Maloney: The Path to Glory begins through revenge

19/10/2006

Maloney: The Path to Glory begins through revenge

The 1980’s saw a golden era in world boxing when we had the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran. Fans were enthralled in the epic meetings of these fighters and even now the popularity of these legends continues. The 1990’s then saw another golden era, this time in British boxing when Lennox Lewis, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Naseem Hamed all dominated the scene.
 
But all sports experience lull phases as well and boxing is no exception as it is currently going through such a period. In a world where the heavyweight scene is dominated by fighters from the former Soviet Union, who are unknown to the general public, and a domestic scene which is still failing to produce any superstars, who will turnout to be the saviour of British boxing?
 
Could it be Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton or Amir Khan? Or will it be the name on most people’s lips?  A man with the looks, personality, astonishing punching power and classy skills; cruiserweight sensation David “Hayemaker” Haye. Could this be the new John Conteh, Lennox Lewis and Nigel Benn all rolled into one?
 
On November 17 at the historic York Hall at Bethnal Green, London, you can judge for yourself as David Haye tops the bill in a WBC world title final eliminator and third defence of his European Cruiserweight title.  On November 17, Haye is 36 minutes or less away from achieving his dream.
 
But first David needs to take care of a little bit of unfinished business.
 
In 1999, Haye took on the Italian, Giacobbe Fragomeni, in an amateur bout to secure his spot and represent his country at the 2000 Olympic games. David lost this fight and never got to the Olympics. Seven years on and Haye still feels aggrieved that he was the victim of a blatant robbery which cost him his place on the team. Now he has a chance to avenge this defeat when they both meet as professionals on the November 17 show.
 
Fragomeni comes to the York Hall with an impressive 21 win unbeaten record, aggressive crowd pleasing style and no fear of fighting in David’s hometown, knowing he already holds a victory over the classy Brit. But this time David has the chance to put the 1999 nightmare behind him and prove to the boxing public that he is the number one cruiserweight in the world and the saviour of British boxing.

On being told this fight was being made, David said “I'm looking forward to putting the record straight against Fragomeni.  I've never forgotten that night I was ripped off,  this time I won't leave it to the judges. Expect a knock-out win from me. It should be a really action packed, explosive fight. Expect fireworks on November 17, that’s for sure.”
 
Maloney Promotions presents the WBC Final Eliminator between David Haye and Giacobbe Fragomeni for the European Cruiserweight Champion on November 17, 2006 at York Hall in London, England. Tickets are available by logging onto www.frankmaloney.com or by calling the Maloney Promotions box office at 0871 226 1508.