Briggs: We won’t get lost in France
CLARKSON DESPERATE TO HEAL PAIN OF DROP
FEATHERSTONE half-back Kyle Briggs has urged his part-time team-mates not to sit back on their solitary point so far in the Qualifiers ahead of their testing trip to France. Briggs said: “Every game is a must-win for us – we’re not happy with the one point, we want more. We want to challenge ourselves against these Super League clubs. “Catalans are struggling and hopefully we can do something over there.”
THE eyes of the boxing world are on Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez, who do battle next week for the WBA/WBC/ IBF middleweight straps in Las Vegas.
On the same night in London, Billy Joe Saunders defends the fourth middleweight crown of note – the WBO belt against Willie Monroe Jr.
If Saunders wants any part of the big two in the division he must put on a show. Saunders is going through a transition. He’s been out for nine months, changed trainer and claims he has a new outlook.
Though Monroe was dispatched in six rounds by Golovkin two years ago, that is not necessarily representative.
His victory over the dangerous Gabriel Rosado last time out marks him out as a threat. Saunders did not look good against Artur Akavov last December, so he has a point to prove if he wants to get Golovkin or Alvarez into a ring.
Saunders looks in good shape, so it will be interesting to see how he performs.
He was impressive against Chris Eubank Jr (both, above), utilising his speed and accuracy to nullify the Eubank threat. He has great intensity, throws a lot of punches and has a few gears.
But to use those gears effectively you have to be in the right shape physically and mentally. And the two are linked.
Saunders has had problems blowing up between fights. Like a lot of boxers, the most difficult opponent is the scales not another fighter.
Most normally go a stone, maybe a stone-and-a-half above their weight. I would get up to 10st 7lb, but without discipline I might have topped 11 stones.
In my day, you weighed in the day you fought. So we would get within a couple of pounds of the nine-stone featherweight limit two weeks out and hold it.
This generation can be 10 pounds over three days before the fight. They dry out rapidly knowing they might have 30 hours to rehydrate.
This can be debilitating not to say dangerous. The governing bodies are taking steps to monitor weight loss with regular checks, but ultimately it has to be driven by the athlete.
Monroe, a southpaw like Saunders, is tough. He knows he is not fighting a Golovkin and sees this as an opportunity.
Saunders should have enough, yet it is not necessarily about this fight but his career over the next 18 months. And that will take all the discipline he has.