UK Fighters Rule!

[JUYJUY]

Keep what up? Did you not make the following threat?


Do everyone a favor here and get lost. You're a bore.

Yes, I maintain that. You are scum.

[Tha_Greatest]

There's Hatton, Calzaghe and, uhh.., that's about it

But the Graham-Watson-Douglas-Benn-Eubank era had so much potential, they were all very talented black British Middleweight's and could of dominated boxing.

Now i know why many many English people got worked up about Danny Williams, i was only able to think about Hatton and Calzaghe too, you still recently had Lennox Lewis

[JUYJUY]

Now i know why many many English people got worked up about Danny Williams, i was only able to think about Hatton and Calzaghe too, you still recently had Lennox Lewis

Danny Williams doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Benn and Eubank, and most certainly isn't lol.

Lennox Lewis was a Canadian from Jamaica now living in Miami and Jamaica.

[Tha_Greatest]

Danny Williams doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Benn and Eubank, and most certainly isn't lol.

Lennox Lewis was a Canadian from Jamaica now living in Miami and Jamaica.

I did not mention Danny williams with Benn and Eubank, you did, I said now i know why you Englishmen got workd up about Danny Williams, I dont think Danny is nothing but a one fight wonder.

[theclawoftheTiger]

I ****ing watched Douglas V Benn at ABA divisional final in 86, I was actually there with my Dad and Uncle! It was the first time I ever saw Benn, it was a great ****ing fight, it seemed personal and they were trash talking eachother just before the fight and had to be split apart (something to do with Benn's brother?), then in the fight Douglas was going mental on him you could hear the noise loud of Douglas' gloves smacking off Benn's headgear but then Benn lost it and came back going mad onto Rod.. Benn knocked him down a few times and got the decision. Douglas had beat Benn the previous year so Benn had reversed the loss. Benn was the first and only guy to knock Douglas down, and he hit him ****ing hard. But yeah, Douglas was a good prospect.. it was a case of whoever won the divisionals that Douglas and Watson were in, either Douglas or Watson, would go on to win the nationals too because Douglas and Watson were so good. Watson soon turned pro because he was pissed off about it, Douglas caused him to turn pro as a teen. I think Douglas won ABA nationals in 83, 84, 85 and 87 (Benn won 86, beat Douglas at divs and went to nationals instead and won them) and Douglas was robbed at the 84 Olympics but won Gold at the 86 Commonwealth's as Benn's replacement. Yeah he sparred with Eubank from July 89 right upto the Graham fight, so they had an awful lot of sparring sessions over those few months and Eubank I think said in his autobiography that Douglas was second only to Graham out of guys he sparred with and very good etc. Such a shame what happened to Douglas and Watson man, the British Middle's of that era could of really dominated! Hey, imagine Benn or Douglas going to the Olympics instead of turning pro and taking on Roy Jones! Benn and Douglas were both better amateurs than Richie Woodhall (especially Benn, he was the **** beating Douglas before turning pro), and Woodhall did well against Jones in the semi's.

Another couple of guys to throw in there JUY are James Cook and Cornelius Carr .. they certainly werent hot property like Watson, Douglas and Benn were but they deserve a mention too ..

Cook got to the final of the ABA nationals in 78, 81 and 82, he beat a 17yrold Watson by DQ in the 82 national semi's when he was losing badly to Watson and then beat Watson in the pros fair and square before fighting Graham for the vacant British ( Cook had lost to Graham at the 78 ABA final ) .. Cook also defeated Chris Pyatt in the semi's of ABA nationals in 81 at welterweight ( Pyatt won commonwealth gold in 82 and was a future world champion in the pros and future sparring partner of Eubank ) ..

(Watson and Douglas were due to fight at ABA divisionals semi's in 82 but Douglas pulled out injured and Watson got a bye to the final and won the final impressively and then became favourite to win ABA nationals 82 before DQ loss)

Carr got to the final of the 87 ABA nationals against Douglas and went the distance with Collins in the pros ..

But yeah that era of Watson - Douglas - Benn from 82 to 87 all fighting out of West Ham at the same time was awesome and they were all great prospects thats for sure .. shame we didnt get to see Watson against Benn in the amateurs although we did get to see it in the pros ofcourse

I tell you what, Watson was one brave mofo .. Cook ofcourse had that awesome right uppercut of his that every time it landed on anybody it was a fight winner ( shame he couldnt land it on Herol but then again who dodges punches like Herol? ).. Watson was the only guy to ever take Cooks right uppercut and survive the rest of the fight ( in the pros ) .. but he fought on against Cook with injuries to his jaw and neck and was on ***** street after the first uppercut landed let alone the next few that got in ( so sad that its a right uppercut that ofcourse did the damage to Watson from Eubank .. I think that was the skeleton in Watsons closet because of his high guard he was prone to uppercuts and his complacency against Eubank )

Also Sammy Storey deserves a mention for beating Collins in the amateurs and sharing the ring with guys like Eubank in the pros ( although totally outclassed by Eubank I agree )

[JUYJUY]

I think that because of Watson's high guard, he was prone to body shots too and that's why he struggled against McCallum But James Cook didn't have **** all apart from a decent right uppercut, that's all he had going for him, Watson was owning him comfortably before that right uppercut landed. ****ing hate James Cook, he was ****. As for Carr, my old stablemate Dean Francis almost took his head off against the ropes and had his eyes rolling all over the place.

Herol Graham was the one who earned the biggest rave reviews, he had never boxed competitively in his life before the 78 ABA's and he won those 78 ABA's without hardly being hit once! Then Herol turned pro right after.

[theclawoftheTiger]

What happened with Rod at the Olympics by the way ..?

[JUYJUY]

Rod was robbed at the 1984 Olympic Games against Shawn O'Sullivan who won Silver for Canada, Frank Tate won Gold.. Michael Watson sparred with Tate in America and owned his ass. Lennox Lewis also won a Silver for Canada in 84 and actually formed a friendship with Rod Douglas while over there in LA, then Lennox and Rod both won Gold at the Commonwealth Games in 86. When Lewis came to Britain after the 88 Olympics, he watched Douglas and Eubank sparring every day from July 89 to October 89. Douglas and Eubank really went all-out on eachother in that little spell where they just sparred eachother and did nothing else, and they felt it would put them in good stead for when they stepped up in class (they were winning too many fights too easily at the time) and felt it would of done them good and improved them, but I think it may of taken too much out of Douglas

[JUYJUY]

This article was from 2003, click here: http://www.boxing-monthly.co.uk/content/0303/one.htm

I was in prison, but is good ole YH still standing or has it fallen down yet??

[theclawoftheTiger]

It was saved from closure mate thank God ..

And London is the home of boxing ofcourse, where it all began