"I'm sorry sir, I cannot understand you"

Never mind the footy

Ricky Hatton bids for English glory in Las Vegas in TWO WEEKS. If he pulls this off, surely it would be one of the biggest coups in British sporting history. Or just British history in general. Actually, if Ricky Hatton, the fat Manc who drives a Robin Reliant van, beats Floyd Mayweather Jnr, the widely-regarded and self-proclaimed best fighter (and mouthiest cnut) on the planet, it will be the most momentous event IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

Newsletter

Anyone interested in Mangel and Royston Blake should sign up to my newsletter. I will be saying something about a possible fourth book in a couple of weeks. You also might have been morbidly amused by this recent news item.

The Beast From the East

Can't be sure, but I think the above is the Russian edition of DEADFOLK. Can any Russian speaker confirm? Looking at this page it does seem like it. (Look at that telltale "2.8i" in the blurb.)

Anyway, if Мертвецы is the Russian DEADFOLK, and I am this Чарли Уильямс guy, then very cool. I'm off to celebrate by purchasing a football club.

Joseph and his amazing technicolour belts

This blog salutes Joe Calzaghe, probably the best boxer in the world at this moment. It's between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr in the silky skills stakes, and Joe takes it in my books book because he is also a granite-chinned battler. On Sunday morning, against the immensely destructive WBC/WBA chamption Mikkel Kessler, he took some bombs on the chin and regrouped to win. The best shots of the night were from Kessler, but he couldn't land enough of them to trouble slippy Joe. But skills are not all. You need a fighting heart to be a great, and Calzaghe showed that in round 12. He never looked like knocking Kessler out and constantly faced that danger himself, but instead of playing it safe and protecting his carefully constructed lead, he chose to trade blows. the final stanza included some toe-to-toe action the like of which I've not seen outside of Kingsway, Swansea after Ritzy's chucks out.

Shapeshifter

You know I hinted at some James Blunt lyrics I was possibly working on? Well here they are, perhaps. What do you think? I think they're theoretically the best work I've ever done: