Greatest British fighters since 1945

[Humean]

I couldn't disagree more. Vasquez was not in his prime. And Froch's win over Bute outshines that win - and Kelley is probably Naz's best win imo. I think it's pretty clear that Froch's resume is better than Naz's, but I'll get a poll going on NSB - I'm interested to hear what other people would be saying about this.

He was old, particularly for a featherweight but he had lost his super-bantamweight title three years previously and bounced back to be the WBA featherweight champion making four successful defences, one in which includes Rojas. The question is not whether Vasquez was at his peak but whether that version of Vasquez was better than the version of Kessler that Froch beat. I think he was but I can see a differing opinion on that but bare in mind that Hamed slaughtered Vasquez whilst Froch narrowly beat Kessler.

I'm not convinced that Bute is even a better win than Bungu, perhaps the next year or two will provide evidence towards your view.

I don't really think it's worth debating anything with you as you never change your opinions. But it is what it is ... lewis - undisputed heavyweight champion of the world ... avenged both losses in completely dominant manner ... wins over numerous top, top guys, Olympic gold medalist etc etc. Naz ... spectacular against lesser opponents ... very entertaining ... lost decisively against the best guy he fought and then quit.

It's not even close and I feel kinda silly for even comparing the two with a straight face but whatever ...

How do you know that I never change my opinions?

I can definitely see why people have Lewis ahead of Hamed and indeed number one but think of it this way, is it not usually the case that the heavyweight division is routinely one of the weakest divisions? The Lewis Heavyweight era was probably one of the better heavyweight era's but he didn't face one of the very best in Rid**** Bowe even if it may have been no fault of Lewis's and he fought Tyson definitely way past his best. The Holyfield win(s) are probably the best on his record along with the Vitali Klitschko win. There can be question marks on how good the versions of Holyfield were that he beat although I personally give Lewis the benefit of the doubt on those. I suppose I think Lewis' very best wins are better than Hamed's but Nas's depth is slightly better, in part because I just don't think the other heavyweight opponents he beat were better than Hamed's opponents, plus he really battered almost everyone in his wins and he only lost once whereas Lewis lost twice and in fights he really should not have. Perhaps it is the two knockout losses preventing me from having him ahead of Nas or even number one.

Naz is probably in the top 10,, I would rate him higher than hatton, and froch but lower than lewis and calzaghe

Im not from the UK so i can only fairly rank the guys that became huge superstars, but i would say the top guys would be something like:

1 lewis
2 calzaghe
3. eubanks
4. naz
5. benn
6. hatton
7. froch
8. collins

Unfortunately you can't have Collins as he was from the Republic of Ireland, only Northern ireland counts.

With geography, not really. Probably my worst subject in school. But I guess I am brighter now thanks, got it. So he's British because it's all part of the UK. I like their TV shows there, by the way, much more clever writing and much fewer commercials and episodes. As much as I like Elementary, Sherlock is far superior.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the full name of our State, although it is commonly called either UK, Great Britain or just Britain. To be British means you are from one of the four countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

[Bodyshot3]

I have rejigged and (ermm) slightly expanded the list and thanks to Humean for a good post.

A very big admission was poor old Duke McKenzie and Honeyghan rated too low for me and Mo Hope a bit too high. Have also included some Ulster legends missed!

All my fighters (active and retired) have also won a legit world title which sadly excludes Graham, Laing, Cooper, the Finnegans, Colin Jones, Mike Watson, McGowan, Alan Rudkin, Dave Boy Green.

1: BUCHANAN
2: CALZAGHE
3: LEWIS
4: TURPIN
5: HAMED
6. CONTEH
7: HONEYGHAN
8. EUBANK
9. HATTON
10: FROCH


11: BENN
12: STRACEY
13. KHAN
14: MCGUIGAN
15: McKENZIE
16. MONAGHAN
17: WATT
18: WINSTONE
19: DOWNES
20: HAYE

21: HODKINSON
22: HOPE
23. BURNS
25. MARSH
26. BRUNO
27. McCULLOGH
28. THOMPSON
29. REID
30. WOODHALL

31. McAULEY
32. ANDRIES
33. INGLE
34. WITTER
35. NELSON
36. BARKER - hopefully much more to come and higher ranking! ENG
37. HARRISON
38. HIDE
39. WOODS
40. McCRORY

41. CATLEY
42. REES
43. ROBINSON
44. CLINTON
45. McDONELL - see Barker comment
46. REGAN
47. MAGEE
48. CLEVERLEY
49. PYATT
50. WEIR

Still missing the cut: Barry Jones, Henry Akinwande, Nicky Cook, Eammon Loughran, Barry Jones, Paul Jones, Enzo Maccarinelli, Alex Arthur.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

I have rejigged and (ermm) slightly expanded the list and thanks to Humean for a good post.

A very big admission was poor old Duke McKenzie and Honeyghan rated too low for me and Mo Hope a bit too high. Have also included some Ulster legends missed!

All my fighters (active and retired) have also won a legit world title which sadly excludes Graham, Laing, Cooper, the Finnegans, Colin Jones, Mike Watson, McGowan, Alan Rudkin, Dave Boy Green.

1: BUCHANAN
2: CALZAGHE
3: LEWIS
4: TURPIN
5: HAMED
6. CONTEH
7: HONEYGHAN
8. EUBANK
9. HATTON
10: FROCH


11: BENN
12: STRACEY
13. KHAN
14: MCGUIGAN
15: McKENZIE
16. MONAGHAN
17: WATT
18: WINSTONE
19: DOWNES
20: HAYE

21: HODKINSON
22: HOPE
23. BURNS
25. MARSH
26. BRUNO
27. McCULLOGH
28. THOMPSON
29. REID
30. WOODHALL

31. McAULEY
32. ANDRIES
33. INGLE
34. WITTER
35. NELSON
36. BARKER - hopefully much more to come and higher ranking! ENG
37. HARRISON
38. HIDE
39. WOODS
40. McCRORY

41. CATLEY
42. REES
43. ROBINSON
44. CLINTON
45. McDONELL - see Barker comment
46. REGAN
47. MAGEE
48. CLEVERLEY
49. PYATT
50. WEIR

Still missing the cut: Barry Jones, Henry Akinwande, Nicky Cook, Eammon Loughran, Barry Jones, Paul Jones, Enzo Maccarinelli, Alex Arthur.

Good list, but i have my doubts about cleverly and rees being 2 of the top 50 guys since 1945,,
Im not expert on british boxing history, but i can say with 100% certainty that rees and cleverly arent in the top 50 of british fighters since 1945

[Bodyshot3]

@ Sugar - I kind of agree mate. But my own top 50 was based vey specifically upon world genuine title holders and Rees (briefly) held a proper WBA belt which was won against a decent champion and to be fair Cleverly only makes the very outer limits/periphery of a very long list

Just to be clear - Nathan or Gavin would struggle to a top 75 of post-45 fighters I would draw-up.

They'd be bumped further down by the likes of Laing, Rudkin, McGowan, Graham, Hardy, Colin Jones, Mike Watson, Johnny Owen, Green, Cowdell, Jim McDonnell, both of the Finnegan bros and blokes like Cooper, Bugner etc.

But I think a real world title still means something and Rees (pre Broner) produced a credible result by beating M'Baye.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

@ Sugar - I kind of agree mate. But my own top 50 was based vey specifically upon world genuine title holders and Rees (briefly) held a proper WBA belt which was won against a decent champion and to be fair Cleverly only makes the very outer limits/periphery of a very long list

Just to be clear - Nathan or Gavin would struggle to a top 75 of post-45 fighters I would draw-up.

They'd be bumped further down by the likes of Laing, Rudkin, McGowan, Graham, Hardy, Colin Jones, Mike Watson, Johnny Owen, Green, Cowdell, Jim McDonnell, both of the Finnegan bros and blokes like Cooper, Bugner etc.

But I think a real world title still means something and Rees (pre Broner) produced a credible result by beating M'Baye.

Thats fine,,, I think watson should def be on the list,, I think he gets greatly underrated since he was in the shadow it seems to the big personalities that were benn and eubanks,, Maybe watson wasnt that good, but i always thought he was a damn good fighter, maybe someone can set me straight if im wrong

[IronDanHamza]

Thats fine,,, I think watson should def be on the list,, I think he gets greatly underrated since he was in the shadow it seems to the big personalities that were benn and eubanks,, Maybe watson wasnt that good, but i always thought he was a damn good fighter, maybe someone can set me straight if im wrong

Watson was pretty good seems to get overrated these days though IMO.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Watson was pretty good seems to get overrated these days though IMO.

how so,,, I hardly ever see him get mentioned,, he seems to be overshadowed by benn, eubanks, collins,,
Similar to how ike quartey always gets overlooked when it comes to tito, oscar, shane era

[IronDanHamza]

how so,,, I hardly ever see him get mentioned,, he seems to be overshadowed by benn, eubanks, collins,,
Similar to how ike quartey always gets overlooked when it comes to tito, oscar, shane era

He get's mentioned all the time these days. Especially in the British Boxing world.

His accident seems to have gotten a lot of press in recent years.

Definitely a good fighter, beat Benn and beat Eubank in the first fight IMO and he was atleast on those guys level obviously but you see a lot of people these days act like he was superior to them.

Don't mean to sound in bad taste but I think the tragic ending of the second Eubank fight tends to make people make out he's better than he was.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

He get's mentioned all the time these days. Especially in the British Boxing world.

His accident seems to have gotten a lot of press in recent years.

Definitely a good fighter, beat Benn and beat Eubank in the first fight IMO and he was atleast on those guys level obviously but you see a lot of people these days act like he was superior to them.

Don't mean to sound in bad taste but I think the tragic ending of the second Eubank fight tends to make people make out he's better than he was.

ok, yeah what you say makes sense,,, Im american and was about 9-14 years old when benn, watson, and eubanks where becoming stars, so i dont know much of how the british view them.. As for americans, he hardly gets mentioned, its always lewis, hatton, calzaghe, benn, eubanks, mcguian for the most part

[Humean]

I have rejigged and (ermm) slightly expanded the list and thanks to Humean for a good post.

A very big admission was poor old Duke McKenzie and Honeyghan rated too low for me and Mo Hope a bit too high. Have also included some Ulster legends missed!

All my fighters (active and retired) have also won a legit world title which sadly excludes Graham, Laing, Cooper, the Finnegans, Colin Jones, Mike Watson, McGowan, Alan Rudkin, Dave Boy Green.

1: BUCHANAN
2: CALZAGHE
3: LEWIS
4: TURPIN
5: HAMED
6. CONTEH
7: HONEYGHAN
8. EUBANK
9. HATTON
10: FROCH


11: BENN
12: STRACEY
13. KHAN
14: MCGUIGAN
15: McKENZIE
16. MONAGHAN
17: WATT
18: WINSTONE
19: DOWNES
20: HAYE

21: HODKINSON
22: HOPE
23. BURNS
25. MARSH
26. BRUNO
27. McCULLOGH
28. THOMPSON
29. REID
30. WOODHALL

31. McAULEY
32. ANDRIES
33. INGLE
34. WITTER
35. NELSON
36. BARKER - hopefully much more to come and higher ranking! ENG
37. HARRISON
38. HIDE
39. WOODS
40. McCRORY

41. CATLEY
42. REES
43. ROBINSON
44. CLINTON
45. McDONELL - see Barker comment
46. REGAN
47. MAGEE
48. CLEVERLEY
49. PYATT
50. WEIR

Still missing the cut: Barry Jones, Henry Akinwande, Nicky Cook, Eammon Loughran, Barry Jones, Paul Jones, Enzo Maccarinelli, Alex Arthur.

Good list but you missed Alan Minter, Walter McGowan was a WBC champ so he should be in there somewhere, also Johnny Caldwell who was a bantamweight world champion who I have little knowledge of. I think non world champs such as Alan Rudkin or Kevin Finnegan could be rated higher than some of the more recent world champion belt holders, both were European champions and that had more value back then than now.

Thanks for the list.