Hatton: still one of the best

And if there is a positive to come out of the hard times we are heading for it's that historically, on a very basic level at least, boxing gets stronger when the economy gets weaker.

Glenn McCrory
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What a difference a year makes!

This time 12 months ago there was no talk of the credit crunch, recession was something that happened in the past and in boxing, Britain had five world champions.

Ricky Hatton was still undefeated and had just blasted out Jose Luis Castillo, Joe Calzaghe was heading for a unification victory over Mikkel Kessler, David Haye was just about to blast out Jean-Marc Mormeck and Junior Witter, Gavin Rees and Clinton Woods were all world champions.

A year on though and all that has changed. Those three world titlists lost their belts, Hatton of course lost to Floyd Mayweather and is still trying to rebuild, while Calzaghe is fighting Roy Jones Jr in a fight we all wanted to see four or five years ago.

Haye has moved up and is making noises in the heavyweight division, but is still not really a top 10 fighter in that division. He is calling out Wladimir Klitschko, but will need to beat more than Monte Python, sorry Barrett, before he is considered a real talent.

So things might not appear to be in good shape. OK, only Nicky Cook is officially a holder of one of the four main world titles, but I am here to tell you things aren't as bad as they seem.

For a start Ricky and Joe are among the very best in the world. They are at the stage where they can fight who they want, when they want and money is more important than titles.

They are not doing an Oscar though and picking on someone three weight divisions below. Hatton takes on Paulie Malignaggi, one of the top light-welterweights out there, in a dangerous fight and at this stage in time, I am leaning towards Roy Jones, I have to admit.

Superstar

Then we have Carl Froch, who will finally fight for the world title, having been the most avoided/injured man in boxing this past year. Froch really does have what it takes to be a star in the making. And with Jeff Lacy, Anthony Mundine and of course, Kessler out there, there are some big fights.

We have the WBO super-featherweight champion of the world in Cook. He is not necessarily a superstar, but he works hard, deserves his success and hopefully can get a few more defences in and make some money.

We have Jon Thaxton and Rendall Munroe who are both European champions. I am not sure Thaxton is good enough to succeed at world level, but he would give it his all and wouldn't we all love to see him fight Amir Khan - who by the way has seen his stock drop faster than the FTSE since 2007.

Munroe is definitely one I can see fighting for a world title and I hope he gets a shot soon. Clinton Woods has to take great credit for fighting the likes of Roy Jones, Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson and hopefully now those guys are getting on, he can get a world title back.

Talent

Kevin Mitchell is 27-0 and really needs to be fighting for one of the four major titles before it's too late.

Behind that bunch there is Paul Appleby, Paul Truscott, Martin Lindsay and Derry Matthews, who have all got talent. There are decent fighters in these shores even if we no longer have the belts that so many people judge boxing by.

Remember the threat of UFC a couple of years ago? Well you barely hear it mentioned these days because boxing saw the challenge, stepped up and met it head-on.

And if there is a positive to come out of the hard times we are heading for it's that historically, on a very basic level at least, boxing gets stronger when the economy gets weaker.

I see it myself at first hand. When there's not as much money knocking about, we get more kids down the gym at Northumbria ABC because they don't have the same cash to go out and spen. America has been in recession and will come good again providing it sorts its amateur game out, just as I think we have plenty to be cheerful about here in Britain.

The old Eastern Bloc countries have produced a number of world champions, particularly at heavyweight, after years of political and economic hardship and other not-so-affluent areas have always flourished.

Boxing is in a state of flux at the moment and I find that exciting. It will come good again, it always does. And it will get stronger and stronger, even if the pound gets weaker and weaker.

And when Ricky and Joe finally call it a day, there will be new faces to take their place in the world's best, Froch or Haye for starters.

The belts might not matter to the biggest names any more but we will have world champions again, I am certain.

The sport might be having a hard time, but it is far from bankrupt...