The 23-year-old is possibly the most exciting young fighter on the British scene and is

The 23-year-old is possibly the most exciting, young fighter on the British scene and is at least more memorable than most of the other 18 so-called British world champions because of his obvious punching power.Tonight he has been matched with an opponent with a proven record of surviving against quality boxers but statistics and previous encounters often mean nothing once Maccarinelli’s fists start flying. He is not the prettiest boxer to watch and he can be hurt but, when on top, Maccarinelli is always extremely enjoyable on the eye. At a time when far too many boxers hold far too many versions of world titles, it is refreshing to watch the continuing exploits of World Boxing Union cruiserweight incumbent Enzo Maccarinelli. The win alerted people to both his vulnerability and power.Maccarinelli’s first defence lasted 70 seconds, his second was over in 90 seconds and in his third he dropped Garry Delaney seven times before the fight was stopped in round eight. (The day after his latest exit, I overheard former British prospect John Lloyd observing on BBC TV that, although Henman was now 29, he was “a young 29″.)Despite the intervening triumphs on road, grass and track, Radcliffe has had to wait four long years to have a chance of expunging the memory of her despairing wail after being overhauled in the closing stages of the Sydney Olympic 10,000 metres final: “Nobody remembers who’s fourth!”Fingers, and everything else, crossed At least Radcliffe can’t go out in the quarter-finals..

Like a sausage sandwich without brown sauce, or a glass of alcohol-free alcohol. Where are those E-numbers we all crave? And that means, I suppose, it’s all down to the Olympics.Paula Radcliffe is a sensible and patient young woman, which is just as well given the amount of times she has been asked this question as next month’s gathering in Athens draws nearer: “Paula, do you feel any extra pressure going into the Olympics as British athletics’ only realistic gold medal prospect?”In response, Radcliffe applies a bat so straight that England’s cricketers might do well to note her technique: “Nobody puts more pressure on me than I do myself,” she replies, with a tight smile. And that, as they say, is a stopper.A victory in Athens for the nicely-spoken girl with the sensible hair and the first-class degree from Loughborough University (European languages) is something middle England would embrace with almost as much fervour as Timmy triumphing in SW19.At least Henman has been able to have a crack at the thing he wants most every year, even if British hopes that he will have his day are ever more forlorn. The seduction of what we have come to think of as the characteristic Hopper pose – someone gazing into nowhere – lies in the appeal to us to complete it. Each of his figures awaits the meaning we might give him, like the first Adam, a thing of dust, awaiting God’s animating breath.

In an individual this would be considered a dangerous psychosis The person has no self. What do we call this vacuum in a nation?So am I saying that it is Hopper with his evacuated cityscapes who explains why America is still searching for something it can call a soul, and not Michael Moore with all his flailing political indictments? Reader, I am. In the meantime, let’s be grateful that here we bear the burden of an ancient self-knowledge. Part of which is to recognise that only those who are lost need to find themselves by winning
More from Howard Jacobson. David Willetts, the shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, is nicknamed two-brains. But after his performance last Thursday morning, one must assume that the pair of organs must simply cancel each other out.