The talk in boxing
Jim Smart, chairman of the Amateur Boxing Association of England, has issued a plea for professional promoters to stay away from the country's top talent ahead of next year's Olympic Games in Athens.
He said: "Lottery funding is working for English amateur boxing. Results over the past couple of months testify to that.
"An understanding has to be reached with professional boxing whereby the top international amateurs are able to stay amateur long enough to box in the Olympics."
The England team has just netted an unprecedented haul of four bronze medals from the European Junior Championships in Warsaw, with John O'Donnell of Dale Youth in Shepherd's Bush taking one of them in the 60kg category.
Roman's ringside role
Talk hears that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich could be an interested spectator at Alexandra Palace in north London on Saturday 4 October when fellow Russian Roman Karmazin, defends his European light-middleweight title against Bermondsey's exciting David Walker.
No taking the Mickey
Mickey Helliet was forced to abandon his dream of becoming a professional boxer when he failed a brain scan. But now, at 28, he claims to have become the youngest Londoner to hold a promoter's licence and will stage his first show at the London Marriott Hotel, in Grosvenor Square, next Thursday.
Helliet told Talk: "I do not wish to resort, at any stage, to using any of the Mickey Mouse governing bodies with their bogus 'world titles' or have any one-sided mismatches."
Laudable intentions. Here's hoping Helliett can maintain them.
Wild night for Hennessy
London promoter Mick Hennessy has won the right to stage the European middleweight title defence of Howard Eastman against Spanish champion Jorge 'The Wild' Sendra, probably in November. Sendra has stopped 20 of his 25 victims inside the distance.
Line 'em up, says Ricky
Ricky Hatton is so confident of retaining his world lightwelterweight championship against Argentina's Aldo Rios in Manchester on 27 September that he has already signed to appear in a double-header on 13 December that will also feature American super-middleweight Jeff 'Left Hook' Lacy.
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