Firstly I would like to share some excellent news with my readers.
After a really frustrating couple of weeks where I’ve been unable to properly train, I am ready to get back to action next week.
It was a hammer blow for me, having to postpone my fight with Roy Jones Jr after damaging my right wrist in training.
However, the prognosis was three weeks rest and it would heal and that seems to be exactly what has happened.
It feels fine now, the swelling is gone, it doesn’t ache, I barely notice it, other than the strapping I have on it.
Therefore it’ll be all systems go for me from Monday, ready to get into peak condition for my rescheduled bout with Roy Jones Jr.
It looks like we will now be meeting on November 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
November proved to be a great month for me last year against Mikkel Kessler and I hope that will be the case again.
Ticket information should be available pretty soon and as and when I know anything I will announce it in the Argus.
I guess congratulations and commiseration’s are in order for a number of people in the boxing world.
First off, a big congratulations to my best pal and stablemate Enzo Maccarinelli.
For those of you who haven’t heard, Big Macc is going to get an instant shot back at one of his titles, the WBO cruiserweight title.
Enzo will fight against American Jonathan Banks – in Britain after Frank Warren won the purse bid – and I know Enzo is hoping the fight might even be staged in Cardiff or Swansea.
Some of us are defined by being champions; Enzo Maccarinelli certainly falls into that category.
He hasn’t fought since losing to David Haye, but that fight didn’t dent his self-belief one iota and he is supremely confident of beating Banks.
The fight is scheduled for September and I for one am look forward to screaming and shouting Enzo on as he reclaims his title.
Commiseration’s however, must be offered to Frankie Gavin, the guy tipped to become the new Amir Khan at the Olympic Games in Beijing, which start this weekend.
Gavin flew home yesterday, unable to make the weight limit.
The thing that springs to mind is that this is a monumental cock-up by someone, though we shouldn’t necessarily jump to the conclusion that Gavin himself is to blame.
Gavin needed to get down to 9st 6lbs every day he was at the Olympics and evidently wasn’t able to do it.
The kid was expected to win gold and it’s a phenomenal embarrassment for everyone involved that he’s had to go home.
They don’t seem to be very good at putting people into their natural weight categories, as our own Mo Nasir has already found out to his cost this year.
I actually found it hard to make weight when I was 13-years old. When you are a professional you only have to lose the weight for the weigh-in, but in the amateurs it’s something that must happen for each day of competition, an absolute nightmare!
Nevertheless, I wish all our boxers at the Olympics the very best of luck.
Another man worthy of congratulations is Mexican welterweight Antonio Margarito, while the man he recently beat, Antonio Cotto, deserves praise as well.
As an undefeated fighter, Cotto was considered by some as the best pound-for-pound in the world, while Margarito has rightly earned a reputation as a warrior.
No wonder the promoters billed this one as simply ‘the fight’ they knew it was always likely to be an absolute thriller.
And that it was, a tremendous contest where the best man eventually won out, Margarito earning a stoppage victory in round 11.
I wasn’t that surprised he won, people were overlooking what I considered to be a crucial size difference between the two fighters.
However, for me it is definitely the fight of the year so far, at least until I smash up Roy Jones!
Finally I want to talk a bit more about one of my favourite sporting events – if not the favourite – the Olympic Games.
I absolutely love the Olympics, virtually every event holds appeal for me, although I can easily give the synchronised swimming event a miss!
I love the track and field events, I love seeing the best of the world come together, it’s just purely and simply the best of the best.
However, I guess I always have a slight twinge of regret when the Olympics roll around.
Having been undefeated throughout my entire professional career, it is still my ultimate regret that I missed out on the Olympics as an amateur.
I won’t bring it all up again – details are in my book! – but it is fair to say that I think had I have gone to the Olympics, like I should have, I would have won gold. However, would I be where I am today? I doubt it.
If I had won gold I would have been famous from the start and maybe would’ve lived a different life, far more in the public eye.
I would probably already be retired and there are many other great fighters who never went to the Olympics, just like George Best or Ryan Giggs never played at a World Cup.
It just wasn’t meant to be.
Lastly, I want to wish good luck to Newport’s Christian Malcolm and rower Tom Lucy, another local boy from Monmouthshire. You can do it boys, bring back the medals!
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