The future's bright for football and fight nights!

I have to admit that after hearing the starting XI for England's game in Moldova in I wasn't feeling particularly inspired by some of the weekend's sport; Along with international football, I'd become quite disillusioned with boxing for some time as well. Firstly, thanks to Roy Hodgson, and later on I'll make mention of Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sport.

After deciding not to watch the match live, mainly because watching England has become somewhat tedious in recent times, I did decide to watch the highlights. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. Was the football mistake free? Certainly not, but the freedom and fluidity of the play was definitely inspiring from a fans point of view. In hindsight I think the injuries to Andy Carroll, Ashley Cole and Gareth Barry may have been a blessing in disguise. These omissions forced Hodgson to play Leighton Baines, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Tom Cleverley who played with a youthful exuberance that we haven't seen in a three lions shirt for quite a while. It also meant Jermain Defoe was tasked with the striker's role, and although he might have had a goal or two more on the night, his talent and club form over a number of years mean this chance is overdue in my opinion. I think Defoe is the most gifted natural English striker the Premier League has seen since Alan Shearer retired and I think his movement gave focus to England's play. It was also good to get a positive answer to the eternal midfield Gerrard/Lampard question. They may not be the long term answer to England's midfield, but at least we now know that two genuine midfielders can play together in harmony using good judgement to know when to go forward and when to sit deep. Gerrard tended to sit deeper while Lampard was making runs beyond Defoe and Cleverley as he did to head in Glen Johnson's cross for his second goal. Albeit England are still work in progress, their campaign could not have got off to a better start, so hopefully the good work will continue against Ukraine on Tuesday at Wembley. John Terry is the only doubt, but either his club-mate Gary Cahill or Phil Jagielka should make an able deputy. (If Jagielka plays, hopefully we don't hear any ridiculous pronunciations of his name!) 

As well as the football on Friday, the first big boxing show of the season was incredibly refreshing as well. Having heard an interview earlier in the year with Matchroom Sport's Eddie Hearn, he said that he was intending to bring genuine 50/50 fights to the public. He did this firstly with Kell Brook v Carson Jones in July where the Sheffield pugilist came through one hell of a gut-checker, and continued last night at Alexandra Palace with the excellent 'London's calling' show. This saw Erick Ochieng, Lee Purdey and Tony Bellew all win in enthralling fights, and creates a buzz and excitement for the coming boxing season. Perhaps Carl Frampton v Steve Molitor in a couple of weeks in Belfast is the prime example of Hearn's policy, and with the continuing Prizefighter series, Brook v Saldivia and Froch v Mack on the horizon it certainly whets the appetite. Perhaps the only blot on the weekend was that Darren Barker had to pull out of his fight, but hopefully the Londoner can get over his recent arm injury and get back in the ring soon. I have seen some talk that he should retire, but I think he is one of the classiest middleweights out there and the sooner he is back in the ring the better. Over the next two years Matchroom will provide Sky with twenty shows a season to bring to air, so hopefully fight fans will see 'deeper bills with more title fights and more competitive fights in packed out arenas' as promised. Thankfully for boxing, the future's bright....the future's Matchroom. I for one am glad that I don't have to see the over inflated ego's of boxers from other stables (no names mentioned!) win easy fights any more.  

Carl 'The Cobra' Froch: Legend?

As the three time super-middleweight champion of the world, one would think so. But going in to last nights fight with Lucian Bute as the underdog suggests that some still still don't rate Froch as highly as others.

Carl Froch floors Lucian Bute

Carl Froch has spent the last three or four years fighting the best boxers in the division all around the world; going in to the lion's den to fight other people in their back yard. Conversely this was Bute's trickiest fight by some way, and his first away from North America so it is no wonder that Froch outclassed Bute. I'd be highly surprised if Bute's team took up the option of a re-match as they would surely not want such a ritual humiliation for their charge for a second time. It is difficult to know where Bute will go now, but surely Froch is well on the path to greatness and a spot in the history books as a British legend. He did spend the early part of his career in the shadows of Joe Calzaghe, but he always called out Calzaghe even though the fight was never made. Why? We shall probably never know, but since then Froch has never ducked anybody and has beaten most. There is a chance that he will get the opportunity to avenge the Kessler defeat, and I would think he could then retire with his head held high and nothing else to prove.

As Froch said in his post-fight interview, he could not have done it without his long-time coach Rob McCracken. He also openly admitted that if he does as he's told he could win like that all the time; all he has to do is 'listen to the guru!' Hopefully McCracken (British amateur boxing's performance director) can work his magic on Team GB's boxers at the London 2012 Olympics which are not too far away.  

SPORT SHORTS

Well done to Mark Webber for winning today's Monaco Grand Prix for the second time. It wasn't the most exciting race that we'll see this season, but hopefully it can be a spring board for Webber to go on to bigger and better things. 

Congratulations to Harlequins for winning their first ever English Premiership Rugby Union this weekend. The club has been through some hard times following the 'bloodgate' scandal of three years ago, but they have shown true character to come back to where they are now. 

England's footballers won their first match under Roy Hodgson. Better that than not winning, but if England carry on playing like that, not only will they not go very far in Euro 2012 but it won't be long before fans (and the media) start calling for Hodgson to be sacked. I am not one of them though,. The poor bloke has only has three days training with the team, and the circumstances have hardly been ideal. There should be no pressure for this tournament, and it should be looked upon as a building block for the future; after all there will be several current players that may not be in the squad for the world cup qualifiers in September.  

Luke Donald has retained his BMW PGA championship title at Wentworth today by beating the field by four shots. He carded a solid 68 to enter the clubhouse having defended a title for the first time in his career. Onwards and upwards to major success?

Jessica Ennis set a new British heptathlon record as she won in Austria with 6,906 points. Not bad for a fat lass! Whoever said that was a fool. She is one of the best medal hopes that we have going in to the Olympics; is that the way to try and settle our athletes down? Sad news that heptathlete Kelly Sotherton has announced her retirement following a back operation. 

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