He is back with his father and long term trainer Peter Harrison. While he has been going through the usual boxing training, I understand he is also lending himself as a sparring partner, and this week has been sparring with Edinburgh featherweight Jason Hastie.

The reason I have done this is because I feel that Scott Harrison deserves another chance to shine, another chance to keep him on the straight and narrow; the only people in the UK who can facilitate this is Robert Smith and the board of the BBBoC.

Scottish boxing update :Limond revelas future plans and Arthurs on comeback trail.

2009-01-14T21:22:00.001Z

With only 2 fights last year Willie Limond has decided to try and buck the trend continuing into this year. He has decided to set up his own promotions company called ‘Glasgow city promotion‘. In doing this he hopes to create more opportunities for himself over the coming year. It is understand he is looking to target a shot at the British title.

The maiden voyage of the fledging promotions company is on Friday February 27th at the ’Paisley Lagoon Centre’ where his rumoured opponent is to be Godwin Mutampuka.Mutampuka is the current Zambian super featherweight champion, and Limond will be defending his IBO intercontinental belt.

It was also confirmed that the undercard will feature Paisleys Kris Carslaw (5-0) and former British champion Kevin McIntyre (26-6).

Meanwhile Alex Arthur (26-2) is making his comeback fight ,and debut at lightweight on March 27th.He is scheduled for a ten round contest against an international opponent ,and it could be for one of main sanctioning bodies ‘International’ or ‘intercontinental’ belts. This will be his first fight in Glasgow in 2 years and the current venue advertised is the Bellahousten sports centre, however if there is enough demand I think it is a strong chance this could be moved to a bigger venue in the city.

The comeback fight will be the main support fight to the Ricky Burns (25-2) v Michael Gomez (38-9) .This card is shaping up to be good value for the fight fans.

Preview Of Paul Truscott v John Simpson

2009-01-11T18:25:00.002Z

On Friday, the first domestic championship fight of the year takes place at Middlesbrough's Eston Sports Centre .The contest is for the Commonwealth title, and is at featherweight and will be contested by current champion Paul Truscott (12-0) and challenger John Simpson (18-6).

For Truscott this will be his first time defending his belt, and is his only second scheduled twelve rounder. His last fight was in October and was a point’s victory over Alex Miskirtchian.This fight will show a step up in class for Truscott as it is hard to see his record anyone who has practised at the level Simpson has fought over this career

Truscott’s last outing over 12 rounds was against Osumanu Akabaka, where he succeeds to win the Commonwealth belt on points. This fight was a good win for Truscott and he did show his versatility in the fight, considering it was only his eleventh professional fight.

For Truscott it’s adequate to say this fight will be used as a measuring device to see how he would cope with the current British champion Paul Appleby, as talk of unification fight is always going to be there for the Middlesbrough born champion.

Being a challenger for any fight is a situation that Simpson has been in before. At the age of 25 he has earned an unlikely tag of ‘veteran’ when it comes to title fights; as having been involved in a total of six British title fights and two ‘WBU world title fights‘. The losses on his record do come as a bit of a “Who’s Who?” as he holds defeats by Derry Matthews, Stephen Foster Jnr and Andy Morris.

These fights have a patched record, with all of Simpson’s coming by points losses in these title fight‘s. But on the night the knowledge gained from these fights will be something that Truscott could only imagine, however the secret to beating Simpson would also be apparent in watching these fights.

Going into this fight Simpson has repeated his desire to take on Paul Appleby again, and he sees this fight as a stepping stone to this fight. While anyone can appreciate this, let’s hope Simpson doesn’t overlook Truscott. If he was to lose in this fight I would imagine it would be hard for him to be taken seriously as future title contender.

On the night, all of the above can go out the window. However I feel that Simpson’s experience and desire will drive him enough to victory. I feel this fight may come too early for Truscott, who only holds one KO in his career to Simpson’s six. When you mix this with the fact he has only one previous fight over twelve rounds, this could disadvantage him on the night.

While Truscott has age on his side, until Friday night we won’t know if that will be enough to overcome Simpson’s experience and add another twelve round point’s loss to his record.

Craig McEwan looks forward to 2009!

2009-01-10T13:02:00.002Z

While 2008 will be remembered as the year of the Pac man, Craig McEwan doesn’t share the same happy memories for the year just passed. Last year McEwan (12-0), who is Pac man’s stable mate only fought a total of 3 times, which is something he found wearisome “In general, 2008 was quite frustrating. The lowlight was certainly the fact that I only had three fights. I was pulled from a few big cards (the Hatton/Malignaggi and De La Hoya/Pacquiao undercard). Being on those would have raised my profile in the UK, as well as the US so I was a bit disappointed not to fight on them.”

He then adds about his highlight of 2008 “The highlights were in my personal life - getting married and becoming a dad. In boxing, I was just happy to keep winning and hopefully 2009 will bring more opportunities”

The 3 fighters McEwan fought were Hilaro Lopez, Juan Carlos Sanchez and Erik Rafael Esquivel.All of these fights were scheduled over 8 rounds and each brought there own challenges “I try to learn from every fight. Esquivel, the guy I boxed in February, was a former Mexican and Latino champion. He was experienced and for me to be able to go eight hard rounds (for only the second time) and win convincingly reassured me of my fitness and stamina. Although you can never be too fit - I learned that from sparring with Antonio Margarito!”

The second fight had its own problems, but nothing relating to the usual disruption in boxing “Before my fight in July, against Juan Carlos Sanchez, there were a few problems. We were not sure of Sanchez's record and there was a dispute over weight. Then he turned up before the fight with Nacho Bernstein (coach of the Marquez brothers, and more recently Oscar De La Hoya). I didn't know what to make of that! Even so, I was able to focus and get on with the task in hand and managed to knock him out in the third round”

“Against Hilario Lopez in September, I learned that no matter how hard and how often you hit someone, sometimes they just keep coming! I should have forced the stoppage but I didn't get over-anxious and make any silly mistakes”

Being conscious of the fact he hasn’t fought as much as he would like, he does take consolation that his trainer, Freddy Roach is satisfied with his performance’s last year “Freddy's been happy with all three of my performances. I know I still have a lot to learn, it's still early in my pro career”

I asked him what training with Roach is like, and what they are looking to improve this year “The good thing about Freddy is that he doesn't try to change your style, he just improves on it and adds to your arsenal. We're focusing on working on the jab, countering and punching with both hands. We're also fine tuning my switch hitting.”

On switch hitting, he says “This style may not suit everyone but Freddy and I both feel it has been effective in my last few fights. Freddy has also got me working with strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, who has worked with Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan”

Currently He campaigns at Middleweight. Rumours have been circulating as to whether he will continue at this weight, or move down to light middleweight. I took initiative and asked Craig to clarify this “Yes, at the moment I'm fighting at 158 pounds. I'm making my way down to 154. Golden Boy (promotions) wants me to fight for titles at light middleweight”

Lastly he confirms to me his plans for 2009, and it appears to be starting early for the LA based boxer “I'm pencilled in for the Mosley/Margarito undercard on the 24th January. I hope to fight for some sort of title towards the end of the year. There were talks of a couple of big fights against quality opponents last year which didn't come off, so hopefully these will happen this year. I just want to keep fighting and learning from each fight. The big fights will come.”

While McEwan has started his professional career with Freddy roach, he has been given a unique chance. Being trained by one of the best coaches in the world and promoted by ‘Golden boy promotions’ this is an opportunity he has gained through nothing more than hard work and effort.

Hopefully we will see this continue into 2009 and see him grow in stature and in the ring. I feel he has a good chance of being a future world champion, and for these aspirations 2009 could be a pivotal year.

Lee McAllister : John Murray is just a stepping stone for me

2009-01-07T19:06:00.003Z

In a week on Saturday at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan, Aberdeen’s Lee McAllister (27-1)will finally get his shot at current British champion John Murray (25 -0). The bout is going ahead after being rearranged from middle of November, where the champion had a recent spate of injuries which lead to the fight being put back to January 14th.

Recently I spoke to the Aberdonian, and his coach Dave Coldwell. Starting with the fighter, who is nicknamed the ‘Aberdeen Assassin’ he told me how his training has been going.

“The training is going perfect .Properly the best sessions I have ever had In the run up to a fight. It’s the fittest I have ever been, the sharpest I have ever been. I also would say it is the easiest I have ever made the weight”.

He further adds about the fight being delayed, that he used the time to go on holiday “As soon as I found out the fight has been cancelled (for the first time) I went on holiday for a week, I went and chilled out for a week; I have been training so hard, for so long. So instead of being pissed off; me and the wife and the baby went on holiday for a week”

Given that this is his first British title fight, McAllister plans to do things the same and doesn’t let on to any obvious strategy “I plan on letting him worry about me, I don’t really have anything planned. He is just a stepping stone for me to prove I am just the best lightweight in Britain”
After speaking to McAllister you have to admire the calmness and his confidence he emits ahead of his fight. Not too much to think he seems over confident, but enough for me to think he has what it takes to cause an upset.

In his corner for this title fight he will have Sheffield coach Dave Coldwell, who last year guided Ryan Rhodes to the British title and the WBC international belt. He also guided youngster Kell Brook to the British championship.

Given his recent experiences he plays down the effect this recent success has on helping McAlister “Lee knows last year was a good year for me. I had Ryan Rhodes and Kell Brook both win the British title. So he knows I have had two successful champions and he has come down and sparred with the likes of Curtis Woodhouse. I think the vibe down here (in his Sheffield gym) has helped him in that respects other than that it doesn’t make any difference. It is down to Lee what he does on the night”

Ahead of the fight, Coldwell discusses what they have been working on “Technically I am trying to improve his punches and put a bit of defence on him rather than stick his chin in the air and leaning back. John Murray is a very good fighter with a good grounding in the game. I do think he is hittable, without giving the game away that is where I see the key to the fight”

He further adds about what he expects from Murray on fight night “Were expecting a fully focused, shit hot John Murray. He is the type of kid who wants to go out and fight the best.”

Given the level he will be facing when fighting Murray, and the fact he is fighting in Murray’s back garden, I feel this will be a hard night’s work for McAllister. But if he can keep a cool head and work the body in the way that Lee Meager recently demonstrated he could have enough to cause a surprise on the night. I think its vital on the night as well that his defence is watertight, but at 26 he has good experience with 3 of his fights going 10 rounds or more, and only one loss which came by the way of points decision. I also am of the belief that going into this fight that there is more pressure on John Murray than Lee McAllister.

Young starts New Year with stateside 5 fight deal!

2008-12-29T17:37:00.000Z

Today Edinburgh welterweight Gary Young announced a 5 fight deal with American manager Jason Slazenger. The deal starts immediately with a scheduled 8 round fight in February and will see Young move over to America full time. This fight will also be covered by American network ESPN, and will give the fighter some much needed exposure to the American fight fans.

This year he announced he had left Glasgow based promoter, Braveheart promotions and since then he has struggled to get another deal. While trying to get his management problems sorted out this has led to him not having a fight since September 2007 and will be glad to see this deal coming together.

Also this year, along with Jason Hastie he got some valuable sparring and training in Freddie Roach’s ‘Wild Card’ gym where he spent 2 weeks rubbing shoulders with the likes of Manny Pacquiao.

So well done to Gary Young, we wish him all the best and look forward to seeing him in 2009.

Wilie Limond looking forward to seeing in the new year!

2008-12-10T21:01:00.002Z

Going through an eventful career which sees only 2 losses against Amir Khan and Alex Arthur, Willie Limond lets out a sigh as he reflects on one of the slowest years in his career.
“This year started off pretty great but it didn’t finish great. I got a fight (against Martin Watson) then I got a fight against Graham Earl and that got cancelled. Then I was then supposed to go to America and that fell through. I was hoping to get 3 title fights this year”

In what started as a promising year for Glasgow boxer Limond it seemed to go downhill pretty fast from there; He won his IBO intercontinental belt in March and the only other fight he had was against Englishmen Matt Scrivens, where he won an eight rounder.
“The thing I have learned about boxing is if you plan things they don’t work out. I still have my title and I need to defend that before the end of March. So I will be looking for a fight before the end of March”

After joining Braveheart promotions in 2008,he goes on to advise they no longer manage him-however he has left on good terms. “The thing is I never left on bad terms. I am good pals with Barry (Hughes) and I think he will become a good promoter in a few years. I just don’t think I have a few years. It is just one of those things I suppose”

So as the future at the moment seems uncertain. I wanted to take this opportunity to talk through Limond’s career. Currently holding a record of 30-2 Limond is one of the best known boxers Scotland has produced over the last few years. I started by asking who the toughest fighter he ever has fought against?

Surprised by his answer he mentions the current WBU/WBF champion and Derry Matthews conqueror Choi Tseveenpurev. “Arthur was a hard fight, but I was shit that night. My fight with Choi was hard fight, to be fair it was a war and It turned into a blood bath.Choi can hit, he hits like a horse” He then opens up about the Khan fight in comparison to his fight with Choi “It wasn’t a hard fight, it was more like a chess match .There were a couple of hard rounds in it where as the fight with Choi was just gruelling from start to finish. It did hurt me; I think I broke his nose. It was like a ‘small hall war”

The earlier defeat in his career came at the hands of Edinburgh’s Alex Arthur. Undefeated up to this point in his career, he suffered his first defeat by KO in the eighth round. “That Arthur fight I done absolutely crap there and I know I did. The things I wanted to happen just didn’t happen. I knew in my head what I wanted to do. I think I over trained for that fight”

Being able to build on these defeats and move on is something that Limond has managed to do. Holding respective titles in both super featherweight and lightweight’s he has been involved in a few titles fights and I asked him what his most memorable title fight was “The Commonwealth title has been the bester title of them all. When I fought Kpakpo Allotey that was good atmosphere, I sold loads of tickets for that, the atmosphere was good in the (Kelvin) hall. Even the Celtic title fight against Kevin O’Hara was good. I am really good with getting rid of tickets! Even if it is ¾ full the atmosphere can be pretty good”

He further adds “When I won the EU title I had one defence of it. I have fought good guys, Kevin O’Hara only had one loss going into that fight (for the Celtic title).The fight with Mark Watson was good. When he fought me he had the full 8 weeks training and it turned out to be a good fight”

Currently residing at lightweight there are many options left there for Limond. With John Murray the current British champion, and John Thaxton holding the European belt there are some mouth watering fights to be made. I put to him who he would like to take on at lightweight “I just want to fight for a title. I would love to fight John Thaxton. His last fight was good he looked sharp and he looked rugged .I would say I am the best fighter in Scotland, I believe that”
He then gives his assessment of the John Murray v Lee McAllister fight “I think John Murray looks good, but I think McAllister could cause him problems. Lee has got the style to win. But Murray is a good fighter”

Earlier this year Limond was given the chance to fight Dmitry Salita on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe v Roy Jones Jr .This fight was on and off a few times until eventually limond called the fight off due to contract offered by Square ring. I asked him why it turned out the way it did “They kept moving the goal post. The fight was called off and put back on so many times. You like to get a solid training camp, we just got messed about. When the fight with Salita was called off they were going to keep me on the undercard against Darling Jimenez, but they (square ring) never kept answering there phones for a couple of weeks. So we took the fight was off but they then confirmed it”

He then adds about the contract “The money got changed twice, and I looked at the contract and nothing added up. So the fight was off, and they faxed over a contract in the eleventh hour but the fight was off. The money I was getting offered was not great”
Given the luck Willie Limond has suffered over the last year I as a boxing fan hope he does get back in the New Year as the domestic scene certainly would benefit even more from his prescience.

Full Undercard Announced for Appleby v Pickering !

2008-11-24T19:27:00.002Z

The full undercard for the Paul Appleby v Esham Pickering was confirmed today; there are a total of 7 supporting fights varying from super bantamweight to light welterweight with opponents from Nairobi to Walsall!

The main event sees a young Appleby defend his belt against the experienced Esham Pickering, a veteran of 33 fights he will be looking to use his experience to unsettle the far less experienced Appleby. Pickering is moving up a weight division to take on Appleby, this may give an advantage to Appleby who appears naturally heavier but also has youth on his side and is yet to taste defeat, Pickering however has lost three of his last seven fights.

Chief support on the undercard is John Simpson, who is well known for being one of Appleby‘s more recent opponents. This bout is being billed as a ‘Commonwealth title decider’ he takes on John Gicharu (10-2)and 8x3 rounds have been scheduled for this fight. The winner will get a shot at current champion Paul Truscott. Gicharu will be known to UK boxing fans with bouts against Derry Matthews and Patrick Hyland, he also is the current Kenyan featherweight champion however going into this fight he has yet to score a victory over a fighter with a winning record.

Simpson is seeing this fight as a way to get a rematch with Appleby. During recent interviews he has talked about his plan to win this fight and the potential fight with Truscott, in beating both these opponents he hopes this would state the case for a rematch with Appleby.

Another scheduled bout features Bannockburn’s Jamie Coyle (16-4) who will be fighting for the first time since his brave defeat to Ryan Rhodes. Coyle is fighting in a 6 rounder against Paddy Pollock (6-6), he will be looking to get the job done quickly as he prepares for a potential Celtic title fight next year.

Meanwhile undefeated Uddingston welterweight Paul Burns will be hoping to go 9-0 with a victory over Stuart Elwell, 6 rounds have been scheduled for this fight.
Two other Scottish fighters on the undercard are Charlie king and Russell Pearce who will be in their own respective fights.

Craig McEwan suffers late call off!

2008-11-21T16:44:00.002Z

Edinburgh middleweight Craig McEwan (12-0) suffered a late call off today.McEwan was due to fight Ivan ‘Sitting bull’ Stovall (10-2) over 8 rounds. It was to feature at a Golden boy promotions event at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, California this evening.

The fight was called off due to the fact that Stovall could not make the agreed middleweight limit. As a result there was little notice to get an opponent for McEwen at short notice.

This disappointment may mean that McEwan may not fight any other time this year. The only other Golden boy promoted events this year is tommorows fight Between Hatton/Malignaggi and De La Hoya/Pac man.

Kelvin Hall preview-Burns and McIntyre title fights !

2008-11-14T11:37:00.002Z

Tonight sees a quite decent card at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall.The card features 8 fight's in total and has 2 championship bouts involving Scottish fighters and also sees a Scottish fighter make his pro debut.

The first bout features Paisleys Kevin McIntyre square off against Sheffield's Kell Brook.This is more than a British title fight, as McIntyre is fighting as the challenger;when most people feel he should be defending the title.

Earlier this year McIntyre was stripped of his belt because he could not make the defence due to back injuries.As a result the belt was declared vacant and Kell Brook squared off against Welshman Barrie Jones,who came in at late notice for,for the vacant title.Given the fact that McIntyre was able to provide medical evidence, i (along with a lot of other boxing press) felt it was a harsh decision (made by the board)and feel the decision was made harshly so A title fight could have been fought on the agreed TV slot.

That aside the fight has now been made and McIntyre has been given home advantage in this fight.With youth on his side and unbeaten record i think a lot of people will see Kell Brook as favourite to win .He is a slick fighter with a 58% knockout ratio.

But looking at McIntyre's record and fights you can see he has the ability 'to dig deep' and grind out a win.He has losses on his record but he has also shown the ability to win in the fights when it mattered.

I do have to slightly give the advantage to McIntyre,i think his experience he has will be the winning factor,but i feel that Brooks best chance against McIntyre is to blitz him in the early rounds, all of McIntyre's 5 losses have came by knockout.

The next championship fight of the night is Coatbridges Ricky Burns.He is making the first (and mandatory defence) of his Commonwealth title belt against Yakibu Amidu.This fight it will be Burns second 12 rounder in 7 weeks.

While this is keeping him active (which I'm sure is every boxers dream) his opponent comes with an impressive record of 16-1.On further inspection it appears all his victories have come by way of knock out!The only loss on his record that he has comes from the current IBF mandatory challenger Ali Funeka.

If i am honest about this challenger i have tried to do a bit of research and there doesn't seem to be much about him other than his 'Boxrec' record.At closer inspection of that it would appear some of the quality of his previous opponents is a little but threadbare.His last big name (to us in the UK) would have been a 10 round draw with George Ashie back in 2004.But lack of names does not mean that he has not deserved this shot or in anyway be over looked.

But on the night I'm sure the Amidu will provide a stern test for Burns and in the build up to this fight Burns seems not to be getting carried away and over looking him as an opponent.

The card will see the pro debut off Ryan Scott.Trained and managed by former WBU champion Lawrence Murphy,he will be competing in a 4 rounder against Mark Bett.

Lastly tonight will see the continued in ring education of Edinburgh's Kenny Anderson.He will be fighting a scheduled 6 rounder against the experienced Zimbabwean Hastings Rasani .

Also featuring on the bill is Edinburgh welterweight Gary McMillan,George Watson and Michael Jennings.

The bout's are being covered by Sky Sports 1 from 10pm

Gold medalist Kenny Anderson to fight Birmingham's Rasani on Friday night!

2008-11-12T20:27:00.002Z

Kenny Anderson will face Hastings Rasani in his ninth professional contest at the Kelvin Hall on Friday night.

A veteran of 59 fights - 20 wins, 37 losses and two draws - the 34-year-old Birmingham-based Zimbabwean Rasani brings plenty of experience to the ring.

Anderson said: “Rasani is another experienced fighter who will be a good test for me. Despite the fact that he hasn’t won a fight for a while, 16 of his 20 victories have come inside the distance, so it would be foolish of me to underestimate him.

“Put it this way, I won’t be taking any chances and dropping my hands. I aim to use my boxing ability to break Rasani down and if the knockout comes, it comes.”

Anderson admits he benefits more from boxing older ring-wise opponents and that it will stand him in good stead as he aims to challenge for titles in the new year.

Anderson said: “I find that the more inexperienced guys I face come to fight whereas the experienced journeymen have older heads and work on the attributes they’ve learned over the course of their careers to survive.

“I actually feel more comfortable when I’m fighting someone who stands in front of me and that I don’t have to go looking for, so I definitely learn more and pick up more tricks of the trade against experienced opposition.”

However, Anderson will engage Rasani without trainer Billy Nelson after the pair parted company last week. Nelson has worked with Anderson since the Edinburgh native’s transition to the paid ranks after capturing a gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Although Peter Harrison was chief trainer for Anderson’s first two bouts before taking up the role of Development Coach with Amateur Boxing Scotland, Nelson trained Anderson alongside Harrison and took on the chief trainer mantle in July 2007.

Anderson said: “Sports Network’s matchmaker Dean Powell has worked in my corner in the past and I’m delighted that he has agreed to do so again tomorrow. I do not have any further comment to make regarding the situation between Billy and myself.”

Anderson has expressed his frustration at his lack of action since his first professional bout in October 2006. A dose of the flu meant Anderson was ruled out of what should have been his second pro outing at the Kelvin Hall in November 2006.

Two date switches resulted in Anderson having to wait until April 2007 for that second pro fight. This year has seen Sports Network cards that would have featured Anderson in Edinburgh and Birmingham cancelled as well as his management team Braveheart Promotions’ bill at the SECC in June.

However, Anderson is more content as Friday night’s clash will be his third in consecutive months.

Anderson added: “I’m delighted that I have recently been fighting on a regular basis. Nothing makes a boxer happier than boxing. I hope that this current trend continues and, hopefully, I will be able to fight in December, but I am just focusing on tomorrow night at the moment.”

Kevin McIntyre talks about his training ahead of Kell Brook

2008-10-31T18:04:00.003Z

Earlier today i caught up with Paisley postman and Lonsdale challenger, Kevin McIntyre.Grabbing a few minuets from his training regime he gave an overview how things are going with his training for his upcoming title fight on November 14th.

I started by asking him how the training is going so far " Trainings going great.Got about 80 rounds of sparring in the tank and got another 20 to do next week.I have done plenty of running,sprints and stairs"

In preparation for his fight with Kell Brook an important part of his training camp is sparring.for this he has been using some of his Braveheart promotion stable mates.He also mentions about he is varying the sparring to help his preparations " I have been sparring Kris Carslaw,Craig Dickson & Steven Weir. If they are all up for it I do 3 rounds with ,or if its 2 of them i will do 4 with each .I do a bit extra with Kris (Carslaw)as his style is very similer to Brook's"

He also goes onto add about his mind set for this title fight compared to others he has been involved in "In the Anderson fight I felt more like a challenger as I was a big undergo and Anderson was a real champion in that he took the title off the Young Mutley and had defended it twice"

While he was more than happy to answer questions on the training ,Mcintyre was more more candid on his game plan "We have worked on a few things i feel i can take advantage of ,but that all i wont to say !"

www.kevinmcintyre.co.uk

Appleby to fight Esham Pickering!

2008-10-28T19:43:00.002Z

Tomorrow Paul Appleby will announce to the boxing media his first defence of his British title
.The first opponent in the defence of the Lonsdale belt will be Nottinghamshire based Esham Pickering.The fight is due to be on November the 24th at the Kelvin Hall.

Pickering is certainly more experienced and his current record is 33-7.He is a former European,British and commonwealth champion at super bantamweight.At the same weight he has also challenged for the WBO world belt.

Notable losses on his record are to Mauricio Martinez,Michael Hunter and Irishman Bernard Dunne.His most recent loss came earlier this year to Matthew Marsh.

It certainly wasn't the name i was expecting but i think an experienced fighter like Pickering could give Appleby the right fight at a crucial part of his career.Given his record he shows he certainly will be ready for the 12 rounds.

Next opponent for McEwan and John Simpson to fight for european title.

2008-10-25T11:43:00.003+01:00

Recently John Simpson has been made mandatory for the EBU featherweight title.Through a notice posted on the BBBofC the purse bids has been opened for a match involving Simpson and current holder Osman Aktas (33-14).

The bids have to be in by the 29Th of this month.I would anticipate this fight wouldn't go ahead until the new year as Aktas is defending his French featherweight title on the 15Th of November and there would have to be sufficient time for preparation for any potential fight.

I don't really have an idea as to who will bid for this (from the UK) but with a lot of his fights been promoted by Sports Network i feel they must be strong contenders for putting a bid for the purse in .Also given the opponets record with 16 losses they must fancy there chances of Simpson upsetting the current champ.

Meanwhile plans for Craig McEwan's next fight are still at an early stage.The current plan is for McEwan to fight on the undercard of Ricky Hatton v Paul Malignaggi fight on the 22/11/08.The fight could be covered by Sky Box Office ,as was his last fight.

The opponent originally planned was Mexican Alfredo Angulo (14-0) and the negotiations are ongoing,however there seems to be some reluctance to sign the fight at this stage from his camp.With the scheduled date creeping closer i understand that McEwan's promoters have opened negotiations with Andy Lee's conquer Brian Vera (16-1).

I don't know at this stage which will come off but with McEwan moving down to light middleweight this would be a good way to mark his intention's on the Division.

Granite City Promotions present 'Lee Mcallister' and full Scotland V England undercard!

2008-10-20T20:50:00.002+01:00

This Saturday night in the 'Aberdeen Beach Ballroom' Granite City promotions present Aberdeen's own Lee McAllister in eight rounder against Polish light welterweight Alek Malek.This fight will be warm up for McAllister's British title fight with John Murray on the 13th of December.

The undercard will feature Scotland v England matches in support of the main event.This idea was thought up by headliner and promoter McAllister "Its an all Scotland v England undercard.I think its a bit of a crowd pleaser that ,everyone loves it whether there English or Scottish.it adds a bit of drama to the undercard.i cant see it being a quiet night!"

The chief support fight is ten round featherweight fight between Sandy Bartlett v Anthony Hannah for the vacant British masters title.

Tickets for the October 25 show at the Beach Ballroom are available by calling 01224 632218. Dinner tickets cost £100 while boxing tickets are priced at £40 and £50.

The future is bright for the Aberdeen Assassain

2008-10-20T19:52:00.010+01:00

Not since the famous Aberdeen football squad of 1983 that lifted the European cup winners cup has there been anything that 'Granite city' sporting can boast about .But come the 13Th of December that could change courtesy of fighter from there by the name of Lee McAllister.

He is going nationwide and he makes his first move this Saturday in a warm up fight that he will be promoting as well .

So who is Lee Mcallister?Well he currently holds a record of 26(5) -1 and campaigns at lightweight.He has held two versions of the WBU world title belt at both lightweight and light-welterweight.He also has fought over Britain,mostly in the earliest part of his career doing undercard slots.

That was until most recently when with his promoter at the time Brendan Ingle ,he started to headline his own shows up in Aberdeen,mostly in the 'Beach Ballroom'.While fighting there he would guarantee sell outs of his shows ,based on a mixture of his popularity with the Aberdeen fight fans and the reputation he was getting for the atmosphere's at his fights.The average gate for his would be up to a thousand at a time.

The best evidence of his popularity was recently he sold out the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre ;a accolade usually given to the likes of Oasis,Coldplay or whatever touring band are playing there.The fight was originally scheduled to be against Mancunian Michael Gomez,but there was a change of opponent and Mihaita Mutu was drafted in.

The support is something that he does not take for granted,but understands where it comes from "I think my charisma and attitude to be honest.When I fight the atmosphere is amazing.The crowd get behind me and the crowd can be buzzing.After the fight I will go round everyone and speak to everyone and sign autographs.Its like one big happy family"

While in his hometown he enjoyed this status McAllister was yearning not have more popularity ,but more recognition outside the northeast of Scotland.So to do this he signed with Scottish boxing supremo Tommy Gilmour.and by doing this he hoped he can work his magic the same way he has worked it for Paul Appleby and other Scottish fighters.

I asked him what he has been doing since his last outing against Mutu "Well I have changed camp, I'm no longer with the Ingles.Ive been training and keeping myself fit and i have singed with Tommy Gilmour.I'm down in Sheffield training with Peter Coldwell.I'm looking forward to my fight in Aberdeen on the 25Th of October and then fighting John Murray and taking his title off him"

For McAllister to sign with Gilmours 'St Andrew's sporting club' stable he had to leave his previous promoters 'Ingle promotions'.He said it was an amicable split him and Prince Naseem and Johnny Nelson's former coach "Ive got a lot of respect for Brendan Ingle i just felt it was time to change direction and try something new"

And with that chapter closed it opened another chapter in McAllisters career.He explains about his choice to go with the Glasgow based promoter and manager "Tommy Gilmour is the biggest promoter in Scotland by far.I get on really well with Tommy even before I singed with him,hes a really nice guy.I know if I am going to further my career hes one of the main men to help me.Hes quite passionate about Scottish fighters,i felt the move was right with me.We came together as a result"

Looking through his record he has 1 loss on his record,coming in his early career.I asked him what attributes he has to make him win his fights "Nothing really.I would say my raw talent and desire to win.I don't think its one thing it think its the whole package;I can box,I can fight and I can run!"

He adds about his biggest success in the ring to date,a win over Glasgow battle horse Craig Docherty "Best fight so far would be the Craig Docherty fight.I have a lot of respect for Craig Docherty.Tommy Gilmour told me and advised me not to take the fight at that stage in my career.He thought Craig would have had more experience than me,but I know my capabilities.Tommy was surprised at how easy I handed him.To be fair to Craig he is a tough kid but i stopped him in the ninth round"

"I was not surprised by my performance.I thought that things were coming together for me"

When his switch was announced one of the reasons he cited for the move was to improve his profile in Scotland more.This has paid off for him because he is now the mandatory challenger to current British champion John Murray.They two will square off on December the 13th for the coveted title.This will be something Lee thinks that will gatecrash him into the domestic scene.

"The John Murray fight will be live on ITV4.He is rated as one of the top prospects in the UK at the moment.So once I beat him that will put me in top contention"

He goes to point out his plans once if he is successful over John Murray "I would like to knock out Khan and I would like to knock out Thaxton.Once I win the British title I will try and get a fight with khan,when I beat him I will try and get a unification with Thaxton.Then I would go for world title"

Given what has happened to Khan recently this is something that does not surprise the Aberdeen Assassin "Ive been telling everyone for years Khan is an accident waiting to happen".

So what are his long term plans? having already fought at Light Welterweight I asked if he fancied a move back up permanently,should it not work out at Lightweight "Ill bide at lightweight for a while.I will step up eventually once I mature and my body grows a bit.I could see me stepping up to light welterweight then welterweight once my career is finished.But at the moment lightweight is the best division out there at the moment"

While plotting a plan of action at Lightweight McAllister has also recently acquired his promoting licence.He has formed his own company called 'Granite city promotions'.This is a significant step in any fighter's career,especially at the age of 26.

Confirming his step into the promotions side,he joked "Ive always fancied myself as a bit of a Don King!I just feel the time were I am moving on with my career and things are looking up for my career I wanted to help some of the younger lads and get them some fights .A lot of my earlier fights were all down the road (England) .The first nine fights were down in England.I want to keep the Scottish fighters busy,i find the Scottish fighters are always out the ring quite a lot"

He makes his debut as a promoter on Saturday 25Th October.This maiden event is being held at the familiar venue of the 'Beach ballroom' and the main event is the Aberdeen Assassin himself.He will be contesting an eight round international contest against Alek Malek .McAllister is using this as a warm up to the Murray fight "People can expect me to be a bit more aggressive and to take it to him.The guy I am fighting (Arek Malek) has similer style to John Murray"

So with getting the promoters licence and continuing to keep himself busy,i asked the predictable question as to where he would be in 5 years .He candidly replied "If I am not at the top level i will definitely be retired.I don't want to be one of these fighters who hangs on and hangs on.I just want to get in do the job and get it done I want to leave boxing with all my faculties in tact!"

Lee McAllister wishes to thanks his Sponsors:

Apex tubelers

Pandrosa Metals

Les Taylors

Lee McAllisters offical website can be found on http://www.aberdeenassassin.com/

Braveheart Paisley show results:Wins for Limond anderson and Carslaw!

2008-10-19T11:58:00.003+01:00

Last night in the Lagoon leisure centre in Paisley saw a clean sweep for all the Scottish fighters involved.

The evening started with a points win for homefighter Kris Carslaw over 'Gypsy boy' Ernie Smith .This extends his record to 5 and 0.This was his first fight since March and again this was a 4 rounder

Featherweight Jason Hastie also continued his professional rise to fame with a further victory.On the night his opponent (who was drafted in quite late) was Larkhall's Mark Bett.Bett pushed Hastie to another points victory over four rounds.This will be a good warm up for Hastie as i think he will be fighting on November the 14th in the Kelvin Hall.

There were points victories also for Stevie Weir,Eammon Goodbrand and Paisley born Stephen R. Russell.

The night also saw a points victory for Kenny Anderson .Anderson had enough power to beat Latvian middleweight Jevgenijs Andrejevs.Andrejevs proved to be a tricky operator and was deducted a point for elbowing Anderson,this lead to Anderson having to get stitches in his eye.This was over 6 rounds and should be his last outing at this level.I understand that his next outing will be his first over 8 rounds.This should all accumulate for Anderson in a shot at the British title.

Lastly the main event was provided by Bravehearts own poster boy, Glasgow's Willie Limond.Limond was up against the experienced Matt Scrivens.Scrivens on the night was the fourth choice opponent took Limond to the full scheduled 8 rounds,where Limond won on points.At the end of the fight it turns out that Limond did not lose a round.

This was orig scheduled to be a warm up fight for the Salita fight in November,however as this is now not going ahead Limond must defend his IBO intercontinental belt by the end of the year.A victory here could see Limond getting a shot at the full champion Juan Diaz

Updated fixture card for Bravehearts promotions 'Fightnight' in Paisley on 18/10/08

2008-10-15T18:56:00.002+01:00

This Saturday night we will see Willie Limond shrug of his dissapointment of not facing ukranian Dimitry Salita but competing in an eight round contenst against Nottingham brawler Matt Scriven.Given what has happend with the fight Salita this fight has been upgraded from originally scheduled 6 x 3 mins.

Also provididng chief support is Edinburgh super middleweight Kenny Anderson.Anderson is due to fight Jevgenjis Andrejevs .Andrejeves comes into this fighting already 8 times this year already.This will be the his last fight before a scheduled 8 rounder on November the 14th.

The full line up currently is :

Willie Limond v Matt Scriven 8 x 2,

Kenny Anderson v Jevgenjis Andrejevs 6 x 3,

S R Russell v TBA 4 x 3,

Jason Hastie v TBA 4 x 3,

Kris Carslaw v Ernie Smith 4 x 3,

Stevie Weir v Duncan Cottier 4 x 3,

Eamonn Goodbrand v Kevin Lilley 6 x 2,

Tickets Priced £30 and £40 are on sale now
Braveheart Promotions Box Office: 0141 248 8882

Limond/Salita confirmed,McEwan to fight Alfredo Angulo?

2008-10-12T11:19:00.002+01:00

After much wrangling i understand the fight between Willie Limond and Dmitry Salita has finally been singed.The fight will provide possibly the chief support for the Roy Jones Jnr v Joe Calzaghe.Also fighting on the bill is Zab Judah and Welshman Kerry Hope.At this time they are fighting against unnamed opponents.

The fight,as expected will be a light welterweight and will be for the current vacant IBF intercontinental belt.This will also be good for Willie as this will be covered by Setanta Sports over here.

I think this is a good move for Limond,i feel this could open doors to many opportunities to him.If he comes through this successfully it could lead to him getting a world title shot at either lightweight or light welterweight.He will be the first Scotsman since Scott Harrison to fight at MSG.

While Limond is fighting in New York,Craig McEwan's next fight will be in the familiar surroundings of the MGM grand in Las Vegas.Having fought there twice before he will be looking to build on recent progress made on his recent victory over Hilario Lopez .

It has been announced that Craig McEwan will be moving down to Light Middleweight and his first opponent at the new weight will be Alfredo Angulo.Like McEwan he has a high rate of Ko's (11 out of 14 fights) and is the current WBO intercontinental champion at light middleweight.He is also considered currently to be the best Mexican at his weight.

This fight has been agreed by McEwans handlers however it has not yet been singed by Angulo.This is still being worked on and I'm told that this will be over 1o and not 12 rounds as being reported on other sites.The fight would also be part of the undercard of Ricky Hatton v Paulie Malignaggi and should be covered extensively by Sky Box Office.

Should Angulo not be keen for the fight i would still expect McEwan to be fighting on the undercard.

Ricky Burns "There is only one fight i want at the moment"

2008-10-03T18:41:00.004+01:00

Last Friday night Ricky Burns achieved a personal goal in collecting the Commonwealth super featherweight title.The second time fighting for this title,but third attempt in going for a title he overcame Ghanaian Osamanu Akaba.

Going into the fight, the only two defeats he has had was at the arms of Alex Arthur and Carl Johanneson.While giving spirited performances in both fights he has both times seen his title ambitions slip away on points .

Ricky was due to fight an eight rounder on the night, however his fight plans changed on the night when main event was pulled due to Rocky Dean hurting his hand.Then he got the call from promoter Frank Warren who confirmed the new arrangements for his fight with Akaba,at two weeks notice.

I spoke to Burns on Thursday night.I started of by asking how he felt his performance went .He said "I Felt the fight went well.By the eight round i had it even,but i had to force the punches out.I felt sometimes my timing was not right"

Given the fight was at short notice,it didn't make any change to how he prepared for the fight "I'm a full time pro so i had been in training for an eight rounder.But i was i ready for a twelve rounder,and on the night i got the job done"

Since His losses ,Burns has changed over trainers from Rab Bannon to Billy Nelson.He felt that the switch was necessary "I felt it was time to move on.Having two title flight's and losing i decided it was time to try something else.Since i switched it has been a good one".

He further adds about his performances after switching "I have seen myself going forward more.I found in my two defeats that i was on the back foot too much.People only saw 50% of Ricky Burns in those fights,but i have seen a big improvement in the way i fight"

Now he has established himself as champion at super featherweight,he has found his name being mentioned by a certain boxer who has an exemplary record against Scottish fighters.In press conference to promote his upcoming fight, Michael Gomez attempted to call out Burns.

"He's after another pay date.There are so many other fights at super featherweight i would be interested ahead of Gomez.I would not entertain him" he said.

He then coolly adds "There is only fight i want at the moment.That fight would be the current British champion Kevin Mitchell.He recently has been injured,and wont be back until December.so well have to see what happens"

Looking further afield he also has designs on new world champion Nicky Cook "I see myself up there with the big guns in the division.Id like to go at it with Nicky Cook "but he adds about his former opponent and friend Alex Arthur "I would like to see Alex get another shot at the world title."

After achieving what he has worked so hard for its good to see Burns enjoying the status of being a champion.While he has had a few setbacks it's good to see a pro taking himself back to the drawing board and addressing issues that he felt needing address.

At 25 i feel he has done it at the right time and this will hopefully lead to a long successful reign.This will start hopefully when he makes his first title defence on November 14Th at the Kelvin Hall.

(C) Gary Reilly and Caly boxing 2008

Willie Limond edgeing closer too Salita and update on Braveheart's Paisley show!

2008-10-01T18:58:00.002+01:00

After much 'tooing and throwing' it would appear that the coast is now clear for Willie Limond to make his American debut on November the 8th.His on-off fight is close to being rubber stamped with New York based Jewish-Ukrainian Dmitriy Salita.

Through no fault of Limond's own it seams a saga in itself to get this stage were it looks like this fight is going ahead;Originally scheduled for the September the 20th,the fight was put back due to the headliner Joe Calzaghe hurting his hand.This was rescheduled for the 8th of November.

While this was happening there was talk of a WBA title fight between Salita and current champion Andreas Kotelnik.For the fight to go ahead,it depended on whether the champion came through a title defense against through Japan’s Norio Kimura on September 13.

He did come through this successfully,and the talk started about this title fight.But this meant that Limond was now 'opponent less'(if that is a word) and as a result there was a chance he could be fighting New York based Darling Jiminez.

But over the last few weeks Square ring and Kotelnik's promoters have not manged to come to an agreement over any potential title fight.As a result Square ring have pulled out of negotiations and the fight with Willie limond appears to be back on.

A press release today confirms this is looking more likely, however no actual contract has been signed yet.This should happen soon,with the fight being 5 weeks away the Promoters will be wanting to get maximum exposure for the undercard,as it is being sold on a PPV basis.

Also it emerged today that Sports Network offered Limond the chance to fight 'Khan Crusher ' Breids Prescott.They wanted to fight to go ahead on there card in Liverpool on the 10th of October.

On the offer Limond said: “October 10 was just too short notice to face Prescott. It is a fight that I would love to take in the future, but I would need more time to prepare for what would be a tough assignment.”

In the run up Limond will be fighting a 6 rounder at a catchweight of 135lb.This will help him prepare for the Salita match and will be fighting along with the rest of the Braveheart stable at there Paisley show on October the 18th.

Meanwhile, Kenny Anderson (Super-Middleweight) is looking forward to a busy last quarter of 2008 after fighting only twice so far this year.

The hard-hitting 2006 Commonwealth games gold medallist will box in Paisley before competing in his first scheduled eight-round bout on the undercard of Braveheart stablemate Kevin McIntyre’s British title challenge in Birmingham two weeks later.

Boxing in their hometown will be Stephen Russell (Super-Bantamweight), Kris Carslaw (Welterweight) and Stevie Weir (Light-Middleweight).

Also fighting on the card is Edinburgh Super featherweight Jason Hastie.

Coatbridge’s Eamonn Goodbrand (Light-Middleweight) returns to the ring having recovered from a long-term wrist injury to complete the seven-fight card.

Tickets for Braveheart Promotions’ Fight Night at the Lagoon Leisure Centre, Paisley on Saturday 18th October are priced at £30 and £40 and available on 0141 248 8882.

Appleby named UK young boxer of the year!

2008-10-01T18:25:00.002+01:00

First off it was announced to the Boxing world that South Queensferry's Paul Appleby.Announced yesterda,y Appleby joins a long list of successful boxers to pick up the accolade.

The award is being given to Appleby by the prestigious 'Boxing Writers Club'.He will be officially presented with the award at the Dorchester Hotel in London on October 20Th.

This award to me shows that the boxing fraternity are appreciative of Appleby's exciting,crowd pleasing style.Behind him the pecking order were Nathan Cleverly and Kell Brook;given that these two fighters are signed to the biggest promoter (in the uk) and have had more TV exposure,i feel this gives more leverage as to how far Appleby has come in the last year.

Other Scottish boxers who have has this accolade are Scott Harrison,Walter McGowan and fellow Edinburgh residents Alex Arthur and Ken Buchanan.

Lets hope that Appleby builds on this with a decent performance in his upcoming title defence in November.

McEwan marches to 12-0!

2008-09-28T19:35:00.004+01:00

Undefeated Edinburgh boxer, middleweight Craig McEwan, defeated Idaho`s Hilario Lopez by a unanimous points decision at the Home Depot Centre in Carson, LA on Saturday night. Mcewan had the tough American down in the first round but Lopez, who had previously fought for World Youth Titles and is known in the game as `a spoiler` got up and , in spite of taking a huge amount of punishment, managed to hold on for the scheduled eight rounds.

McEwan, whose ring nickname is `Scottish`, entered, as usual, to bagpipe music and now moves to 12-0-0. The bout was broadcast on Sky TV in the United Kingdom as part of the Suger Shane Moseley v Ricardo Mayorga programme.

After the fight Freddy Roach commented `Craig is making good progress.We plan to step him up to 10 rounds next time with a view maybe to dropping a weight division for a title bout`McEwan was also up beat. `I thought I boxed really well as though my preparation was not ideal. My wife Sally and I returned to Scotland in July for the birth of my son Callum and I had to deal with a broken training schedule and jet lag twice.It was worth it though especially as everyone was predicting I would have problems with Lopez, who has beaten some good lads'

Roach and McEwan have developed a close working relationship and friendship at the Wildcard Gym in Hollywood. Said McEwan `I got Freddy to wear my Hibs top for this bout after getting him to wear a Scotland football top previously! Freddy knows nothing about Scottish Football but likes `The Scottish thing`I do at my fights`.

Well done to Craig!

Coyles title shot tonight and Morrison in Burns night fight!

2008-09-20T09:44:00.003+01:00

Tonight sees Stirling light middleweight Jamie Coyle challenge for the British Championship.He goes in tonight against Sheffield switch hitter Ryan Rhodes.Rhodes has home advantage is and also headlining 'Hayemaker promotions' inaugural show with this title fight.

Going in to this fight Coyle has 16 wins and 3 losses.Of those wins he has 8 ko.His career to date he has yet to fight over 6 rounds which i feel will go against him on the night.Also looking through the records of some of the fighter's a lot of them have questionable record's.Looking at this compared to Rhodes who has fought 43 times with an astonishing 28 ko's on his record,he also has 4 losses.Among the losses though are two world title shots.

I think on the night Coyle will take it to Rhodes but i feel his lack of experience over 6 rounds will seriously disadvantage him.I understand he will have a good support on the night.And also Rhodes is capable of KO other fighters.

Caly boxing wishes Jamie Coyle all the best tonight.

Barry Morrison is to fight for the Celtic championship against current holder Stuart Phillips.The agreement has been put in place for the fight to go ahead on Burns night 2009!with a hotel in Glasgow the likely venue,a win here would keep him in the British title picture as well.

Braveheart announce Paisley Fight-night!

2008-09-16T20:08:00.003+01:00

Today Braveheart promotion's announced there latest event .The event will take place at the 'Lagoon Leisure Centre' in Paisley on Saturday 4th October .The Event is being headlined by Willie Limond and Kenny Anderson.Limond is fighting a 6 x 3 contenst,and possibly could be a tune up for his American debut in November.

Also on the list making there Braveheart Debut is Eammon Goodbrand .In addtion to the debut local favourites Kris Carslaw and Stevie Weir also will be making an appearence on the night.

Here is the full card ,with it being just announced there is no opponents announced but it gives and idea of the full card.

Willie Limond v TBA 6 x 3 Lightweight,

Kenny Anderson v TBA 6 x 3 Super-Middleweight,

S R Russell v TBA 4 x 3 Super-Bantamweight,

Jason Hastie v TBA 4 x 3 Featherweight,

Kris Carslaw v TBA 4 x 3 Welterweight,

Kris Hughes v TBA 4 x 3 Super-Bantamweight,

Stevie Weir v TBA 4 x 3 Light-Middleweight,

Eamonn Goodbrand v TBA 4 x 3 Light-Middleweight,

Kenny Anderson hoping to Czech in with a KO!

2008-09-11T19:22:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow night sees Edinburgh middleweight Kenny Anderson take on Czech boxer Roman Vanicky.Vanicky goes into this fight with a record of 7-18-1.His last fight in the UK was against Glenrothes fighter Steven McGuire,with McGuire disposing of him with a TKO in round 1.

Vanicky is the third choice opponent after first choice Antonio Barker pulled out.After he pulled out, Joe Rea and Michael Rayner also followed the same fate.The fight is being staged at London's Grosvenor Hotel and is for the DEBRA charity.

In the run up to the fight Anderson has been sparring with LA based Craig McEwan to prepare for the fight.The fight is scheduled to go for 6 three minute rounds.

I think this is a good opportunity for Anderson to get himself back in the title picture,however i feel the opponent will not do him justice.I do think he will make quick pickings of his Czech opponent.

After this i understand he will be fighting in paisley on 10th of October in an eight rounder .And possibly fighting once more after that before the end of the year.

So what next for Alex Arthur?

2008-09-09T20:03:00.004+01:00

On Saturday night Alex Arthur should have been relishing a victory in the first defence of his newly acquired world title.Instead he contributed to what was a rubbish weekend for Scottish sport;with the national football team losing 1 -0 to Moldova earlier in the day and Andy Murray losing to Roger Federer in the US open final.

Arthur contributed to it by putting in a performance which promised so much ,but delivered very little.In what could have been a turning point for Arthur in his career it just didn't go that way on the night.

So what happened?Well after the dust has settled on this i have looked through most of the reports and it would appear that Arthur thinks that the judges were biased towards Cook.While
i think he touches on a decent point , he was fighting an English fighter was there 3 English judges? This was labelled as a World title fight and i feel the judges should have reflected that.If Arthur was too fight a Danish fighter you would expect there to be Judges from neutral countries at least.

All that aside I do feel that Cook deserved his win and I had it scored in his favour by 2 rounds at least.And if there were neutral judges I still feel he would have lost the fight regardless.

On the night Arthur gave a good performance that i would say was similar to the performance he gave against Steve Foster Jr,but not where near as the 'Amazing' Alex Arthur that turned up to beat Gogaladze.I cant put Cook's victory down to Arthur not being 100% on the night;i think its fair to say that Cook had his tactics right and he stuck to his promises he made before the fight.

So what next for Arthur?Well after the fight there was talk of a rematch with Gomez.I wouldn't like to see Arthur visit this fight as it would prove nothing,and Gomez should be too busy promoting his new bio film that will be out soon.There was also reports of a bout with Mexican ring legend Marco Antonio Barrera.This talk had been around for awhile,even in the run up to the cook bout there murmurs of a failed attempt to lure him over here for the fight.Now with no world title at stake i feel that it would be hard to broker a deal,and there is also the prospect of Barrera fighting in china in November.

The other option is for him to go up to Lightweight;this one has been talked about for a while and with the result it seems the argument is going to gather momentum.After the fight his promoter Frank Warren called for him to do this,but Arthur disagreed with him.By going up to Lightweight there are some attractive fights there to be made for Arthur but it would see him start again on the world title trail.One possible fight that could be made would be against Khan,but i cant see Warren pairing both of them together at this stage.

The last option is to fight on at super featherweight.if he would do this he would have to work more on his weight when not on a 'training camp' and this would help him not have to lose so much energy to make the weight come fight night.But what fights would there be for him?

well i think the best option for him would be to seek a rematch with Cook.as i said earlier i had it about 2 rounds between them and you could argue that like in any job Arthur had a 'bad day in the office'.When the fight with Cook was made it was announced as voluntary defence of his belt,and surely this bodes well for Cook to return the favour.

Also Cook v Arthur 2 could be a decent fight with Arthur wanting to regain his title and prove his credentials as a world champion.

The other fight that would be there for Arthur would be Young Londoner called Kevin Mitchell.Mitchell is rated high by the WBO and is the current British champion.There has been a lot of talk abut these two going at it and this could be the sort of fight to get Arthur back in the title picture.

Coming Soon Exclusive Interview With WBO superfeatherweight champion Alex Arthur

2008-09-01T16:57:00.003+01:00

Calyboxing has secured an exclusive interview with Alex Arthur.In the upcoming interview expect to hear Arthur discuss his career to date and also the saga regarding the the ill fated Joan Guzman fight.

Watch this space!

Exclusive Interview with Alex Arthur "Nicky Cook is one dimensional"

2008-08-29T16:50:00.021+01:00

by Gary Reilly

Next Saturday night Edinburgh super featherweight Alex Arthur takes to the ring in Manchester.While fighting away from his hometown he is also defending his newly acquired WBO world championship belt for the first time.His opponent for this fight is Dagenham motormouth Nicky Cook.

In the build up to this fight Arthur took some time to speak to me about his boxing career to date and the upcoming fight.He also outlined his plans for the future.

Starting out as an amateur Arthur worked his way to national level and eventually scored himself a gold medal at the Commonwealth games in 1998.On the success of his amateur days and those games in particular he says "Nothing has really rivaled that yet,at the time i felt as if i was king of the world.I strived to win a gold medal for my country that much,but i didn't think it would happen on such a big stage.To win it like that,on a Sunday morning was amazing "On the final fight he added "The arena was packed it was just great.It was an unbelievable experience;I will never forget it as long as I live"

Given that it was one of three gold's Scotland achieved the Kuala Lumpa games, Arthur looks upon that with great importance "I think the gold medal was a massive sporting achievement for me.Scotland had 200 athletes and only achieved 3 gold medals.We had really good boxing team but everyone just seemed to sell them self short.I had 5 really hard fights to win that medal."

After that success he remained in the amateurs for a year before deciding to turn pro.When Arthur announced he was to turn pro there was a lot of interest both sides of the Atlantic, however he did decide to sign with UK Boxing kingpin Frank Warren.

Not long after signing, Arthur made his full debut against Richmond Asante and made quick business of him by way of TKO in the first round.Being his first full professional fight,he found his amateur days had come into good use in the run up to this fight "I think if you fight in tournaments and fight against different opponents with styles you cant study,you just have to take it as it comes.I think it sets you up massively for the future.Id recommend being an amateur boxer before going pro"

From there he then went on to fight 7 times in 2001,and winning them all convincingly.All of these fights were always away from home and these didn't seem to phase him really "I was still getting educated (in boxing) and i was used to being on the road.I was a well travelled amateur.To jump on a plane down to England was a luxury;i didn't have to change time zones or food ".

From there he kept winning and he captured his first domestic belt;the British championship belt.This was won by KO of Steve Conway in 2002.From there he went to defend it twice before coming up against Mancunian Michael Gomez.

In a fight that Sky Sports described as the 'fight of the year 2003' Arthur then lost his belt by being overpowered by Gomez.It was from here that Arthur had to rebuild and move on.He later regained the Lonsdale belt,while adding the European and Commonwealth belts to his array of belts won and successfully defended.

In this period Arthur had some good 'all Scottish' match ups with Glaswegians Craig Docherty and Willie Limond.He also had a fight with coatbridge's Ricky Burns.These were often compared to Ken Buchanon and Jim Watt,but when asked of his memories of these fights he reminds us " My favourite fight was against Willie Limond,that was the most satisfying of the three.Willie was unbeaten and a lot of folk thought that he was going to beat me.I was fighting in his home town, there was 6000 people in the arena"

Regarding the Limond fight,he adds "Willie sold 2000 tickets himself!And all the Glaswegians were against me and it was strange because it was in Scotland.This done something for me though;this helped me raise my game that night.The fact that my previous coaches Willie Nelson and Peter Harrison were working his corner,this made me want to win even more"

Throughout his career its plain to see that Arthur is consistent in what he does.This however is miles apart from his situation with his corner man.Since splitting with Peter Harrison in 2004 Arthur has had to change his corner man several times.In his corner we have seen such names as Terry Cormack,Freddie Roach and more recently Irish Olympian Wayne McCullough.I asked him if he felt this had a bearing on his career "I'm not one for believing it has any effect on my career.But if your a smart enough athlete and individual to pick up the smart bits and the good bits i think your all right,what a lot of people get confused with is i have had a lot of figure heads,but i have worked with the same people my whole career. "

In the run up to his next fight with Nicky Cook,he will have experienced Irish boxer Wayne McCullough in his corner.On having him there he says"I get on like a house of fire with him"On why he feels they work well together,he adds "Hes a christian like me.Hes got great faith,he believes in god.That is a very important factor.He is also very similar to me;Were both family men.We love our family more than we love boxing.Also he is one of the most decorated amateur boxers Ireland has ever had.He was trained by the 'Mohamed Ali' of trainers in a man called Eddie Such.Hes passed on all that stuff to me.For me he is the best trainer i have ever worked for in my life"

However the many changes in his corner Arthur had been successful to win the WBO Interim world belt by beating Koba Gogoladze in quite convincing fashion in July 2007.By winning this fight it guaranteed him a shot a world champion Joan Guzman.

Before any Guzman fight, Arthur first had to defend the interim belt against Salford's Stephen Foster Jnr.In a fight which Arthur won on points, it was certainly not his best effort of recent times.However Arthur insists there were other factors at play "It was just a nightmare form start to finish.We had a lot of problems in the gym.But as far as it goes i struggled to get motivated to fight Steven foster.I felt it was a drop back in class from Gogaladze.Ricky Burns,Boris Sinitsen are better than Steven Foster" motivation was not the only problem he faced"I had done a year with a strenght and conditioning coach.Now we were seeing some fantastic results really fast.And as a result it made it really hard to make the weight.I was 10.5 stone and i think i was only 6% body fat.The week before the fight i could not sweat!"

He continues to open up and talks more about his final training session "I was like a zombie!In my final training session they had to physically pick me up and carry me to my car.And the next again day i was still a pound and a half over so they had to put me in a hot bath wrapped in towels for two hours.And i then fought 12 rounds!"

This then put Arthur in prime position for the fight he had been waiting his whole career for.In addition to getting the opportunity to fight the then champion Joan Guzman,Frank Warren had won the purse and the right to stage the fight in Edinburgh;given him home advantage.

The fight was originally scheduled for April 26th and was a good opportunity for Arthur to get himself in the ring with one of the divisions top names.

This fight however didn't stay 'on' for long due to the fact Guzman's team didn't organise a visa for there fighter.Once that had happened there was no rescheduled date announced, and Guzman vacated the belt and moved up to lightweight.I asked Arthur what he felt at that time on missing out on such a big fight "I was really disappointed at the time.I was really hurt,but i guess that's boxing.Now looking back on that you cant change the past.You cant dwell on it .If you do, it will ruin your life"

"I was gutted at the time as it was the level i have to be it .It just never happened and it was just something i had to accept"

As a result of this Arthur was awarded the belt by the WBO .In a circumstances which must have frustrated Arthur this also infuriated a lot of boxing fans who said he 'had not earned the right to wear the belt'.I put forward there criticism in which he replied "You know something,i beat the best available.I bet the number one contender Gogaladze.Now Guzman did not want to fight him.So it was between me and Gogaladze for who was going to be the world champion.So who should be the world champion?I bet everyone who was put in front of me."

So with his belt Arthur is currently the only Scottish world boxing champion .I asked him how that felt, with it being a life's ambition " It feels like a great sense of achievement.I have my ambition to be a world champion since i was 10 year old.I don't feel that some people make me feel like the world champion that i am though" .

Trying to piece together the Super featherweight division at the moment is very difficult as there has been several champions moving up a division.Seeing a gap in the division i asked Arthur where he rates himself "Right now i see myself as the Best .I say that because they have all moved up to lightweight!I'm the only one left."

On the possibility of moving up to lightweight he frankly says "There is no doubt about it .I'm going to go chasing them shortly.I plan to make at the very most 3 defences of my super featherweight title,then move up " and he further added about were he will be in 5 years time " I will definitely be retired.I'd like to be retired by the time I'm 34"he also added on a possible change of career "I would like to have a change of life.I have been boxing since i was 10 years old.One thing i do know is that i will be a happily married man with my beautiful children.That is all that matters to me"

Turning things to next Saturday i asked Arthur how he thinks the fight with Cook will pan out "Its hard to say.Nicky is a good fighter but fairly one dimensional.I expect him to come with a lot of passion and desire.I also expect him to want to win the fight.It could be a hard fight or it could be an easy night ".

Given that Cook's career is pretty identical to Arthur in how it has panned out he seems to think this will have no bearing on how he will fight on the night "It could play a part.Its just careers at the end of the day.its in the past.I believe i have fought better fighters than him and my career has been planned better.But again that all goes out the window."he then adds "I have fought at this weight most of my life,I think after 3-4 rounds I'm going to be more comfortable"

(c) Gary Reilly and Caly Boxing 2008

Change of opponent for Willie Limond's NY dream date!

2008-08-19T19:51:00.006+01:00

Today it was confirmed that Glasgow lightweight is still getting his chance at the big time by fighting at New York's Madison Square Garden.

The fight was originaly scheduled to be on the 20th of September however this was rescheduled due to main event boxer Joe Calzaghe hurting his hand.The bout and card has been rescheduled to November the 8th .

While there is a change of date,Limond is relieved to still have the chance of the fight “I don’t mind who I fight in New York. I am just relieved that I still have the chance to fight in Madison Square Garden on the undercard of such a big promotion"

Originally he was scheduled to fight Orthodox Jew Dimitry Salita ,but due to Salita being made the mandatory for the WBA light-welterweight belt.As a result there now is a change in opponent for Salita.

The new opponent who has been penciled in to face Limond is Dominican Darling Jimenez.The experienced boxer currently holds a record of 23 wins and 3 losses and 3 draws.

On the prospect of fighting Jimenez,Limond beams “If I face Jimenez, although the fight would be at lightweight, it will still be a hard fight. Jimenez is coming off a loss, but he won six consecutive fights by knockout prior to his last fight.“Even then, Jimenez was beaten by a fantastic talent in Cuba’s Yuriorkis Gamboa, who is very highly rated in America.”

McGuire and McAllister get title shots,Coyle's title date set and Arthur v Cook fight on Sky Box Office!

2008-08-17T15:01:00.007+01:00

After a few quiet week's among Scottish boxing It now appears there is a variety of fights in pipeline involving Scottish boxers.

After losing out on the opportunity of fighting 'team Calzaghe' member Nathan Cleverly(who has moved up to lightweight) it would appear the Glenrothes super middleweight Steven McGuire is getting the chance to go for the full British title.The BBBoBc have called in purses for a fight between him and Carl Froch.Whether or not this fight will go ahead is another matter, but i do expect McGuire to still fight for the Lonsdale crown against another opponent.

Froch currently is the mandatory challenger for the WBC belt and is expected to fight for that at some point in the year.If he does that he will vacate his British,Commonwealth and European belt in the process.

The confirmed date for Stirling light middleweight Jamie Coyle's challenge for the British crown is now confirmed as being on the 20Th of September.This will take place at the Hillsborough Leisure centre in Sheffield.As previously stated this is against current Holder Ryan Rhodes.

Also after relinquishing his 2 WBU world belts and moving to Tommy Gilmour's stable,Aberdeen lightweight Lee McAllister's gamble has proved a worthwhile .He is now to face current British champion John Murray for his belt.No specified date has been confirmed yet for this but it is dead cert that Tommy Gilmour will be bidding in a hope to stage this fight in Aberdeen,and give his fighter a definitive advantage over the champion.

Also on the lookout for the Lonsdale belt, but this time to reclaim what most people is rightfully his is Kevin McIntyre.After being stripped of the belt in harsh circumstances,he is getting the opportunity to regain the belt from current 'champion' Kell Brook.The purse was won by Frank Warren and is taking place on Friday 31st of October at the Aston Villa sports centre.

Motherwell fighter and former champion Barry Morrison is also getting the chance to fight for the Celtic championship belt.This fight will be against current holder Stuart Phillips and should be finalised soon,with a view to the fight going ahead by the end of the year.

Lastly it has been announced that Sports Network have signed a multi fight deal with sky this will also involve Amir Khans fight (and the supporting card) being viewed exclusively on Sky box office.

McAllister to Gilmour,Coyle to fight Rhodes and McEwan to fight in LA

2008-08-12T15:56:00.004+01:00

This week Aberdeen lightweight Lee McAllister confirmed that he has left Ingle promotions and signed with Tommy Gilmour in a 3 year deal.In a move that was met with a blaze of media reports it appeared the motivation was to help the Aberdeen fighter push his profile out with Aberdeen.

With singing with Gilmour he has the opportunity to get his fights televised on Sky Sports 'Friday fight night'.He will instantly have access to this as Gilmour co-promotes a lot of fights with Barry Hearn, under the Matchroom Sports banner.

It is no secret that McAllister has a good following in his home city of Aberdeen were he clearly enjoys as much attention as the home football team.Over his recent fights he has seen an average gate of at least 4 thousand;which given his very little TV exposure is very impressive.However if he is serious about getting somewhere he does have to up the caliber of opponent but I'm sure Gilmore will look to do that as he has quite an impressive record over the years.

He also has relinquished his WBU titles that he currently holds.This will free up his obligations and give him the chance to look at taking on some of the fellow Scottish fighters in the lightweight division

According to some reports his first fight under his new manager is going to be in Paisley on September the 13th.I don't know if that will come to fruition as there is a scheduled Prizefighter tournament that night,and it is also a very short time to promote a fight aswell

It was also confirmed that Stirling's Jamie Coyle will fight Ryan Rhodes in September.This fight will be for the Rhodes Light middleweight Lonsdale belt.The bout is the headlining event at the first promotion to be staged by Hayemaker Promotions;David Hayes new promotions company.This fight will also be covered by Setanta Sports.

Also Craig McEwan is fighting next, against an unamed opponent on the undercard of Shane Mosley v Ricardo Mayorga.This fight will happen on 27th of September in the Staples centre,LA .

Kenny Anderson to fight in a UK v US match up,A word from your editor

2008-08-03T08:50:00.003+01:00

Earlier today it was confirmed to me that Edinburgh fighter Kenny Anderson will fight in a UK v USA competition on either September 13Th or 14Th.The event will possibly take place in the Grosevnor Hotel in London.The card is being put together by Sports Network and will feature also Anthony small.

A word from Gary Reilly

There is not much happening at the moment in Scottish boxing.With news being so thin on the ground it is very hard for me to keep my readers up to date with worthwhile news.So i apologise i have not been keeping this posted as regular but its purely down to the fact its so little about .I am doing what i can, and i am working on getting some more interviews.But thanks for reading!

Limond to Fight in NYC,Appleby's future opponent and McIntyre turns down world title shot for Lonsdale shot instead

2008-07-21T19:20:00.006+01:00

Its been another quiet week at the moment for Scottish boxing.

After last weeks revelations, Glasgow based lightweight Willie Limond has confirmed he will fight in Madison Square Gardens on September the 20th.He will fight orthodox Jew Dmitriy Salita at Light Welterweight.

In taking this fight he is giving up a lucrative shot for a world title.In going up the weight for this fight i understand that he is planning to return back to lightweight in the future,and currently has no problems making that weight either.With this knowledge surely an impressive display can only help Limond's profile in the UK and in the US .

Also this week Sports Network announced there was to be British title eliminator for Paul Appleby's Lonsdale belt.The fight is to take place on the 6Th of September on the undercard of Arthur/Cooke.The fight is between Derry Matthews and Stephen Bell,and the winner would be the mandatory challenger for Applebys title.Both fighters have just one loss each going into this fight

With Appleby reputably figthing in October/November i think any potential fight probably wouldn't take part till the new year.

Kevin McIntyre was given a chance to fight for the WBU title against Michael Jennings.He did however knock it back as he wants his (deserved) shot at Kell Brook.I think this would have been on the Manchester card as well.I understand any fight between McIntyre/Brook has to be fought by the end of November.

Briefly as well,recent circulars from the BBBoC reveled that potential Celtic title fights for both Ian Milarvie and Stephen McGuire are now off.No reason was given however Milarvie is now taking part in the next Prizefighter tournament in September.

McEwan To fight Venezuelan,Anderson let down again And Limond's MSG debut?

2008-07-15T18:42:00.004+01:00

Not really much floating about at the moment .So this will be shorter than most articles...

After his recent success Clovenstone middleweight Craig McEwan announced he is to fight again on August 1st.He is fighting on familiar ground at the 'Desert Diamond Casino' Texas were his opponent is Venezuelan Marcos Primeria.

Primeria,who goes by the nickname 'The Terminator' most recent fight was in January.His record is 17 wins and 20 losses.He should provide a formidable opponent for McEwan.The fight itself comes after McEwan's recent win on the 4th of July.After this i have to admit it would be good to see McEwan step up to 10 rounds,but I'm sure with time this will come.

Fellow commonwealth medalist Kenny Anderson was hit with further blow this week when it announced his fight at the Aston Event centre was cancelled.The whole card was cancelled however this is the second time in so many months that Anderson has been hit with a last minute cancellation.Hopefully he will get some luck soon as he has been really unfortunate and i know he was looking forward to this fight as it was one step closer to getting in the British title mix.

Lastly the Evening Times was reporting that his stablemate and current IBO Intercontinental champion Willie Limond has been offered the opportunity to fight at Madison Square Gardens.He is getting a chance to fight Dimitriy Salita on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe v Roy Jones Junior.I understand that Limond has to make his decision whether to take the fight by the end of the week.

So what is there to make his mind up about? Well Salita is a light welterweight and i understand the fight would either be at catch weight or at light welterweight.Salita's record going into any potential fight is 28 fights with 16 knockouts and 0 losses.

I think this would be a hard fight given the experience Salita has and the fact that the fight is at a higher weight.I think though Limond should take the fight and it would be great experience for him;at the end of the day i cant think recently how many Scots have fought at MSG recently .

Arthur/Cook Confirmed,Ricky Burns British title shot?

2008-07-07T19:41:00.004+01:00

Today it was confirmed that Alex Arthur will defend his world title against Nicky Cook.This will be Arthur's first defence and will be in Manchester's MEN arena on Sept 6th.The fight was confirmed today in press conference at the MEN arena with both Arthur and co-headliner Amir Khan were present.

Khan also confirmed he has singed an new deal with Frank Warren and there will be confirmation of his next week of who his new TV contract .This may again be with ITV1 ,however the wording on the sports network web site suggest there is no further coverage from them.I do hope there is a terrestrial coverage as it would help raise Arthur's profile outside Scotland.

In interviews today, Arthur did confirm he had been carrying an injury in the run up to the Steve Foster Jnr fight last December.I'm glad to see him acknowledge his performance that night and hopefully he can turn this into a positive for his next fight .Arthur mentioned also that as result he was struggling to make the weight for that fight which prompted rumours he was having long term problems making the weight.This is something he did deny but did mention a possibility of a future fight against Amir Khan at lightweight.

As he has 3 months in the run up to the fight he is taking time out to train in Cyprus.He will also have in his corner Irish Olympian Wayne McCullough on the night of the fight.He has worked with McCullough a few times before and he gave one of his best performances of his career under his guidence when he fought against Sergey Gulyakevich back in April 2006.

While the undercard has not been announced yet i have heard that there will be another mouthwatering Scotland/English fight on the undercard.I understand that long term Arthur-opponent in waiting Kevin Mitchell is to face Coatbridge's two time British challenger Ricky Burns on the same night.

The figth is still to be rubber stamped by the BBBoC but i understand it is close to being confirmed.This would be a great fight for Burns who has challenged for the title twice before against both Carl Johanneson and Alex Arthur.On both occasion's Burns has only lost on points and i think he has a style that can certainly challenge Mitchell on the night.Mitchell's last few fights has shown 'clinks in the armour' i feel.More about this over the next few weeks ...

Over the weekend Craig McEwan advanced to an 11 and 0 record with a win over Mexican Juan Carlos Sanchez.This came by the way of a 3rd round knockout.

And commiserations to Motherwells Barry Morrison who was out pointed by Manchester's David Barnes .The fight was scored in David Barnes favour by all three judges however i felt it was closer than what the judges scored it;one scored it as wide as 112-116.I also feel that Morrison done enough to warrant a rematch at some point in the future.

After this being his 3rd defeat in his career i understand he is going for a well earned holiday and will be looking to possibly fight later in the year,but he will definetly fight on.

Morrison Makes Weight,McEwan to fight Mexican and Young considers future!

2008-07-03T19:57:00.005+01:00

Earlier today Motherwell fighter Barry Morrison weighed in today in ahead of his British championship fight tomorrow night.Weighing in at 9st 13lb 11oz he made the weight with no problems.His opponent David Barnes had problems making the weight and nearly never made the weight.

Barnes,the current champion was given an hour to shed the weight to bring him down to the weight limit for the fight to go ahead.After an hour he managed to make the weight on the 3rd attempt,ensuring tomorrow nights fight will be for the Lonsdale belt.

I think this fight shall be a good fight, but i don't think it will be a classic.The styles on offer from both fighters should cancel each other out.Given the experience both fighters have ;they share a total of 18 KO's between them out of a total 39 contest's.This reflects the fact that both of them are not known for there power,and makes me come to my conclusion about this fight.Morrison is a good all rounder and i do see him winning this either on points or in the later rounds.

Given the fact that David Barnes is a Mancunian i think Morrison will be surprised how many of the Scouse fight fans might be behind him!The fight is shown tomorrow on Sky Sports 1 at 10 pm.

Meanwhile in Hildalgo,Texas on the same night Edinburgh middleweight Craig McEwan is in action at the Dodge Arena.This is his first fight since February and he was also due to fight on the undercard of Ricky Hatton's 'Homecoming'. He was let down when his opponent pulled out and the promoters couldn't find another fighter to fight him

The bout is to to be televised on Hispanic channel Telefutra in the states and he takes on Mexican Juan Carlos Sanchez.The fight is scheduled to be over eight rounds.This fight is McEwan's 3rd over 8 rounds .Craig's last two fights have come by unanimous decision and I'm sure he will be looking to build on this.

Being honest i don't know much about his opponent as i have never seen him fight.Looking at his record it does show he has had 7 fights since the start of 2006.Of those 7 fights he has lost all but 2 of them and most of the defeats have came by way of KO.

With McEwans impressive KO record already i do think he should dispose of this opponent quite easy and stretch his record to 11 and 0.After this fight i understand Craig is returning back to Edinburgh for a while.

Also recently it was announced that fellow middleweight Gary Young has left Braveheart Promotions.This i understand was due to inactivity and there a rumours that Young will be moving to LA to pursue his career further.

After speaking to Gary he did confirm he was still training in LA .He also did confirm that he was out there for the rest of summer, however he has not made any decisions as to whether he will be moving there permanently .I understand as well there has not been any contact with any promoters or managers.

I do wish both Barry Morrison and Craig McEwan all the best in there prospective fights.

Arthurs Next opponent,Powers to Face Anderson

2008-06-29T16:26:00.003+01:00

Alex Arthur's next opponent is due to be rubber stamped by Sports Network soon.After much deliberation i understand it is going to be Nicky Cook on September the 4th.

After much speculation on potential opponents ranging from the likes of Antonio Barrera(yes you heard right) to Scott Harrison,it would appear it is going to be Dagenham born Nicky Cook.The fight will take place in Manchesters MEN arena where Arthur is to co-headline with Amir Khan (who i hear is going to be fighting Gavin Rees possibly)

Cook,who previously was going to fight against Scott Harrison for his World title will be stepping up from featherweight for this fight.His career up to this date has seen him fight at super featherweight in the earlier part of his career however for most of his career he has campaigned at Featherweight.

At featherweight he has went down a similer route to Arthur;winning the European,British and commonwealth belts.His record also shows 28 wins with one loss.That loss coming to Steven Luevano,when Cook challenged him for the WBO featherweight belt in 2007.

I believe that Cook is quite capable of pushing Arthur however i feel he should have gone with someone in the WBO top 5 .Instead he will have a featherweight moving up to make the fight.Its also worth noting that Cook's father is also the trainer of Kevin Mitchell,another potential opponent for Arthur.

As prev written ,Edinburgh boxer Kenny Anderson is fighting in Aston Villa sports centre in Birmingham next month.The opponent scheduled was Nathan King who has now pulled out.Kenny Anderson now tells me he is now going to be fighting Aliyety powers.

He also advises me that he is going to be sparring with Tony Bellew in advance of this fight .

Kevin Anderson on comeback trail,Appleby to Headline and Arthur to co-headline!

2008-06-23T21:08:00.005+01:00

Starting with East coast there seems to be lot more happening over that side at the moment.In the kingdom of Fife it would appear plans are afoot for former British and Commonwealth champion Kevin Anderson to make his comeback fight.

His manager Tommy Gilmore recently announced he was planning to stage a card at the Kirkcaldy Ice rink in October.The card is to feature South Queensferry's Paul Appleby as the headliner,where he would be either defending his Lonsdale belt or challenging for the European belt.No opponents have been announced however mandatory challenger for the British title is Paul Lynsey.The European belt which is currently vacant is being decided on July 8th, where Oleg Yefimovich will fight Spain's Sergio Blanco.

I would also expect local fighter and Celtic champion Stevie Mcguire Jnr to be fighting on the undercard however i do understand there is the possibility of a British title fight/elimanator with Cwymbrn boxer Nathan Cleverly.Whether this fight would be on the undercard i find that hard to believe.

Edinburgh Super Middleweight Kenny Anderson is now confirmed to be fighting on July 19th in Birmingham's Aston Villa sports centre.He is fighting on the undercard of the Enzo Macranelli comeback fight.His opponent is experienced Welshman Nathan King,the fight also should be over 8 rounds.this would be his first scheduled eight rounder and will hopefully take him towards his personal ambition of a British title shot.This is a rescheduled fight from last months cancelled Glasgow SECC card.

Also Frank Warren came out and said he was looking for a joint headlining fight with Amir Khan and Edinburgh's Alex Arthur.The provisional date seems to be Sept the 6th.No venue was mentioned however i couldn't see any joint headlining event being held in Edinburgh due to the fact that there is no venue big enough to cope with Amir Khans fans.

Braveheart promotions are rumoured to be doing two events over the next couple of months;One in Paisley in July, and Glasgow at the end of august.I think the Paisley figth may be used as warm up for Paisley postman Kevin McIntyre where as the Glasgow event would be the rescheduled Limond/Earl fight.Given the volume of talent they should have enough to cover both cards.

Bouncing Back:Exclusive Interview with Barry 'The bizness' Morrison

2008-06-18T20:59:00.010+01:00

On the 4Th of July in America they will celebrating several hundred years Independence from the British empire .Closer to home a Motherwell light welterweight attempts to become a 2 time British champion,an achievement with its own merits.

At the age of 28 Barry Morrison is looking to regain a title lost last year to Englishman Colin Lynes.The second defeat in his career,this was the first defence of his title he previously had won against Lenny Dawes and he was defending it in his home town of Motherwell.

On the effect of that defeat Barry explained "I felt terrible,I was so gutted.To put all that effort in and not to turn up on the night.Taking nothing away from Colin (Lynes)he maybe could have beat me if i turned up,but that wasn't me on the night.To put all that effort in with training and diet for that come out at the end of it was sickening

Since that defeat he has bounced back with 2 victories which has led to him being given the chance to fight again for the Londsdale belt.Like the first time he fought for the belt, he is fighting away from Scotland and this time he is fighting at the Everton Park sports centre.The opponent is the experienced David Barnes.Barnes is a two time British champion with one loss coming in June 2005 when contesting the Commonwealth championship.

When i asked him how he felt about fighting away in Liverpool as the challenger he said " It will be great,i like fighting away from home.When your fighting people at home you have to chase people for tickets,you have that added pressure of fighting in your home town.I won the title down in London.That was great,i like being away from home!"

Even though he is fighting away he is expecting a decent travelling support "There is a 52 seater from the scheme where I come from and there is a minibus leaving from the boxing club i train at aswell.There is plenty fans there"

Barry also mentions that Lynes is the second southpaw he has ever fought.I asked him if he had changed anything in his training for this "Apart from sparring partners not really;Just doing the same thing.Obviously you have got to be aware to keeping on his outside, instead of walking on to his shot,but every sparring partner I'm using has been a southpaw.A bit of an eye opener for me!"

He further added "Training is going great.Probably the best training camp i have ever had for a fight;my minds been on it and my weight has been good.It is just time to get in the ring now"

The person who puts him through his paces is Archie Mckay " I have been with him all my career.i have been with him since i was 8 year old.He has obviously been a big influence"

Should he be successful on the Sky Sports covered card,he made it clear that he would like to have a rematch with Colin Lynes "I would like to fight Colin Lynes again.He gave up the belt and i still see him as the British Champion even though one of us is going to hold it after that"

"I know everyone is going to look after my last fight with him and think that is a daft thing.But i want to put that to bed.I want to show everybody that wasn't me on the night.Don't get me wrong he still beat me, but that is the way i would like to do it"

Looking through Barry's record he boasts 16 wins with 2 losses.On the fighters he has been in the ring with he mentions the one fight that left a lasting impression on him " Colin Lynes definitely.It took a lot to be in there with a guy who had went the distance with Junior Witter ,he then went on to fight the European champion (Gianluca) Branco.Branco has only lost to Arturo Gatti and Miguel Cotto,but that shows you there is not a big difference between British level and the big names.You look up to them but if you knuckle down and do your stuff your not that far away"

On his biggest influence's is he candidly remarks " My biggest influence was wanting to get out of the scheme i grew up in.Not wanting to be one of the daft boys hanging around on corners drinking Buckfast!That has been the biggest drive in my career.But Person wise, it would have to to be my brother Kevin.I followed him to the gym and he boxed for Scotland (at amateur level) and was the Western district champion"

Finally when i asked where he sees himself in 5 years he advises "Hopefully retired with a Lonsdale belt on my mantelpiece.I'm 28 at the moment so in 5 years id hopefully be retired and have a Commonwealth or a European to go with my Lonsdale belt.Id be happy with that"

Throughout the conversation with Morrison he does come across as a like able character who seems to be quite honest with his career to date,and true to his roots.This is a trait you seldom find in sport these days however it is a good characteristic i feel to have and it can certainly help contribute to a long and successful career.

Caly Boxing thanks 'The Bizness' for the interview and wishes him all the best for the 4th of July where hopefully he will be making fireworks of his own in Liverpool!

Anyone interested in sponsoring Barry Morrison can contact him via email on biz_ness@hotmail.co.uk
David Barnes v Barry Morrison Sky Sports 1 July 4th.

McIntyre left Waiting,Alex Arthurs next opponent and Mcewan to fight Vera!

2008-06-12T19:27:00.007+01:00

"I lost my title on a technicality and not in the ring where titles should be won and lost." -Kevin McIntyre

Today down in Cardiff the BBBoC upheld its decision to strip of Paisley postman Kevin McIntyre of his British Belt.The stewards of the board decided against McIntyre's pleas for them to reinstate him as the champion.

McIntyre was scheduled to defend it on Saturday night in London's monumental York Hall. McIntyre's camp asked for the fight to be delayed due an ongoing back problem that he had.As a result of this the BBBoC decided to strip him of his belt and sanction a fight between already mandatory challenger Kell Brook and Welsh boxer Barrie Jones,for the vacant title.

Even though McIntyre says he 'realistically' didn't expect the decision to be reversed he thought given the hastiness of the decision he would be given the luxury of being then made mandatory challenger, to fight the winner of the Brook/Jones.

So where for the Paisley man now ?In a press release for Bravehart promotions it was revealed that they will lobby the Scottish area council (of the BBBoC) to put further there case as to why McIntyre should at least be installed as the mandatory challenger.

As i have stated before this is farcical, and McIntyre does not have a case to answer.He had sufficient medical evidence to prove his back problem.Given the fact this fight was going to be covered by Setanta i feel there has been a lot of politics involved in this decision (to strip him of his title) with the aim of keeping a 'British title' fight as a main event for TV,regardless of who contesting it.

As for Scotland's world champion Alex Arthur it was revealed we are looking at a September date for his first defence of his newly acquired title.No names have been mentioned however i don't think it will be cockney Kevin Mitchell who put in a good-but-not-as-good as he usually is performance last Saturday.

I feel for this title defence he should be looking to fight someone at least within the WBO top 5.The one name who would certainly produce a good fight for me is Roman Martinez .He currently is undefeated and has 19 wins.He has 11 ko's and is ranked number 3.From the promoters point of view he probably wouldn't command a huge fee.This is the sort of caliber of opponent Arthur should be aiming for in my opinion.Only time will tell ...

and lastly it was announced that Craig McEwan's next fight will be against Mexican boxer Fernando Vera.Vera, a former Texas state champion has recently had victories over Yory Boy Campas and Juan de la Rosa .While these names probably are not recognisable over here, in the states they are very highly rated.So this looks like a step up in class and as always we wish Craig well.

Appleby Wins,Earl Pulls out and Mcintyre Robbed!

2008-06-09T20:45:00.005+01:00

Last Friday night saw history being made at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall.On June 6th South Queenferry's Paul Appleby became the youngest ever Scot to lift the Lonsdale belt.

In a fight which lasted the full twelve round Appleby done enough to win over the judges to be crowned the new British champ.In a fight which lived up to the pre fight expectations Appleby traded with John Simpson for the full 12 rounds.In the fight Simpson did show he had power and experience .I for the first half of the fight had him ahead on my scorecard, however Appleby's power and workrate got the better of Simpson and come the later rounds Applebys determination was manifesting itself in his performance.

Some people are saying that the result was 'controversial' due to Simpson being given a ten count in the 5th.Simpson claims that this was a slip,however there was contact from young Appleby just before that;that to me is a knockdown.

As to where Simpson goes from here i don't know.I don't think he is finished ,and given the media comments about Applebys age ,its easy to forget that Simpson is still only 24.

As to where it goes here for Appleby i would expect either a fight against the mandatory challenger Paul Lynsey or potentially a unification fight against Paul Truscott for the Commonwealth?

Looking ahead to next week it was announced today that the Braveheart promotion's card at the SECC next week has been cancelled.it has been cancelled due to the headliner Graham Earl pulling out due to an injured hand.This possibly will be rescheduled Autumn;I'm sure Limond will be keen to get this rescheduled as this was also going to be a title eliminator for the full IBO belt.

Also fighting on the undercard of that fight was Edinburgh boxer Kenny Anderson.He was penciled in to fight Nathan King over 8 rounds.In a fight that would have given him a step up in opponent it would also take him a step closer to a British title shot.However i do expect Anderson to be in action on July at somepoint.

Lastly it was confirmed over the weekend that Paisley welterweight Kevin Mcintyre has been 'Stripped' of his British belt.The reason given by the the BBBoC is that he is not going to be given a medical extension to defend his belt.It has recently been confirmed that McIntyre is suffering from back pain and has had to postpone his scheduled defence against Kell Brook.

I have heard it his intention to appeal the decision and it is believed he will be installed as the mandatory Challenger to the winner of Kell Brook and new opponent Barrie Jones ,who square off next Saturday.

I do feel for McIntyre and i feel he has been harshly treated by board.The actions of the BBBoC could be understood if he had not defended recently however he has defended it as recently as end of Febuary.

Preview Of Paul Appleby v John Simpson !

2008-06-04T19:08:00.006+01:00

"I don’t know how to lose, and he has lost five times " Paul Appleby

"Paul hasn't fought anywhere near the level of opponent that I have" John Simpson

On a weekend when the boxing media seems to have made there mind up about Welshman's Gary Lockett attempt to dethrone current middleweight dynamo Kelly Pavlick ,i put my attention to bout a bit more closer to home.Also though, a Bout were the stakes couldn't be any higher.

On Friday night we see what some people are saying is the biggest Scottish rivalry since Alex Arthur and Craig Docherty.This is a fight which on paper looks very interesting.You have the current champion John Simpson and unbeaten challenger Paul Appleby.The fight is for the British championship at featherweight,and is being held at the Glasgow's Kelvin Hall.

Coming up to he fight i feel the media coverage has been a bit thin on the ground.With the football season ended and Scotland not involved in the euros i don't see why such a fight,a fight which you could build legacy's on, only recently has been getting column inches and 'valuable' airtime.

Looking at the two fighters they both are at different points in there careers.Simpson has a recent run of 3 wins .His last loss was to Scouser Derry Matthews in 2007,one of 5 in his career.While he has been 12 rounds more than his opponent its worth noticing that 4 of his losses have come over 12 rounds and on points.Some of the loses have been questionable,to some controversial ,but his record does show that he is a fighter who is beatable.His last outing was against Youseff Al Hamidi in Meadowbank in December,where he won on points in an eight rounder.

In the build up to the fight Simpson has proclaimed to the world that he has 'Drastically improved' over recent years.If he is to avenge the losses on his record and show people how much he has improved, i think he should be looking for a convincing,hard win as i feel at this point of his career,with his record it may be hard to win people over.

With this being his 3rd title defence ,should Simpson win he will then gain the coveted Lonsdale belt for his own personal collection.But looking to gatecrash that plan is challenger Paul Appleby ...

Appleby has been very active since turning professional in 2006.He has 11 fights with an impressive 8 knock outs.Unlike Simpson he has never had a scheduled 12 round bout and his last 4 fights have not gone over 6 rounds.His last 2 fights have also been against lightweights with vast more experience than young Appleby however he saw them off both quite convincingly.

Should Paul be the victor come Friday night he has the chance of going into the record books as Scotland's youngest ever British boxing champion.In a recent interview he also admitted he had been working extra hard for this fight by sparring former British champion Barry Morrison and was training 7 days a week.

So come Friday we have two boxers, at different stage's in there career but with the same passion and drive to win the coveted Londsdale belt hoping it will excel them to the big time.For me this has the potential to be the fight of the year;There compromising styles,Simpson's experience mixed with Appleby's power and swagger all add to making a great evening.

The fight is live on Friday Fight night on Sky sports 1 at 9.30.

Exclusive Interview with Paul Appleby !

2008-05-27T11:07:00.016+01:00

Earlier on this week British Title Contender Paul Appleby took time out from his training to speak to me about his upcoming fight With John Simpson.Appleby ,20 from South Queensferry,just outside of Edinburgh is hoping to become the first sportsman since Stephen Hendry to win a British Title to come from South Queensferry.

The Fight is scheduled for June the 6th at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall.The fight will be shown nationwide by Sky Sports and will be the first time he has ever headlined.On his first time as the main event "So far people have seen me fight,but people have not seen me Box yet"

With his last couple of fights been screened on Sky this has seen him win an army of fans.The most recent one is Sky pundit and former world champion Glen McRory,who described him has a 'Hot Prospect'.On this praise Paul was glad to hear he is rated so highly by the former champion "Its good to be rated by Glenn McRory as he was a world champion "Also as well Paul has taken up the opportunity of sparring in McRory's gym in Newcastle.

Its hard not to agree with the likes of Mcrory .From eleven fights he boasts 8 ko's,with his last 4 fights being 4 straight TKO's.Given his power and KO rate i asked him if he worked on this in training ,"My power is mostly natural.I do go for it (in the ring)but if it comes it comes"

While Paul recently went to Newcastle to spar last year he took the opportunity to train with world class coach Freddie Roach in LA.An experience he got a lot from "Being there i realised how much i had to train if i want to be a champion.While i was there got to see the likes of Manny Pacquiao train.Freddie Roach is a Brilliant he's trained loads of World Champion's and it was a great experience "

Paul's training nowadays is slightly different due to the experience he has gained from such trips to Newcastle and LA.Paul admits he has to change his training regime for his first 12 round fight "I'm doing a lot more rounds on the bag ,and i am sparring a lot more because it is a 12 rounder.I have also been sparring with former British champion Barry Morrison.I'm also running all time.I used to take a Saturday and Sunday off but I'm running those days as well for this fight;I'm running twice on a Saturday and once on a Sunday.So I'm not taking a day off,ill just keep on training"

So come fight night what type of fight can we expect from him and his opponent? "I'm hoping he is going to underestimate me.He will come in with his hand low,I know ill hit him .The way to beat him is to out box him .He doesn't like people who will out box him " Previous press conferences have come out with headlines claiming its going to a 'War' something that Appleby doesn't deny "I'm just going to box the head off him for the first few rounds .If i hurt him then I'm going to go in "

As if the incentive of Being the British champion is not enough for him ,should he win he will become the youngest ever Scotsman to hold the Lonsdale belt.Quite excited about the fact he beamed "That would be amazing to be the youngest ever.All the British champion's (who are Scottish) like Alex Arthur,Ken Buchanan,Scott Harrison and Jim Watt .And to think i would be the youngest of them all;I would go down in history for that is amazing"

The venue for the fight will be the kelvin hall.Having fought there previously he is looking forward to the atmosphere on the night "The atmosphere will be good.I have sold two buses and we have both sold lots of tickets.My fans will be singing ,as will his!"

So,he has the incentive,the plans and the training to beat Simpson.If he secures victory on the night where does he see himself going next? "Hopefully defending my belt enough to win it outright.I would love to fight Paul Truscott for the Commonwealth title.He is a good boxer but not very strong" and he also sees himself moving up to super featherweight eventually "Ill move up it ,I'm still making at the moment but ill definitely move up.You grow after you reach 21 !"

He later added about fighting in Edinburgh "If i win i will hopefully be able to fight to in Edinburgh.ill be champion so hopefully i will have the choice"

Paul Appleby's website can be found on http://www.teampaulappleby.com/
Also if you would like to sponser Paul and help him in his career ,please call 07960333907 for further details.

The Fighting Postie With a First Class Future! By Gary Reilly

2008-05-21T20:09:00.009+01:00

This week i manged to catch up (albeit electronically) with Current British Welterweight Champion Kevin McIntyre.McIntyre, who recently announced his second defence of his belt against Englishman Kell Brook spoke quite candidly about his career to date and what the future may hold.

McIntyre,age 30, who recently defended the belt against fellow Scot Kevin Anderson in a rematch At the Kelvin hall said "The second fight was a lot more competitive second time round,properly due to Anderson being a bit more motivated being the challenger and the fact we both knew each others movements "

McIntyre was the underdog the first time around with Anderson,but came out the winner on the evening.On the first fight McIntyre said "A lot of my success in the first fight was catching Anderson coming out of clinches,this was something we worked on more for the second fight but the ref didn't really let us work it out as he was braking us up very quick" McIntyre later adds about his training for the second fight "My training was pretty much the same only longer, and not having to train round my work was a big help. In the morning i got a lot more time to work on my body after my runs and also get a proper stretch"

Throughout his career as he has ply ed his trade his fights have taken him all over the Uk .When discussing this McIntyre declares quite modestly "The MEN arena was great apart from the result that night against David Barnes! Hampden Park on the Tyson bill stands out ,but by far the best was the last one at the Kelvin hall .The support i got that night was great.I have always wanted to top a bill there as well"

That fight will be quite a contrast to his next one which will be against mandatory challenger Kell Brook in the York hall in London. Originally scheduled for a supporting slot on May 3rd in Meadowbank,the fight has been moved to a headlining slot on June 14Th.This will also be covered by Setanta Sports .Brook goes into this fight with 16 wins out of 16 contents. However that impressive record does not seem to phase McIntyre "Kell Brook of what i have saw has every punch in the book,pretty flashy and clever.He has yet to fight beyond 6 rounds so we will see how he copes with that! I don't read too much into the record though as he has been pretty much looked after when it comes to match making" .

He later added on his own ambitious plans "As of now its all about beating Kell Brook and if all goes to plan it could set up some tasty fights. I would love to add the Commonwealth belt which Craig Watson holds that just now so he would be!,but the one that stands out for me is Mick Jennings, if I keep winning and he keeps winning it will be the fight every one will want to see to prove who's the top man in the Welterweight!" and on his long term plans he adds "I would love by the end of the year to have the Lonsdale belt for keeps and be in line for a crack at the European title"

On the management side of things McIntyre recently has switched his management to Glasgow based Bravehart promotions.A decision that he thinks was a good one "They are defantly are the future of Scottish boxing, there set up and management team is out of this world and i think its only a matter of time till the TV companies take notice of there shows" Bravehart also run there own shows.There most recent one is on June 14Th (at the SECC) and he intends to fight at future shows,a thought which he is clearly excited about "Yes i cant wait to fight on a Braveheart show and it should happen before the end of the year"

In his career McIntyre has lost a total of 5 out of 28 fights .His last loss was to Gary Reid in 2006.On that loss Mcintyre admits he gained valuable experience "I learnt that fights are won and lost in the gym! You cant cut corners or go in the ring with your mind being elsewhere .I also learnt that getting your weight down as far as you can doesn't all ways give you an edge!" He further added about the role of the trainer "My trainer Colin Belshaw and i had some really deep conversations when I was thinking of packing it in but he stood by me and got me believing in myself again.So big credit must go to him".

Kevin's offcial website can be found on http://www.kevinmcintyre.co.uk/

Scotlands new world Champion

2008-05-17T20:53:00.009+01:00

"I believe he will be a long-term world champion" - Frank Warren

Last week Scotland gained its ninth boxing world champion."Amazing " Alex Arthur gained the world championship without having to throw a punch.This came around as the then champion, Joan Guzman decided to move up to lightweight.As a result Arthur was then confirmed the full WBO super featherweight champion by the sanctioning body.

While it's great that Scotland has finally got another world champion questions are being asked as to weather Arthur deserves this.The answer to that is a resounding yes.He has put himself into the position where he was the 'interim' Challenger through fighting the fighters he had to fight to achieve that,and working his way through the rankings.The last fighter to achieve a world title this was Welsh cruiserweight Enzo Macranellie.

In becoming Edinburgh's first World champion for 30 years Arthur really has to make his mark now on the division .Now the days of fighting domestic class or 'intercontinental' class fighters should be behind him and Arthur should be looking to make the most of all his fights.

With no date for a first defence booked yet there should be something announced soon,however i am hearing it possibly may not be till closer to the end of the year.Frank Warren in his column today said he is interested in putting Londoner Kevin Mitchell in with Arthur for his first defense.This would be a great first defense and i think it would be good start for his title rein,as Mitchell is the best prospect in super featherweight at the moment after Arthur.This mixed in with the fact that there would be an English/Scottish angle to this fight ,it certainly would sell itself.

Arthur has talked in the media about how he wants to be a two weight world champion.I think first he should first try focus on this division.The only way he will convince doubters of his credibility (as world champion) is to make meaningful defences with worthwhile,credible displays against world class opponents .This would certainly help in the long term and win new fans over as well.The world is his oyster,and the world awaits.

Moving to heavyweight the BBBoC has put out the purse for a fight between Hamilton Heavyweight Ian Milarvie and recent 'prizefighter' winner Martin Rogan.This fight is for the vacant Celtic title.With no date or venue for this fight yet announced,i think this could be a decent contest.In a division at the moment which is not oozing of obvious talent i feel this fight is a great opportunity for Milarvie to show how serious he is for a British title shot.By winning this fight this would put him in serious position to achieve this.I cant see this happening until at least late July/early August as Rogan is fighting in Dublin on July 5th.

Lastly the Bravehart promotion's card in the SECC on June the 14th is fast approaching and i have had notification that Kenny Anderson,Kris Carslaw,Stephen Russell and Kris Hughes are all fighting that night,however against unnamed opposition at the moment.Also fighting on the bill are Gary Young and Jason Hastie.Both these fighters have been in Los Angelas taking up training in Freddie Roach's wildcard gym in preparation for there respective fights.

Scottish Boxing update

2008-05-13T08:17:00.007+01:00

All in all, its pretty quiet in the world of Scottish boxing.with the previous talk of title fights for Paul Appelby,Alex Arthur and Willie Limond there seems to be not much coming out .

The title fight between Kevin McIntyre and Kell Brook has been moved from the under card of Arthur/Guzman to the york hall in London on the 14/06/08.This has been moved due to the 'cancellation' of the Guzman fight .With no rescheduled date being announced it is a shame we are losing this title fight to London.His opponent Brook ,is undefeated in 16 outings and has 9 ko's.He is a strong contender going into this fight and on paper it looks a good domestic outing for both fighters.

With no date announced for the Guzman fight yet it still seems to remain if the fight is still to go ahead?With a total media silence form his promoters i am of the opinion all is not well,i do hope i am wrong with this .

As previously written Craig Mcewan is making his UK debut on the under card of Ricky Hatton's next fight.His opponent is the very experienced Juan Carlos Sanchez .This should be good exposure for Craig who has previously touched on about the lack of coverage he gets over here.In his corner for this fight he will have his regular coach of Freddie Roach and also his dad Rab Mcewan, who guided him through his early years as an amateur.

This should be a good fight for Craig and the perfect opportunity for him to showcase his talent .With previous experience against Mexicans this should help him win this fight and keep up his record.

The under card for the Appelby/Simpson fight has been announced.It features quite a lot of fighters from the west coast and includes former British Champion Barry Morrison and Ricky Burns as Chief support.Also fighting are David Savage,Ryan Brawley and Yanko Pavlov.The Sky sports televised bout is on the 6th of June.

Also today it has been announced that former Olympic contender and commonwealth participant Stephen Simmons is to go professional later in the year.Im sure with his fantastic record at amateur there will be a lot of interest in Stephen from prospective promoters.

Scottish Boxing update

2008-05-06T13:47:00.003+01:00

Last week it was announced that Glasgow's Willie Limond would be defending his ibo intercontinental strap against Graham Earl.

The fight is to take place on June 14th at the secc.This fight is part of an evenings boxing which will include Kenny Anderson,Kris Carslaw,Jason Hastie to name a few.This is the second event in a 3 fight deal between the secc and Brave hart promotions,who also announced a sportsman's dinner that will feature Mike Tyson.

The main event itself should be a good one .with earl wanting to prove he still has petrol left in the engine after a recent annihilation by Amir Khan .Before that he lost to Michael Katsidis,and was retired in the 5th round.Earl's other loss came against coatbridge's Ricky Burns in 2005.

This should be another good nights boxing from Bravehart who have talked prev about putting Limond in for the full ibo world title before the end of the year .I would assume if he sorts Earl out quite easily it would maybe follow sooner rather than later.

Also this Saturday sees Ricky burns fight in Glasgow for the international masters title .I have tried to find details but they are a little bit scarce but good luck to Ricky anyway!

And lastly we draw our attention to the Arthur/Guzman saga.With no concrete date set yet i still here conflicting rumours.One being either the 14/28 at Meadowbank.The other being it may be getting moved to London!

As to why they would want to move it to London i don't know,with Arthur wanting a big crowd i would suspect he wouldn't know either.I do hope that this gets resolved soon though as it is the Scottish fight fans who are getting the raw end of the deal with this !

A tale of Two Saga's : Harrison and Arthur

2008-04-28T08:15:00.004+01:00

Here we go again .Ill start With Harrison.

As previously reported on this site Harrison is trying to get back into boxing .He has cleaned his act up and faced the demons previously that brought him down.He has faced most of his court dates (pending a few in Spain) and has passed every blood sample ,drugs test provided with him.Now there seems to be another problem with them giving him licence back.

In the press it appears Harrison is wanting to sue the BBBOC.I have to comment that if they are digging there heals for a particular reason they have not made Harrison aware of this .Out of courtesy they should just tell him really.

I am surprised with the BBBOC actions here ;not with the fact they made Harrison prove that he is clean ,but with the way that have handald the part of the process for giving him ( or not as the case may be) his liceance back.I think the BBBOC do a good job in running of boxing day to day but i think that they have made a grave error in the way they have handeld this .

As a result of this Harrison has now missed a possible comeback fight on the under card of the Arthur/Guzman fight.But reading over the weekend it appears that Harrison has been in further trouble which led to him having surgery on his arm on Sunday morning.

This is not the only story which has made waves in Scottish boxing .It was also announced that the much anticipated fight between Alex Arthur and Joan Guzman is to be delayed .This is due to the fact that Guzman does not have Visa.This has since been amended and he does now have one ,but because he didn't orig have one it has delayed the fight (try and keep up) and no longer will be on the may 5th.There is no official date for this but i have heard that it will be towards the end on June.

Another rumour flying about the Internet is that this is stalling tactics by Guzman's management as he is struggling to make the weight .By doing this it would guarantee him some extra time .

This is another blotch on this fight after it seemed to take ages to actually get an orig date for the fight .With tickets selling quite well for it i do hope that the two fighters get down to it .Also coupled with a cracking under card it should be a good night of boxing.

In other news it appears now that Craig Mcewan is now to feature on the next Ricky Hatton fight under card.Making his UK debut it will be good exposure for the Edinburgh born fighter .I hope he gets a good match up to show the Manchester fight fans what he can do

Viva las Vegas

2008-04-14T12:53:00.002+01:00

just a note to say i will be away in las Vegas for the next week anda bit.I'm going for the calzaghe/Hopkins fight.i wont be doing any blogs but will do one when i get back.

cheers

Gary

Exclusive interview With Craig Mcewan

2008-04-10T13:53:00.009+01:00

Earlier this week i was granted access to interview Scottish Middleweight Craig Mcewan.Currently residing in Hollywood Some see him as one of the brightest prospects Scotland Has produced since Scott Harrison.

After a glittering 13 year amateur career where he stacked up loads of accolades ranging Scottish championships to European championships.Guiding him through his career was his father and clovenstone gym owner Rab Mcewan.As an amateur his profile was raised when he won a Bronze medal in the Commonwealth games in 2002. .After this he continued at amatuer till 2005 when He turned professional.

What makes Craig different from any other Scottish pro out there is the fact that when he turned pro, he packed his bags and left for Hollywood.Since turning pro Craig has been the only the second British boxer ever to be signed by 'Golden Boy' promotions,at golden boy his boss (and major owner) is none other than Oscar De La Hoya.Goldon boy who recently just signed up Ricky Hatton, over the last few years have moved to become one of the biggest boxing promoters in the world.

For his training ,Craig can count on one of the most celebrated trainers in the world in his corner.Since going to the states he has trained at the 'Wildcard' gym in LA.The gym is owned and operated by Freddie Roach.While there Mcewan rub's shoulders with the likes of Bernard Hopkins and featherweight king Manny Pacquiao.

With all this experience behind him it is no surprise that Mcewan has made a blistering start to his pro careeer.With a current record of 10 wins,nil defeats and 6 ko's it seems no surprise he certinly is making a name for himself stateside.

Here is the interview :

CB-what do you think your biggest amateur achievment?
CM-It would have to be representing Scotland in the Commonwealth games twice.Also getting the medal in one of them in Manchester.I got the bronze and was pipped by one point by Paul Smith.But that was long time ago.

CB-Would you contribute your amateur success to your father (Rab Mcewan) and trainer ?
CM-Yeagh in the early days definetly.He taught me a lot as a youth going into international (tournaments)but yes i owe him a lot.

CB-Did your amatuer career help set you up for the professional ranks?
CM-The experience did.The international's are hard competitions .John Mckay (scottish national coach) You have got give him credit .He took us to the right tournaments at the right time.He knew what tournament was right for each individual boxer.I have won a lot of medal's internationaly so i give it to that.The experience of boxing all round the world .Its a tough game!

CB-Since you have turned professional you have been trained by Freddie Roach,Can you tell us how that came about?
CM-I was on holiday with my fiancee in 2005.I was training with a trainer called Terry McOrmack (prev worked with Alex Arthur) who recommeneded we go over there .At the time I was lottery funded and i was sparring with Kenny Anderson,Steven Simmons at the time.We were really getting used to each other and i decided that Ineeded to further my sparring by either going down south or to America.The lottery people said they would fund me wereever i go .So we went to America we bumped in to Freddie and we just kicked it off.I was sparring with Kenny Dikiki (sp?) and a young Olympian called Vanis (an American olympian).I was hanging in there and he liked what he had seen.He wanted me to stay but i had commitments so i couldent just up and go.We then decided to go back in 2006 and he asked 'who manges you?' and i said 'nobody'.He then offered to mange me.

CB-Your promoted by Oscar de Hoya,how did that come about?
CM-Through Freddie,He was in the running to train him after his fall out with Roger Mayweather.So told Oscar my history and my experience and i didnt think anything of it.we also went to Top rank aswell.But Freddie said wait for Golden Boy.They came in with an offer for me,and Freddie.They also wanted Manny Pacqio at the same time.So it was a good time for me.Since being with them they have been really good to me and they have matched me up properly.They know how to raise a fighter.

CB-Who would you say your toughest opponent was?
CM-Well i have fought really tough mexican's.I have really thought a few of them .But my last opponent ,which was on Spanish TV .He was an ex-Mexican champion.His name was Erik Esquivel.He was really tough,he kept coming.I would say him .I was hitting him with a good few shots and he wouldn't budge!

CB With the boxers you have trained with at Wildcard who have you learnt the most from ?
CM I would have to say again Bernard Hopkins.The last 6 weeks I've been sparring with him before coming him it has been tremendious.It was a bit of intimidating at first but he made me feel welcome.when we were sparring ilearnt a lot from him.Hes very difficult,very slippy.

CB With regards to your Debut in the MGM grand ,How did you feel?
CM I was terrified!I was absolutly terrified.I turned pro in the August and my first fight was on september 16th on the undercard of Berrera/Juarez 2.When they told me where it was i was amazed;guys like Joe Calzaghe,Ricky Hatton its there dream to fight in Vegas and i was making my debut there.It was like wow!Going into the ring i was terrfied!The fight didnt last long.It was my first fight and Golden Boy didn't see me box.This was a test,Freddie hadn't seen the opponent before but he said just go in there and do what we have done in the gym.It was all nerves i just let go and the referee jumped in!

CB-So you ever think you will fight in Scotland?
CM-I hope so .

CB- Do you think your career would be different if you stayed in the UK?
CM-It would be very slow.I don't think i would get pushed as much as i am with Golden boy.

CB-You mentioned previously you would love to win a world title in the USA,what is your timeline you have given yourself?
CM My pal went into the bookies and put a bet on for me to win the world championship in 2009.They have me down as 12/1.So that is all right! I spoke to Oscar and Freddie and they said 'You've got world champion quality and we just need to tweek it a wee bit in the gym with Freddie' But getting the right opponent and being 15-0 and getting an opponent in the top 10 like Peter Manfredo and even Jeff Lacy would push my profile. And then i would start fighting guys in the top ten.I would like to win a world title first before a British or European title.Im quite lucky im still a European fighter, so i have that option but that doesn't really interest me.i started there so i would like to win the title and then come over the pond.

CB Hopkins compared you to calzaghe with your style,would you agree with that?
CM In ways yeagh,i throw punches from all angle's and my footwork and things.I know where hes coming from and i try my best to be Joe Calzaghe in sparring to help him.

CB Giving how successful you have been so far in America do you think the Scottish
media could give you more exposure?
CM I think so yeagh.I have asked for sponsorship from Irn Bru ,whisky companies just to try and promote Scotland in a way.I noticed recently we had Tartan Day in New York. ,we could do something like that.Im not into this 'look at Craig Mcewan' but I'm working hard .we've pitched things to the sun and the daily record but there not interested.

Scottish boxing update : Appelby/Simpson date change,Next opponent for Mcewan announced

2008-04-07T18:29:00.007+01:00

Over the last week it was announced that the all Scottish featherweight clash between Paul Appelby and John Simpson has been put back to june 6th.No reason has been given as to why the date has been moved but rumours have been circulating on certain boxing forums that simpson has not even started training.

The venue itself is still undecided however it was set to be in the former steel town of Motherwell .The only venue in Motherwell it could be is the Civic Centre.This venue has been used previously for numerous boxing matches with the likes of Barry Morrison and Kevin Anderson headlining there.This as usual is worth noting is subject to change.

Also in the prev week aAppelby gave an interview with Andrew Wake.In quite a broad interview Appelby sets out his plans to dominate the division by going for Eurpoean,British and Commonwealth honours.He also discusses his sparring with Alex Arthur and his rise from amatuer to paid ranks .

Not one for posting links to other sites i think this is a good interview which can be found here

http://www.livefight.com/news.php

Moving acorss several time zones,and a continent we move to former commonwealth gold medalist Craig Mcewan.Craig who is based in hollywood and is trained by coach Freddie Roach. Mcewan over the past few weeks has been providing chief sparring to Bernard 'ill never lose to a whiteboy' Hopkins in recent month's. As the pic below shows he certianly has been enjoying himself:

As a result of this he has earned himself a supporting slot on his boss and promoter Oscar de la Hoyas next fight against Steve Forbes on may the 3rd.He is currently scheduled to fight Dave Forbes over 8 rounds.

Having being compared to Joe Calzaghe in his style It is a shame he is not getting the chance to fight on the undercard.This would have been a good chance to get some well earned exposure to the uk based fight fans in attendence and the viewers at home.

Also worth mentioning aswell is Steven Simmons who tonight is forgeing to become Scotlands first amateur boxer to represent UK in the Olympics at Heavyweight.He starts with a fight against Petrisor Gananau .Having previously fought in Sept 07 this fight saw Petrisor Gananau coming outon top.Good luck Steven.

May 3rd looking to be a good night!

2008-04-01T20:24:00.002+01:00

"This is my biggest fight as a pro and as a champion" Alex Arthur

On may 3rd ,Edinburgh hosts its biggest fight in decades.As you previously had read Alex Arthur takes on Joan Guzman.In a fight which certain sections of the media have already written the Edinburgh fighter off,this is the main event.

Noticeably there is a lot of quotes being dashed about the media from Arthur in the run up to the fights.From there Guzman camp there seems to be very little in the way of pr for this fight.Amid rumours that he wont even turn up for the fight (similer thing happened when was to fight Scott Harrison) this could help ticket sales if there was a better dialogue form both camps instead of the challenger.

Recently Arthur has revealed that he is to fly to Las Vegas.Flying out on Wednesday he intends to step up his training , by training with former world bantamweight world champion Wayne McCullough.While there he will get the opportunity to spar with boxers who have the same style as Guzman.As always we wish Arthur all the best.

Details regarding the under card are still a little bit sketchy.The only real person confirmed is Edinburgh middleweight Kenny Anderson who is going up against Ayitey Power .Using this fight as a stepping stone to a British title eliminator ,he will use this as stepping stone to better things.

Also rumoured to be fighting is Gilmerton featherweight Jason Hastie.Fresh from his win at the weekend he was quoted in the press recently saying that he has been promised a spot by his manager Barry Hughes.

Also in other news it was announced the Fauldhouse Welterweight Colin McNeil has retired.I wish him all the best in what is a very Early finish to a career.

Preview of Bravehart Promotions show at SECC on 29/03/08 !

2008-03-26T18:55:00.004Z

This Saturday sees former commonwealth champion Willie Limond step back into the ring.In his first fight since unconvincingly being turned over by the current ITV golden boy Amir Khan.This fight is for the IBO intercontinental belt.

The comeback fight is at lightweight and is against his friend and former stablemate Martin Watson.While claiming he wants a rematch against Khan this fight is a good way to get back into winning ways.With only 2 losses on his record going into this fight he has been given the opportunity to make history in the sense of headlining the first fight at the SECC since Prince Naseem since fought Said Lawel in 96.

I cant see him losing Martin Watson who has a more limited record with 4 losses on his record and more recently his last 2 fights are straight losses.Also further looking at his record he has only fought once in the last 18 months .These factors could contribute to the fact that he could be ring rusty on the night.

This fight should be a good way to bring Limond back into winning ways but i don't think it will be classic.

The chief support comes in the way of an east coast fighter by the name of Kenny Anderson.Anderson a commonwealth gold medalist in 2006 and goes into this fight with an excellent 5 wins all by the way of ko.
Previously Anderson has been training with Freddie Roach and is making a name for himself in the division with his excellent record.This fight was originally scheduled to fight against an unnamed Ghanaian however this has been changed to a fighter called Dean Walker.The two fighters met last year with the latter giving Anderson a nasty cut above the eye .This was quite deep and took a long time to heal and made Anderson miss potential fight's.If that is not an incetive to continue his ko record there is also a promise from his manager and promoter Barry Hughes of a fight against highly rated Ayitey Power .These factors mixed in with the fact that Anderson has disposed of Walker before i should see him continue his excellent record and strtch his record to six an 0.

Recently added to the bill is Michael Gomez.This may seem a bit of a surprise but Gomez was due to fight Aberdeen's Lee Mcallister in Aberdeen that nightDue to Lee deciding he wanted to go up a weight Gomez was offerd the chance to fight on this card instead.It is also worth noting that Gomez has been sparring with main eventer Limond.His opposition for this fight is one time Khan victim Baz Carey.With Gomez's track record in Scotland in a love/hate relationship with Scottish boxing fans it will be good to see the 'Manchester Mexican' fighting in Scotland again.Recently he has seen a few losses in his fights but over 6 rounds he should edge it,comfortably.

Also worth mentioning is Kris Craslow ;I saw him last year fighting and while he gave a solid performance i could see great potential .In addition Edinburgh newbie Jason Hastie is fighting over 4 rounds.He will be looking to impress with a potential under card slot on the Guzman/Arthur up for grabs.His fight is as Featherweight.

This is subject to change .Anyone looking for tickets can get them form 0870 040 4000 or on the web on www.SECCtickets.com. Please bear in mind there is no TV coverage so the only way you would be able to see this would to be there!

The on going saga of sott harrison getting his liceance back ...

2008-03-22T08:03:00.002Z

I just hope Scott can stay focused because he has been working hard-Frank Warren

Never one for making things easier for himself the Scott Harrison comeback rolls on .Bigger than Hattons recently announced comeback ,in the sense of the formalities involved getting him back in the ring.

This week Harrison's application for a pro licence was due to be considered by the bbboc.This already been put back due to the many court appearances Harrison.When it came to it the bbboc claim They don't have the 'additional paperwork ' they need to process the application.I don't know what the addtional paperwork is but i can only assume it may be doctors and psychological reports .Giving his recent troubles this would have to be expected as a boxers safety has to be paramount.

In reply to this Frank warren,his promoter claims this has been sent.In the press Simon Block claims that the 'Ball is in Mr Harrison's court'.In response to this Frank Warren also claimed that Harrison's solicitor has sent a 'strongly worded letter' to the BBBOC .

While this goes back and forward lets not forget that we have an extremely talented boxer who just wants to fight.We have a boxer who has made no secret that he wants to get a world title back round his waist.In a country with a population of no more than 5 million ,we don't have an abundance of legitimate world champions so for that sake i do hope we get this sorted sooner rather than later.

Arthur V guzman confirmed for the 03/05 at meadowbank!

2008-03-18T16:47:00.002Z

"With my fans behind me I know I can beat Guzman and prove that I belong at world level" Alex Arthur

Following much media speculation it has been confirmed that the biggest fight to happen in scotland in years is going to happen on the 03/05/08 at meadowbank.confirmed this afternoon of frankwarrans website this is a big coup for edinburgh and scotland to have a talent as big as guzman come over here to defend his title.

With a higher quality of opponent than he has ever faced hopefully this should ensure a full house at meadowbank .The cheapest ticket on sale is £40 ,this was the same price as his last opponet Foster Jnr.

I will write a more fuller report on this however ifelt it was my duty to make people aware as none of the scottish media seem to have botherd there arse to report anything yet!

Ricky Hatton sells 45'000 tickets for 'Homecoming' fight

2008-03-17T07:55:00.004Z

With a capacity for this fight being 55000 that is not bad going.In his first fight since losing to Mayweather last December he is having a 'Homecoming' fight against Juan Lazcano.In making this fight accessible to his fans Hatton has kept the fight tickets quite reasonable.The cheapest tickets coming in at £30 and doing a family ticket for £100 (2 adults and 2 kids).This is good for boxing in the sense it encourages a new generation of boxing fans to attend the fight.The venue itself has never been used for boxing and with its sleek layout it should be good night for all inlvoed.I think its only a matter of time before this sells out.His father and business manager is also promising a few world title fights as support.
After all the hype of his last fight and defeat died down Hatton promised at least 4/5 or more fights left.With him giving himself quite a tight 'best before' date i was expecting him to be fighting the best available to him.When this fight was being arranged there was a lot of press about a fight against Junior Witter.Now witter was quite verbal,even offering to give up his right to the majority of any purse in a potential fight .He would also have given him the chance to fight for the WBC version of the championship.With all these factors Hatton still refused to fight saying he didn't want to 'give him a payday'.I think Hatton is letting his personal feelings getting in the way of a potential good fight.

Could you imagine if they did fight and Hatton won.I'm sure people would be talking about more than a win over Juan Lazcano.Looking through Lazcano's history he doesn't have a bad record .He has 4 losses on his card.The last one came last year to Vivian Harris.This was the last time he fought and may be ring rusty on the day.Also it is worth noting that Vivian Harris was beaten last year by none other than Junior Witter.

The rising star of Scottish boxing :Paul Appelby ...

2008-03-14T08:33:00.004Z

"Simpson will be tough but so will my body punching"-Paul Appelby

Unless you have had your head buried in the sand you may not have heard about the boxer in the title.With a impressive record of 11 and 0 with eight ko's its very hard to find anyone who is into boxing that has not.Paul who will be 21 this year currently fights at featherweight .Tommy Gilmour (his manager) refferd him to him as the best young prospect in Scotland.Few would disagree wit this.The sentiments were echoed by sky commenter Glenn Macrory.Recently he also has been sparring with Alex Arthur;Arthur uses him as compares his style and ring skill to future opponent ,and current world champion Joan Guzman.

Looking through his record he has fought an array of boxers all over the UK.This is good for a young boxer as it helps the get used to fighting away,which may help in the later part of there career.In addition it also gives him good exposure to boxing fans in the other parts of the UK.

With all the plaudits it has been confirmed that he will fight against John Simpson for the Lonsdale belt.The fight which is penciled to happen on 15/05/08 at the Motherwell civic centre.It is worth noting that Simpson needs to win this fight to win the belt outright,this adds an extra incentive for Simpson! This fight is scheduled over the usual 12 rounds.Previously Simpson has gone 12 rounds where as the most Appelby has fought is 8.However every time Simpson has gone 12 rounds he has lost on points,as he as 5 losses on his record so it does show while he has more experience he is certainly beatable.

In a recent interview Simpson said his experience would win this match.So what does Appelby bring to this fight?Well first off he has a good support and brings his own 'loyal' support to the fight.While this will add to the atmosphere outside the right and inside the ring we can expect to see a good body puncher.Appelby also has at trademark left hook which is becoming notorious in boxing circles.In his last fight,against Ferenc Szabo he dropped him 3 times in 3 rounds.He also opened up his face as well with a left jab. That gives you a measure of his power.

With a boxer so early in his career there is always going to be things needed to be worked on and one thing which does need to be tweaked is the defence.While this will certainly improve I'm sure his trainer will be aware of this.In the media recently Appelby has stated he will 'step up his training'.Being untested over 12 rounds I'm sure that will take effect in the training as well.

I cant help but get excited for this fight in May.It has the potential to be a contender for the fight of the year and could only be the start for Appelby's career up.

http://www.paulchucklesappleby.com/

Scott Harrison's future to be decided soon (hopefully) ...

2008-03-10T07:54:00.004Z

"I'm just ashamed of my behaviour of the past two years and appearing in the courts time after time"-Scott Harrison

Granted the above quote came form last months court appearance's so it may be out of date,but I'm sure the sentiment is still there.Today he faces sentencing for an assault charge dating back to last year.With his track record and recent history i can only assume that unfortunately, he must be facing some sort of time inside (granted however i don't now the ins and outs of the law).This is along with other outstanding court cases in Spain for assault ;which were that bad he was spending some time inside over there till his manager Barry Hughes came and paid the bond to take him back.

More recently Harrison has been getting himself on the straight and narrow and towards the end of last year was doing public workouts to get the media back on his side.I saw him ringside at the Arthur /foster-junior fight in December and he did look very impressive.He certainly didn't look like someone who had faced the demons he publicly has had to face.

So where do we go from here then ?Well assuming he gets past the case today with some sort of suspended sentence he will face a a BBBoC hearing on the 19Th of march.My understanding of this is 'he has to explain why he he did not make the Nicky Cook fight'.This to me seems stupid as it is well documented as to what Harrison's problems were at the time.This reminds me of a scene in school were the teacher is trying to embarrass a pupil in font of the class.

With the likes of Frank Warren,Ken Buchanan saying he is back in shape and seems to have turned over new leaf i cant see how the BBBoC can not give him his licence to fight again.I would certainly understand if they attached stipulations to the licence for both Harrison's own good and Scottish Boxing.

Then if he gets himself back on track we then have the pleasure of seeing Harrison get himself a world title.He has said he will move up to Super Featherweight if he gets back in the ring.This would set up a mouthwatering fight with Alex Arthur.But before that he could be fighting on either the Bravehart promotions bill at the end of March or the under card of the Arthur /Guzman.

I also think that his current manager Barry Hughes deserves a lot of plaudits .Hughes has put a lot of his own money into getting bail from Harrison out of the Spanish jail.He also has been doing his bit to keep himself on the straight and narrow.

Unification of the year?

2008-03-06T18:56:00.004Z

"He's not here today but I don't want to slag him off or criticize him for not being here because it's not my nature" Enzo Mac

On Sunday morning at 2am two of modern boxing's biggest power punchers go head to head for what some are advertising as the biggest British fight since Eubank/Benn.

That's right Enzo Macranelli and David Haye are on a collision course to unify the WBA,WBO and WBC versions of the title.In what seems to be billed 'as British sporting event' it seems a bit strange that they are fighting at 2am to accommodate the American market.Not very British is it.

In the ever more media present build up to fights i believe the build up to this fight has been pretty tame.I mean pretty tame compared to the build up Calzaghe/Hopkins and may weather/Hatton.These both had personal insults embedded into the script and as the fight approached it seems it gets more personal.This is an approach which has a formula to sell ppv.
However in the initial approach the two boxers seem to be very complementary of each other.Sometimes it was a little uncomfortable for the more accustomed boxing fan to take.

Anyway we got the pre boxing traditions back on track when Haye was late for his press conference Thursday.he was citing reasons of this would affect his sleep pattern ahead of the fight;not the worst excuse i have heard though.

With regards to the fight itself i think it may taper out differently than to what people think they will get.These two are explosive,and in both cases hard hitters.Although it has to be noted David Haye is the harder puncher of the two.I have to give it to Enzo as i think he looks the calmest in his approach to the fight and if iam honest i have seen more of him than David.With regards to Haye he has talk of moving to heavyweight.He said he was ready to do it until this fight came up ,i wonder why he changed his mind so hastily?I think he is making the best out of the situation and he (and Enzo) could do well in the Heavyweight division.Do you think we could be seeing a rematch at Heavyweight for the undisputed heavyweight title?

But credit to Haye he shown in has last fight against Mormec he is a class and yet durable act?how often do you see that in a heavyweight boxer?

My prediction is Enzo in the later rounds.I think he may have a higher work rate than normal and David Haye sounds like hes already defeated already with his approach to the fight in changing his training routine etc.

a worthy note a bout the under card.I think the potential in the Mitchell/Johansen fight at super featherweight is remarkable.With his unbeaten record i have to put it in Mitchell's favour.

Arthur Guzman confirmed for the 26/04

2008-03-04T13:12:00.005Z

According to media reports across the world the long awaited fight between Arthur and Guzman is due to happen on the 26/04/07.With the unlikely venue being meadowbank.

If this is true ,and there is no reason to think it would be with Guzman's agents confirming it.I am amazed by the choice of venue.With both promoter and boxer complaining about the average gate in the venue for prev fights held therer being quite low.The prev talk predicted the smart money was on either Glasgow or London for this fight.

I think they have done the sensible thing here with this in bringing it to a smaller venue as i think there would be the potential for embarrassment with a boxer of Arthur's pedigree fighting in a half sold out arena.Thinking about a fight which potentially could be shown worldwide this would def hit his credibility in the boxing world if he was fighting one of the best at his weight in half empty arena.

On paper this fight has all the makings to go several ways .I hope in his training Arthur can have a 'stable' crew around him as i feel his form has sometime suffered with his ever changing line up of coaches/trainers etc.I also hop he has taken the time to watch the several you tube videos as it shows that the class Guzman is,and he has a lot more to lose than Arthur in the fight

Lee Mcalister and Michael Gomez?is it still on

2008-03-02T20:01:00.005Z

As you may be aware or not aware Michael gomez was challenging in Aberdeen on the 29th of March for the WBU lightweight belt.This fight is the first defence of the title won by mcallister (nicknamed the Aberdeen assassin) last year in Aberdeen.

On Feb 28th a a popular British boxing website has put an article saying that this fight might not happen.The website doesn't seem to have cited any reason as to why he will not be making the fight.There has been nothing in the press about this.There has been nothing released by the champions handlers.

After reading a few forums it has now surfaced that the fight will be at light welterweight for the vacant wbu belt.The choice of opponent is now supposed to be Kpakpo Allotey .So now the fans are faced with a change of opponent and at a different weight.This has still to be confirmed.

I think mcallister should be looking at things a bit closer.This fight has been booked since before the new year which gives the boxer ample time to make the weight.if he is struggling at this weight then why did he opt to take the fight orig the offset?

With regards to the promoters serious questions have to be asked as to the way they have promote the fight.There were rumours of setanta coming on board but i cant find any details on setantas website or on mcallisters.What else have they done to promote this?there is a pic on his website and a paragraph of text about the fight on his whole website.There s also a few a

articles on specific boxing websites but that is it tbh.I haven't seen any interviews in any red tops ,or Scottish broadsheets.I think considering Gomez's history with Scottish fighters this would have been easy to sell to Scottish boxing fans and British boxing fans alike.

While i can appreciate the lenghts it must go to promote a boxer could it be that his promoters were more interested in talking up junior witters potential fight with hatton and the now canceled fight with Demetrius Hopkins.

On reflection i would like to see the ingle promotions take a bit more time with picking the fights and how they promote fights up here.Boxers in Scotland have some of the loyal fans in the UK and there money is as good as anyone else.Regardles of who he fightsi would also like to see mcallister in the future show his fans a little bit more respect by giving them up to date info and keep them posted.In the 21st century ppl can access info in a matter of seconds,when its made available.

Tyson V Holyfield 3

2008-02-29T16:22:00.005Z

This has been rumoured for some time .Now according to media reports they are close to doing it a third time around?

with two names like these it will still gurentee a decent gate and tv/ppv figures but on paer it dosent seem as attractive as first thought: When you consider that Tysons last 6 fights over a five year period he had 2 wins ,3 loses (to a couple of journeyman) and one nc.While you have holyfield who has had 5 losses in the last 5 year spell,with his most recent loss to Sultan Ibragimov .

Put this into the mix that tyson is quite open that he is no longer a lover for the sport and that this fight is only in it for the money.Greed breeds contempt and this is something tyson is never short off.

Holyfield overall is a danger to himself with his 'ill never retire' attitude seen only before in the Rocky movies.This fight should not be sancationed for no other reasons than the potential damage to a the already disregarded heavyweight division.

When will arthur fight get announced??

2008-02-28T20:23:00.001Z

After hearing at the end of january that alex arthur's promoter has wont the bidding for the purse of the prospective fight between him and guzmen,I thought we would have had some sort of confirmation of dates of this fight?

Is there a spanner in the works.Has guzman decided to go upto lightweight and vacate the title?It was suspcious that his promoters didnt even contense the purse for the fight.Now we have hit a wall of scilence regarding this potential fight.

I know mr warren is a busy man with a few big bouts coming up owever i feel that he is selling us scottish figts fans a wee bit short a little bit with this.hopefully this will be resolved soon and we will have a date.

Kelvin hall preview!

2008-02-28T12:23:00.004Z

"The hunger is back and I am ready to get my title back"- Kevin anderson

This friday in a live sky telavised bout we see the main event as amuch anticpated rematch for the British welterweight title.This time the challenger is kevin anderson who is hoping to avenge the defeat by Paisley's kevin anderson .This is a do or die fight for anderson who also last year has lost the commonwealth bealt at the same weight.

To prepare for this anderson has been down in manchester for what he calls 'intensive training'.This should see a possible change in tacticts which clearly in the last fight were a little but under prepaird.

The current champion kevin Mcintyre has been sponserd by his employers trade union.This is a great thing to see and makes a welcome change to see a sponser who is has a personal interest in the boxer.Going into this fight some media is reporting the possibilty of a european title fight.

This fight has all the makings of being a good domestic battle.

On the undercard is a warm up fight for edinburgh born starlet paul appelby.This is the warm up to his already confirmed british title bout later in the year.He already has a clean record and is being talked up very highly by his handelrs.I cant see this fight going the full 8 rounds and Appelby beating Junius Amunyela who to this date has to figt out of namibia.

Also fighting is Gary Mcarthur, and a young boxer by the name of David savage.There is also an appereance by former lonsdale belt holder barry morrison.

With a card full of scottish boxing talent the promoters have to get credit where it is deserved for delivering such a strong card,coverage on sky starts at 9.30 on sky sports 1.