Formula One climax, and goodbye from a British boxing legend

This afternoon the 2012 Formula One season comes to a climax at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Defending champion Sebastian Vettel is best placed for victory having qualified fourth with Spaniard Fernando Alonso in eighth. Alonso needs to finish in at least third to have a hope; if Alonso wins the race he needs Vettel to finish fourth or worse to win. When all the permutations are considered, along with the usual unpredictable of Sao Paulo it makes for a thoroughly entertaining race. If Vettel does win, he will park himself neatly alongside some illustrious company (Senna, Prost, Brabham, Stewart, Lauda)  as a triple winner, and he would be the youngest of these. As a consecutive triple winner the company would be even greater, as only Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher have achieved this feat. At this point, Formula One has been running for 62 years and there have been 32 different winners in this time so Sebastian Vettel's acievemnt would be truly great. Is he considered one of the greatest drivers of all time at the moment? No, I don't think he is. But if he does go on to win his third title he certainly would be. Maybe we will only be able to give a true perspective to the German's acheivements after he has retired. At the tender age of 25 though, he is really still in his infancy in the sport. His team-mate Mark Webber still looks fresh and hungry at 36! Sebastian Vettel could go on to break all records in the sport if Red Bull Racing can still go on supplying him reliable quick cars. After a very good start to the season, they have had some issues with reliabiliy in the latter part of the season. As much as I hope the championship is not decided until the end of the race, something similar to 2008 would suit me down to the ground. 

Having said all this, if Alonso wins he would also become a triple champion having won in 2005 and 2006 with Renault. After an ill-fated switch to McLaren, the Spaniard has looked much more at home at Scuderia Ferrari and I would like to think will also win a third title at some stage if not today. He certainly has the talent, but the Maranello team have not quite been able to deliver a chmpionship winning car. Alonso had a poor mid-season which to a certain extent was beyond his control. Being caught up in a few first-corner incidents that resulted in DNF's put pay to his season. 

 A track guide from Rubens Barrichello who was born very close to the circuit and used to climb through the fence as a boy to watch the racing. 

There is no doubt that the Interlagos circuit is made for drama. The bumpy crumbly track surface, the weather, the fast straights and off-camber tight corners, the super-enthusiastic Brazilian crowd. 

My last point this week is to say that we should remember one for the career he has had, and not the way it ended last night. Ricky Hatton succumbed to a ninth round body punch from Vyacheslav Senchenko, which ended the Mancunian's career. As I said to many people before the fight, Hatton had already won in getting to the ring. And hopefully now he can live his life with enjoyment, and fulfillment from his other interests in promotion, management and also as a trainer. Here he is in his finest hour on June 4th 2005 beating Kostya Tszyu for the IBF light-welterweight belt who at the time was widely regarded as the pound for pound king. 

Thanks Ricky. 

 

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Brook beats 'El Tigre' Saldivia to set up mouth-watering world title clash

Future welterweight king?

  Atfter Kell Brook's last time out when he struggled to get over the line against Carson Jones, things could not have looked more different last night at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield. Since the July clash with Jones where Kell struggled to hang on to his unbeaten recored, the 'steel city star' has engaged the services of a strength, power and conditioning coach and also a nutritionist who have made a world of difference. Kell had trained for a long hard fight against Saldivia, as you might expect for a world title eliminator, but his superior power was evident from very early in the fight. A stinging uppercut in the first round sent the Argentine to the canvas, and Brook's intent was obvious from there on in. The barrage continued through the second round, and a straight left at the beginning of the third signalled the beginning of the end. After such a systematic defeat, in hindsight it seems difficult tio believe that Hector Saldivia was rated third in the IBF rankings, which perhaps enhances Brook's victory and stature moving on to a world title fight. It looks likely that Kell will face Devon Alexander who defeated Randall Bailey in New York later on the same night to win the IBF Belt. By all accounts it was a dire affair with more clinching than punching, that will no doubt inspire the Yorkshire pugilist to believe that he can wrestle the world title from the American early in 2013. 

Kell Brook and Amir Khan in the Sky Sports studio for 'Ringside' recently

 If Kell can become a world champion, there are some huge fights out there for him. He has made no secret of wanting ro tear Amir Khan to pieces. And there is also the golden carrot of a fight with the returning Ricky Hatton; if The Hitman does the business in November. How near can Special K get to the top of the world rankings? Only time will tell, but he has now put the foundations in place and we will all find out next year. Good luck Kell.

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Hillsborough verdict and the return of The Hitman

After 23 long years, the truth has been uncovered; now it's time for justice.

This week the truth about what really happened at the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough in 1989 came out. Many people have discussed it at length this week, as it has been headline news on the front pages as well as the back pages, so as emotional as I feel about it I don't want to dwell too much on the past; the 96 will never ever be forgotten, but now is the time for looking to the future. Even if the future is campaigning for the people who did do wrong on 15th April 23 years ago to be held accountable for their actions, as well as those who covered it up and prolonged the pain for the victims' families.  I find it hard to think that criminal charges won't be brought, particularly in the face of such compelling evidence against certain organisations and the individuals within. Although the ninety-six will always be in our hearts forevermore, I hope that the families, the city and the club can move forward; I can think of no greater tribute to the fans that did not come home that fateful day, than to start bringing trophies (and particularly the Premier League!) back to Anfield on a regular basis. I would like to finish this section by thanking all the fans of other clubs, that have sent messages of support to our club throughout this week. Unfortunately there have been a few moronic idiots that deny the verdict of the independent panel, but the support from the football family has been fantastic. 

Also this week, former two-weight boxing world champion Ricky 'The Hitman' announced he will be coming out of retirement for a fight against an unnamed opponent in November. It has to be said that Ricky dominated the light-welterweight division before moving up to welterweight so he has nothing to prove. At his peak Ricky beat the pound-for-pound No 1 Kostya Tszyu, as well as claiming the WBA welterweight belt from Luis Collazzo before losing to two of the best pound-for-pound pugilists the planet has ever seen (or might ever see!) in Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio.That said, you can understand that from a pride point of view why he would want to prove to himself as much as anybody that he is better than the devastating two round defeat to Pacquaio showed. Here is Ricky's press conference.

Ricky was quick to say that he wanted to earn the right to fights at the top level, but there are certainly some hum-dingers out there if he proves his worth. A fight against Paulie Malignaggi seems likely at some point in the future; after all Hatton knows he can beat the American who has never had the greatest punch power. From there, there are huge domestic money spinners against Amir Khan and Kell Brook to consider. One fight I would like to see is Hatton v Junior Witter, just so Hatton can shit him up for good. If only his boxing was as good as his mouth! As current British welterweight champion this match up is probably a real possibility. Hatton says he is in the best pre-fight shape of his life following his training with Bob Shannon who has been using 'old school' methods which favour Ricky's approach. I think that now Ricky's head is right, we may even see the best Hitman that we have ever seen. Most of all, I hope that Ricky gets what he needs from his comeback. Roll on November 24th. 

As a final note, congratulations to Andy Murray for winning the US Open on Monday. May that be the first of many major wins now he has got the proverbial monkey off his back. It is a shame that we have to wait until the Australian Open in January to find out. 

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