At the moment much of the Heavyweight conversation in the UK has been based on the likes of Tyson Fury, Hughie Fury, Dereck Chisora and Anthony Joshua. Amazingly everyone has over-looked English champion "Big Bad" John McDermott (28-8, 18), well everybody but his next challenger Ian Lewison (8-2-1, 5).

On paper these two have records that are forgettable at best and many will suggest that neither man will go anywhere. Despite such talk about are very interesting fighters and both are more talented than their records suggest.

McDermott, with 8 losses, could and probably is written off almost every time he steps in the ring. Despite this he is one of those fighters who is much better than his record shows and in fact some would argue his record should actually be 32-4 due to some absolute shocking decisions against him, including a much debated loss to Tyson Fury.

At his worst McDermott can be flattened quickly, as he was against David Price 2 years ago, though when he is confident he is a handful for any British Heavyweight as shown in his blow out of Larry Olubamiwo and his decision, last time out, over Matt Skelton.

In Ian "Lay 'em Out" Lewison, pictured, is regarded as one of the meanest puchers in a British ring. He started his career very slowly with just 4 bouts in his first years as a professional. In that time he was adjudged to have "drawn" with Pavels Dolgovs, a man who was decked 3 times in a round. Since then though his career has been a bit of a roller coaster ride with a loss to journeyman Colin Kenna and stoppages over Dorian Darch, Timo Hoffman and Tom Dallas.

With genuine power Lewison is dangerous early on but with McDermott's experience the champion may well have the edge. The only thing we know for sure is that this has the potential to be a genuinely fantastic Heavyweight clash, more than we can say for those involving the bigger names in British Heavyweight boxing.

(Photo courtesy of boxrec.com

Unbeaten Swiss-Albanian Heavyweight Arnold Gjergjaj (23-0, 17), picture, will return to the ring on March 15th.

The unbeaten fringe contender has been out of the ring since December 2013, when he stopped Gilberto Matheus Domingos inside a round. Prior to that he had suffered an injury that had forced him on the sideline for over 7 months.

With improving skills, decent power, a great size and developing maturity some have suggested that Gjergjaj is a fighter who deserves to have his name mentioned amongst the best in Europe. Although we wouldn't go that far he is the #17 ranked Heavyweight by the European Boxing Union and he is a fighter who is perhaps just 2 or 3 wins away from fighting for the European title.

Whilst we were hoping that "The Cobra" could have a bite on tasty opponent it appears he'll be fighting against limited Argentinian Emilio Ezequiel Zarate (18-12-3, 9). Although classed as the South American champion Zarate is very limited and shouldn't pose Gjergjaj any real problems.

Hopefully an early victory for "The Cobra" will be followed by a testing fight in summer than a seriously look at making a Europe titl

(Picture courtesy of boxrec.com)

March 15th is a day choc-a-block with Heavyweight bouts. One of the more over-looked ones will be in Poland where former challengers collide.

The bout, will see Poland's current fringe contender Andrzej Wawrzyk (28-1, 14) taking on veteran war horse Frans Botha (48-10-3-1, 29).

Wawrzyk will be expected to win. Of course he will. At just 26 years old he is significantly younger than the 45 year old Botha however as shown against Aleksander Povetkin, Wawrzyk is light on paper and questionable in terms of durability. He's pretty talented in terms of raw ability but he does have those two, very questionable, aspects to his boxing.

Botha, of South Africa, failed in numerous world title attempts and has become a serial trial horse over the last few years. He has won just one of his last 8 contests and has been beaten by successive promising fighters including the exceptional Joseph Parker.

The one thing Botha has is power, though at his age and with his reactions and general speed, which was never great, diminishing it'd be a shock to see him catch the Polish fighter with anything of note.

Despite the fact this bout looks like a mismatch it'll be interest to compare Wawrzyk's  performance against that of Parker who stopped Botha in 2 rounds last June.

(Photo courtesy of boxrec.com)

In American boxing we seem to have noticed a relatively unappealing trend of crowning a fighter the next great before they've actually accomplished anything real. Fighters like Michael Grant at Heavyweight and Adrien Broner lower down the weights were seen as the future of boxing.

The next man who is wanting to prove he isn't just hype but does have genuine substance is the "Bronze Bomber" Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30) . Despite sporting a perfect record very little is really known about Wilder who has been moved with baby steps as a professional. Within 30 fights we usually know if a fighter can take a punch, what there stamina is like, what their power is truly like and whether or not they have a plan B.

For Wilder all we truly know is that his power has had an effect on all of his opponents so far. Though they have all been rather poor.

Wilder's first real test comes on March 15th in Puerto Rico as he takes on fellow American hopeful Malik Scott (36-1-1, 13). Scott, who is 1-1-1 in his last 3, isn't a big puncher but is skilled and should serve as a fight capable enough to let us see whether Wilder is a prime Heavyweight prospect or is little more than smoke and mirrors.

We know Scott was stopped, albeit controversially, 2 fights back against Dereck Chisora in 6 rounds. To date however Wilder has never been past round 4 and if Scott can drag him in to the 5th round things could get interesting with Wilder being asked some very significant questions.

It may not be a dream fight but it's an important fight and one that can hopefully teach us more about Wilder than his previous 30 bouts combined.

As well as being a major test for Wilder this fight is also a WBC Eliminator and we believe the winner will likely get the winner of the upcoming WBC world title fight between Chris Arreola and Bermane Stiverne.

(Photo courtesy of Goldenboy Promotions)

It was recently announced that British heavyweights Sam Sexton (18-3, 7), pictured, and Larry Olubamiwo (10-4, 9) would clash in a second encounter.

The men, who first fought each other back in January 2012 have apparently got "unfinished business" with the original bout ending after a clash of heads. A rematch between the two however has left a sour taste in our mouth.

After the first encounter, which was won by Seton via a 5th round technical decision, Olubamiwo failed a drugs test for EPO. He later confessed to using a cocktail of banned substances and was banned for 4 years. Unfortunately that ban was later cut down and he only spent 22 months out of the ring for his dangerous and potentially fatal act.

Whilst we're not a political website and generally won't tell authorities what they should and shouldn't do, their is no way Olubamiwo should be welcomed in to a boxing ring and the British Boxing Board of Control should be ashamed of themselves for effectively giving "The War Machine" a pass on what he did. The book should have been thrown at him and instead he got a slap on the wrist.

We don't usually "cheer lead" a guy but come on Sexton, finish business and finish the career of Olubamiwo. Do what the BBBofC should have done!

(Photo courtesy of boxrec.com)

It was announced earlier this week that Britain's popular David Price (16-2, 14) will return to the ring on April 29th for his second fight under the Sauerland banner.

Price, who is in Germany attempting to rebuild his career after back-to-back defeats to Tony Thompson, has had his opponent named as Ondrej Pala (33-4, 23).

Pala is best known to many British fans for his recent loss to Dereck Chisora and could act as a marker between Chisora and Price. He is also known to German fans after having had several fights there earlier in his career.

As well as this fight the card is also expected to feature WBO Cruiserweight champion Marco Huck though no opponent has yet been named for Huck

(Photo thanks to http://www.sauerlandpromotion.com)

Frank Warren's upcoming show at the "Copper Box" appears to have had more pullouts than you're typical 21 year old chav. Fortunately though the British promotional veteran has some how come out smelling like roses.

First we saw Dereck Chisora's (19-4, 13) opponent, Andriy Rudenko (24-0-0-1, 16), pulled out and some how Warren managed to get Kevin Johnson (29-4-1, 14) to fill in. This week it was Tyson Fury (21-0, 15) who saw an opponent pull out as the experienced Gonzalo Omar Basile (61-8-0-1, 28) pulled out.

Thankfully for Fury it seems Warren has again pulled out all the stops to get an attractive looking replacment in the form of Joey Abell (29-7, 28).

Whilst Abell might not be anything great in the ring he is better than Basile and with his power he certainly poses some danger to he unbeaten Fury.

In addition to Tyson's opponent being changed we also learned the name of Hughie Fury's (12-0, 7) opponent. Hughie will be fighting the limited American Matthew Greer (16-11, 13) who like Abell has a good punch on him though hasn't shown much in terms of durability in recent bouts.

The recent career of Dereck Chisora has been interesting. Not a bout of his has gone by with out his opponents being replaced at least once. The most recent pull out from a Chisora fight was the unbeaten Ukrainian Andriy Rudenko who pulled out of a Chisora fight a week or so ago.

This week saw Chisora's replacement opponent being named, and rather surprisingly it's a step up from the original opponent. Out went Rudenko and in came American Kevin Johnson.

Johnson, best known for surviving 12 rounds with Vitali Klitschko and rarely showing up for a fight, will be viewed as a more well known opponent than Rudenko despite not being a world class fighter himself.

What this bout really does is it serves as a chance for Chisora to get a win over a former Tyson Fury opponent. Fury, who is also on the card, is expected to fight Chisora later this year and with Chisora facing a former Fury foe this does give Chisora a chance to really get one up on his rival.

The Heavyweight division seems set to have a revolutionary 2014 with a number of great fights already lined up for the year. Unfortunately one of those bouts is already running the risk of being cancelled, or rescheduled, due to issues regarding visa's in the US.

The man being affected by the visa issues is Poland's exciting Artur Szpilka (16-0, 12) who has been told that he cannot, currently, stay in the US.

Szpilka, who has fought 6 times in the US already, has apparently been sent home whilst the situation is sorted. Unfortunately this will have played havoc with his preparation ahead of a scheduled January 25th contest with fellow unbeaten fighter Bryant Jennings (17-0, 9).

The bout, scheduled for the under-card of Mikey Garcia's WBO Super Featherweight contest with Juan Carlos Burgos, is still set to take place on January 25ththough unless this is sorted quickly we'd imagine the bout being re-arranged for a later date.