Eubanks says Jones Jr wouldn't fight him?

[Jon Saxon]

But there was a very good reason he had to regain the middleweight title five times you know ;;-)
Ray Robinson was at his best a weight below middleweight.

Yes, because he was past his best and around 40 years old.

How many times did Roy Jones regain the title after he lost it? Never. Once he was flattened, pathetically, at 35 and with one punch he never was able to compete let alone regain any of the multiple titles in the current era.

Robinson had the greatness to keep coming back and regaining it vs super tough guys like Carmen Basilio, Gene Fullmer and Bobo Olson et al whilst a younger Roy Jones was so great once he lost he never won a big fight again.

Lol thats some logic, so every fighter who goes on a quick slippery slope is no longer great?

Brilliant

[loaded_gloves]

No, because it hardly ever happens - which speaks volumes about how great Ray was.

Can't believe I'm having to defend Sugar Ray on a boxing forum.

[tonyevs]

No, because it hardly ever happens - which speaks volumes about how great Ray was.

Can't believe I'm having to defend Sugar Ray on a boxing forum.

Nobody saying anything negative against Ray Robinson. The guy was one of the greatest fighters ever. Just not the best middleweight.

[section4]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

[loaded_gloves]

Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Absolutely. And this practice continues to this day, Khan, Cleverly et al.

[DavidPayne]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Calzaghe would have been a difficult fight for anyone at Super-Middleweight. And I'm one of his biggest critics.

[Jon Saxon]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Calzaghe would have been a difficult fight for anyone at Super-Middleweight. And I'm one of his biggest critics.

I am a huge Joe fan but Jones Jnr would have played with him.

[Finn]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Based on what? Calzaghe beat hopkins who is still ranked number 1 LHW and number 5 p4p in the world.

Also the hype is greater in america we've got people saying look how good RJJ was at SMW, apart from toney the guys he fought werent even in the league of guys like stretch they were absolute nobodies. Eubank was koing crap guys with his first punch in fights ala Reginaldo http://youtu.be/Oi1JwB0rQ_s.

The over hype goes both ways, imo people hype the americans because they fought other americans. When did Eubank, calzaghe or benn ever get beaten by one of the massively hyped americans? Lacy was the "smw tyson" and favourite it the fight, Hopkins is a legend and lost also pulled out of a fight with calzaghe the day the contract was to be signed years earlier, McClellan was being rated up there with toney and jones then when he lost was suddenly not as good, Iran barkely was the favourite, and no other american with a decent title wanted to fight.

Do people really believe that collins, eubank, benn and Calzaghe in their prime were all too frightened to fight the US fighters? Imo the super middle weight was in the UK and the US fighters chose to avoid it and looked to make and impact in the middle weight and LHW - SMW has never been as popular in the US as in Europe.

Also lets not forget a novice collins went the distance with mike mccallum. Julian jackson got banged out early buy mcclellan twice benn beat him. The fact is the UK fighters were easily in the same league as the US fighters with calzaghe and RJJ probably in a league of their own.

But Eubank an easy fight for RJJ what a joke.

[crusader]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Based on what? Calzaghe beat hopkins who is still ranked number 1 LHW and number 5 p4p in the world.

Also the hype is greater in america we've got people saying look how good RJJ was at SMW, apart from toney the guys he fought werent even in the league of guys like stretch they were absolute nobodies. Eubank was koing crap guys with his first punch in fights ala Reginaldo http://youtu.be/Oi1JwB0rQ_s.

The over hype goes both ways, imo people hype the americans because they fought other americans. When did Eubank, calzaghe or benn ever get beaten by one of the massively hyped americans? Lacy was the "smw tyson" and favourite it the fight, Hopkins is a legend and lost also pulled out of a fight with calzaghe the day the contract was to be signed years earlier, McClellan was being rated up there with toney and jones then when he lost was suddenly not as good, Iran barkely was the favourite, and no other american with a decent title wanted to fight.

Do people really believe that collins, eubank, benn and Calzaghe in their were all too frightened to fight the US fighters? Imo the super middle weight was in the UK and the US fighters chose to avoid it and looked to make and impact in the middle weight and LHW - SMW has never been as popular in the US as in Europe.

Also lets not forget a novice collins went the distance with mike mccallum. Julian jackson got banged out early buy mcclellan twice benn beat him. The fact is the UK fighters were easily in the same league as the US fighters with calzaghe and RJJ probably in a league of their own.

But Eubank an easy fight for RJJ what a joke.

How was Stretch a league above Lucas, Paz, Thorton, and Malinga?

[Finn]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Based on what? Calzaghe beat hopkins who is still ranked number 1 LHW and number 5 p4p in the world.

Also the hype is greater in america we've got people saying look how good RJJ was at SMW, apart from toney the guys he fought werent even in the league of guys like stretch they were absolute nobodies. Eubank was koing crap guys with his first punch in fights ala Reginaldo http://youtu.be/Oi1JwB0rQ_s.

The over hype goes both ways, imo people hype the americans because they fought other americans. When did Eubank, calzaghe or benn ever get beaten by one of the massively hyped americans? Lacy was the "smw tyson" and favourite it the fight, Hopkins is a legend and lost also pulled out of a fight with calzaghe the day the contract was to be signed years earlier, McClellan was being rated up there with toney and jones then when he lost was suddenly not as good, Iran barkely was the favourite, and no other american with a decent title wanted to fight.

Do people really believe that collins, eubank, benn and Calzaghe in their were all too frightened to fight the US fighters? Imo the super middle weight was in the UK and the US fighters chose to avoid it and looked to make and impact in the middle weight and LHW - SMW has never been as popular in the US as in Europe.

Also lets not forget a novice collins went the distance with mike mccallum. Julian jackson got banged out early buy mcclellan twice benn beat him. The fact is the UK fighters were easily in the same league as the US fighters with calzaghe and RJJ probably in a league of their own.

But Eubank an easy fight for RJJ what a joke.

How was Stretch a league above Lucas, Paz, Thorton, and Malinga?

Ok a bit of an exaggeration i was on a rant. But lets face it if eubank had beaten paz and lucas as well we wouldnt be calling him the best smw of all time, even if he had beaten toney.

[section4]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Based on what? Calzaghe beat hopkins who is still ranked number 1 LHW and number 5 p4p in the world.

if calzaghe fought hopkins at his peak there would be only one winner and it would not be calzaghe.

Also the hype is greater in america we've got people saying look how good RJJ was at SMW, apart from toney the guys he fought werent even in the league of guys like stretch they were absolute nobodies. Eubank was koing crap guys with his first punch in fights ala Reginaldo http://youtu.be/Oi1JwB0rQ_s. h

that staement is enough for me to realise you are not being objective, stretch was a light middle for a start, the usual thing find some one lighter who cant punch or is too old.


The over hype goes both ways, imo people hype the americans because they fought other americans. When did Eubank, calzaghe or benn ever get beaten by one of the massively hyped americans? Lacy was the "smw tyson" and favourite it the fight, Hopkins is a legend and lost also pulled out of a fight with calzaghe the day the contract was to be signed years earlier, McClellan was being rated up there with toney and jones then when he lost was suddenly not as good, Iran barkely was the favourite, and no other american with a decent title wanted to fight.

I am not listening to people i am giving my opinion based on my exp . Eubank Benn and Calazaghe never fought a proven american fighter in his prime who was live and not damaged goods.

Do people really believe that collins, eubank, benn and Calzaghe in their prime were all too frightened to fight the US fighters? Imo the super middle weight was in the UK and the US fighters chose to avoid it and looked to make and impact in the middle weight and LHW - SMW has never been as popular in the US as in Europe.

collins wasnt , he started out as a pro in america and did well unlike eubank who headed to england, Benn avoided live opponents as did Eubanks and Cazaghe. its the warren way, why risk the money when you can sell a fight such as eubank v sherry as a world class matchup and have millions watching on tv.

Also lets not forget a novice collins went the distance with mike mccallum. Julian jackson got banged out early buy mcclellan twice benn beat him. The fact is the UK fighters were easily in the same league as the US fighters with calzaghe and RJJ probably in a league of their own.

he was a pro for 4 years at the time, and went the distance with reggie johnson 2 years later, a johnson who would beat all the british super middleweights. Collins only came back from america because he went as far as he could there and knew there was easier picking in the uk and he was right big time,eubank an easy fight for RJJ what a joke.

eubank is an easy fight for any live world class fighter, he was a joke. he could not box, he could not punch, .

and benn beat a sick man when he beat mclennan. do you know he had hypnosis before the fight he was that scared

[Finn]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Based on what? Calzaghe beat hopkins who is still ranked number 1 LHW and number 5 p4p in the world.

if calzaghe fought hopkins at his peak there would be only one winner and it would not be calzaghe.

Also the hype is greater in america we've got people saying look how good RJJ was at SMW, apart from toney the guys he fought werent even in the league of guys like stretch they were absolute nobodies. Eubank was koing crap guys with his first punch in fights ala Reginaldo http://youtu.be/Oi1JwB0rQ_s. h

that staement is enough for me to realise you are not being objective, stretch was a light middle for a start, the usual thing find some one lighter who cant punch or is too old.


The over hype goes both ways, imo people hype the americans because they fought other americans. When did Eubank, calzaghe or benn ever get beaten by one of the massively hyped americans? Lacy was the "smw tyson" and favourite it the fight, Hopkins is a legend and lost also pulled out of a fight with calzaghe the day the contract was to be signed years earlier, McClellan was being rated up there with toney and jones then when he lost was suddenly not as good, Iran barkely was the favourite, and no other american with a decent title wanted to fight.

I am not listening to people i am giving my opinion based on my exp . Eubank Benn and Calazaghe never fought a proven american fighter in his prime who was live and not damaged goods.

Do people really believe that collins, eubank, benn and Calzaghe in their prime were all too frightened to fight the US fighters? Imo the super middle weight was in the UK and the US fighters chose to avoid it and looked to make and impact in the middle weight and LHW - SMW has never been as popular in the US as in Europe.

collins wasnt , he started out as a pro in america and did well unlike eubank who headed to england, Benn avoided live opponents as did Eubanks and Cazaghe. its the warren way, why risk the money when you can sell a fight such as eubank v sherry as a world class matchup and have millions watching on tv.

Also lets not forget a novice collins went the distance with mike mccallum. Julian jackson got banged out early buy mcclellan twice benn beat him. The fact is the UK fighters were easily in the same league as the US fighters with calzaghe and RJJ probably in a league of their own.

he was a pro for 4 years at the time, and went the distance with reggie johnson 2 years later, a johnson who would beat all the british super middleweights. Collins only came back from america because he went as far as he could there and knew there was easier picking in the uk and he was right big time,eubank an easy fight for RJJ what a joke.

eubank is an easy fight for any live world class fighter, he was a joke. he could not box, he could not punch, .

and benn beat a sick man when he beat mclennan. do you know he had hypnosis before the fight he was that scared

God i hope you dont start posting regularly you write shit!

[section4]

i will give you a tip, use you head and not your heart to anaylise things and dont listen to the media cheerleading fighters who are not world class.

look at the records of some of the guys Benn Eubank and co fought, its a joke,

take Gary stretch. fights Chris Eubank for a so called world title.

never fought one world class fighter

the guy he beat before he fought eubank by the name of Eduardo Domingo Contreras who he fought on 26 5 1995 had won 2 out of 19 fights before fighting stretch, and wait for it the guys he fought before stretch was chris eubank and he won 2 out of 18 before he fought eubank, against bums.

this is the reality, so stretch beats this guy and that entitles him to a world title fight against the WBO champ because this guy has already fought the Champ, what a load of nonsense/

Of course the great britisj public do not know any better

The best guy stretch beat was derek wormwald, a british level fighter

Boxerec is a great resource, you only have to click on the name and you get the records of the fighters, and facts, i suggest you do the same and find out the truth before accusing mer eof talking shit.

[coghaugen11]

Stretch got the Eubank fight because of his name and face. He was often pictured dating celeb women in the glossy mags. It made much more money than Eubank-McCallum would've.

He actually did OK against Eubank as well :)

[section4]

Stretch got the Eubank fight because of his name and face. He was often pictured dating celeb women in the glossy mags. It made much more money than Eubank-McCallum would've.

He actually did OK against Eubank as well :)

i agree, so what does that say about eubank

[coghaugen11]

That he had a brain?

[Quixall]

The simple fact is that Eubank and Benn were of similar calibre to other world champions from America. The WBO cash cow has been going on for years, but Benn did beat Barkley, DeWitt and McClellan and of course Eubank beat Benn. As one poster said, kinfinn i think, there were stand out fighters such as Jones, Toney, Macallum etc, but the more regular American world champions such as Barkley etc, were no better than Eubank or Benn. To put things into context Herol Graham lost a narrow points decision to Macallum when he was considered one of the p4p best fighters at the time and Graham never won a world title. Yes, there has tended to be superior fighters who have been Americans such as Jones Jr et al, but Eubank and Benn were equal to the rest and Jones Jr would have had an uncomfortable night with either, even though he would have betean either Benn or Eubank IMO.

[jamesmcdonnell]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Calzaghe would have been a difficult fight for anyone at Super-Middleweight. And I'm one of his biggest critics.

Toney would have won, too cute for Calzaghe, too tough and too hard hitting. Jones Jr would I think have pissed on him. Styles make fights, and Calzaghe would never have coped with Jones's speed and angles.

Calzaghe was a great fighter, but Jones Junior at 168 was absolutely phenomenal, he was pretty much untouchable - I know there were rumours of Toney being weight drained before the fight - but Jones I think anyway just had too much, he absolutely played with Toney, and JT is an all time great and lock for the hall of fame - sure patchy career, but undeniable ATG skills - Jones made him look clumsy and hapless.

Calzaghe's work rate wouldn't have been enough to keep Jones honest in my opinion, he would have been chasing shadows all night. Look how Calzaghe struggled with Hopkins - and Hopkins didn't have half the speed Jones did.

Who did Calzaghe ever face in his career who was comparable to Jones Junior - nobody - Kessler was his best win in my opinion - and Kessler is a B+ whereas Jones Jr is an A * - Jones Jr's late career has made people forget just how special he was, especially at 168 - it's a shame Jones couldn't stay there longer, he had serious power at 168.

[jamesmcdonnell]

interesting dicussion, but i am afraid calzaghe, benn and eubank are simply not in the league of the other guys mentioned, they were not proper world champions only local champions in that they were not the best in the world in there weight by a long shot and were able to pick and choose their challengers because of the TV money generated in britian and the pathetic WBO title.
Eubank fighting the likes of dan sherry and gary stretch, do us a favour. They were promoted by the british media to appear to be the best in the world in order to sell the TV fights to the ignorant british public.

Based on what? Calzaghe beat hopkins who is still ranked number 1 LHW and number 5 p4p in the world.

Also the hype is greater in america we've got people saying look how good RJJ was at SMW, apart from toney the guys he fought werent even in the league of guys like stretch they were absolute nobodies. Eubank was koing crap guys with his first punch in fights ala Reginaldo http://youtu.be/Oi1JwB0rQ_s.

The over hype goes both ways, imo people hype the americans because they fought other americans. When did Eubank, calzaghe or benn ever get beaten by one of the massively hyped americans? Lacy was the "smw tyson" and favourite it the fight, Hopkins is a legend and lost also pulled out of a fight with calzaghe the day the contract was to be signed years earlier, McClellan was being rated up there with toney and jones then when he lost was suddenly not as good, Iran barkely was the favourite, and no other american with a decent title wanted to fight.

Do people really believe that collins, eubank, benn and Calzaghe in their prime were all too frightened to fight the US fighters? Imo the super middle weight was in the UK and the US fighters chose to avoid it and looked to make and impact in the middle weight and LHW - SMW has never been as popular in the US as in Europe.

Also lets not forget a novice collins went the distance with mike mccallum. Julian jackson got banged out early buy mcclellan twice benn beat him. The fact is the UK fighters were easily in the same league as the US fighters with calzaghe and RJJ probably in a league of their own.

But Eubank an easy fight for RJJ what a joke.

Err, Calzaghe himself stated he wanted no part of Jones in his prime, I forget where the quote was, whether it was in his book or prior to that in an interview, but I saw the quote with my own eyes, he stated that he knew that Jones would have beaten him, and he never fancied it - for christ's sake, Calzaghe wanted to pull out of the Lacy fight, he was so terrified of losing his unbeaten record, his own father had to talk him into it.

Calzaghe was a stay at home boy, who fought largely hand picked opposition, and the occasional mandatory (often against shit fighters who didn't deserve a tilt - like Mario Veit - who amazingly, he fought twice) until the very end of his career when he knew the end was near, and that the biggerst opportunities meant coming out of his comfort zone - good as Calzaghe was, he was terrified of getting beaten, and cherished his unbeaten record above all else.

Eubank also stated numerous times that he didn't want to face Toney or Jones Jr particularly - unless a massive amount of money were on offer - he too feasted on soft WBO bodies - in many ways he paved the way for Calzaghe in that regard.

Benn - that's another matter - I think he would have fought Godzilla given the opportunity, there was a man who loved a tear up and no mistake. whether he thought he could have beaten them or not, he'd have jumped at the chance.

[stujones]

apart from Toney, Jones beat nobody? Ummm what about Sugar Boy Malinga who beat Benn (twice for my money) and could have easily got the decision against Eubank.... Tony Thorton who gave Eubank problems, KO'd decisively against Jones. What about Eric Lucas, who went on to KO Catley (who is better than Stretch).

Come on King finn, to say all of Jones' SMW opponents were leagues below Stretch is stretching it (pun very much intended) a bit.

Steve Collins was a sly one, yes he did go to the states to call out Roy Jones.... he did go to Square Ring for showdown talks.... and came out there telling the world Roy Jones' doesn't want the fight. Forgets to tell the world the minor detail that he demanded something like 7 million or no fight. Off course Steve would have fought him for that figure..... but the fight would have been not fancially viable.

Sorry James, but if I am not mistaken - Nigel said something similar in his retirement. He knew post McClellan he was finished, he knew he was on a hiding in facing Jones. He would have taken the fight though in a heart beat providing the money was correct - and only providing the money was correct. It would have been his pension fund.

[jamesmcdonnell]

apart from Toney, Jones beat nobody? Ummm what about Sugar Boy Malinga who beat Benn (twice for my money) and could have easily got the decision against Eubank.... Tony Thorton who gave Eubank problems, KO'd decisively against Jones. What about Eric Lucas, who went on to KO Catley (who is better than Stretch).

Come on King finn, to say all of Jones' SMW opponents were leagues below Stretch is stretching it (pun very much intended) a bit.

Steve Collins was a sly one, yes he did go to the states to call out Roy Jones.... he did go to Square Ring for showdown talks.... and came out there telling the world Roy Jones' doesn't want the fight. Forgets to tell the world the minor detail that he demanded something like 7 million or no fight. Off course Steve would have fought him for that figure..... but the fight would have been not fancially viable.

Sorry James, but if I am not mistaken - Nigel said something similar in his retirement. He knew post McClellan he was finished, he knew he was on a hiding in facing Jones. He would have taken the fight though in a heart beat providing the money was correct - and only providing the money was correct. It would have been his pension fund.

I didn't know that about Benn, but after the McClellan fight he was probably not interested in getting a hiding, before that I reckon he would have taken the shot at Jones.

Jones absolutely dominated everyone he fought at 168 - you cannot argue with that. He wasn't at the weight long, so you cannot really critisize him considering he beat Toney and Lucas in that time. His win over Toney, is better than anything Eubank, Collins, Calzaghe or Benn ever achieved.

[section4]

The simple fact is that Eubank and Benn were of similar calibre to other world champions from America. The WBO cash cow has been going on for years, but Benn did beat Barkley, DeWitt and McClellan and of course Eubank beat Benn. As one poster said, kinfinn i think, there were stand out fighters such as Jones, Toney, Macallum etc, but the more regular American world champions such as Barkley etc, were no better than Eubank or Benn. To put things into context Herol Graham lost a narrow points decision to Macallum when he was considered one of the p4p best fighters at the time and Graham never won a world title. Yes, there has tended to be superior fighters who have been Americans such as Jones Jr et al, but Eubank and Benn were equal to the rest and Jones Jr would have had an uncomfortable night with either, even though he would have betean either Benn or Eubank IMO.

eubank and benn were in no way of similar calibre, they were protected by the fact that they could draw a huge TV audience in britian against american who were not world class but were portrayed to be by the promoters.

check out the records of the guys they fought, Dan Sherry, et al, as i say boxrec is a great resource, just check all the opponents they fought and you will find that there is not one live american fighter in it, they were all never has beens has beens light punchers or old.
its classic allegedly, tell the public the guys they are fighting is dangerous and the public swallow it hook line and sinker.

read what I said about gary stretch earlier

[Jon Saxon]

I can't believe that this is even being discussed.

Eubank , Benn , Collins, against Roy Jones Jnr?

This place is going mad.


Jeesus H.

[Quixall]

The simple fact is that Eubank and Benn were of similar calibre to other world champions from America. The WBO cash cow has been going on for years, but Benn did beat Barkley, DeWitt and McClellan and of course Eubank beat Benn. As one poster said, kinfinn i think, there were stand out fighters such as Jones, Toney, Macallum etc, but the more regular American world champions such as Barkley etc, were no better than Eubank or Benn. To put things into context Herol Graham lost a narrow points decision to Macallum when he was considered one of the p4p best fighters at the time and Graham never won a world title. Yes, there has tended to be superior fighters who have been Americans such as Jones Jr et al, but Eubank and Benn were equal to the rest and Jones Jr would have had an uncomfortable night with either, even though he would have betean either Benn or Eubank IMO.

eubank and benn were in no way of similar calibre, they were protected by the fact that they could draw a huge TV audience in britian against american who were not world class but were portrayed to be by the promoters.

check out the records of the guys they fought, Dan Sherry, et al, as i say boxrec is a great resource, just check all the opponents they fought and you will find that there is not one live american fighter in it, they were all never has beens has beens light punchers or old.
its classic allegedly, tell the public the guys they are fighting is dangerous and the public swallow it hook line and sinker.

read what I said about gary stretch earlier

I agree that there isn't a great list of opponents on Eubanks record, but i give him credit in beating both Watson and Benn. Benn is a different case, in that he did beat DeWitt, Barkley and McClellan and you can't dismiss McClellan and Barkley as American nobodies. I do believe that Benn and Eubank would have lost to the likes of Jones, Toney and Macallum in that thoe guys were above and beyond your normal world championship fighter. I give Benn more credit than Eubank for going to the states and winning and you can't knock his wins against McClellan and Barkley. I do however know where you are coming from and agree with your general point that a lot of British champions have gained the WBO belt in relation to Allegedly and have been given some patsies to defend against. At the end of the day it is a business and keeping hold of a belt makes financial sense, even Jones and Hopkins have been rightly accused of fighting inferior opponents at championhip level. Losing your title after a few fights makes no sense for the fighter or promoter.

[Bricks]

well smart arse instead of being a smug bellend you might have looked at the history books yourself. Calzaghe is clearly the best SMW theres ever been by a country mile - RJJ only ever won the IBF smw title. He was probably the greatest LHW of all time.

Mate Jones beat an ATG (Toney) to win the title and was clearly the greatest SM in history. Larry Holmes at one point only held the IBF belt, belts mean nothing.
Jones was the man and everyone knows it except you.
I'm a huge Calzaghe fan,,HUGE fan but I'm not dumb.

Stop trying to dig yourself out of the slippery hole you made.

As for "smug bellend" I'm not here to make virtual friends I don't need them, I'm here to debate boxing with hardcore fans.

Its not a debate toney wasnt an all time great super middle weight and neither is RJJ they acheived the vast majority of status from middle weight and LHW and in some instances HW. Toney won his smw title from iran barkley fought nobodies for a couple of years then lost to Jones Jr how does that make him an all time smw great? Jones beat toney for the belt fought a handful of nobodies then moved up to LHW to fight McCallum, how does that make him the greatest all time smw fighter?

Calzaghe dominated the division for 10 years was undefeated and won all four major titles and the ring belt. That makes him the number 1 smw fighter of all time not a debate a fact.

Kingfinn are you honestly suggesting the James Toney of 168lbs who beat iran Barkley or the Roy Jones of 168 lbs wouldnt have beaten Joe Calzaghe?? I have no respect for guys like you who constantly drone on about so and so had 20 defences and so and so had 3 defences so the first so and so must be better....I only apply one criterion for who was the greatest....and thats who would win on their best day against the other on his best day....the list of defences should be secondary to that....