British Boxing Is Hot Again!
By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart
There are plenty who thought that he did not deserve what came his way next. He had been able to reach that summit through determination, hard work and not a little luck but from the WBO welterweight title fight with Jeff Horn, 18-0-1, 12 KO’s, on the 13th December everyone should know Gary Corcoran’s, name, 17-2, 7 KO’s.
The Londoner and next on the Gypsy line, following Billy Joe Saunders and Tyson Fury unsuccessfully bid to become a world champion by taking on Horn, in his own backyard – Brisbane, Australia, where even the Lord Mayor is related to Horn – to try and catapult his career from the UK into international stardom. Corcoran had been working hard to ensure his name was on the right lips and made a decent fist of it over the 11 rounds he was still standing. He was left with stitches as a reminder of the battle but no belt.
Unlike fellow travellers Saunders and Fury, Corcoran has a reputation for being a serious boxer who sees his career pathway as part of an overall strategy that does more than just feed his family. He wants other travelling men and women to come into the realm of the professional game and show, to them and the world, that it can be done for travelling folk in the way that it is standard for other who come from more “traditional” backgrounds.
Corcoran’s shot at the title came courtesy of the fact that he beat Larry Ekundayo, 12-1, 3 KO’s, on a split decision, for the WBO intercontinental title – he won the belt in that fight for the second time – and this highly competitive fighter knew then he was likely to be in the mix for some kind of world stage as a result of it.
His pathway to the Horn fight had included previously winning the WBO intercontinental belt by beating another Brit, Danny Butler, 27-6, 9 KO’s. perhaps high on the win, straight afterwards he suffered his first defeat when fighting for the British title against Liam Williams, 16-2-1, 11 KO’s – no disgrace.
Further back we can see how Corcoran’s upbringing was a massive help for his career as he is one of no fewer than 12 brothers; he was always in a competitive environment. Honing his skills became much easier when 8 of them happened to love boxing so sparring was hardly a big issue!
As a fighter he is fiercesome. Horn faced a guy used to fighting for every scrap and his style, which has earned him his nickname – Hell Raiser – is very apt as he showed.
Corcoran demonstrated ably that he is able to mix it, box out of trouble or get into a toe to toe confrontation. There are plenty in the UK though that do not think Corcoran deserved to be in the ring with a guy who himself was a massive underdog in his battle with Manny Pacquiao.
The issue for many is not that he is not an able boxer, but his list of opponents is a little more Deontay Wilder than anything else – less top ten than simply upright. Ahead of him in the UK rankings comes Kell Brook, 36-2, 25 KO’s, Bradley Skeete, 27-1, 12 KO’s, and Frankie Gavin, 25-3, 15 KO’s.
Brook has his own trajectory, Gavin meanwhile follows a pathway nobody seems to be able to fathom but Skeete has the one legitimate beef. Ironically Skeete’s only defeat was at the hands of Mr Gavin, but Skeete has won the Lonsdale belt outright, been European and Commonwealth champion and is now very ready to step up – why is he not being mentioned as a future opponent?
Perhaps because Horn is chasing a certain Mr Crawford and a date in the USA that could bring Millions rather than a few hundred thousand.
It’s unfair.
Skeete is also ranked 13 by the WBC, 7 by the IBF and 3 by the WBO. Corcoran, by comparison, is only in the WBO top ten – and is tenth. With such a slim boxing background with which to pitch for world honors it has not gone down well as to how Corcoran got the invite!
Corcoran got the call – literally – when out shopping with his wife which told him he would be heading to Australia to fight Horn for the WBO belt. It took him a while to sort it out in his own head but seconds to accept the fight; he was very sure he could take the fight and doubly sure he could win. As it turns out that call brought him to a fight he was unable to win but what next could be far more fruitful for Corcoran. After a world title defeat you do not want to go back down to the domestic level.
The issue perhaps was that Jeff Horn maybe looked at the rankings and thought – what would be an easy first defence? Tell you what, let’s make it the guy who is in tenth spot; that is almost always a big mistake, eh Mr DeGale?
Gary Corcoran is a very determined fighter who will take more away from Australia than he shall bring. What he does bring is bags of energy backed up by massive amounts of boxing ability. All that is missing is a belt and he reckoned, as many of us did that might just be an oversight and hoped that was going to be settled on the 13th December.
The wait, however, continues…
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