One More Round British Scene Edition: Prizefighter Series - Improved Sky Coverage - Commonwealth Games - Klitschko/Chisora - Frank Warren's Next Show - Plus More...

Dave Oakes of The Boxing Bulletin's British Scene brings you this week's edition of One More Round.

After the lacklustre Prizefighter tournament last Saturday, which was won by Michael Sprott, I’ve begun to wonder whether we’ve seen the best of the innovative show.

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the Prizefighter tournament. I’ve never considered the tournament to be a true reflection of what championship boxing is like, but my initial scepticism was subsided by the exciting nature of the first tournament – which was won by Martin Rogan.

That first tournament made me appreciate Prizefighter for what was rather than what it isn’t. The noise in the York Hall was electric, the fans were on their feet by the end and everyone agreed that the event was a major success.

The tournament has undoubtedly brought new fans / potential fans to the sport, and that can only be a good thing, but just recently the tournament has had more boring fights than exciting ones - the only exception being June’s super-middleweight tournament, which was fun to watch until a rather tepid final.

Prizefighter is still massively popular amongst the general public, although I still get mixed responses when talking to fellow boxing purists, and it provides boxers with a chance of winning a televised event, a nice paycheck and the prospect of a title fight shortly afterwards, but, I feel it’s time to regain what made Prizefighter so popular – exciting fights.

Perhaps fighters from abroad should be considered, the likes of a Leva Kirakosyan type brawler would certainly liven proceedings up. They could even change the prize winnings to help accommodate bonuses for knockouts. Whatever they do, they need to find a way of bringing back the crash-bang-wallop type of fights that Prizefighter fans are looking for.

The next Prizefighter tournament will be held on November 20 and sees the super-featherweight’s battling it out. Scott Lawton, Choi Tseveenpurev, Kevin O’Hara and Gary Buckland have all been confirmed; whilst there are rumours that Michael Brodie may be tempted to take part. Brodie hasn’t fought since getting stopped by Anthony Crolla late last year and was thought to have retired again.

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One thing that has improved this season is the coverage Sky are providing. They’ve freshened up their pundits, Barry McGuigan making a return and introducing new faces such as Jamie Moore and Amir Khan to their line-up, Moore being particularly impressive after overcoming some early nerves.

The return of their Ringside programme is another step in the right direction. The loss of Setanta, and Steve Bunce’s Boxing Hour in particular, was a major blow for British fans. Whilst Ringside lacks the fan interaction and non-stop fast paced chaos of Bunce’s show, it does provide us with good insight, interviews and the latest news from the world of boxing.

The move back to Saturday nights is also viewed as a positive decision, although it’s probably caused many an argument across the country between boxing fans who are married to partners who like to spend their Saturday nights watching mind-numbing drivel like Pop Factor and Celebrity Dancing.

I still hope other networks will get involved in boxing, a lack of competition can lead to laziness, which was a criticism being aimed at Sky a few years ago. I’ve no idea why the BBC doesn’t get involved again, the BBC is paid for by the public and boxing has always attracted good viewing figures - as ITV proved before they shamelessly pulled the plug - meaning the public clearly enjoy watching boxing.

It seems that most channels aren’t interested in anything but soaps and ‘celebrity’ shows. Perhaps the only way to get boxing back on terrestrial television is to have PJ and Duncan presenting it, with commentary by ex members of Showaddywaddy and expert analyst coming from Jim Bowen, Pat Sharp and the fat lass out of the Nolan’s.

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The home nations have had a very successful Commonwealth Games. Northern Ireland picked up five medals – three gold (Paddy Barnes, Eamonn O’Kane and Paddy Gallagher) and two silver’s (Steven Ward and Thomas McCarthy).

England also picked up five medals - two gold (Simon Vallily and Tom Stalker) and three silver’s (Anthony Ogogo, Bradley Saunders and Callum Smith), whilst Scotland and Wales picked up three medals apiece (gold for Callum Johnson, silver for Sean McGoldrick and bronze’s for Kieran Harding, Jermaine Asare, Stephen Simmons and Josh Taylor).

Sixteen medals for British boxers is a great achievement and it bodes well for the 2012 Olympics.

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The proposed Wlad Klitschko v Dereck Chisora fight has officially been announced and will take part in Mannheim on December 11. Chisora has promised to "smash the living daylights" out of Klitschko. I feel Chisora may live to regret those words.

December 11 is shaping up as a massive night for British boxing fans, as well as the aforementioned Klitschko v Chisora fight, Frank Warren is putting on another bumper show at the Echo arena in Liverpool.

Paul Smith will defend his British title against Olympic gold medallist James DeGale, whilst Nathan Cleverly, Kell Brook, Frankie Gavin, Matthew Macklin and Tony Bellew are also expected to be on the card. Macklin may finally get the chance to meet his big domestic rival Darren Barker and Danny McIntosh is supposedly being lined up to face the big punching Bellew.

Amir Khan faces Marcos Maidana on the same night, although it’s not yet been confirmed whether or not it will be part of Sky’s show or whether it will be another delayed coverage show on ITV like his fight against Malignaggi was.

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John Watson and Gavin Rees will square off for the British lightweight title on November 6 at the Newport Centre. The title has recently been vacated by John Murray and will provide the unbeaten Watson with the chance he’s been crying out for.

Former world champion Rees has strung together six wins since losing his WBA title to Andriy Kotelnik, including winning Prizefighter at light-welterweight. He should make the step down in weight comfortably enough and will start as favourite against Watson.

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Matthew Hatton will defend his European title against Robert Belge on November 26 at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton. Belge is undefeated but very much untested and shouldn’t pose Hatton too many problems. Scott Quigg will be the main support as he work his way towards a domestic title shot.

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Ricky Burns will make the first defence of his recently acquired WBO super-featherweight title against Colombian born Norwegian Andreas Evensen at the Braehead Arena, Glasgow on December 4.

Evensen impressed me last time I saw him fight – late last year against Gianpiero Contestabile. He’s a strong bull-like fighter who’ll be in Burns’ face from the opening bell. Burns will have a significant reach advantage and must make full use of it to perturb Evensen, who looks like he’ll be a handful for the Coatbridge champion.

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And finally, professional boxing makes a return to Chippenham for the first time in 20 years this Saturday. KM Promotions are putting on a seven fight card at the Olympiad Leisure Centre which includes unbeaten local lad Nick Blackwell. Tickets are still available – see KM Promotions website for details.

e-mail Dave Oakes