BoxRec

At a press conference today it was announced that Matt Skelton will fight for the WBU Heavyweight title on the 25th February at Wembley Conference, the opponent is still to be arranged, but that should be done in the next few hours.

more at http://www.britishboxing.net

doesnt he want to win the longsdale, european and that? i think its a poor move.

Isnt Kandelaki the WBU champ? They were meant to be fighting each other.

man win the londseldale belt outright first then go for that crap if you must, what he has just now british and commonwealth is far more prestige.

Kandelaki hasn't fought in ages (18 months +), don't know what's happened to him.

I agree that it's a shame Skelton is giving up his domestic title, the WBU belt is worth less than normal (if that's possible) in the H/W division. Al Cole is probably on the phone to Sports Network right now. :(

007 wrote:Isnt Kandelaki the WBU champ? They were meant to be fighting each other.

i guess the lazy fcuker has been stripped

The WBU is a step back but being a Warren fighter I guess it was inevtiable he would fight for it at some time.

I'm a Skelton fan and I have to say I am very disapointed that he is giving up the domestic Titles and going down the WBU route.

I hope we are not going to get a string of defences against East Europeons with 14-5-1 records now.

Yeah agreed its getting to the point of his career where he needs to go for it in a big way if he wanted a title shot, lets face it Brewster is a realistic target and he aint gonna be champ for long.
I would have liked matt to perhaps fight in the states against a fringe contender, maybe someone like Kali meehan raise his profile and goor for Lamon.

Sadly it looks like when Eugene said Matt would be a world champion, he meant the WBU trinkett. Shame.

Listening to Matt today, he sounded a bit down about having to give up the British belt, but who is out there for him to fight in the next six months, he doesn't feel Danny is the right fight for him at the moment, would he gain anything by knocking Williams out if he did?

They want to keep Matt busy, he's not getting any younger, and want him to get a proper World title fight at the end of the year.

Seems like he fight on the Hatton undercard on the 4th June too

Kev

Well, I am glad to hear that they want to keep Skelton busy.

I am also glad he is keeping busy but still not pleased he has gone for the SN mandatory "World" trouser belt.

I actually think its not that bad a move. Who is there for him to fight in the UK. Remember the thread I made not so long ago - At 36 (or whatever he is) there is not much point him fighting those.

So reliquishing the belt was probably the best option, pretty much every main event in the UK is for a title, so why not this bogus belt.

I hope it will bring some DECENT over seas opposition, guys like Maskaev etc.

Kevin wrote:Listening to Matt today, he sounded a bit down about having to give up the British belt, but who is out there for him to fight in the next six months, he doesn't feel Danny is the right fight for him at the moment, would he gain anything by knocking Williams out if he did?

They want to keep Matt busy, he's not getting any younger, and want him to get a proper World title fight at the end of the year.

Seems like he fight on the Hatton undercard on the 4th June too

Kev

hope you are right Kev I really do, just the words WBU usually mean stagnation for the relevant fighters career.
I didnt used to like Matt much I must confess but Ive kind grown to appreciate him to be honest, he's a big hard bastard who gives it his all, cant fault him for that, also meeting him ringside a couple of times at the york hall and he always makes time for the fans to have a chat etc, seems a thoroughly nice bloke.

Whats wrong with the Europeon Title?
Why do boxers have to fight for these shite WBU titles, the promotors think that all fans are thick, that if a bout isn't for a title then punters won't turn up.
Fans know when its a good match, title or no title, i think maybe its the TV companies that want it.

Just think in a few weeks we could have 2 world heavy champs , WBF and WBU, that'll really make the rest of the world sit up and listen.
or will it make them sit up and smirk.

How come some countries can ban WBF fights and we can't? if the BBBoC could do this then at least we can have some control over these stupid organiations

Wasn't Danny Williams supposed to be fighting for the vacant WBU title before he beat Tyson and got his match with Klitchko?

Skelton won't be going anywhere (in terms of titles) after the WBU. At 36, I don't think he has the time to fix up a match for a proper title. I think best he can hope for is to use the lure of the WBU (first time you've heard 'lure' and 'WBU' in the same scentence) to get a good British match with Harrison or Williams (maybe even Hide if his alien abductors ever bring him back)

I vote for Skelton v Audrey. What a mouth watering linear undisputed heavyweight of the world match up. Obviously then, the winner fights Klitchko, but only for his GBO title, none of this WBC crap.

topper123 wrote:Whats wrong with the Europeon Title?
Why do boxers have to fight for these shite WBU titles, the promotors think that all fans are thick, that if a bout isn't for a title then punters won't turn up.
Fans know when its a good match, title or no title, i think maybe its the TV companies that want it.

Just think in a few weeks we could have 2 world heavy champs , WBF and WBU, that'll really make the rest of the world sit up and listen.
or will it make them sit up and smirk.

How come some countries can ban WBF fights and we can't? if the BBBoC could do this then at least we can have some control over these stupid organiations

TV companies are undoubtedly responsible for the proliferation of these titles, at least indirectly. Promoters realise that if they can put the words 'world title' on a bill, it will dramatically increase the chances of it being shown on TV, and also draw in more punters.

The fact is, the casual sports fan who follows boxing as a sideline is stupid, and they don't have the knowledge to distinguish between 'WBF' champ and the other titles. You can hardly blame them when even a hardcore fight fan couldn't name all the champions in all the weight divisions.

I think i read somewhere that Japan only allows fights from the major 3 world bodies WBA, WBC, IBF, would be nice if it was the same here

topper123 wrote:I think i read somewhere that Japan only allows fights from the major 3 world bodies WBA, WBC, IBF, would be nice if it was the same here

It bloody used to be, that why Nigel Benn had to defend his WBO belt in the US.

topper123 wrote:I think i read somewhere that Japan only allows fights from the major 3 world bodies WBA, WBC, IBF, would be nice if it was the same here

Japan only allows WBA and WBC fights.

What, they don't even recognise the IBF? Christ, that's pretty hard nosed.

It's strange how Japanese boxing is so totally cut off, I cannot remember ever seeing any TV coverage of the sport in Japan. It's also very rare that any of their fighters fight overseas, they seem to have their own self contained scene, with a few world class fighters popping up here and there.

stujones wrote:

topper123 wrote:I think i read somewhere that Japan only allows fights from the major 3 world bodies WBA, WBC, IBF, would be nice if it was the same here

It bloody used to be, that why Nigel Benn had to defend his WBO belt in the US.

Very true I remember once on ITV after the Barkley fight Benn tore up his BBBofC license in front of the cameras, over this matter.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:What, they don't even recognise the IBF? Christ, that's pretty hard nosed.

It's strange how Japanese boxing is so totally cut off, I cannot remember ever seeing any TV coverage of the sport in Japan. It's also very rare that any of their fighters fight overseas, they seem to have their own self contained scene, with a few world class fighters popping up here and there.

I get all the big fights on tape from a buddy in Japan, and it looks like the sport is really popular, often big crowds. THe japanese promotors also have contracts with alot of foreign boxers from Thailand and South America.

I really like that they only recognize WBA and WBC, then you know who the champs are, which is probably also why the sport is popular there.