I REMEMBER all the doom merchants as 2009 began, with promoters Barry Hearn and Frank Maloney claiming the sport was in big trouble.
But despite losing two television companies over the last 12 months, boxing is still in great shape and poised for a massive 2010.
At the start of the year, Hearn said his Prizefighter tournament was needed to breathe some life into boxing, while Maloney claimed UFC was a huge threat to our livelihoods.
The sport is always innovating and Prizefighter has been a good addition. But the three-round format will not replace 12-round title fights – and will never be better, either.
The same goes for UFC. It is a totally different product and will live alongside boxing instead of replacing it.
Domestically, boxing has three world champions, better than some doom-mongers were predicting in January.
David Haye is WBA heavyweight king, after beating Nikolay Valuev in November.
Like Haye, Amir Khan holds a WBA title. After being knocked out by Breidis Prescott last year, many were questioning where Khan would go but I always believed in him.
I knew the Marco Antonio Barrera fight was a great opportunity and Khan stopped him in five rounds. I also managed to persuade him, and those around him, that stepping up to light-welter to challenge Andreas Kotelnik would be the right move. I think Khan is a much better fighter at 10 stone and he KO’d Dmitriy Salita in Newcastle this month.
WBC super-middleweight king Carl Froch has found the going tougher, but is still unbeaten.
This last year or so has also seen a whole crop of youngsters come through to championship level, and at least one or two of them will be world champions by the end of 2010.
British champions Paul Smith, Nathan Cleverly, Kell Brook – all of whom are promoted by me – John Murray and Darren Barker look good young talents, while Kevin Mitchell made a huge statement by beating Prescott.
ITV’s decision to end their association with boxing has been really disappointing. Nothing, though, could be done about Setanta’s exit after it went bust.
Boxing continues to be popular over here but it is doing well in the States too. Manny Pacquiao led the charge with stoppage victories over Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.
All in all then not a bad year at all. But 2010 will definitely be bigger and I will preview that next week.
