BoxRec

Barney gives up British belt!
By Keith Holland
Newly crowned WBU light-heavy king Matthew Barney has today relinquished his British super-middleweight crown. Barney and his team have opted for a lucrative rematch with the man he dethroned for the WBU belt Tony Oakey. Barney's manager Eugene Maloney told Fightnews "Whilst we hold the British title in the highest esteem, we have to do what is right for Matthew and this opportunity has presented itself and we feel it is the right way to go at this time." Barney hopes to remain at the forefront of the British super-middle rankings and a return to that division is most definitely a future course of action. The Oakey rematch is a possibility for December and the Barney camp are confident they will do an even more convincing job this time. Whilst the first fight was not the most entertaining event, credit must be given to Matthew Barney who took the fight at 48 hours notice and used his now familiar jab and move tactics to frustrate an unbeaten champion and take a split points decision. Barney has always been a good pro and no one can begrudge him a career best pay-day. The venue for the rematch is still to be definitely decided but as Maloney himself said it will definitely not be taking place in Portsmouth following some ugly scenes after Barney's win was announced less than two weeks ago.

Just goes to show how alphabet title have ruined the game, giving up the esteemed British title for the lure of the WBI or whatever it is is a sad state of affairs.

steve689 wrote:Just goes to show how alphabet title have ruined the game, giving up the esteemed British title for the lure of the WBI or whatever it is is a sad state of affairs.

Yeah, money talks I suppose. Barney and Oakey will meet again in Cardiff on December 6 I believe (I'm counting the days) while Dodson will fight for the vacant title in Belfast on November 22. Not sure who he'll meet.

bennie wrote:

steve689 wrote:Just goes to show how alphabet title have ruined the game, giving up the esteemed British title for the lure of the WBI or whatever it is is a sad state of affairs.

Yeah, money talks I suppose. Barney and Oakey will meet again in Cardiff on December 6 I believe (I'm counting the days) while Dodson will fight for the vacant title in Belfast on November 22. Not sure who he'll meet.

Please be Glenn Cateley.

stujones wrote:

bennie wrote:

steve689 wrote:Just goes to show how alphabet title have ruined the game, giving up the esteemed British title for the lure of the WBI or whatever it is is a sad state of affairs.

Yeah, money talks I suppose. Barney and Oakey will meet again in Cardiff on December 6 I believe (I'm counting the days) while Dodson will fight for the vacant title in Belfast on November 22. Not sure who he'll meet.

Please be Glenn Cateley.

Like Bennie I'm not suprised that Barney has dumped his British title for the WBU belt, it's down to money it's as simple as that unfortunately. I'd love to see Glen Catley finally get some good luck but having mixed in European and world class for so long I wonder if Glen will see the British title as being beneath him? Didn't he pull out of an IBO title fight with Brian Magee for those very reasons?

Having said that, I think Catley has lost 4 of his last 5 and is desperate for a win of any significance. He needs a platform with which to build from and the British title would be the perfect starting place. Catley V Dodson would be an intriguing fight, both are such erratic performers. I would tentatively go for Catley but Glen's chin is always such a worry and if Dodson can reproduce his performance against Barbosa he could win.

Just looking at the British rankings, if Catley isn't interested in fighting for domestic honours, we are left with a lad by the name of Carl Froch. Mick Hennessy loves a gamble, Froch isn't as young as other "prospects" and needs to get some momentum going. I wonder if they would be interested in throwing their hat into the ring?

I think Froch is ready to challenge for the British title and is capable of handling the likes of Tony Dodson even at this stage in his career. And, lets face it, if he's not Hennessy knows where he stands.

Looking at possible candidates for the British title box-off with Tony Dodson, brought to the fore how the WBU have really undermined the British and Commonwealth titles in some divisions (as Steve689 has already stated). I mean, look at Takaloo! He's a good fighter and a good puncher. But he lost to Jawaid Khaliq, a future Commonwealth champ at welter and Michael Jones a future Commonwealth champ at light-middle. He then beats Anthony Farnell - not in an eliminator for the British title as it should have been, but in a supposed 'world' title fight (the vacant WBU light-middle title). He then tries to win a WBO title against Daniel Santos and fails, so goes back to the WBU and they offer him another vacant title shot against the brave but hardly formidable Jim Rock. Again, this is a good domestic fight. Nothing more. Certainly not a fight worthy of a 'world' title.
Takaloo was steered down that WBU path because his stablemate Wayne Alexander was British champion at light-middle, but when you think that Takaloo has been calling himself a 'world' champion for beating Anthony Farnell - and then defending it against other British fighters in Scott Dixon and Gary Logan, it makes you realize how little the WBU title is worth. It certainly makes me look at Ricky Hatton in a different light. The WBU title don't mean shit.

bennie wrote:Looking at possible candidates for the British title box-off with Tony Dodson, brought to the fore how the WBU have really undermined the British and Commonwealth titles in some divisions (as Steve689 has already stated). I mean, look at Takaloo! He's a good fighter and a good puncher. But he lost to Jawaid Jhaliq, a future Commonwealth champ at welter and Michael Jones a future Commonwealth champ at light-middle. He then beats Anthony Farnell - not in an eliminator for the British title as it should have been, but in a supposed 'world' title fight (the vacant WBU light-middle title). He then tries to win a WBO title against Daniel Santos and fails, so goes back to the WBU and they offer him another vacant title shot against the brave but hardly formidable Jim Rock. Again, this is a good domestic fight. Nothing more. Certainly not a fight worthy of a 'world' title.
Takaloo was steered down that WBU path because his stablemate Wayne Alexander was British champion at light-middle, but when you think that Takaloo has been calling himself a 'world' champion for beating Anthony Farnell - and then defending it against other British fighters in Scott Dixon and Gary Logan, it makes you realize how little the WBU title is worth. It certainly makes me look at Ricky Hatton in a different light. The WBU title don't mean shit.

Yes it's defintely fu**ed up. End result is this watered down version on the UK ( and world ) scene.
Most of the time, like other fans must do, I just try to ignore all the title madness - I mean just when you think it can't get any worse...It does!
10 times worse!!Occasionaly we get the real fights that matter, in among all the crap. Like this weekend's fight in Scotland is a return to how things used to be: a real title on the line, with a real champ, facing a real contender.

MightyWarrior wrote:

bennie wrote:Looking at possible candidates for the British title box-off with Tony Dodson, brought to the fore how the WBU have really undermined the British and Commonwealth titles in some divisions (as Steve689 has already stated). I mean, look at Takaloo! He's a good fighter and a good puncher. But he lost to Jawaid Jhaliq, a future Commonwealth champ at welter and Michael Jones a future Commonwealth champ at light-middle. He then beats Anthony Farnell - not in an eliminator for the British title as it should have been, but in a supposed 'world' title fight (the vacant WBU light-middle title). He then tries to win a WBO title against Daniel Santos and fails, so goes back to the WBU and they offer him another vacant title shot against the brave but hardly formidable Jim Rock. Again, this is a good domestic fight. Nothing more. Certainly not a fight worthy of a 'world' title.
Takaloo was steered down that WBU path because his stablemate Wayne Alexander was British champion at light-middle, but when you think that Takaloo has been calling himself a 'world' champion for beating Anthony Farnell - and then defending it against other British fighters in Scott Dixon and Gary Logan, it makes you realize how little the WBU title is worth. It certainly makes me look at Ricky Hatton in a different light. The WBU title don't mean shit.

Yes it's defintely fu**ed up. End result is this watered down version on the UK ( and world ) scene.
Most of the time, like other fans must do, I just try to ignore all the title madness - I mean just when you think it can't get any worse...It does!
10 times worse!!Occasionaly we get the real fights that matter, in among all the crap. Like this weekend's fight in Scotland is a return to how things used to be: a real title on the line, with a real champ, facing a real contender.

I see that Hatton, Takaloo and big Enzo are defending their WBU titles in December in Cardiff. Enzo has talent, but can afford to avoid British cruiser champion Mark Hobson now (a good fighter) and defend his WBU title against a succession of stiffs, which he'll do.
Hatton at least won a British title, but has now made 10 defences of his WBU title without ever really proving that he's a world class fighter or any better than European champion Oktay Urkal.
And Takaloo is in his second reign as WBU champ and has never even challenged for a British title because he probably wouldn't have beaten Wayne Alexander, and I'm not sure about his chances against Jamie Moore either. Moore is still unproven, but he took apart Gary Logan far more convincingly than Tak did.

Oh dear. I've just checked Sky's boxing schedule page and seen that Tony Dodson will fight Allan Foster from Northampton on November 22 at the Kings Hall, Belfast for the vacant British title. Brian Magee tops the bill.

Foster, aged 29, is 10-0-1 (2 ko's) and landed his shot at the coveted lonsdale belt by virtue of outpointing Ojay Abrahams over 4 rounds in July. Jesus, I know the British super-middleweight division is piss poor but it's a bit of joke when guys like Foster can receive an opportunity of this magnitude.

Surely Carl Froch should be in the mix to fight the winner?

Bloody hell this really is poor. Does it mean that had Ojay Abrahams won that all important 4-rounder against Foster then he would be now be getting the vacant title crack instead? I doubt it somehow.

What is going on with this game.

This depressing news really sums up the way boxing has lost its way.

I would never begrudge a boxer a better pay day and if Barney can make more money from the meaningless world title of course he needs to pursue that path.

Just how have promoters duped TV companies and/or the public into believing that a WBU fight against an unknown Eastern European (Barneys's next opponent no doubt) is worth a bigger payday than a British title.

I was at Sprott - Williams and although the ending was far from satisfactory, the atmosphere was incredible as people knew there was something meaningful at stake - namely the British Heavyweight title.

Would be interested in hearing how much more cash an average domestic fighter can hope to make when defenfing a WBU/WBF/IBO etc rather than going for the Lonsdale belt.

That it is disapointing news - should have been Cately or Froch.

Is Adrian Dodson still in the mix (or has he officially retired).

How about the guy who got robbed of the British Title a few months ago - Dean Francis. Apparanetly, he's not certain about retirement.

All better (on paper) than this current opponent (probably all better than Tony Dobson aswell).

I'll give Barney the benefit of the doubt, due to the fact that he may have been struggling at Supermiddle.

bennie wrote:Looking at possible candidates for the British title box-off with Tony Dodson, brought to the fore how the WBU have really undermined the British and Commonwealth titles in some divisions (as Steve689 has already stated). I mean, look at Takaloo! He's a good fighter and a good puncher. But he lost to Jawaid Khaliq, a future Commonwealth champ at welter and Michael Jones a future Commonwealth champ at light-middle. He then beats Anthony Farnell - not in an eliminator for the British title as it should have been, but in a supposed 'world' title fight (the vacant WBU light-middle title). He then tries to win a WBO title against Daniel Santos and fails, so goes back to the WBU and they offer him another vacant title shot against the brave but hardly formidable Jim Rock. Again, this is a good domestic fight. Nothing more. Certainly not a fight worthy of a 'world' title.
Takaloo was steered down that WBU path because his stablemate Wayne Alexander was British champion at light-middle, but when you think that Takaloo has been calling himself a 'world' champion for beating Anthony Farnell - and then defending it against other British fighters in Scott Dixon and Gary Logan, it makes you realize how little the WBU title is worth. It certainly makes me look at Ricky Hatton in a different light. The WBU title don't mean shit.

I agree with everything you said Bennie, seems to me that we have the wrong people running Boxing nowadays, people who enjoy fleecing the public and lining there own pockets.