Why the British heavyweights lack real punch

Britain's lack of heavyweight clout is set to be exposed on Saturday by fights on either side of the Atlantic.

At Reading's Rivermead Leisure Centre, Michael Sprott defends the British title against Matt Skelton. The venue is appropriate - because it is as anonymous as the two men fighting for a Lonsdale Belt.

Meanwhile, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the LA Lakers basketball team, Vitali Klitschko and Corrie Sanders will battle for the World Boxing Council title that became vacant when Lennox Lewis retired.

Sanders, the South African veteran, is expected to lose to his giant Ukrainian opponent, even though he shocked Vitali's younger brother Wladimir with a victory inside two rounds last year.

This is the same Sanders who dismissed Sprott inside a single round 30 months ago. With Lewis no longer a part of the scene, is Sprott, a 28-year-old who until recently was supplementing his boxing earnings by working as a furniture removals man, the best we've got?

Since the jury is still out on Audley Harrison, former world champion Herbie Hide has cut and run and the enigmatic Danny Williams was exposed by a defeat against Sprott in January, it would seem so.