Well done Dereck Chisora, David Haye and John Murray

What an amazing month of boxing we have had involving British fighters!

Last night was absolutely incredible. I had predicted a long time ago (and been slated on here for it, I might add) that Tyson Fury was going to win last night, and I had also predicted that Kevin Mitchell would beat John Murray. These were fights where the guy I thought would win was actually the betting underdog.

And although I was right about who would win in these fights, I have to give real credit to Dereck Chisora and John Murray who I massively underestimated. I had always thought that Fury's skill as a boxer was hugely underrated and I had expected an easy night's work for him, especially when Chisora came in so heavy. And as for Kevin Mitchell, I thought his skill would outclass a one dimensional Murray. What I did not expect was performances of outstanding bravery from both Chisora and Murray, which gave us two of the best fights we have had this year. What does someone have to do to put Chisora on the floor? He was taking Fury's best shots all night and either firing straight back and hurting Fury, or shrugging his shoulders to say he hadn't been hurt. As for Murray, he rocked Mitchell several times in a way I didn't think he would be able to. I had seen Murray as a poor man's Katsidis as he follows you around the ring in straight lines rather than doing what Katsidis does by moving sideways to cut the ring off.

In a sport where we celebrate winners and kick men down when they lose, I want to take this opportunity to say well done to the guys who gave everything but lost on the night, but can come again. If Murray used his boxing ability more, there is no doubt he has enough to mix it at world level. And Chisora has lightening hand speed for a heavyweight, power, a scarily strong chin and an unbelieveable will to win. Make no mistake, Mitchell, Murray, Chisora, Fury, Groves and Degale are all going to be mixing it at world level over the next 5 years and British boxing can be proud of all of them for not ducking the tough challenges.

And as for the one I got wrong, David Haye. I underestimated how good Wlad was, his footspeed and ring generalship was outstanding that night. In Wlad's old fights when someone landed a big shot, he froze and I expected him to freeze against Haye. Fair play to him, he did not. But Haye gave it his best shot. If he had tried to rush forward like Chisora did last night, against a boxer of Wlad's skill it would have been suicide. He had to keep doing what he was doing, try to make Wlad miss and make him pay. Unfortunately Wlad didn't make any real mistakes. But let's give Haye credit too. He could have done a Roy Jones; take on the weakest champion at heavyweight, win and then quit. He didn't. He wanted to take on the best. He gave it his best shot, went away from home, had to fight his way through the crowd to get to the ring and put up with a shamelessly dodgy referee. On the night he could not get the job done. But as with Murray, Mitchell, Chisora, Fury, Groves, Degale, Khan and Froch, I hope in time the British media and public give Haye the credit that he deserves for his achievements at both Cruiserweight and Heavyweight.