BoxRec

doesn't seem long since our light middleweight division was the most talked about. I mean Dempsey on SKY used to have orgies talking about it (like he does when ever he mentioned Barrera-Morales 1). He used to debate with the team until they got bored about who should be #1. Roberts? Alexander? Williams? Farnell (yes, you heard me)? Takaloo? Michael Jones? and then 'probably going to be the best of the lot' (as they used to tell us) Gary Locket.

One by one they fallen with the exception of Takaloo who was respectable in his defeat to Daniel Santos.

A missed opportunity for british boxing that all these fighters were kept apart (exception of Farnell-Takloo, at the time Takloo was only regarded just about top 10,) and we may only see the fights now, when the demand for them isn't what it once was. The promoters involved could of made their fighters alot of money, their selves alot of money and the british boxing public very happy. We were excited, and the fights seemed only a matter of time, what a shame.

Hopefully a lesson can be learnt from this and promoters will no longer be cautious about matching two of thier own fighters against each other. It's ignorant to assume that both guys will reach the top and they can fight for a world title.

Yes, i remember writing a report myself during my early days on the Current Scene forum about Light Middleweight at British level and how there were a lot of fighters clamouring to be named Number 1. However it all fell apart all of a sudden and without anyone actually fighting each other!

Gary Lockett looked impressive when he beat Kevin Kelley, Howard Clarke (twice) and blasted out Hussain Osman but it all derailed when he lost to Yuri Tsarenko and then fiddled his way through a rematch. He appeared to lose against Michael Monaghan last time out and some say is as good as finished, he is now campaigning at Middleweight but is weighing in most times as a SM.

Steve Roberts i thought was the best of the lot (him or Richard Williams) especially when he outpointed Kirino Garcia with ease but Andre Pestraev put paid to those ideas and then after winning a comeback fight after a long time out he was stopped the other night by Darren Rhodes a decent British level contender with a modest record.

Richard Williams exploded onto the scene after a sensational win over a fallen from grace Shannon Taylor who was a shadow of the guy that had previously earned a shot at Shane Mosley. He followed it up with a win over dangerous Paul Samuels second time around and then schooled Robert's conqueror Pastraev over 12, he then lost to Sergio Martinez over 12 and one wonders if he will ever return the same fighter if he returns at all?

Takaloo perhaps remains the one out of the lot with his reputation still somewhat in tact, never the most graceful of the group he always had lots of heart and plenty of power as he showed when he beat Farnell in the only matchup the "big boys" had with one another. The loss to Daniel Santos was by no means a disgrace but he after beating Jim Roc he has had low key wins over midget Jose Rosa and a blow out of limited Vlad Borovski.

Anthony Farnell himself was always to me a limited brawler with a big heart and few skills, his loss to Ruben Groenwald was much his own making from low blows and he avenged it solidly enough without being spectacular. He was taken down with ease over 12 by relative pro novice Wayne Elcock at Middleweight, at least Farnell fought Takaloo but it put his limitations into perspective.

Michael Jones was the quiet one of the bunch and moved along in the shadows beating second rate foes and gathering the Commonwealth title but was dispatched by dark horse Jamie Moore over 12 and has been in hiding ever since. Moore himself became an overnight success story and with Coventry's Steven Bendall also hanging around there seemed to be some hope.

Wayne Alexander was the final nail in the coffin last night, although he is now at Middleweight he had only been beaten once before and by world class Light Middleweight Harry Simon. 10-19-1 Delroy Mellis sparked him in the eigth last night after Alexander's miserable stint of inactivity.

One of Britains most exciting divisions broke up without so much as a wiff of a confrontation between the big boys

Let's hope that promoters learn from the Lght Middle disaster. Potentially explosive and crowd pleasing match ups were negatted, keeping fighter's apart in order that they could build up resumes and compete for 'world titles'.

We should have sorted out who was the best in the UK in a series of elimination matches which would have provided great entertainment and seasoning for the eventual winner. This didn't happen and one by one the nation's best were picked off in unsatisfactory fashion.

The best remaining fighter appears to be Jaimie Moore - lets hope that he can be brought on well and figure at a higher level.