Tuesday 21 February 2012

David Williams's Welsh Boxing Blog - No. 4

THERE will be some Welsh boxing news later on in this blog but I couldn’t write this article without first commenting on what happened in Germany at the weekend.

I mean, fancy lowly Freiburg holding Bayern Munich to a 0-0 draw. What? Was there something else happening in Deutschland last Saturday?

Of course, there was only one story and that exploded, quite literally, into life in Munich after Dereck Chisora’s unanimous points defeat to Vitali Klitschko in their world heavyweight title clash.

If David Haye did intentionally go into that post-fight press conference with the aim of taking the attention away from Chisora’s brave performance – one that was in complete contrast to his own against Vitali’s brother Wladimir last year – then he managed it.

The fight appears to have been lost in the ether as the fallout of Chisora and Haye’s Bavarian brawl continues to rumble on.

Haye, who had been commentating on the fight earlier that night, should never have been allowed into that press conference by the promoters. He was only ever going to stir things up and use it for his own ends to question the Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente about a rematch with Wladimir.

I’ve been to my fair share of boxing shows and one thing they are never short of is security so why weren’t they prepared? When you’re trying to get to your seat at a boxing venue there are more than enough jobsworths around making moving to ringside seem like a Mission Impossible operation getting into Fort Knox!

Then there is Chisora himself. Why didn’t someone at that top table stop him before or during that walk from the stage to Haye to prevent it kicking off?

There’s no question that Chisora and Haye behaved despicably but I believe it could have been prevented. As for the fate of the two men, Chisora, no stranger to unruly antics in the build-up to the contest and in previous bouts, should be facing a lengthy ban.

And Haye, if he ever does make a comeback, should suffer the same punishment with absolutely no chance of meeting ‘Del Boy’ in the ring further down the line.

Getting back to actual boxing and Newbridge’s European lightweight champion Gavin Rees has had the details of his second title defence confirmed.

The former world champion will fight 33-year-old Frenchman Anthony Mezaache in Clichy la Garenne in the suburbs of Paris on March 23.

Former European king Mezaache’s promoters won the purse bids and their man will face Rees in his own back yard next month live in front of the Sky cameras.

Ultimately, Rees wants another shot at world glory and is currently ranked at 11 by the WBC and 14 by the WBO – winning in France will take him that step closer to fulfilling his dream.

Mezaache is known to British fight fans for dethroning then European champion Jon Thaxton in   2009 and end any lingering hopes the veteran had of challenging for world honours. Mezaache never defended the EBU crown but has won his last three bouts.

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