The Magnificent Seven, what happens next?
At the end of the Magnificent Seven, Yul Brynner utters the immortal line "Only the farmers won. We lost. We always lose." It’s highly unlikely Frank Warren reiterated those thoughts as he rode off into the sunset having put on one of his finest shows in recent memory.
His stable has been enhanced both publicly and professionally, it was a thrilling and dramatic night of boxing and to top it all off the wily promoter probably made a fair whack of cash. In fact the only people who didn’t win were farmers around the country who were probably too busy feeding their sheep and fixing fences to settle down in front of the TV and watch a great night of sport.
As the dust settles its worth looking at how the home-grown talent faired and where they go next after Saturday night’s smorgasbord of boxing treats.
Nathan Cleverly
Arguably the fighter to come out the best of the Magnificent Seven is Welshman Nathan Cleverly who showed grit and determination to grind past a discommodious Karo Murat.
The victory leaves Cleverly with a clear run at the WBO title, however the slight problem with the light-heavyweight prospect is that he is almost improving too quickly. “Clev” gobbled up British and Commonwealth titles in no time and raised his game straight to a fighter of Murat’s quality. While he is a tremendously talented boxer he could perhaps do with a few more rounds and building up a bit more experience against some of the older pros before embarking on an assault on the fiercely competitive 12-and-a-half stone division.
Still he came through a war to take the win and, aside from a few mistakes that let Murat in, he showed he could stand up in a heated battle. It was a fantastic performance and it will be interesting to see what move the 23-year-old makes next because with the likes of Jean Pascal, Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud knocking about there will be no settling in period when he joins the elite.
Jürgen Brähmer awaits the maths graduate if he takes up the mandatory, however the German may find himself incarcerated as he faces prison over assault allegations which could see Clev handed the title outright as No.1 contender.
Whatever’s in store for Cleverly next he is certainly set for big things.
Derek Chisora
Say what you like about Derek Chisora by the Zimbabwean-born, Finchley-raised fighter matches his big talk with a big walk. Despite his bizarre executioner style entrance the Londoner enhanced his reputation no end with a comfortably victory over Sam Sexton with a ninth-round KO to keep up his unbeaten record, taking it up to 14 fights and nine KO’s.
Chisora is a rarity in the fact he is a young heavyweight prospect which is unheard of in today’s boxing world. He has plenty of power and is sure not short on confidence, but can he gatecrash the party at elite level?
In America they send a prospect over to Germany to get smashed by a Klitschko about three times a year and Chisora will want to avoid becoming one of those. Right now it’s hard to see how “Del Boy” would deal with a Klitschko jab, despite the fact he has surprisingly good balance and movement for a big guy. Word on the street is that Warren is looking towards Nicolay Valuev as Chisora’s next opponent and that would be a huge test in more ways than one for the British champion. He has run out of fights domestically, unless Tyson Fury steps up, and so he may need to look across Europe in order to progress, European champ Alexander Dimitrenko might be a good shout.
Kel Brook
Although Sheffield’s Kel Brook won his bout against Michael Jennings and further proved himself as the best young prospect in the country he was hit by the bad news that his win made him the No.1 contender for Manny Pacquiao’s WBO title, a position no-one would relish.
The slick-fisted youngster banged his way past Jennings in a slightly off tempo encounter that was stopped on cuts. Brook didn’t really get his rhythm going in a flat fight, but he did manage to stop the Chorley fighter in the same amount of time Miguel Cotto did.
For the time being “Special K” may want to stay away from Pacman but he does have the talent, skill and technique to take it up to the big stage and should commence his assault on the elite soon. Perhaps some like an ageing “Sugar” Shane Mosley or someone on the fringes of the big names like Joshua Clottey would be a good move next.
Enzo Maccarinelli
The biggest casualty of the night in more ways than one Enzo Maccarinelli who’s career hangs by a thread following his devastating defeat to Alexander Frenkel. A sickening knockout after some ridiculously poor referring saw the big Welshman out cold on the canvas as his Lazarus-like comeback was put on ice along with his jaw.
After three successive first-round KO victories Maccarinelli was riding in on a high, but Frenkel was in a different class to those other fighters and dispatched the EBU champ with two knockdowns in a flurry of combos in the seventh.
It’s a shame because “Big Mac” seems like a thoroughly nice guy but his chin just doesn’t stand up to the best and he relies too much on one-punch knockouts. He did well in the early rounds but Frenkel had too much power in the end. It looked very bad for him when he went down cold and required gas and air in the ring. The ref should have stopped the fight on the first knockdown, and it was incredibly poor judgement to let one-time WBO champ continue on for a few more seconds as he was out on his feet and the KO was quite horrific. Hopefully this should be the last we see of Maccarinelli in the ring.
James DeGale
James DeGale’s first-round KO of Carl Dilks showed that “Chunky” is one h**l of a talent and a man of his word. DeGale's Scouse rival asked for it by mouthing off to the Olympic gold medallist in the press conference and he got his comeuppance as class and skill prevailed in no time at all.
What now for DeGale is hard to say but this should be his last fight at mid-lower domestic level. He may as well have another bout soon because he put in all that training for one round. He gets a British title shot after beating Dilks against the very good Paul Smith and that is a perfect fight for DeGale, a proper step up in class and a stern test of his resolve.
DeGale called out George Groves after the fight, who is his old rival since their amateur days, but it’s too soon for that fight. It will be better to save it up for when both fighters are further along in their careers because that is shaping up to be a real doozey of Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn proportions.
Mathew Macklin
It was a messy victory for Macklin as he awkwardly defeated substitute Shalva Jomardashvili in five rounds. It looked like a case of the old Macklin trudging through lesser opponents rather than raising his game, it’s a shame Darren Barker can’t maintain his fitness for long enough o have a fight with “Mack the knife”, instead he must now must look in other directions to defend his European title, preferably someone with a bit of talent.
Word is he is looking towards IBF middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester and that’s the sort of test he needs. The Birmingham born Irishman has reinvented under the tutelage of Freddie Roach but needs to find that consistency if he wants to break into the top level.
Frankie Gavin
It’s as you were for Frankie Gavin. The fantastic prospect became a plastic paddy by winning the Irish title, his first-ever belt.
There is no denying Gavin is ridiculous talented and this fight brings the well rounded southpaw’s record up to 8-0-0 with seven KO’s.
He saw off Michael Kelly in five rounds with his normal quick fists and frightening accuracy. All that the light-welterweight needs to do now is carry on his education. Lenny Daws holds the British belt and “Funtime” probably has him in his sights but may take the opportunity to have one or two more tune-ups first.
Don Broadhurst
It was total disaster for Don Broadhurst whose career needs a major boost after he suffered his second successive defeat. The Brummie was undefeated until his loss to Lee Haskins late last year, however his defeat to Naja Ali, a fighter who went in with a three wins two losses card was completely unexpected.
It was “The Don’s” first fight at bantamweight level and probably his last after he was outpointed and quite comprehensibly beaten by Ali, who was delighted to collect the vacant master’s title. Its worrying times for Broadhurst who must now step back down to super-featherweight and possibly faces a career stuck in the domestics if he can’t find some of that talent that made him a prospect.
One other fighter not mentioned was Matthew Hall who was out-grinded by the industrial Lukas Konecny. It was like watching Hall fight a slightly better version of himself, the honourable fighter recognised this and retired immediately after the fight, saying he didn’t want to scrap out a career at domestic level. So long “El Torito” and well done for all your whole hearted efforts over the years.
So all in all a great night for the future of British boxing and I am sure Warren is delighted to have them all in his stable having lost Amir Khan, Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton over recent years.
Yul Brynner followed up the Magnificent Seven with the quite frankly dreadful rehash Return of the Seven. Let’s hope Warren’s got something a bit better than that up his sleeve for his December follow up.
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