Who is the Best British Fighter Never to Win a World Title?

[Counter-puncher]

'robbed' is putting it way too strongly, IMO, James, when Watson pretty much gave away the first- what? 5rounds? 6 even? he barely got started till the 7th or 8th from memory. but the fact that he finished much stronger against the stamina-challenged Eubank, always overly influenced people to think he won the fight, IMO.

I am pretty sure i had it 7-5 Eubank, i could stretch to a draw maybe but cannot see a cast-iron case for Watson winning as many as 7 rounds, never mind the 8 or 9 he'd need to win to merit the scores being labelled a robbery. just IMO.

[Autobarn]

It probably is Herol. But don't forget he had three goes at it, so it wasn't a case of thwarted opportunities. And at no time were the fights against the established number one in the division and they were twice for vacant titles.

Though can't come up with an alternative.

i agree, he just couldn't quite get it right even with the opportunities. but i think you can give him a bit of a pass for fighting the modern great, eventual 3 weight champ mike mccallum...

[palooka]

In 1987 herol would've been champ; he wasn't the same after been dicked around for ages and with the changes of manager/trainer etc. All the upset didn't do him much good at all.

[hurlock]

michael watson, spencer oliver,richard williams,crawford ashley, jonny frankham

[boxer70]

Herol Graham
Henry Cooper
Michael Watson
Kirkland Laing
Tony Sibson

[warmachine]

Terry Dunstan

[reggaereggae]

Lord, not this again..... what about Zahid Kahut?

[hurlock]

gary jacobs was a top fighter.

[mickey1975]

Terry Dunstan

Sorry Larry,but why didnt he then?I watched him in Hull that night and if he was good enough,he would have produced.

[hurlock]

Terry Dunstan

Sorry Larry,but why didnt he then?I watched him in Hull that night and if he was good enough,he would have produced.

he was beating mayfield & thompson hand's down before getting cruelly chinned in the die'ing minutes.

[jessi]

Kirkland Lang, aka "the gifted one", huge talent, fantastic to watch, but turning up drunk with a spliff in his mouth to boxing shows he should of been on probably prevented him getting the fights that would of led him to world title glory !

[palooka]

gary jacobs was a top fighter.

Yes he was!

[alexpaterson]

gary jacobs was a top fighter.

Yes he was!

Good shout, he gave Sweet Pea trouble early but Sweet Pea figured him out brilliantly! But against another champ he really could of won! A talented fighter

[napoles7]

Peerless Jim Dricoll

He was actually recognised as a world champion by the National Sporting Club (or it may have changed to the BBBofC by then) as world champion by virtue of his No Contest with Abe Attel. This would be like holding an alphabet title today, however no one really took him seriously as world champion as Attel was undisputed champ at the time and Driscoll never actually beat Attel.

My two choices would be Driscoll and Alan Rudkin.

[hurlock]

sweet pea said jacobs body shot's were painfull & that he had blood in his urine the next day :!:

[alexpaterson]

sweet pea said jacobs body shot's were painfull & that he had blood in his urine the next day :!:

I never knew that. The way Whitaker figured him out was brilliant. The last round was amazing but throughout the fight Jacobs didn't look out of his depth at all

[hitman_hatton1]

Does anyone reckon Vanzie could have won a title if he'd got the right breaks?

no. :(

[hurlock]

there's been many great british champions like billy schwer, jamie moore,ensley bingham,bunny johnson.

[Young Mongoose]

Graham and Rudkin (RIP).

[Matt W]

He was before my time but reading a recent BM interview made me think Pat Cowdell must be up there - what do those that saw him think?

Mathew Ellis must be in with a shout.

[alexpaterson]

He was before my time but reading a recent BM interview made me think Pat Cowdell must be up there - what do those that saw him think?

Mathew Ellis must be in with a shout.

He was brave as hell against Sanchez and also showed he was good enough to mix at that high level, from what I know he never relived that form which is a shame as he was good

[napoles7]

Against Sanchez, Cowdell just put on a hell of a fight sticking to a superb gameplan against a reasonably under motivated Sanchez who quite often turned in fairly average performances against lesser fighters. Not that I am taking anything away from Cowdell he was a valid world class fighter just not in the realms of winning titles, especially in that era, IMO.

[Nightmare Roy]

Michael Brodie's gotta be up there.

Definately, i used to love watching Brodie fight, he was robbed when he finally got a shot, disgusting

[tijuana1]

I personally think if Henry Wharton would of boxed either Stev Little or Michael Nunn the night they both fought each other on the undercard he would of been world champ, but not the best british fighter never to win. Nunn was shocking that night and not sure what Little did after winning title. To be around when Benn Eubank was on the scene was unfortunate for Wharton.

[Scrap]

The storys of Dunstan would fill two Books, Honest. . Unbelievable.