Friday Mailbag

By Ben Carey

This feature was supposed to be The Monday Mailbag but a hectic week at work writing about cement and trailer tracking systems placed this on the backburner. However, I do genuinely appreciate your comments and emails so keep ‘em coming.

Click the link below to read my thoughts on David Barnes, Hatton-Castillo, Froch-Kessler, UKboxingpress and I also respond to a reader’s query concerning my light-heavyweight rankings.

Its great to see David Barnes back. Hope he can re-dedicate himself and get
back to where he was when stopping James Hare.
Martin Dobbing

I agree its good to see Barnes back in action. Providing he comes through unscathed on the Hatton-Castillo undercard he’s in line to meet the winner of tonight’s British light-welterweight duel between Barry Morrison and Colin Lynes. And, no disrespect to Morrison and Lynes, Barnes should have too much in the locker for either of them providing he can make 10st comfortably enough. David can’t afford to look past his next assignment though, as John O’Donnell unfortunately discovered on his US debut last month.Barnes is still only 26 and has time to make an impression domestically and in Europe. His career has been topsy-turvy to say the least. It took a long time for him to convince people that he was a legitimate British champion following the Jimmy Vincent debacle but he really proved the doubters wrong with his destruction of James Hare. Maybe the win flattered Barnes a little considering Hare has faded into the shadows since but it certainly showed what David is capable of producing.

He just needs to be consistent. The loss to Okine was a strange one. He seemed in control but then suddenly fell apart in the fifth and it was all downhill after that. Barnes’ temperament will always be questioned after he went AWOL from the Army and his decision to part company with Frank Warren and Brian Hughes raised eyebrows. But he appears to have rekindled his enthusiasm under Bob Shannon and Dennis Hobson so hopefully he’ll push on from here.

Sad to see the ukboxingpress.co.uk site beached. Keep in touch.
Andy

Thanks Andy. I was sad too but it was the right decision. Hopefully ukfightnews can mirror the success of ukbp in time without the hassle. I’ll be in touch.

Like the site sooty. First time I knew Froch had been made WBC no1 when I looked on your site.
What do you think of Hatton-Castillo??? You just need to get a forum up there now.
Ed Murphy

Cheers Ed. Glad you like it but there’s no chance of a forum appearing here! I was chuffed too upon discovering that the ‘Cobra’ has been installed as the WBC’s no.1. What odds on Froch meeting Kessler before Calzaghe? I’d say pretty good. And if Carl continues to show the explosive punching power he’s delivered of late he has a chance of beating the Great Dane. With regards to Hatton-Castillo I can’t make my mind up yet. I’ve got a nice 3 hour drive at the weekend to celebrate my best mate’s 30th so I’ll give it some thought then. My immediate reaction upon hearing the announcement of the fight was that Castillo would stop Hatton late but now I’m not so sure.

I must admit that my enthusiasm for this fight isn’t what it should be. It’s a fortnight away and I’ve barely given it a second thought. Shame on me or maybe shame on Hatton for wasting two years of his career after beating Kostya Tszyu. Hatton-Castillo should be a super-fight but the reality is both fighters are past their prime and were disappointing in their last fight.

I find Hatton’s decision to switch to Setanta also highly irritating. My SKY bill is £76 a month (the kids have SKY in their bedrooms) and I’m not paying a penny more. Hopefully the BBC will screen the fight on delay as they did with Hatton-Urango. The last flagship British fighter to switch from a high profile broadcaster to a relatively fledgling one was when Lennox Lewis elected to sell the rights to his title defence against Oliver McCall to Wire TV before promptly getting stopped in the second round. An omen, perhaps?

Hope you and the family are enjoying the sabbatical. Shame it turned out the way it did. Hope it hasn’t completely extinguished your desire to write!
DP

I sulked for a week DP and then my family rightly told me off for being defeatist. As you can see I’ve dusted myself down. Thanks for your email and I’m a regular visitor to www.boxingwriter.wordpress.com . Keep up the good work.

How come you can have Paul David at no 8 after his win over Haymer, but no Tony Salem despite him beating David?
Malcolm Davies

Fair point Malcolm and, believe it or not, I did ponder whether to include Salem. However, whilst he did beat David on points it was in a four-rounder. I’m not saying he wouldn’t repeat the trick over 6, 8 or 10 though. If he continues his progress it won’t be long before Salem is breathing down the necks of the leading contenders and he’s only a whisker away from gatecrashing my top 10, too, honest.David’s clear points win over Haymer, a man who had previously beaten Spartacus and Tony Oakey, is worthy of a top 10 berth. I think the Ingle switch-hitter is a threat to anyone in Britain and he also ran Brian Magee close in a six-rounder a few months back. He may have a patchy record but clearly the talent is there. His management just need to give him a little more TLC now.

Ben,
I’ve deliberately steered clear of all of the crap that’s gone on recently, resulting in your decision to close down your website (ukboxingpress.co.uk). As you know many months ago I made a decision to remove myself from all forums as I got more and more frustrated with the crap that was posted, the personal insults, and often the blatant lies, apart from the appalling standard of some posters.

Then when your website started I ended up putting my toe back in the water, and became refreshed as the site had all the hallmarks of quality, genuine debate without the personal insults, but most important of all, not worrying over issues when it happened that my opinion differed from others. As a consequence, I am left bitter that you were left with no alternative than to walk away. That bitterness is not aimed at you, by the way. I just want to wish you all the best for the future and don’t let the bastards grind you down.
Mick

Thanks Mick
Your email is genuinely appreciated and I’d like to thank everyone who supported me through the difficult period when I decided to close the ukboxingpress site. But it’s firmly in the past now and I hope, in time, people will start talking about ukfightnews for the right reasons. As I’ve said earlier I won’t be having a forum here but hopefully the Mailbag feature will take off and will open up some quality debate between us all which I can regulate.

Dean Francis. Good fighter. Hope he gets a decent money shot, surely Light-Heavyweight has to be his future rather thank tackling giants at Cruiser.
DP

Agreed Dave. I think Dean’s future is definitely going to be at light-heavy. His got his old ripped physique back and, touch wood, the shoulder seems to be holding up. Francis is 33 now, but he’s a young 33, and hasn’t been involved in too many wars. I’d like to see him in against the winner of Tony Oakey vs Brian Magee first. And, who knows? Deano may eventually land a world title shot. He’s up to 8 in the WBO’s latest rankings and I don’t think he’d disgrace himself against Clinton Woods either.

Good luck mate!
Sam Doleman

Cheers Sam. Why don’t you get involved?