Back from Vegas

I’ve just returned from Las Vegas where I was over for the Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley fight. Whilst I didn’t particularly enjoy the fight it was good to be back in Vegas and to catch up with some old friends.

The MGM was very busy over the weekend but there was nothing like the atmosphere and intensity as there was when I fought Mayweather a couple of years ago.

30,000 English fans created an amazing atmosphere which will stay with me forever.

Las Vegas remains the boxing capital of the world and I am looking forward to the day when I am taking one of my boxers over there for a world title fight, I am hoping it will not be that long.

I don’t want to take anything away from Floyd’s performance and you have to admire his boxing skill, I think history will show that he is one of the best fighters of all time. I hope that the negotiations can be resolved and that he will fight Manny Pacquiao, which was the fight everybody talked about this weekend.

Another anticipated fight is the forthcoming Amir Khan and Paulie Malignaggi. Having beaten Malignaggi comfortably myself I do not envisage any problems whatsoever for Amir and expect him to win easily.

I was surprised to read that the fight will be shown on ITV, who recently pulled out of boxing, I had presumed it would be shown live on Sky Sports. It will be interesting to see if ITV, or indeed any other terrestrial channels show any more boxing. Sky must be praised for the fantastic support they have given boxing in the UK over the last few years, without their support it is difficult to see how boxing would of survived. When I was growing up, it seemed there was always boxing on the TV, boxers like Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Prince Naseem were household names.

One of my young fighters Gary Buckland fights Manchester’s own John Murray this Friday for the British and European Lightweight Titles. I know John well obviously promoting his younger brother Joe, I expect Fridays fight to be a real cracker.

I’d like to say a big thank you to all my fighters who posed as models for my new range of clothing. Whilst they’re all used to fighting in front of a crowd with plenty of cameras and televisions I think a lot of then found this far scarier than fighting.

I managed to watch City’s impressive win over Aston Villa whilst in Vegas and have my fingers crossed for our fourth place decider against Spurs this week.

I went to the PFA annual dinner last week, where I was very pleased to see my good friend Wayne Rooney pick up the much deserved player of the year award. Like every other football fan, I hope he is fit for the world cup.