Booth a lucky man?

January is the season for New Year’s resolutions, sales and sackings – it would seem.

January has seen Darren Ferguson & Brian Lawes depart from Preston North End and Burnley respectively in the Championship. Poor form from their sides has seen managers Carlo Ancelotti, Roy Hodgson and Avram Grant come under monumental pressure, however still they find themselves in their jobs, for now.

NFL franchise chiefs have shown a cut throat attitude now that the regular season is over. Mike Singletary was fired by the San Francisco 49ers after a 25-17 to the St Louis Rams saw them miss out on the play-offs for the eighth consecutive year. Eric Mangini, after just his second season in charge was disposed of by the Cleveland Browns after guiding the franchise to a second straight 5-11 season.

In rugby union Sale Sharks academy coach saw the head coaching role handed to him following the sacking of ex-New Zealand international Mike Brewer. His departure came after just seven months since taking over from Jason Robinson.

Having struggled to 10^th in the Aviva Premiership the Sharks won just three out of their nine fixtures under Brewer’s tenure. The clubs unlikelihood with regard to their progression in the Amlin Challenge Cup was also cited as a reason for him being shown the door.

Therefore, having seen London Irish slump to a ninth straight defeat in all competitions it begs the question; is Toby Booth the luckiest man in world sport to still have a job?

Irish’s last win came at the very end of October, beating Sale Sharks 39-26 at the Madejski. Since then Booth’s side have lost two LV=Cup games, five in Aviva Premiership and the Heineken Cup double header with the Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon.

Having said this however the Reading based club still find themselves as play-off contenders, trailing Wasps by just two points. Having said this however Irish look more like relegation fighters rather than championship contenders.

The Exiles came within seconds of ending their baron run of form last weekend at home to Bath, leading for much of the contest only to gift Olly Barkley with the chance to snatch the game with a penalty from in front of the posts.

Booth could only describe a feeling of disbelief after the final whistle. “When you score three tries and concede one you expect to win the game.”

“I have got a dressing room full of people in disbelief. I felt we did enough to win the game but we didn’t. Discipline cost us the game.”

London Irish will hope to turn things round in their first game of 2011 as they visit Gavin Henson’s Saracens. Although the Exiles are exhibiting form worthy of relegation fighters Booth insists his side will not stop playing the attacking rugby that has become their trademark.

“If I say ‘kick the corners, let’s not run the ball’, we are making ourselves get narrower and tighter and before long we have nothing left. That is why you have to be positive in everything you do. With the right attitude and effort things will come good for you.”

Sale Sharks turned things around against Saracens last week to claim just their fourth Aviva Premiership win of the season. London Irish will hope to do the same at Vicarage Road on Sunday in an effort to avoid their 10^th consecutive loss.

Klitschko's up to their old tricks again?

It appears that the Klitschko’s are not keeping up to their perceived reputation of clear-cut and transparent as talks for both Wladimir & Vitali’s up-coming title defences' stall.

The younger of the two, Wladimir, had been set to face Englishman Dereck Chisora on December 11 in Mannheim, Germany only for him to pull out as a result of an abdominal muscle tear. Questions, however, continue to linger over the existence of this injury.

Originally Wlad’s representative Shelly Finkel described it as a back injury. Nevertheless back injury or abdominal tear either injury surely would keep an athlete away from the golf course for many weeks, you would think. Apparently not, 11 days after his supposed injury severe enough to keep him from making his title defence he was pictured on the golf course.

Klitschko was questioned about his golfing endeavours that weekend by German newspaper Bild, claiming: “That was no real golf, I can’t even think about that.” He went onto add, “I just held the club of a short time for a TV-documentary about my life.” The pictures of Wladimir on Florida’s Palm Beach Resort and Spa seem to suggest otherwise.

Wladimir’s golfing stunt has been added to by the news that Vitali, the elder of the two brothers, had been photographed in the company of Ramzan Kadyov. Vitali appears to make a habit of indulging in the company or Mr Kadyov, branded as a ‘sadistic Muslim dictator’ by some, as the two were seen together in the Chechnyan’s native country.

I think it is fair to say that K-2, the Klitschko’s promotional company will be pushing hard in order to make their respective fights happen in an attempt to gloss over this PR double-bogey. Should a fight with David Haye be made for Wlad all will be forgiven.

Now to the boxing and negotiations for both of the brother’s prospective fights, negotiations are ongoing. Wladimir wants to fight WBA king David Haye whereas Vitali has a mandatory defence to make against Odlanier Solis.

People continue to question who persists in stalling negotiations between Haye and the brothers. Solis has shed light upon this claiming that: “The Klitschkos’ arrogance really pisses me off”.

“My promoter informed me about every step in the negotiations and it looks to me like Vitali is trying to take advantage of me. I will make him pay for that. This is not about money – it’s about respect. .”

Solis, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist defected from his native Cuba in December 2006 during training in Venezuela for the Pan-America Games. After escaping to Colombia, he arrived in Miami where he now resides.

“All I can say is that now I understand why the fight between David Haye and either Klitschko hasn’t happened so far. Until now I thought Haye was afraid. But if the Klitschkos are always as arrogant as they present themselves in our negotiations, I have to say that I understand Haye for not signing a contract. “

Now it appears that Wladimir is running Haye through the mill in their own negotiations. TV money is no longer a problem; Haye has agreed to split all revenues from the fight evenly even though he brings in more cash.

However the IBF, IBO and WBO champion now wants a German doctor in his corner; demanding that his name goes first on all advertising; and that Haye enters the ring first as he only holds the WBA title.

This news somewhat contradicts the views of Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer who on Monday suggested that the only sticking point was finding a date in the congested European football calendar that could accommodate the television networks.

With all these new revelations, Wladimir’s feigning of an abdominal/back injury, Vitali’s association with a Muslim dictator, the stagnation of talks with the Solis camp and K-2 up to their old tricks in the negotiations with Hayemaker promotions it begs a question. Are the Klitschko’s the mild mannered, gentlemen of heavyweight boxing that they would like us to believe?

Adam Booth makes the point in his discussion with Bernd Boente. Klitschko’s promoter, that perhaps their negotiations should be done in public so transparency is achieve and the fans who clearly want to see this fight happen get what they want.

I for one believe that boxing is suffering as a result of prolonged and difficult negotiations stopping the mega-fights from happening, and it appears to be the fault of the Klitschko’s in this instance. Such ‘problem’ negotiations between Top Rank & Golden Boy have already seen a prospective Manny Pacquiao Floyd Mayweather remain a dream for boxing fans but can the heavyweight division afford a David Haye Klitschko bout not to happen?

If it doesn’t come to fruition the heavyweight division, in my belief, will continue to die the death it has been doing since the retirement of the last heavyweight king Lennox Lewis.

The Gavin Henson circus continues to roll on

Gavin Henson marked his first start in competitive rugby with an abject 53 minutes in Saracens 28-22 defeat at Sale.

With the Wales’ Six Nations curtain raiser just a month away the question is whether or not Henson will find himself in Warren Gatland’s squad. Former Wales fly-half and rugby league great Jonathan Davies for one thinks not.

“Henson doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near the squad and I think everyone is fed up with it.”

In his unfavoured position of outside centre fake-tan clad Henson managed just three touches of the ball. The former Strictly Come Dancing competitor later being removed from the field to a chorus of mocking wolf-whistles before a Saracens fight back set up a thrilling final quarter.

Henson however did make a good contribution in Saracens Boxing Day clash with Wasps at Wembley coming off the bench. Not enough to suggest though that he is deserving of inclusion in Wales’ Six Nations squad.

On Monday Henson made his first real step towards Wales selection after being asked to link up with the national squad for pre-Six Nations testing. The conditioning assessment that took place at the Vale of Glamorgan base sees the Saracen’s centre’s first official involvement for almost two years.

It is Henson’s belief that he needs just two games to prove his worth and value to Welsh rugby. The Double Grand Slam winner’s last cap came against Ireland in March 2009 before his self-imposed rugby exile. An exile that saw his private life played out in many of the tabloid newspapers, seperating from pop-star girlfriend Charlotte Church.

As Wales clearly look to build towards a strong showing at the World Cup in New Zealand in the autumn it is Wales great Brynmor Williams’ belief that there is still room for Henson, but at full-back.

“We’ve got no strength in depth at full-back; Lee Byrne hasn’t been playing very well although he’s got the potential to be an outstanding contributor. Why no Henson at full-back? It’s a bit of an easier position to bring him in [than Henson’s preferred positions of inside centre or fly-half].”

Jonathan Davies on the other hand is of the belief that Henson should be “nowhere near the Wales squad. Unless he plays he is not considered, simple as that . . . you can’t pick a guy on the reputation of one or two games.”

Injury worries will hamper Wales’ preparations for the forthcoming Six Nations, a team that have won just two of their last 13 games. Shane Williams (shoulder), fly-half Stephen Jones (knee ligaments) and full-back Lee Byrne (thumb) all face races against time to be fully fit ahead of the Millennium Stadium clash with a rejuvenated England side.

Gavin Henson however looks intent of waltzing his way into the Wales side for this game, hardly setting the world alight whilst doing so.

UFC fans given a late Christmas present at UFC 125

We may have had the pleasure of seeing 2011’s fight of the year on the very first day of the year at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

UFC 125 played host to a lightweight championship battle between holder Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar and challenger Gray ‘The Bully’ Maynard, ending in a draw.

Scores were 48-46 Maynard, 48-46 Edgar, and 47-47. All three judges scored the first round 10-8 in favour of Maynard.

To all the fight looked over within minutes of the opening bell. Maynard landed with a left hook a minute in dropping Edgar. Edgar rolled out of trouble only to be sent back to the canvas by a right uppercut. To say Frankie Edgar knew exactly what was going on in the Octagon at that moment in time would have been very generous. The man from New Jersey himself admitted post-fight that “it felt like the first round didn’t happen’.

With three minutes of the first round left Edgar needed to weather the huge Maynard storm. With blood running from his nose Edgar walked into another right uppercut, hands low and chin out. His legs wobbled again and up against the cage the champion seemed on the verge of defeat. To his credit though, ‘The Answer’ came up with exactly that. With his foot work back to how it was in the opening minute and his hands up he fought back to survive the most disastrous of opening rounds.

In the second Edgar was resurgent, opening up with a high head kick and goading his opponent with a number of punches. Maynard attempted to put into practice his bullying tactics, striding forward openly only to be caught on a number of occasions, causing a cut beneath his left eye.

In an attempt to take the fight to the floor Maynard shot for his first takedown of the fight only to be stopped by a resurgent Edgar. A huge power slam to the canvas followed, igniting the Nevada crowd. Edgar stuffed a second takedown attempt from ‘The Bully’ and a right hand to the face at the end of the round with swung the momentum in his favour.

After stern words from his corner-men it appeared Maynard had regained his composure for the third. Edgar continued with his stick and move strategy, his superior boxing and takedown defence preventing the challenger gaining a real foot-hold in the fight.

Maynard however continued to plod forward, his persistence paying off as he drew blood again from the nose of the champion along with a takedown in the final minute. Edgar however showed his wrestling abilities off his back locking in a guillotine choke before the bell before the bell came to ‘The Bully’s’ aide.

The third round could have been scored to either fighter; the fourth was in no doubt as Edgar went on the offensive. Two takedowns and an attempted guillotine choke saw the champ take the initative. Maynard continued to walk his opponent down but was made to pay as he was picked off when in range.

With the fight entering the final round and the contest in the balance each punch carried the weight of the title on it. The second half of the round would be where it was won and lost. Both fighters stuffed one-another’s takedown attempts therefore going toe-to-toe until the final bell.

Edgar’s record now stands at 13-1-1; Maynard remains unbeaten at 11-0-1 with 1 no contest.