The fighting men of the Travelling community (of whom there are plenty) have long prided themselves on their courage and integrity in the ring while consistently falling short at the highest level after giving false hope to their thousands of scattered supporters, from the west of Ireland to various points around the North Circular and far beyond.
But Billy Joe Saunders, who grew up on a site in Hatfield, the grandson of a renowned bareknuckle champion, and Tyson Fury, from Manchester via the planet Mars and the son of Gypsy John Fury, may be about to deliver on that collective dreaming in 2015.
Both won fights in London on Saturday night that put them within reach of being crowned world champions. Saunders, in shackling Chris Eubank Jr’s late assault convincingly enough to escape with a split decision in their triple-championship middleweight bout, will get the first chance, in London in February.
Fury, who turned Dereck Chisora from legitimate, gnarled contender into struggling trial horse in 10 one-sided rounds of a bout that started shortly before the last trains left from the two stops near the ExCel Arena, moved closer to a shot at the consistently best heavyweight in the world over the past decade, Wladimir Klitschko, probably in Germany in mid-summer.
Saunders’ promoter, Frank Warren, confirmed that the unbeaten British, European and Commonwealth champion would get his world title opportunity at the O2 Arena in Greenwich on 25 February against either the former Russian amateur star Matt Korobov or “Irish” Andy Lee (born in Bow but another Gypsy fighter), who contest the WBO’s vacant “world” version of the title in Las Vegas on 13 December.
As Warren pointed out: “[The venue] depends on who wins the fight. Obviously if it’s Lee that will make it more of a domestic affair.” You could say that. It would be a night of high drama in every conceivable way, from the ring to the back of the arena, a unique occasion to savour.
Saunders said: “Since I started boxing [on the campsites at the age of five] all I wanted to be was world champion. Frank’s delivered that now.
“We’re sat back and [will] see who wins out of Korobov and Lee. Good luck to whoever wins. It’s not who I want to win, it’s who deserves to win, who trains the hardest and who deserves it. You’ve got to go with Korobov, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Lee takes him. He’s got very good range, and we haven’t seen the best of him.”
Lee’s career was drifting until he joined Andy Booth, after the departure from that London camp of the heavyweights David Price and David Haye, and he pulled off a come-from-behind shock win in his last fight to knock out the well-considered John Jackson with a peach of a punch off the ropes in round five. That earned him his unexpected chance against the 31-year-old Korobov, who is unbeaten in 24 pro fights, 14 of them finishing early.
Korobov was twice world amateur champion and turned over, moving to Florida, after losing in the 2008 Olympics to the eventual champion, Bakhtiyar Artayev. As Saunders, a keen student of his sport, said: “Korobov hasn’t come through as good as he was as an amateur. Living in Russia, gone to America, got a bit of fame, a few quid, maybe he’s taken his eye off the ball a little bit. But it’s still a world title and they’ll both be geed up for it.”
Saunders knows he will have to sharpen his boxing to make a mark at the highest level, after getting drawn into a slugging match with Eubank and doing well to come through a hellish 12th round.
One judge gave it to Eubank 116-113 while the other two officials saw Saunders winning by margins of 115-114 and 115-113. I had it a draw, Eubank winning every round from the eighth onwards, although a good argument could be made for giving close rounds in mid-fight to Saunders.
As for Fury, his twice-postponed fight with Chisora was an anticlimax that led, with painful inevitability, to the Londoner agreeing with Warren at the end of 10 one-sided rounds that he had nothing left to give. It is unusual for a promoter to make such an intervention, although Warren has done so before, notably when Vitali Klitschko beat brave Danny Williams to a pulp several years ago.
It is unlikely Fury would put up with any outside call if he were to get into difficulty against Klitschko’s brother, Wladimir, who is due to defend his titles again in March. “Within a month of that,” Warren said, “we either agree on terms or it goes to purse bids. He will have to defend four months from March.”
That would take the fixture into high summer and Warren promised to “do all we can” to persuade Klitschko to come to the UK. Good luck.
