Who are the 10 greatest UK fighters of all time?

[Citizen Koba]

Post and discuss please

https://www.sportsbreak.com/boxing/t...s-of-all-time/

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/6...rs-of-all-time

I don't have the slightest pretensions towards being any kind of boxing historian, so I'm going to take at face value the received wisdom that Bob Fitzsimmons and Jimmy Wilde were amongst the greatest of all time in their respective weightclasses. Calzaghe has a strong claim of course (alongside Ward) to be one of the greatest SMWs of the divisions relatively brief history.

As for the rest of the UKs modern era fighters Lewis and Hamed are probably the pick of the bunch, though my personal favourites are probably Froch and local boy Ricky Hatton.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Conteh was such a good technical fighter, with excellent movement, speed and a great jab. To think he got nowhere near his potential too.

Good point on Stracey. He obviously is remembered for the Napoles win but he never got HOF consideration which is probably right but Barry McGuigan did get in and Stracey had a perhaps as good a career. He also beat some top, top Welterweights of that time like Ernie Lopez, Hedgemon Lewis and Roger Menetrey. Napoles was definitely over the hill but surely that win trumps the Pedroza one given that Napoles was a greater fighter (than Pedroza) and he did it in hostile territory. Perhaps McGuigan's charisma and what that particular night meant gave him the edge when it came to HOF balloting.

I think Hamed over time has been romanticized a little too much. I think he was probably the Featherweight of the 90's and outside of Marquez, Barrera, Morales, Lomachenko and Pacquaio likely wouldn't lose to any modern era (last 20-25 years) fighters at Featherweight or below but I think some go a little overboard on his talent level and actual skill set. He was a huge puncher though and yes, he did win a bunch of belts and was a very dominant champion for a long time against a strong caliber of opposition. Did he get the best out of his potential? Probably not because his hunger went (literally) away and when he hit adversity he didn't give it a shot to get back.

Completely agree on Conteh...

McGuigan slipped my mind tbh, he’s definitely in the top 20 IMO if he’s considered British. I would put Stracey higher though the fact he went out to Mexico to beat an ATG fighter Napoles in front of 40,000 Mexicans, plus the better names on his resume puts him closer to the top 10. The only knock on Stracey would be all his notable wins came against guys who were right at the tail end of their careers. Great matchmaking I suppose...

Hamed probably is overrated by a lot of people who haven’t actually watched his fights and have just seen spectacular highlight pacakages. He was in many ways a flawed fighter, who made a lot of fundamental mistakes but his insane athleticism, reflexes, power was more than an equaliser on most occasions.
I also think his resume stands up to nearly any of the modern British greats, that run from 96-98’ish were he beat Medina, Kelley, McCullough, Vasquez, Soto etc was a real impressive period. I don’t like to make allegations but the one question I’d have about Naz is if he used PED’s, the fact he fought out of the Wincobank gym which has significant PED su****ion only adds fuel to the fire as well.
Regardless, he was still a great fighter it’s a real shame the motivation just went, I think a big problem with Naz was that because he came from nothing, once he’d earned enough money he just lost all motivation. He’s apparently invested his money well though and owns a lot of properties, restaurants etc back in Sheffield.

[W1LL]

Not one mention of Danny Williams? You can all fcuk off!

[W1LL]

James DeGale, first Brit to win an Olympic gold and a professional World title, deserves an honourable mention. He actually won his Gold, unlike Femi who got gifted his. DeGale has maybe three years left to consolidate his resume otherwise he's looking like unfulfilled potential.

[lightningleeroy]

Not one mention of Danny Williams? You can all fcuk off!

Ha, That knockout of potter was a classic.

[W1LL]

david price
amir khan
Enzo Maccarinelli
paul smith
golovkin
Dave Allen
David Howe

Missed off Bradley Pryce and Anthony Small.