It was close but Joe Calzhage won the light heavyweight championship earlier this morning against Bernard Hopkins.
Pound for pound, Joe is probably the best boxer in the world today and there aren't many who could to the US and win a championship belt there. He has been a great ambassador for Wales and has probably done more to raise the profile of the country than any other sportsman in recent times.
My father loves boxing ever since he became a useful welterweight in the Army and, ever since he let me stay up to watch the Frazier-Ali fight in 1971, I have been hooked as well.
There is talk of final match against the equally great Roy Jones here in Cardiff before he retires, hopefully undefeated like that other great Italian descendant, Rocky Marciano.
That could really raise the profile of Wales globally and I hope, unlike with the Kessler fight, that the Assembly Government make the most of the opportunity to sell Wales round the world.
Pound for pound, Joe is probably the best boxer in the world today and there aren't many who could to the US and win a championship belt there. He has been a great ambassador for Wales and has probably done more to raise the profile of the country than any other sportsman in recent times.
My father loves boxing ever since he became a useful welterweight in the Army and, ever since he let me stay up to watch the Frazier-Ali fight in 1971, I have been hooked as well.
There is talk of final match against the equally great Roy Jones here in Cardiff before he retires, hopefully undefeated like that other great Italian descendant, Rocky Marciano.
That could really raise the profile of Wales globally and I hope, unlike with the Kessler fight, that the Assembly Government make the most of the opportunity to sell Wales round the world.
Comments
I did despair at WAG's reluctance to grasp the sponsorship opportunities of the Calzhage v Kessler fight in Cardiff because they thought it was to much money to spend, let hope they see the light.
Wales lost out on an enormous opportunity to promote the country at the biggest boxing match in the World in Cardiff last year and in Vegas again this year.
It is on record that the Deputy First Minister refused to provide any funds for promoting Wales when millions would have been made aware of the economy and society of this country. ironically, for your argument, this decision was made in Cardiff because of devolution and had nothing to do with the Conservatives either here or across the border. This was a decision made a Plaid Cymru Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government.
Given that the decision was probably made on ideological grounds - boxing isn't that popular amongst the cabinet - I doubt if anything will be done when Joe fights Roy Jones later this year.
In my opinion, and that of many others, we should have had a promotional campaign running during the Kessler match and we been out in the USA promoting our great nation - it is as simple as that.
Joe did his bit as did the fans but it was would have been an advertiser's dream to get Joe to sell Wales to millions of boxing fans across America.
Barnett is another discussion for another thread and its abolition is, of course, one of the ultimate consequences of devolution.
If, as I would surmise from your comments, that you wish for Welsh independence, than we can then no longer rely on English taxpayers for our funding.
However, if Wales has its own Parliament within the UK, there is no reason why Wales, if Barnett was revised to be based on need rather than population, should not actually receive more, especially as we remain the poorest region economically in the UK.
What I would also like to see is making use of such a sporting legend/role model in getting young people into sport instead of drugs. The availability of heroin and crack on the streets of Wales is depressing and only reducing the reasons for demand will ever work.