Was written off after the Watson fight but went to the states and won the world title before smashing Iran Barkley to bits . Plus who can forget the two Eubank fights and the Mclelland fight
A toss up between Benn and Hatton, Benn was a warrior but Hatton does it for me simply because all the fame has never gone to his head, great fly on the wall on Sunday night at Home with the Hattons, and there will be a follow up next Wednesday to see how the family react to the fight on saturday
Benn for me aswell, i remeber that great period where it seemed that one of Benn, Eubank and Watson were fighting on ITV every weekend... awesome.
Prince Nasseam was as good as anything i remember seeing also, till he started believing his own hype. Of the present lot Hatton and Khan i'll try and watch if they're on.
Micky Cantwell was full of heart and loved watching him try so hard .
I started off hating Naz but grew to love him
David Haye seems a great boxera nd funny guy full of confidence and i am compelled to follow him
Nigel Benn was awsome and never failed to try
But Ricky wins it for me a real normal lad who loves a fight beer and a pie cant get better than that and he gave me the best boxing night out ever against costa tzeu so Ricky wins on points against Benn
Maurice Hope, Charlie Magri & Dave Boy Green. Remember listening to their fights on Sport on Two & maybe watching them later on Sports Night. Halcyon days of British boxing........
Lloyd Honeygan. Great guy aswell always said hello to me when I was out and about in Camberwell and Brixton when i worked at Kings Hospital. Great coat and hat he use to wear very bloated sadly.
McGuigan, John Conteh, Jim Watt, Honeygan, Hatton and Benn are contenders, but you'd have to say Calzaghi's record speaks for itself so I'd have to go for him. I couldn't go for Lewis, great boxer though he undoubtably was because he just didn't feel English to me.
In terms of best loved well that's a toss up between 'enry and Bruno. I remember 'enry losing an outrageous points decision to Joe Bugner and there was almost rioting in the streets and questions asked in parliament. Much as I really liked Frank, I'd have to go for Cooper.
Henry Cooper was class, fought all of the top heavyweights except Sonny Liston, and was not disgraced against any of them.
My personal favorite,slightly idiosyncratic maybe, would be Dennis Andries. I remember Tommy Hearns beating him up so badly that he got up from being knocked down and faced away from Hearns (who was now behind him) and started throwing punches at thin air.
Also liked Colin McMillan, top fighter who would have done more but for injury.
I lost respect for Minter when he avoided Hagler for so long, it was his managements fault, Terry Lawless I think. Mind you look what happened when they finally met!
Tony Sibson was one of my favs, he had a fight with Chris Finnigan that was the best I've ever seen.
I also liked Colin Jones, he had punch!
I remember the Andries fight against Hearns. Listened on a radio in a pub in Winchelsea, it was the night the ferry went down in Zebrugger I think.
Don't care much for boxing these days, too many belts and too many govering bodies. Basically too much money.
Whilst Hatton and Joe have done well I don't think they are better than some of our many world champs in the 80's
What a shame about the Eubank/Watson fight. It was superb, shame we'll never get to see it again.
Anyone remember Richard Dunne? He won the British heaveyweight title and one of his corner put a crown on his head and a royal robe round him. This incensed Joe Bugner so much he actually showed some aggression and slaughtered him soon after.
Joe Bugner.......ahhhhh. What a waste of a great talent.Went the distance with the best. Some say he lacked the real killer instinct after someone he fought when he was young later died,
On one of his many comebacks in about '81 he wanted to fight the up and coming Bruno but Lawless dodged it. When they finally met about 6 years later Bugner was well past it. I think he'd have ruined dear old Frank if they had met ealier.
Bruno and Bugner fought in 1987 at White Hart Lane and Frank stopped him in the 8th round after Bugner had used his ring craft to stay out of trouble for most of the fight. That was Bugner's last proper fight really and he did not box again till 1995 when he pissed about in Australia after he lost all his dough on a winery investment.
Bugner at his best might have outpointed Frank but would never have got near enough to really hurt him because he would have been double keen to steer clear of big Frank's ponderous but very hard right hand.
Joe's first thought was always self-preservation, which you can't blame him for but it did make him a poor fighter to watch.
Bruno`s record like alot of boxers was a bit manufactured. He fought a lot of "bums".Was in the Valley boozer when he won his World title and it was jam packed. Never really rated him, but you have to say he fought Tyson before Tyson brain went AWOL.
Chirpy, I read somewhere that Eubank holds non exclusive rights to all of his fights and had released the fight on a website to raise a bit of cash for himself and Watson.
So many British boxers have been content to hang onto third rate titles, fighting home bouts, I think it's a sport we're really poor at but the public don't really understand it, so the awful standard isn't highlighted.
Comments
Was written off after the Watson fight but went to the states and won the world title before smashing Iran Barkley to bits . Plus who can forget the two Eubank fights and the Mclelland fight
then Benn
an im just going on favourites as in affection for and nowt to do with their ability.
Prince Nasseam was as good as anything i remember seeing also, till he started believing his own hype. Of the present lot Hatton and Khan i'll try and watch if they're on.
That fight against Gerald McClellan. My all time top fight. Tragedy what happened to McClellan.
Micky Cantwell was full of heart and loved watching him try so hard .
I started off hating Naz but grew to love him
David Haye seems a great boxera nd funny guy full of confidence and i am compelled to follow him
Nigel Benn was awsome and never failed to try
But Ricky wins it for me a real normal lad who loves a fight beer and a pie cant get better than that and he gave me the best boxing night out ever against costa tzeu so Ricky wins on points against Benn
Chris Finnigan but Bob Foster was too good
Ken Buchanan and Jim Watt
No mention of Bruno or Lennox Lewis.
To answer the question though greatest British boxer has to be Calzaghe.
The late Johnny Owen was a decent bantam weight.
I forgot to mention Lloyd Honeyghan - ha was a class fighter.
Bugner never lived down beating Cooper. You're right about Honeyghan.
I think I liked Eubank because he was different and at the time that appealed.
Do any of you remember a boxer from Boro called Geoff McCreesh??
Always remember him winning at Wembley Arena fighting 2 days after his Dad died, never seen a more gutsy fighter.
In terms of best loved well that's a toss up between 'enry and Bruno. I remember 'enry losing an outrageous points decision to Joe Bugner and there was almost rioting in the streets and questions asked in parliament. Much as I really liked Frank, I'd have to go for Cooper.
My personal favorite,slightly idiosyncratic maybe, would be Dennis Andries. I remember Tommy Hearns beating him up so badly that he got up from being knocked down and faced away from Hearns (who was now behind him) and started throwing punches at thin air.
Also liked Colin McMillan, top fighter who would have done more but for injury.
Tony Sibson was one of my favs, he had a fight with Chris Finnigan that was the best I've ever seen.
I also liked Colin Jones, he had punch!
I remember the Andries fight against Hearns. Listened on a radio in a pub in Winchelsea, it was the night the ferry went down in Zebrugger I think.
Don't care much for boxing these days, too many belts and too many govering bodies. Basically too much money.
Whilst Hatton and Joe have done well I don't think they are better than some of our many world champs in the 80's
What a shame about the Eubank/Watson fight. It was superb, shame we'll never get to see it again.
Anyone remember Richard Dunne? He won the British heaveyweight title and one of his corner put a crown on his head and a royal robe round him. This incensed Joe Bugner so much he actually showed some aggression and slaughtered him soon after.
Joe Bugner.......ahhhhh. What a waste of a great talent.Went the distance with the best. Some say he lacked the real killer instinct after someone he fought when he was young later died,
On one of his many comebacks in about '81 he wanted to fight the up and coming Bruno but Lawless dodged it. When they finally met about 6 years later Bugner was well past it. I think he'd have ruined dear old Frank if they had met ealier.
Bugner at his best might have outpointed Frank but would never have got near enough to really hurt him because he would have been double keen to steer clear of big Frank's ponderous but very hard right hand.
Joe's first thought was always self-preservation, which you can't blame him for but it did make him a poor fighter to watch.
So many British boxers have been content to hang onto third rate titles, fighting home bouts, I think it's a sport we're really poor at but the public don't really understand it, so the awful standard isn't highlighted.