Who was the best English fighter of all time?

[Slimpack]

I would say Lennox Lewis for now. Fury or AJ may one day take that stop.

[HeadBodyBodyBody]

This is an absurd comment, posted by someone who knows absolutely nothing about England and the people who live here.

Furthermore, if you apply the same absurdly narrow definition of nationality to Americans as you do to the English, you would have to conclude that there has never been a single great American HW, because Dempsey had only a small percentage of Native American blood.

I'm just gonna wade in here and say, as an Englishman, that being English (or Scottish, or Welsh, or Irish) is quite a distinct thing from being British. I should say, for example, that whilst AJ is British, he's not English in my eyes. Same goes for Lennox. And someone like Calzaghe, he belongs to Wales, he's got fuk-all to do with England. So, there is some merit to what Marchegiano is saying, since OP asked about English fighters, not British ones.

[Marchegiano]

This is an absurd comment, posted by someone who knows absolutely nothing about England and the people who live here.

Furthermore, if you apply the same absurdly narrow definition of nationality to Americans as you do to the English, you would have to conclude that there has never been a single great American HW, because Dempsey had only a small percentage of Native American blood.

I didn't mean to offend.


To be honest there's a big side of me that just wants to knuckle down and take a what the **** you crying over approach but I'll abstain that a while and attempt amicable explanation

Maybe if you guys did not constantly correct us about who is and isn't English we'd easily lump you all in without worrying about it. Maybe the ONLY reason an American cares to distinguish British from English from UK Citizen is because you...guys.... can not let some **** like calling Slappy Joe an Englishman slide.

If you did then, maybe, I wouldn't question how English a man is because it isn't natural for me to. that's why I explained in America it's not normal to call people none Americans despite being countrymen. In England it ****ing is. You know damn well you don't see northern irish as english but you do see them as citizens of the UK, yeah? Okay then, why are you so offended?

I did not learn Lennox was Canadian from US TV, US fans, or anything to do with the USA. I lived most my life thinking he was British and not knowing the difference between British and English. Then I signed up for a boxing forum and spoke to English boxing fans. Period my dude, that is what happened.

Ignorant? Don't know? Sure....kinda the point of the whole post isn't it? I was surprised when I was told Lennox ain't English. I was surprised to hear Bob is Australian and that makes him less English. Coming in from just TV info, local fan opinions, to the internet in mid 2000s there's a ton of things I did not know that are basic as ****, but, when you have Englishmen correcting you on Englishness and you are not English the **** else you going to do but adopt their explanations?


So, again, I did not mean to offend. I feel like you've jumped the gun and right now I'm restraining reacting to someone who is actually offended because I don't think of you as a massive ***** and that is a ***** ass reaction so I've got to chop that up to misunderstanding, for the moment.

Correction's fine, I'm asking for it. Being offended though or angry with me .....ehhh just really want to make fun of the softness of that.



I'll leave you with this:

Remember, I am American, fat dumb yank, whatevs brah, just try to share perspective for a damn second

In the late 1830s James Burke was to challenge for the HW crown in England. He's from London. The champion at the time didn't want to face Burke because Burke was a scary dude and the champ was a guy who bought his title and fixed fights and could not fix Burke. So he retired and let Burke fight another guy for the vacant. When Burke won the champion took back his retirement and refused to award Burke saying literally this man from London was did not posses enough Englishness.

BangEm has me on ignore so I can't quote but he did post this in the first page of this thread - When did Calzaghe become English? He's Welsh and he's overrated.

Where is the mother ****ing line my dude and how the **** am I meant to guess it?

[Marchegiano]

I'm just gonna wade in here and say, as an Englishman, that being English (or Scottish, or Welsh, or Irish) is quite a distinct thing from being British. I should say, for example, that whilst AJ is British, he's not English in my eyes. Same goes for Lennox. And someone like Calzaghe, he belongs to Wales, he's got fuk-all to do with England. So, there is some merit to what Marchegiano is saying, since OP asked about English fighters, not British ones.

I appreciate it bud. I really did not mean to offend anyone. I respect England.

[kafkod]

I'm just gonna wade in here and say, as an Englishman, that being English (or Scottish, or Welsh, or Irish) is quite a distinct thing from being British. I should say, for example, that whilst AJ is British, he's not English in my eyes. Same goes for Lennox. And someone like Calzaghe, he belongs to Wales, he's got fuk-all to do with England. So, there is some merit to what Marchegiano is saying, since OP asked about English fighters, not British ones.

The Welsh, Scotts and Irish are different from the children of immigrants like AJ in 2 ways:

First, they are indigenous Brits, genetically the same as the English. If an Englishman, Scotsman, Welshman and Irish man walked into a bar, nobody would know which one was which till they opened their mouths and started talking!

Second, they were born and/or raised up in countries which are not England, and naturally self-identify as belonging to those countries, rather than to England.

I have direct personal experience of how this works. I was born and raised in England, but my ancestry is primarily Scottish/Ulster Irish. My parents relocated to Scotland when I was 19 years old. I stayed behind in England, along with one of my brothers.

My brother married a lady from Africa and I have 3 dark skinned nieces who identify as English. I also have 3 sisters who grew up in Scotland - the youngest was born there - and identify as Scottish. Myself, I identify as British first, English second.

[KillaMane26]

When did Calzaghe become English? He's Welsh and he's overrated.

Facts.....

[KillaMane26]

Lennox Lewis is the obvious choice followed probably by Eubank SR

[kafkod]

I didn't mean to offend.


To be honest there's a big side of me that just wants to knuckle down and take a what the **** you crying over approach but I'll abstain that a while and attempt amicable explanation

Maybe if you guys did not constantly correct us about who is and isn't English we'd easily lump you all in without worrying about it. Maybe the ONLY reason an American cares to distinguish British from English from UK Citizen is because you...guys.... can not let some **** like calling Slappy Joe an Englishman slide.

If you did then, maybe, I wouldn't question how English a man is because it isn't natural for me to. that's why I explained in America it's not normal to call people none Americans despite being countrymen. In England it ****ing is. You know damn well you don't see northern irish as english but you do see them as citizens of the UK, yeah? Okay then, why are you so offended?

I did not learn Lennox was Canadian from US TV, US fans, or anything to do with the USA. I lived most my life thinking he was British and not knowing the difference between British and English. Then I signed up for a boxing forum and spoke to English boxing fans. Period my dude, that is what happened.

Ignorant? Don't know? Sure....kinda the point of the whole post isn't it? I was surprised when I was told Lennox ain't English. I was surprised to hear Bob is Australian and that makes him less English. Coming in from just TV info, local fan opinions, to the internet in mid 2000s there's a ton of things I did not know that are basic as ****, but, when you have Englishmen correcting you on Englishness and you are not English the **** else you going to do but adopt their explanations?


So, again, I did not mean to offend. I feel like you've jumped the gun and right now I'm restraining reacting to someone who is actually offended because I don't think of you as a massive ***** and that is a ***** ass reaction so I've got to chop that up to misunderstanding, for the moment.

Correction's fine, I'm asking for it. Being offended though or angry with me .....ehhh just really want to make fun of the softness of that.



I'll leave you with this:

Remember, I am American, fat dumb yank, whatevs brah, just try to share perspective for a damn second

In the late 1830s James Burke was to challenge for the HW crown in England. He's from London. The champion at the time didn't want to face Burke because Burke was a scary dude and the champ was a guy who bought his title and fixed fights and could not fix Burke. So he retired and let Burke fight another guy for the vacant. When Burke won the champion took back his retirement and refused to award Burke saying literally this man from London was did not posses enough Englishness.

BangEm has me on ignore so I can't quote but he did post this in the first page of this thread - When did Calzaghe become English? He's Welsh and he's overrated.

Where is the mother ****ing line my dude and how the **** am I meant to guess it?

I'm not offended, I just don't want to let you get away with projecting your own very American obsession with racial and ethnic classification onto the English, which is something that a lot of American members try to do at this site.

To answer your question about Calzaghe .. Joe's father was Italian and he was born in London, England. He became Welsh after his parents relocated to Wales when he was a nipper.

[BangEM]

Lennox Lewis is the obvious choice followed probably by Eubank SR

LMAO. Who did Eubank Snr beat apart from Benn?

I'd even rank Benn higher than Eubank Snr because he went on to beat bigger and better boxers.

Right now, it's:

Lennox Lewis
Josh
Fury
Benn
Eubank Sr
Froch
Warrington
Bruno
Haye

[Saint Scrappy]

Hard to say.

Let's be real, if a fighter comes from their 2nd/3rd world country to be trained by an All-American team...

Shouldn't they be considered American?

Lennox Lewis is an ATG, but his success came at the hands of the US, not LB (Lesser Britain)