Meet Lee and Andrew Selby,
two brothers, who by now fight fans in the UK will know all about. The older
brother, Lee, is currently the IBF featherweight champion and Andrew, the
former Olympic bronze medallist, last Saturday won the British flyweight title
in just his fifth fight. There is one thing that these two fighters have in
common, apart from being brothers, is that no-one in the UK seems to want to
fight them.
It is well documented the
rivalry between Lee Selby and the unbeaten fighter from Leeds, Josh Warrington,
and this summer it seemed as though the two would lock horns and fight in
either Selby’s backyard in Cardiff or in Warrington’s in Leeds. However talks
have broken down and it has recently been announced that Warrington has pulled
out of the fight and the chance of being involved in a huge domestic showdown
and becoming world champion.
Chris Sanigar, Selby’s manager had this to say on the issue:
‘This is a major embarrassment for Warrington and
his team. A couple of weeks ago Eddie Hearn told us Elland Road was not going
to be the venue, so that’s when I smelt a rat, despite the fact Eddie had been
talking about the fight to be staged there in Leeds for the last year. I
feel sorry for the British fight fans and subscribers to SKY television who
bought in to the hype this fight was going to happen.’
According to Selby, Warrington is running scared and although this would
have been a routine defence for Selby it would have been a chance to have had a
stadium fight during the summer. Now he must turn his attention to rest of the
stacked featherweight division with the likes of Gary Russell Jr., Oscar
Valdez, Jo Jo Diaz and potentially Carl Frampton if he comes through his tough fight
with Leo Santa Cruz there are some huge opportunities out there for him.
Now turning to Lee’s younger brother, Andrew, who as mentioned above won
the British flyweight title on Saturday in just his fifth fight against the
very game Louis Norman. Charlie Edwards, another British prospect, defeated
Phil Smith to win the English flyweight title and in the process set himself up
as mandatory for the British title. However what he was not expecting was the
rapid development of Selby who Edwards was ordered to fight for the British
title.
This would have been a fantastic fight between two fighters who both
have the potential to become world champion however Edwards swerved the fight
claiming that it would be a bigger fight in the future. It is a disgrace that a
fighter who was at the time 6-0 fighter can start ducking other fighters and
this is sadly the path that boxing is going down. Not everyone can be Floyd
Mayweather however this is the legacy he has left that fighters have now become
scared to lose their 0.
Most fight fans will agree that the Selby brothers are two of the UK’s
most talented fighters and there is no doubt that Andrew will follow in his
brother’s footsteps and become world champion. It will be fascinating to see
where both these fighters go in the short-term and in the long-term as there
are some huge fights out there for them.
Tom Eckett
@boxingguru44
