Finest/biggest Brit performances on the world stage

[johnswan1]

The Bute vs Lacy thread got me thinking, what do you see as the biggest nights & best performances in British boxing over the past 10-20 years when the British fighter came out triumphant in a major fight either against the odds or in a more dominant fashion than expected?

Think Calzaghe-Lacy, Froch-Bute, Hatton-Tsyzu & Benn-McClellan.

I suppose you could make a bit of a case for Calzaghe-Kessler and Froch-Kessler 2. Of those I'd say the Calzaghe one was bigger because Kessler was undefeated whereas in Froch-Kessler 2 Carl was a hot favourite and the fight was actually more competitive than some expected given Kessler was perceived to be past his best going into it. Froch-Groves 2 had the stage and the drama at the end, but the fight itself didn't live up to the expectations that the first one set.

Brook-Porter is a decent shout, but it wasn't really a hugely historic night as the fight was 50/50 on paper, it was competitive and the decision was close. You'd have to think Brook has a more defining win than that in him.

Not sure if any of Haye's should be considered? If he had beaten Klitschko it would have been up there, but the Valeuv fight for me was too much of a safety first burglary and the giant was not a great champion. Getting up off the floor to beat Mormeck on the road at Cruiser was good, but it was on front of a small crowd.

Murray and Barker both almost got a look in with Martinez, particularly the former in Argentina. Barkers win over Geale was fantastic but clearly a level below some of those above.

[Andrew]

Khans fights with Maidana and Judah deserve a shout.

[johnswan1]

Khans fights with Maidana and Judah deserve a shout.

Khan's an interesting one. Although he's been some exciting fights, especially before he joined Hunter, the career defining fights that people will remember are probably the Prescott and Garcia defeats. The Maidana fight was a good fight, but Khan didn't box to his strengths throughout and was fairly undisciplined so it's not one I'd pick as one of the finest by a Brit. Khan was exciting when he used to get drawn into a toe to toe slugfest, even after being flattened. He doesn't do that any more and as a result has become boring.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Honeyghan v Curry
Turpin v SRR

[jamesmcdonnell]

The Bute vs Lacy thread got me thinking, what do you see as the biggest nights & best performances in British boxing over the past 10-20 years when the British fighter came out triumphant in a major fight either against the odds or in a more dominant fashion than expected?

Think Calzaghe-Lacy, Froch-Bute, Hatton-Tsyzu & Benn-McClellan.

I suppose you could make a bit of a case for Calzaghe-Kessler and Froch-Kessler 2. Of those I'd say the Calzaghe one was bigger because Kessler was undefeated whereas in Froch-Kessler 2 Carl was a hot favourite and the fight was actually more competitive than some expected given Kessler was perceived to be past his best going into it. Froch-Groves 2 had the stage and the drama at the end, but the fight itself didn't live up to the expectations that the first one set.

Brook-Porter is a decent shout, but it wasn't really a hugely historic night as the fight was 50/50 on paper, it was competitive and the decision was close. You'd have to think Brook has a more defining win than that in him.

Not sure if any of Haye's should be considered? If he had beaten Klitschko it would have been up there, but the Valeuv fight for me was too much of a safety first burglary and the giant was not a great champion. Getting up off the floor to beat Mormeck on the road at Cruiser was good, but it was on front of a small crowd.

Murray and Barker both almost got a look in with Martinez, particularly the former in Argentina. Barkers win over Geale was fantastic but clearly a level below some of those above.

Haye v Mormeck wasn't a small crowd mate, I was there, and there were a load of very scary and hostile looking French Algerians there.

[johnswan1]

Really, I remember watching it on TV (or was it a link - was it shown in the UK on TV?) and thinking it was a small venue and crowd.

Edit: just saw on BBC there were 4,000 inside the venue. Those were the days, when men were men, and Frank Moloney (Haye's manager at the time) had balls.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Really, I remember watching it on TV (or was it a link - was it shown in the UK on TV?) and thinking it was a small venue and crowd.

Wasn't huge, but it was 10,000 I'd say.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Really, I remember watching it on TV (or was it a link - was it shown in the UK on TV?) and thinking it was a small venue and crowd.

Wasn't huge, but it was 10,000 I'd say.

Ahh, my memory clearly made it seem bigger. It was certainly scary, I thought I was going to get stabbed, as there were virtually no british supporters there.

When Haye won and they all cheered him, I was mightily relieved.

[johnswan1]

Speaking of scary, did anybody on here go to the Martinez-Murray fight? I heard that was insane. It was probably for the best for the Brits there that Murray didn't win. Canelo-Rhodes looked mad too. I remember seeing tons of stuff being thrown around during the ring walks.

[Nightmare Roy]

Hatton Kosta was an amazing night hardly anyone gave him a chance and Kosta was probably P4P top 3 then. Joe C va Lacey was also awesome, all the American media said he'd get slaughtered and he put on an absolute clinic.

[Rexob]

Bruno vs Bugner

[Rexob]

Hatton Kosta was an amazing night hardly anyone gave him a chance and Kosta was probably P4P top 3 then. Joe C va Lacey was also awesome, all the American media said he'd get slaughtered and he put on an absolute clinic.

Honeyghan v Curry was more impressive.

[Rexob]

Calzaghe-Lacy, for total dominance
Froch-Bute, for best ass kicked
Honeyghan vs Curry for Unbelievability
Benn-McClellan for every thing that we like in a boxing match (apart from what happened to McClellan) and My favourite fight ever.

[reggaereggae]

Hatton Kosta was an amazing night hardly anyone gave him a chance and Kosta was probably P4P top 3 then. Joe C va Lacey was also awesome, all the American media said he'd get slaughtered and he put on an absolute clinic.

Nonsense. The odds were roughly even as I remember, Tzyu a slight favourite. Same with lacy-calzaghe.,

Both great nights mind

[Nightmare Roy]

Hatton Kosta was an amazing night hardly anyone gave him a chance and Kosta was probably P4P top 3 then. Joe C va Lacey was also awesome, all the American media said he'd get slaughtered and he put on an absolute clinic.

Nonsense. The odds were roughly even as I remember, Tzyu a slight favourite. Same with lacy-calzaghe.,

Both great nights mind

Odds are low when millions of Brits are banging money on, most journalist gave them no chance

[jamesmcdonnell]

Hatton Kosta was an amazing night hardly anyone gave him a chance and Kosta was probably P4P top 3 then. Joe C va Lacey was also awesome, all the American media said he'd get slaughtered and he put on an absolute clinic.

Honeyghan v Curry was more impressive.

Agreed, Tszyu was at the end of a long hard career, in some senses it was a retirement fight, Curry was at his peak.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Hatton Kosta was an amazing night hardly anyone gave him a chance and Kosta was probably P4P top 3 then. Joe C va Lacey was also awesome, all the American media said he'd get slaughtered and he put on an absolute clinic.

Nonsense. The odds were roughly even as I remember, Tzyu a slight favourite. Same with lacy-calzaghe.,

Both great nights mind

Hatton was definitely the underdog in the sporting media, where it really counts.

[Mimmy]

How about Bruno v McCall that has to be in the league somewhere.

[Stuarty]

The Bute vs Lacy thread got me thinking, what do you see as the biggest nights & best performances in British boxing over the past 10-20 years when the British fighter came out triumphant in a major fight either against the odds or in a more dominant fashion than expected?

Think Calzaghe-Lacy, Froch-Bute, Hatton-Tsyzu & Benn-McClellan.

I suppose you could make a bit of a case for Calzaghe-Kessler and Froch-Kessler 2. Of those I'd say the Calzaghe one was bigger because Kessler was undefeated whereas in Froch-Kessler 2 Carl was a hot favourite and the fight was actually more competitive than some expected given Kessler was perceived to be past his best going into it. Froch-Groves 2 had the stage and the drama at the end, but the fight itself didn't live up to the expectations that the first one set.

Brook-Porter is a decent shout, but it wasn't really a hugely historic night as the fight was 50/50 on paper, it was competitive and the decision was close. You'd have to think Brook has a more defining win than that in him.

Not sure if any of Haye's should be considered? If he had beaten Klitschko it would have been up there, but the Valeuv fight for me was too much of a safety first burglary and the giant was not a great champion. Getting up off the floor to beat Mormeck on the road at Cruiser was good, but it was on front of a small crowd.

Murray and Barker both almost got a look in with Martinez, particularly the former in Argentina. Barkers win over Geale was fantastic but clearly a level below some of those above.

Haye v Mormeck wasn't a small crowd mate, I was there, and there were a load of very scary and hostile looking French Algerians there.

That sounds heavy duty! I remember watching on TV and the crowd looked pretty wild.

[keithmoonhangover]

Honeyghan v Curry
Turpin v SRR

Yep. I think Honeyghan is more impressive. Curry was a beast at that time.

[jamesmcdonnell]

The Bute vs Lacy thread got me thinking, what do you see as the biggest nights & best performances in British boxing over the past 10-20 years when the British fighter came out triumphant in a major fight either against the odds or in a more dominant fashion than expected?

Think Calzaghe-Lacy, Froch-Bute, Hatton-Tsyzu & Benn-McClellan.

I suppose you could make a bit of a case for Calzaghe-Kessler and Froch-Kessler 2. Of those I'd say the Calzaghe one was bigger because Kessler was undefeated whereas in Froch-Kessler 2 Carl was a hot favourite and the fight was actually more competitive than some expected given Kessler was perceived to be past his best going into it. Froch-Groves 2 had the stage and the drama at the end, but the fight itself didn't live up to the expectations that the first one set.

Brook-Porter is a decent shout, but it wasn't really a hugely historic night as the fight was 50/50 on paper, it was competitive and the decision was close. You'd have to think Brook has a more defining win than that in him.

Not sure if any of Haye's should be considered? If he had beaten Klitschko it would have been up there, but the Valeuv fight for me was too much of a safety first burglary and the giant was not a great champion. Getting up off the floor to beat Mormeck on the road at Cruiser was good, but it was on front of a small crowd.

Murray and Barker both almost got a look in with Martinez, particularly the former in Argentina. Barkers win over Geale was fantastic but clearly a level below some of those above.

Haye v Mormeck wasn't a small crowd mate, I was there, and there were a load of very scary and hostile looking French Algerians there.

That sounds heavy duty! I remember watching on TV and the crowd looked pretty wild.

Last time I saw that many Mars bars was in the storeroom of the local sweet shop.

[freddydoesdallas]

Really, I remember watching it on TV (or was it a link - was it shown in the UK on TV?) and thinking it was a small venue and crowd.

Wasn't huge, but it was 10,000 I'd say.

Ahh, my memory clearly made it seem bigger. It was certainly scary, I thought I was going to get stabbed, as there were virtually no british supporters there.

When Haye won and they all cheered him, I was mightily relieved.

I agree. Was there too and i remember getting to my seat and it was next to a bunch of meathead locals and thinking 'oh shit'. Turns out they were great and wanted haye to win!

[freddydoesdallas]

Hatton Kosta was an amazing night hardly anyone gave him a chance and Kosta was probably P4P top 3 then. Joe C va Lacey was also awesome, all the American media said he'd get slaughtered and he put on an absolute clinic.

Nonsense. The odds were roughly even as I remember, Tzyu a slight favourite. Same with lacy-calzaghe.,

Both great nights mind

Tszyu was 1/3

[Stuarty]

Calzaghe was awesome in the second half of the Kessler fight. The Lacy performance at the time was one of the best I'd seen from a Brit but it gets overlooked a little now because Lacy faded into relative obscurity afterwards and was deemed a hype job (maybe he was). I actually watched Hamed vs Johnson again on allegedly the other day and I forgot what a good performance that was. By no means the best from a Brit but a fine showing. Johnson was no mug.

[jtourettes]

Hatton Kosta was an amazing night hardly anyone gave him a chance and Kosta was probably P4P top 3 then. Joe C va Lacey was also awesome, all the American media said he'd get slaughtered and he put on an absolute clinic.

Nonsense. The odds were roughly even as I remember, Tzyu a slight favourite. Same with lacy-calzaghe.,

Both great nights mind

Calzaghe was 2/1.