In a weekend that began with former undisputed world middleweight champion Alan Minter laid to rest in his beloved hometown of Crawley it was only fitting that his old British title should be contested in east London.
They turned out in their thousands on Friday (9th) to salute ‘Boom Boom’ Minter as his funeral cortege went through the Sussex town, much as they did some 40 years ago to celebrate his return with the world titles dramatically won in Las Vegas. Family and friends, including British boxing ‘royalty’ such as former world light-heavyweight champion John Conteh attended the day to celebrate Alan’s life, and send their respects to one of our boxing legends who will be sadly missed.
The Undisputed would like to further add to the condolences and best wishes to all those affected by this sad loss.
The following night in Stratford, east London, Welshman Liam Williams (23-2-1, 18 KO’s) successfully defended his British title with a one round blow out of Andrew Robinson (24-5-1, 7 KO’s).
In what was expected to be a competitive contest between two fighters who’d been out of the ring for some time, the fight sprung to life after an early unintentional clash of heads, seeing both men cut in the opening minute. The flow of blood from the top of the champion’s head, though not affecting his vision, served to immediately fire the Welshman up.
Not wanting to risk the prospect of a mandatory challenge to WBO world middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade being lost or delayed further he set upon the 36 year old Midlander.
A strong assault, accentuated by a heavy right hand followed by a sickening left hook to Robinson’s torso, finished the contest. The challenger rose on the count of nine but referee Marcus McDonnell had seen enough and waved the contest over at 1:28 secs.
In the post-fight interview conducted on BT Sport the champion said “I wanted it to go a little further…obviously we clashed heads and I saw the blood, and thought I need to end this now”. His promoter Frank Warren later confirmed that Queensberry Promotions have been given a short period by the WBO to negotiate with Andrade (promoted by Matchroom Boxing) and if an agreement can’t be reached it will go to purse bids. This process will eventually define the promoter and when and where the fight will happen. After some tough negotiating this is likely to be in early 2021, assuming no further COVID related restrictions apply.
Despite the tightening of restrictions in many parts of the UK starting this week, in particular in Scotland and northern England, promoter Warren was also able to confirm his part of a packed programme of fights, albeit behind closed doors, before the Christmas break.
The next few months will see Daniel Dubois v Joe Joyce (Nov 28th) as the pick, a show featuring Tyson Fury (to be confirmed, although very unlikely to be against Deontay Wilder), Carl Frampton possibly challenging Jermell Herring for the WBO junior-lightweight title and a range of other Queensberry shows.
In addition, Matchroom Boxing have secured the following dates for their top British world ranked/based fighters: Olexandr Usyk v Dereck Chisora (Oct 31), Terence Crawford v Kell Brook (Nov 14), Alexander Povetkin v Dillian Whyte II (Nov 21), Luke Campbell v Ryan Garcia (Dec 5), Anthony Joshua v Kubrat Pulev (Dec 12).
It promises to be an excellent finish to a very unsettled and broken fistic year.
The Undisputed 