This one's for you Fran

Just a very quick post (after an absence of nearly 6 months – sincere apologies) to announce my fighter of the year. I know you’d be disappointed if I picked Manny Pacquiao (far too predictable) and astounded if I went for Joe Calzaghe - but no need to worry. I’m going for Bernard Hopkins. Besides giving Pavlik a complete boxing masterclass, he also knocked Calzaghe on his backside, and in my opinion won that fight. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, he hasn't actually lost a fight since Roy Jones (then at his very prime) beat him - and that was over 15 years ago. Even 'officially' he's only lost three extremely close (and very contentious) decisions in that period. Undoubtedly one of the most incredible boxers of this or any other era. And he's still producing fantastic performances at 43. ‘Nuff said.

“42 years of hurt” (and counting)

Which of the following footballing nations is the odd-one out - Uruguay, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, Holland, England, Germany or Spain? Well, following Spain’s deserved triumph at Euro 2008, England are now the only one of these ‘footballing giants’ never to have won a major tournament on foreign soil. In fact, when you examine England’s record, it’s pretty appalling. Aside from '66, they’ve never reached a World Cup final – and they’ve only made it to the semi’s once (1990). Their record in the European Championship (winners of which include Denmark and Greece) is even worse – never a finalist, and they’ve only reached the semis twice (including 1996 when they hosted the tournament). Which perhaps puts into perspective the recent claims made by Premier League Chairman, Sir David Richards, that the number of ‘foreigners’ in the English game has ‘hurt’ the national side. The reality is that, aside from when they’ve had the (considerable) advantage of hosting a tournament, England have rarely performed well – often not even qualifying for the finals. Perhaps, rather than worrying about foreign players (or foreign managers), these high ranking officials might be better served concentrating their efforts on trying to win the right to host one of these tournaments. History suggests that this might be England’s only chance of doing well.

Joe Public

So Joe Calzaghe has suddenly ended his long relationship with promoter Frank Warren. Unfortunately, this suggests that he wants to make a fight with Roy Jones Jr. rather than face middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (which Warren was apparently pushing). Rather than reiterate my views, here is some reaction from posters on the ESPN boxing comment board:

"Calzaghe is a coward. He knows he has no shot vs a fighter as skilled as Pavlik. If he got dropped by a 40 year old Hopkins, then he has no shot vs Pavlik"

"Pavlik is the prime fighter that could really give Calzaghe fits"

"Calzaghe is all hype until he beats a respected young formidable beast"

See, it's not just me...

No Khan Do?

So the big question following his fight at the weekend – is Amir Khan chinny? The evidence so far would seem to suggest that he may well be. Perhaps even more worrying, he also appears to have the British fighter’s disease – a poor defence. One thing is certain – he’s nowhere near ready to face any of the big names in the lightweight division, e.g. Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Joel Casamayor. And, from the evidence so far, he might never be.

Giving up the ghost

A quick reflection on the two big boxing stories this week. First, Floyd Mayweather’s retirement. I was actually glad to hear this news. As I’ve written previously, Floyd appeared to be ducking all genuine contenders (most significantly Miguel Cotto), and was seemingly content to fight people he’d already beaten convincingly in the past (i.e. De La Hoya and Hatton). Although he is, without question, one of the best fighters in the world at the moment, if he’s no longer prepared to take part in truly competitive contests, I’d rather he didn’t fight at all. Of course, his ‘retirement’ may not last forever – but hopefully, if he does return, it will be to face someone like Cotto, rather than simply another easy money making exercise. And fittingly, a day after one of the sport’s biggest stars walked away from the game, Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik confirmed, by destroying the vastly overmatched Gary Lockett, that he has the class to take over Mayweather’s ‘pound-for-pound champion’ mantle. A match up between Pavlik and Calzaghe would be tremendous – unfortunately, I have a feeling Calzaghe won’t take this fight (despite the fight he’d have a significant weight advantage, and would probably start as favourite). Let’s hope he proves me wrong.

The Penney Drops

When I started this blog, I decided that I wouldn’t write about Darlo – a bit too close to the bone. However, our third play-off disappointment in the past twelve years deserves a mention, if only to give me some closure. To be honest, I’d rather lose in a semi-final than a final, and I’m not confident that we are good enough to beat Stockport. Although, obviously, the best team doesn’t always win at Wembley – as witnessed in 2000, when we played Peterborough off the pitch (we were also the better team in the 1996 final). Ironically, the semi-final was a mirror of our whole season - getting in a great position and then blowing (bottling?) it. When Penney took Keltie off at the end of normal time, I had a feeling that would come back to bite us – penalties seemed on the cards, so why substitue a player who had converted one so convincingly during the game? That decision certainly didn’t do anything to alter my opinion of Penney - I still remain unconvinced by him. Hopefully, I’m wrong, and we’ll storm the division next season – but please, no more play-offs.

Change the Rules (No. 2) – The Play-offs

Despite the fact that Darlo may actually benefit this season, I still don’t like the way the play-offs are structured. It’s not that I have a problem with the notion of play-offs per se – on the contrary, I believe that increasing the number of teams who still have ‘something to play for’ towards the end of the regular season is a great idea. I just think it’s wrong that, at the end of a 46 game schedule, league position effectively counts for nothing. Surely teams that just miss out on automatic promotion (and, as we’ve seen in the past, sometimes finish nine or more points ahead of those other teams who make the play-offs) should get some kind of reward for their season-long performance? So, let’s do away with the level playing ground afforded by two-legged semi-finals, and instead have a one-off game, with the team that finished highest having the home advantage. Clubs that finished below them would still have the opportunity to get that final promotion spot - but they would be required to win ‘on the road’ in order to do so. And as for staging the finals at Wembley – complete nonsense. That privilege should go to the finalist who finished highest in the league table. Play-offs are a good idea – but they should not be allowed to over-ride the fact that consistency over a gruelling season is what matters most.