Melbourne’s city fathers have decreed it and who knows perhaps one or two of Melbourne’s city fathers

Melbourne’s city fathers have decreed it, and who knows, perhaps one or two of Melbourne’s city fathers have a vested interest.Whatever, it all seems to me perfectly admirable. Sleazy it might be, but health hazards are greatly reduced, kerb-crawling with all its attendant dangers is eliminated, as is pimping, and the police are able to focus their efforts on clearing up genuine crime Cities in Britain could learn a lot from Melbourne. In fact, Ken Livingstone ought to come out on an official brothel- touring mission to see how it all works. Never mind congestion charges; if he could give London a few places like Cromwell Heights, preferably with wheelchair access and dickie lights, that really would be a noble legacy Queen or country.

Howard Eastman aims to take on the world’s best middleweights after regaining the European title at Nottingham Arena on Tuesday. The Battersea fighter stopped the Frenchman Christophe Tendil in the fourth round of a one-sided affair to win back the belt he had relinquished to challenge for the WBA title in November 2001. “One of the guys out there has still got the title that is rightfully mine. I want to fight one of the top guys now but you can bet your life on the fact that they are shaking.”Eastman needed rounds under his belt after a relatively quiet spell and shrugged off Tendil’s sporadic clumsy approaches before turning up the heat with a persistently accurate left jab.Early in the fourth round Eastman unleashed two cracking rights which rocked Tendil back and forced the intervention of the Belgian referee Daniel van der Wiele.. Mike Redd, signed by Essex Leopards yesterday, beating the transfer deadline by 24 hours, will get an early chance to show his former coach at Birmingham Bullets, Tony Garbelotto, that he was wrong to release him.

And at Brentwood next Friday the clubs meet in a fixture which will count heavily towards their hopes of a top-eight finish.The Leopards, Milton Keynes Lions and the Bullets are the main contenders for the eighth spot, ahead of bottom-placed Leicester Riders who suffered their 21st consecutive defeat on Tuesday, losing 90-81 at Newcastle Eagles.Leopards’ coach Mike Taylor said: “We have been making strides throughout the season and I think Mike will help us to continue that.” Redd, a California State graduate, averages 12.7 points in his BBL career but was only a fringe player at Bullets, who also released Americans Kyle Rolston and Michael Jackson. Garbelotto replaced them with Jeff Bolton and Antwan Jones this week and was due to make one more signing before the deadline.. As you can probably imagine, the boxing promoter Frank Warren, by reputation a litigious fellow, is not slow in coming forward to challenge the glib assumption that prizefighting is in a bad way and soon to draw its last breath. Fighters are better paid too, and better looked after.There has never been an argument here with people who find professional boxing medically or morally indefensible.It has to be said, however, that some of the most vehement opposition to boxing is raised by colleagues in this threadbare trade whose prejudice does not keep them from the ringsides of New York and Las Vegas.Nevertheless, it was suggested to Warren, and he took the point, that while boxing remains more popular than many people imagine, negative perception results from an undeniable dearth of personalities.What got me on to the theme was this week’s announcement that Lennox Lewis has pulled out of a contest against Vitali Klitschko scheduled for 12 April. Lewis’s intention is a return against Mike Tyson in June, providing the utterly discredited former heavyweight champion defeats Cliff Etienne in Memphis next month.From the evidence of their first encounter last year, when Tyson was not just beaten but beaten up without landing a blow of any significance, Lewis is so much of a favourite that he is almost off the betting boards.The discouraging truth is that Tyson is the only heavyweight out there who can generate enough television money to meet Lewis’s purse and leave the paymasters with a profit. Put bluntly, Lewis, who unquestionably figures in the top 10 heavyweights of all time, possibly in the top six, can’t draw flies.