MATT and ME

Fellow Bedfordian views British boxer’s world title challenge

“Maturity” and “Persistence”

Give Skelton scent of success 

Wednesday the 9^th of January 2008:  The weather in London was extremely cold and bitter. However as I walked into the press conference of Matt Skelton - held in Cavendish Square on Oxford Circus - I felt a feeling of warmth coming from the  journalists as they set about preparing for this important press conference.

Prior to the time of Matt’s arrival some journalists, especially those of the younger generation, positioned themselves for the best places that they could get in the crowded hotel room, while enjoying a bit of light refreshment and discussing with their colleagues. During Skelton’s interview the younger journalists scribbled a lot of notes but those more experienced just listened attentively.

The press conference kicked off at about 12.30 pm, with Matt Skelton, his promoter Frank Warren and his trainer Kevin Sanders all seated and ready to speak about his up-coming fight with the Russian Ruslan Chagaev. The two boxers will be contesting the WBA version of the world heavyweight boxing championship on 19th January 2008 in Duesseldorf, Germany. 

Matt appeared to be utterly relaxed, humble, physically fit, spoke with lots of confidence on how he would beat Chagaev and win the contest. "I prefer that style of fighting. He'll come to fight, he won't jab and move and it will make for an interesting fight. I'm known for being tough, but he is a bit rough and ready too, so I'm not worried about having points deducted or anything like that”. Kevin Sanders, Skelton’s trainer, also raised questions over Chagaev stamina and believes that Skelton is the favourite to win especially for his persistence in grinding down opponents.

Over to you Your Worship ...
Honour the man who honours us

Matt is from Bedford, my own town, and as a fellow-Bedfordian  I feel the mayor should hold a big civic reception to mark his performance – win or lose – for the honour he has brought to our town. About 200 Bedford fans will accompany  him to Germany. Matt obviously has a good chance of winning. He is 39 compared to Chagaev who is 29. “Maturity comes with experience” as Matt added during his interview.

Matt Skelton (left) has received a WBA world heavyweight chance against Ruslan Chagaev from promoter Frank Warren (centre). The other fighter s Michael Sprott who, too, has taken on Chagaev.

Skelton Challenges Chagaev
Fights for WBA world crown

Matt Skelton will challenge for the WBA World Heavyweight title on January 19 as he aims to become the first British world champion in boxing's Blue Riband division since Lennox Lewis.  Commonwealth champion Skelton will travel to Dusseldorf, Germany, to meet defending champion Ruslan Chagaev. It represents remarkable journey for Skelton, who turned professional in his late 30s with no amateur experience having previously been a Thai boxer in Japan. Now 40, Skelton boasts a 21-1 (18) record and will go into the fight as the current Commonwealth champion and a former British and WBU belt holder. His only defeat, against Danny Williams, was avenged, and he also boasts two wins over Michael Sprott.  Chagaev, 29, has also beaten Sprott, stopping him in the eighth round when the pair met in Germany in 2006. Since then, the Uzbek has defeated Nikolay Valuev, the then WBA champion to lift the title.  Known as "White Tyson" and now based in Hamburg, Germany, southpaw Chagaev is 23-0-1 (17) and widely regarded as one of the best heavyweights in the world.
"This is fantastic news for Skelton and I'm delighted he has got his chance to become a world champion," said his promoter Frank Warren.
Skelton added: "I'll be training hard for this fight and I'm determined to lift that world title. My aim has always been to become a world champion, and I've every confidence that I will beat Chagaev."
Chagaev was ruled out of a fight with Sultan Ibragimov last year with an illness, but is now fighting fit.
"I'm healthy and can't wait to get back to boxing. It finally starts again," said Chagaev. "I can't wait to get back to the ring and I'm looking forward to fighting Matt Skelton in Dusseldorf. It will be a tough fight against a hard puncher. I have good memories about this town. In November 2006, I beat John Ruiz in a eliminator fight. And that made my title winning effort possible. I'm really excited about the Dusseldorf crowd."

                  HAYE HAMMERS MORMECK

Takes cruiserweight crown, but

Will fight now as a heayweight

David Haye stopped Jean Marc Mormeck in the seventh round at the Palais des Sports in Paris to take the WBC/WBA world boxing cruiserweight titles. Yet he, himself, had come close to defeat in the fourth when he was floored twice. Until then 27 year-old Haye, pacing himself for the longer fight, had had the better of the first three rounds. Then, in the fourth, Mormeck caught the Londoner twice with left-right combinations which put him on the canvas.

The 35 year-old French fighter failed to press his advantage as Haye quickly regained the initiative. He jabbed effectively and in the seventh round hurt his opponent with a powerful left upper cut followed by a right hand which knocked him down. Although Mormeck beat the count the referee decided that he was in no condition to defend himself and stopped the contest.

Haye said afterwards: “This was a tough fight against a good champion, but I showed the heart and class of a champion. This is my last fight at cruiserweight. My legs just weren’t there as you saw tonight. He hurt me but I showed I’m a true champion and my legs will be there at heavyweight.”

Draft of article published in the NEW AFRICAN – December 2007

AFRICANS ON TOP

World sport changed for ever in these last few weeks. The old “certainties” have disappeared. It had been long argued that African heavyweight boxers (unlike their counterparts in the U.S.A.) could not hold their own at the highest level, that footballers of African heritage could not handle an oval ball as well as they kicked a round one, and that a black driver could never – ever – drive a Formula 1 racing car successfully. Everyone knows different now – thanks to the speed and dexterity of Lewis Hamilton, the deftness and sped of foot of Paul Sackey and Bryan Habana, and Samuel Peter’s punching power.  

The Nigerian Nightmare

Samuel Okon Peter has put himself right at the heart of the world heavyweight division by outpointing veteran Jameel McCline to win the interim WBC title in the “home” of international boxing at Madison Square Gardens in New York. He survived a tremendous pummeling at the end of the second and throughout the third round – during which he was floored three times in all – to win by a clear unanimous margin. The “Nigerian Nightmare”, whose professional record is now 29 wins with one defeat, was due to fight champion Oleg Maskaev, but when the Russian withdrew with a back injury he was matched with McCline for the interim championship. Peter, whose chief asset to date has been his tremendous hitting ability, showed the necessary stamina and recovery to progress further.

Pending Maskaev’s return to boxing – and if he fails to do so within a year Samuel will be proclaimed full champion – his most enticing contest would be with Wladimir Klitschko, the rival IBF pretender to the title, and, incidentally, the only opponent to have beaten him as a professional. Then, ironically, it was Peter who battered the Ukrainian to the canvas three times but failed to follow up and lost the decision.

Samuel was born at Akwa Ibom in Nigeria on 6^th September 1980. He changed from his initial ambition to be a footballer after, when he was 11 years old, he performed well against some boxers who came to his school to train. Peter impressed in the Sydney Olympic Games on 2000, in which he was a quarter-finalist, and immediately afterwards signed with manager Ivaylo Gotze. They obtained a promotional deal with Dino Duva of Duva Boxing and moved their base of operation to Las Vegas. With such connections the young West African quickly overhauled the self-managed and self-promoted Audley Harrison, who had won the gold medal in Sydney.  

Peter’s power carried him to seven one-round victories in his first nine professional outings. Each of the next three bouts ended in the second round. He was not extended the full distance until his 18^th fight – his 8^th contest went to a points decision but it was only over four rounds. No wonder that he had become known as his opponents’ “Nightmare”. By his fifth year of boxing Samuel had already defeated experienced second-tier heavyweights Charles Shufford, Jeremy Williams, and Yanqui Diaz.

However his inexperience showed when he failed to finish off Klitschko at Atlantic City in September 2005. His lack of consistency let Wladimir come back into the bout and he snatched the decision. Peter did not make the same mistake in his two WBC title elimination fights with seemingly perennial contender James Toney. After winning the first on a split decision he outclassed the American in the re-match.

Peter is not the first African boxer to win recognition as world heavyweight champion (interim or otherwise) – or is he? The validity and credibility of some aspects of the schismatic title is often difficult to evaluate. After two unsuccessful attempts Gerrie Coetzee, a South African, knocked out Michael Dokes at Akron, Ohio in 1983 to win WBA recognition but was himself knocked out by Greg Page the next year. His compatriot Frans Botha’s victory over Axel Schulz for the IBF tiara in 1995 was invalidated after it was found he had been using steroids.

A third South African, Corrie Sanders, caused a major upset by winning the WBO bauble at Hanover in 2003 when he hammered Wladimir Klitschko to defeat, and frequent trips to the canvas, in two rounds – whatever his other merits the Ukrainian seems to have an extremely frail jaw. Yet such is the scant respect in which this version of the title is held that Sanders yielded it undefeated to challenge for other honours – as did Henry Akinwande, the tall Nigerian, who was acclaimed similarly in 1996. Whatever has gone before Samuel Okon Peter has the power and the prospects to become the first African to sustain and establish himself as the generally accepted world heavyweight boxing champion.

Sackey struck with impressive pace

Paul Sackey is another sportsman who turned away from his childhood dream of making a career in football. Instead he has played a prominent role in restoring the pride of England’s Rugby Union. The world champions of four years ago had declined so comprehensively that they were given little chance of progressing beyond the preliminary stages of the recent competition in France. That dire prediction seemed to be accurate enough when England were crushed 36-0 by South Africa in an opening encounter. That’s when Sackey struck with impressive pace on the wing and finishing skills to score two tries against both Samoa and Tonga to get his team into a quarter-final against the formidable Australians (led by the legendary George Gregan, who was born in Lusaka to Zimbabwean/Australian parents), and which, against all predictions, they won.

Sackey was born in London to Ghanaian parents on 8^th November 1979. He was a sufficiently good teenage footballer (soccer) to be given a trial as central mid-fielder with Crystal Palace, his local major League team. Even so Rugby Union, which Paul did not take up until he was 16 years old, was the principal winter sport at his school, John Fisher in Purley. His performance for the school team in the Rosslyn Park National Sevens tournament caught the eye of a scout from top club Wasps. From the outset Paul’s pace was considered to be his outstanding asset, but later, when his England prospects seemed to be in jeopardy, he sharpened his speed even further by taking private lessons from Margot Wells, whose husband, Allan, won the 100 metres gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

His progress through English Rugby Union has been steady rather than spectacular. Sackey joined Bedford, his first big club, in 1999, and while there played for England Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand. In 2000 he signed professionally with London Irish. That year he played for England Sevens in Argentina, and two years later was in the England team which toured the U.S.A. and Canada. Yet his career seemed to stagnate, and in 2005 he moved at last to London Wasps, his current club. Even after he made his full international debut against New Zealand at Twickenham in November 2006, Paul’s opportunities seemed to depend on injuries to other established players. The turmoil resulting from England’s poor performances decided the management to take a chance on new talent. His England (and Wasps) colleague Josh Lewsey said: “Sacks is a pocket of morale off the field. He’s a bit of a different character. He’s a great poacher. Four tries in two games is an impressive statistic in anyone’s book”. Away from the Rugby Union field Sackey has his own car-resourcing business, finding and selling top-of-the-range cars.    

Habana’s record number of tries

Bryan Habana, the 24 year-old winger from Benoni (born 12 June 1983), outshone even Sackey as he equalled Jonah Lomu’s competition record number of tries in South Africa’s domination of the recent World Cup matches in Paris. His interceptions and speed of foot were the outstanding individual memories from a tournament which the Sprinboks won with greater ease than the bare score-line indicates. I was privileged to watch television coverage of the triumph in the company of some (black) South Africans from Johannesburg living now in London. They identified fully with the team and explained to me that because of Rugby’s previous association with the Boer population, they felt that the fact that so many of their own children were now playing the game showed very much that Apartheid was over. The bastion had been pierced – but was it enough?

Reports from South Africa, itself, indicated that the situation there was very different. There had been hardly any progress since the last World Cup victory 12 years ago in selecting a team truly representative of the nation. On the contrary, in spite of having a so much larger black than white population, the South African team fielded only as many black players as England, France and Australia, where the ethnic ratio is the reverse. In sport there appears to be still an apartheid in which black people play football (soccer) and white people play Rugby. Yet it would be too glib to suggest merely that more black players should be added to the side irrespective of their merit.

It goes much deeper that that, and needs a more radical approach. The England Rugby team has few working-class players because in that country the game is learned primarily in the more exclusive schools and colleges. It is the same elsewhere - Habana, for example, was educated at the then Rand Afrikaans University. The unrepresentative ratio of players the South African side is evidence that (black) Africans are still under-represented in the establishments of privilege from which selection is made. The Rugby team is a symptom of malaise rather than being the malaise in itself. The controversy over the team selection has provided a wake-up call to make society itself more representative. Yes – the administrators must extend the basis from which national selection is made, but that is not enough in itself. All South Africans are right to be proud of what their country’s Rugby Union team achieved in Paris, and all South Africans will be right to expect that the next time the Springboks take the field the side will be more representative of the ethnic composition of the country.           

Top-of-the-range driver

Lewis Hamilton is very much a top-of-the-range driver of motorcars. He came within one point of winning the Grand Prix Formula 1 Drivers Championship at his first attempt and set a number of records in doing so. The young 22 year-old Briton should have clinched the title at Beijing, but his car got stuck in the gravel, and his engine developed mechanical trouble in the concluding Brazilian Grand Prix. His success did not amuse his McLean team-mate and No1 driver Fernando Alonso, the defending champion, who thought that the No2 junior should have deferred to his greater expertise and status.

It is appropriate that the rookie has brought some spice to Formula 1 racing because his father’s family came to England from Grenada – the “spice island” of the Caribbean. Indeed, the dedication and industry of his father, Anthony, has more than off-set the young man’s seemingly insuperable handicaps of being poor and black in a sport which has every image of being “upper” and middle class and white. Hamilton’s path may well have been set from the moment he was named after Carl Lewis, the medal-studded athlete.

Lewis was born on 7^th January 1985 at Stevenage, a small provincial town in Hertfordshire to the north-east of London. His grandfather worked on the London Underground. When his parents split up early in his life Hamilton lived with mother Carmen and half-sisters Nicola and Samantha until he was ten. Then he joined his father with step-mother Linda and half-brother Nicholas. The latter, who has cerebral palsy, is seen regularly “on the circuit” with his older brother. Lewis’ first interest in racing competition came through the radio-controlled cars when he was six. He finished second in the national championship the following year. An early appearance on Blue Peter, the long-running television programme for children, shows young Lewis’ in single-minded determination as he guides his car around the track while the adult presenter acts like a child. It was but a short step from there to go-karting which he started aged eight in 1993. Two years later Hamilton met McLaren team owner Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony and told him that he would drive for McLaren one day. It was just four years later that he was signed to the McLaren driver development support programme.

Lewis won the British Go-Karting Championship in 2000. The following year Michael Schumacher, the dominant Formula 1 driver of his generation, said after competing against Lewis in a karting event: “He’s a quality driver, very strong and only sixteen. If he keeps this up I’m sure he will reach Formula 1. It’s something special to see a kid of his age out on the circuit. He’s clearly got the right racing mentality”. Even Schumacher, however, would have been surprised by the speed with which Hamilton cut through the junior levels of competition.

He started his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series, and was in the Formula Three Euroseries by 2004, the year in which he tested for McLaren. He dominated the F3 championship over the next two seasons. By the start of 2007 McLaren needed a driver to replace the departing Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen, and world F1 racing needed a new star to replace the retired Schumacher. Lewis Hamilton stepped up to take on both challenges. He finished third on his debut at the Australian Grand Prix and set a record of nine consecutive appearances on the podium on his first nine appearances. Hamilton achieved his first victory in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal and became the youngest driver to lead the World Championship. The question of his ethnicity – he is the first black driver to compete in Formula 1 – which had seemed to be so important earlier vanquished the moment young Hamilton took his first corner, and the world held its breath: for the international media there is just so much to say about him now than to bother about his ethnic origin.