Calzaghe's date with the Executioner

World champion for eleven consecutive years. Unbeaten in 15 years as a professional. Joe Calzaghe’s career stats make impressive reading, yet it isn’t really until last year that the public began to give him the recognition he has deserved. His fight in November against Mikkel Kessler made him undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world, and he went on to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year. The only other boxer to win the award in the past twenty years was Lennox Lewis in 1999.



Calzaghe will put his unbeaten record on the line in Las Vegas on the 19th April when he faces Bernard Hopkins at light heavyweight. It perhaps suggests the power dynamic in boxing that the two top British boxers, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe, have both had to step up a weight and travel to the USA to land their dream fights. James Finch, a 32 year old accountant thinks that this is "One of Calzaghe’s toughest fights to date. He's stepping into America for the first time and that could work for or against him. If he handles the pressure of being over there he’s certainly the favourite and I’d have loved to have seen this fight five years ago when arguably both fighters would’ve been in their prime."




Calzaghe’s first fight at light heavy will not be an easy one, but he will go into it as firm favourite over 43 year old Hopkins. The American, nicknamed ‘The Executioner’ is one of only 7 fighters in history, a list including Calzaghe, that has reigned as world champion for ten consecutive years. Hopkins will use all his experience in the ring, and will have many tricks up his sleeve that he has learned over the twenty year span of his career.

Calzaghe’s critics highlight the fact that the Welshman has no really big names on his CV, but there has not been many out there for him to fight over the past decade. A victory against Hopkins would go someway to correcting this and could well lead to a fight against the other big US name of the time, Roy Jones Jr. Defeat for Joe though and the critics will say that it proves what they have always said that his record is a false one established against inferior fighters. Thomas Cranford, 54, had this to say; "This is possibly the first real test of his career. Yes he has a fine unbeaten record, but its disappointing he hasn’t really had the big names yet. If he wins this one he’ll certainly be a household name in America." For the big Welshman then, there is everything to lose, but victory would go even further to cementing his place in the boxing hall of fame.



Useful links:

BBC sports build up in pictures
British boxing preview
Calzaghe Hopkins official fight promo on Youtube
Calzaghe career highlight video on Youtube

The rise of British boxing

The past year has seen British boxers rise to the top of the public’s attention in the UK. 50,000 fans were in the Millennium stadium in Cardiff to see Joe Calzaghe defeat Mikkel Kessler last November, and over 1 million people purchased the Ricky Hatton v Floyd Mayweather fight on Sky pay per view last December. With other top fighters such as David Haye, Amir Khan and Enzo Maccarinelli, boxing is really booming here.

The success looks set to continue this summer, with 7 fighters already guaranteed a place in the Beijing Olympics, and potentially up to 11 qualifying. The Olympics provide a great platform to shine in front of television viewers that may not have seen the sport before or been sceptical about its quality. The Athens Games saw the emergence of a 17 year old Amir Khan who caught the public’s imagination, and a similar star may rise in the Far East.

Boxing is not without its detractors though. Clearly there are ever present risks of serious injury, and to many the violent nature of the sport makes it a barbaric past time for thugs and hooligans. Risks exist in many sports though. Downhill skiing, the luge, motor racing to name but a few where competitors participate knowing that one false move can result in serious injury, even death. With a professional referee, and sensible trainers a fighter in trouble should be stopped before serious damage is done.

Boxing though has proved the undoubted benefits it can have in run down communities. Many rough areas have seen boxing gyms save youngsters from turning to a life of drugs and crime. Boxing can channel the energy and anger of children who may have had a hard upbringing or fallen in with bad influences. It also has the benefit of providing a place to go, meet friends and interact with others for young children whose only meeting place otherwise is a street corner.

Useful links:

BBC sport Olympics

The Guardian blog anti-boxing

Video on Youtube

Top ten British boxers

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This is a map I created for my digital newsroom assignment 2. It shows the top ten British boxers and their home towns based on the rankings on the BBC sport website.

England v New Zealand 4th test

I made this video using pictures taken from www.flickr.com of England's 4th test of their tour of New Zealand last month.

England's test series with New Zealand begins today and the big selection news is Tim Ambrose making his debut at wicket keeper. Writing for BBC Sport, Jonathan Agnew had this to say of the decision; "It rather sums up England's progress over the last couple of years that Tim Ambrose will become the seventh wicket-keeper to pull on the gloves since midway through the last Ashes tour."

On the Guardian website, Lawrence Booth also mentions this statistic; "Australian-born Ambrose will become England's seventh wicketkeeper since the retirement of Alec Stewart in 2003 - a statistic that increasingly resembles a stain on the selectors' copybook and places an intolerable burden on the shoulders of the softly spoken 25-year-old. Rightly or wrongly, one missed catch will trigger off the whole debate all over again."

A big boost for England is the recovery from injury of Ryan Sidebottom, who probably showed the best form of the England bowlers during the recent one day series. "The recovery of Nottinghamshire left-arm seamer Sidebottom was a major fillip for England." (BBC Sport)

England captain Michael Vaughn has called for a big performance from his side. Quoted on The Times website Vaughn said; "The senior players have to pass on as much knowledge as they can to the other players but collectively we all have to perform. You don't win Test series with individuals, you win them by everyone mucking in together, working hard and really fighting for each other."

England go into the match as strong favourites and have a point to prove after their disappointing performances in the one day series. Geoffrey Boycott for The Daily Telegraph sees anything over than a convincing win as a let down; "England really need to beat New Zealand in the Test matches. Against a weak team, denuded by retirements and defections, anything else would be a pretty poor show."

Links:
Jonathan Agnew - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2008/03/england_must_beat_weakened_kiw_1.shtml
Lawrence Booth - http://sport.guardian.co.uk/englandinnewzealand2008/story/0,,2261603,00.html
BBC Sport match preview - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/7273490.stm
The Times - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article3481017.ece
Geoffrey Boycott - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/03/03/scboyc103.xml

This is a video I made as part of a practice exercise for my JN2053 module work. We had to collect images from www.flickr.com to illustrate an imaginary walk through preston from Avenham Park to the Foster Building.

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This is a practice exercise as part of the work I am doing for my JN2053 module. We had to create a map using Google maps. My map shows the Foster Building, part of the University, as well as West View Leisure Centre, with a link to a story about it.