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Steve Goodwin Sets Sights On ?Major British Scalp? For Yassine El Maachi PhilBoxing.com Wed, 08 Dec 2010  Following his superb victory over European number four ranked Jimmy Colas on Saturday, London based Moroccan Light Middleweight Yassine El Maachi has smashed his way into the World rankings and is now justifiably on the verge of international stardom. Yassine?s performance against Colas was nothing short of electrifying. His was the performance of the year and the bout was without doubt the British ?Fight of the Year? by a country mile. For ten rounds ?The Showman? systematically took apart one of Europe?s best Light Middleweights. To put this in context, domestically the only Light Middleweights that were ranked higher than Jimmy Colas are current British Champion Sam Webb and former European Champion Ryan Rhodes. It?s a well known fact that most of the British Light Middleweights have actively avoided facing Yassine in the past, including Ryan Rhodes, Prince Arron, Anthony Small, Steve O?Meara etc. Even when Yassine?s Promoter Steve Goodwin offered a ?50,000 bonus - if Yassine was knocked out - there were no takers. Steve had no option but to turn to Europe for opponents, first Bertrand Aloa and then of course Jimmy Colas, but now Yassine is now World ranked hopefully the domestic fighters will realise that they can no longer avoid him if they are to be taken seriously and take up the challenge. Following the fight, Yassine and his promoter Steve Goodwin touched on this subject when they spoke briefly on what the future holds for the most exciting and entertaining Light Middleweight prospect. ?The guy was 28 wins and 6 losses, I see who he has fought and the guy is tough. I done my job today.? said Yassine on his opponent Jimmy Colas before swiftly moving on to talk about his future plans. ?I see myself now as number four in Europe, I would be number four in Europe if I had a British passport. I hope at last those boxers are going to start chasing me. It?s not like before, I was not ranked so no one wanted to fight me. I?m ranked with the WBC, I?m top twenty or top thirty, I?m not sure I will now check the internet for what?s my ranking now. BoxRec I will definitely, definitely be under fourty and I?m just looking for who?s going to come next.? As previously stated many of the British Light Middleweights have actively avoided facing him and to add insult to injury there have been some unsavoury comments coming from Ryan Rhodes and his camp who issued a press release last week saying of Yassine, ?He is a complete joke.? and ?If I fought him it would be like a Premier League team taking on a side from the Conference in a major cup final.? Yassine, who didn?t respond to the Rhodes? comments prior to Saturday?s fight, took the opportunity to address them now, ?Ryan Rhodes said I?m not in his league, I?m below his league. Fair enough but he?s fighting now, the guy?s 109 ranks below me. ONE HUNDRED AND NINE below me. That means he?s fighting a nobody. His rank on BoxRec is 162 and I?m ranked 51, before my fight. This one talks for itself, I don?t have to say much about it.? Yassine?s promoter Steve Goodwin, who was close to bursting a blood vessel and could barely contain himself, had plenty to say on the matter though, ?Yassine delivered tonight and I promise Yassine that I?ll deliver back and I hope that we can get these Light Middleweights to stop issuing ridiculous press statements rubbishing him. Let me tell you something, if Yassine gets a British passport, Ryan Rhodes we?re coming to get you and Ryan Rhodes we?re going to take your title and you know it. Ryan Rhodes takes on a 39 year old bum and Yassine El Maachi takes on the European number 4, how dare he spout such total nonsense. If Yassine gets him in the ring in 2011 he?ll destroy him. Roll on 2011 as it will be a defining year for Yassine El Maachi.? With so much bad blood between the El Maachi and Rhodes camps the prospect of the pair meeting in the near future would seem remote, unless that is Yassine is granted a British passport as then he would then be eligible for British, Commonwealth and European championship honours. The more likely scenario, with Rhodes publicly stating his intention to challenge for a World title in the coming year and Yassine shooting up the WBC rankings, would be that the pair will one day meet and battle it out for World title honours. Now that is a seriously mouth watering prospect. Watch this space. Top photo: Steve Goodwin (L) and El Maachi.  |
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