In a much more quiter affair, compared with his last fight, David Haye will step into the ring this Saturday at Manchester’s MEN Arena and put his WBA Heavyweight belt on the line against 38 year old vetran boxer John Ruiz.

Speaking yesterday at a pre-fight press conference about his first title defence, Haye who has been much calmer in the lead-up to the Ruiz fight, than the trash-talking boxer we had become accustomed with prior to the Valuev fight, exploded into life. “I’m going to decapitate him” and “He’s (Ruiz) gonna get knocked out”.

Big talk at last from Haye. But even Haye is aware that twice WBA champion, Ruiz, has only ever suffered 1 KO in 54 professional fights.

American based Puerto Rican, Ruiz, is known as the “Quiet Man”, a hardworking journeyman with a somewhat lacklustre style of boxing that doesn’t quite adhere him to the hearts of many boxing betting fans.
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Out of the blue, Ricky Hatton announced his comeback to boxing amid a flurry of raised eyebrows. Across all the media pieces I have read this morning, concerning Hatton’s comeback, I have yet to see a positive spin on the return. Aside from Hatton, himself, not one boxing journalist is too thrilled about this announcement, and I include myself amongst the head-shakers.

Ricky Hatton is a very likeable man and boxer. His metamorphosis between Ricky the bloke next door who likes a pint and pie into Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hatton, former WBA Welterweight Champion, is one that made him a modern icon to many boxing betting punters.

It seems that Hatton wants to erase the Manny Pacquiao fight like a blotted stain on a very gleaming fight CV. Yet, Hatton, should accept that defeat for what it truly is, a lesson learned, that there are now better boxers out there than you. Not many mind, but some.
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On Saturday night, the 5th of December, 2009, Amir Khan (22 Fights, 21 Wins, 15 KO’s, 1 Loss) makes his first defence of his WBA World light-welterweight championship against the unbeaten Ukranian-born American, Dmitry Salita (31 Fights, 30 Wins, 16 KO’s, 1 Draw).

No doubt, an enthusiastic crowd will pack into Newcastle’s, Metro Radio Arena, in anticipation of Khan racking up a successful defence of his title. The bookies see this one as a foregone conclusion with boxing betting punters looking to Paddy Power to offer the best odds of 1/7 for a Khan victory.

Will it be just a ‘walk-in-the-park’ for Khan against Salita, or has the 27 year old, Jewish boxer from Brooklyn got anything in his armoury that could worry Khan and pull off one of the biggest boxing betting upsets in a long time?

According to an old trainer of Salita, Jimmy O’Pharrow, the best way to describe Salita is, “looking Russian, praying Jewish and fighting black’. Despite having an impressive, unbeaten in 31 fights record on paper, Salita has not fought anyone worthy in the division. Until now! Hence, the expectancy level on Khan to quickly wipe Salita from the scene.
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On Saturday, the WBA Championship is up for grabs between the current World Champ, Russia’s Nikolai Valuev and Britain’s David Haye. Billed as ‘David Vs Goliath‘, it’s easy to see why this fight has captured the publics interest. In the red corner stands the Russian champ Valuev, a 7ft 2″ giant known as the ‘Beast from the East’ with 50 wins under his belt from 52 bouts. In the blue corner stands our very own British hope, David Haye, a 6ft 3″ trash-talking, former undisputed cruiserweight champion with 22 wins from 23 professional fights.

The lead-up to this fight has been bizarre, to say the least. Haye has been in hyperdrive promoting this contest. Spewing forth trash talk at every opportunity, some of which would have made Tyson blush. The surreal press conference where Haye squared up to a 7ft man in a gargoyle mask and then proceeded to knock the head off a Valuev cardboard cut out was at best a tacky wind-up.
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World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight championship bout between defending champion Vitaly Klitschko (37-2, 36 KO’s) and the unbeaten American contender Chris Arreola (27-0, 24 KO’s) takes place in the early hours of Sunday morning (3am UK time) at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles. It is a fight that many Americans are hoping is the beginning of the end to the eastern dominance in heavyweight boxing. American dreams lay with the determined challenger, Arreola, 28, who says, “It’s going to be a changing of the guard. Very simple. The steel curtain is closed and now I own it.”

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Current WBC heavyweight boxing champion, Vitali Klitschko, announced recently he is to fight up-coming American, Chris Arreola, on the 26th of September in Los Angeles. 38-year-old Klitschko opted for the undefeated Arreola, after British hopeful, David Haye, pulled out citing a back injury as the reason prior to the bout. Klitschko is looking for a big pay-day and by staging the fight in Los Angleles, Arreola’s hometown, is guaranteed of that at least. Ironically, ths biggest pay-out Klitschko would ever receive is a fight against his brother, current IBF and WBO champ, Wladimir Klitschko. But that fight will never take place after the brothers promised their Mother they would never fight one-and-other in the ring.

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Vegas is the place to be this weekend as Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao put their respected belts and reputations on the line this Saturday. The MGM Grand will host the fight of the year so far and the bookies have made it clear they fancy the Philippino over the Englishman. Pacquiao’s speed and ability to throw stinging cluster punches makes him favourite in the early rounds. However, if Hatton can weather the early Pacquiao storm and take the fight to the later rounds then you have to fancy Hatton’s superior physical ability will wear Pacquiao down.

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Yesterday, Ricky Hatton’s lawyer, Gareth Williams, announced that the up-coming bout between Ricky Hatton and Filipino southpaw, Manny Pacquiao, is off! Seemingly, Pacquiao, was demanding a 60 – 40 split of the fight purse in his favour. Hatton’s camp were adamant that the split should be 50 – 50, giving Pacquiao, the current WBC Lightweight Champion, a very nice earner worth around £8 million. But Pacquiao spurned the offer by insisting as WBC champ he takes the higher cut. A stalemate was met and depite Hatton’s camp offering a 52 – 48 split in Pacquiao’s favour, yesterday the talks collapsed and the fight is now off.

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I know we have barely ripped of the cellophane on this brand new year but one thing that has myself extremely excited this year is British Boxing. I mean for the first time we have some lively potential young stock coming through. We also have the comeback kings in Hatton and Khan. Plus the majestic and limitless Joe Calzaghe. There might even be a return for freed jailbird Scott Harrison if hopefully he can beat the personal demons.

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They say ‘Pride comes before a fall’, well in Amir Khan’s case, it was the stinging left hook of Columbian, Breidis Prescott. And now just after one fight Khan has sacked his trainer Jorge Rubio. It all smacks of desperation, somehow. The trainer has been made the fall-guy, but there must be others accountable.

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