Prime Khan, Hatton, Brook and Honeyghan at welter

[jamesmcdonnell]

Honeyghan became a worse boxer after his Curry win, he became a wild puncher who traded off aggression; Starling and Breland destroyed him.

That they did. I think Honeyghan peaked that night against Curry. There's a lot of stories about his wild living following his big win over Curry, which may have contributed to his demise.

[Bodyshot3]

I think Honeyghan....like Palooka rightly said, he got a bit wild and overly macho after the Curry fight but even then he had some big wins.
At his best he'd have been too strong, smart for either Khan or Hatton and I think he'd have taken it to Kell as an aggressive-fast box puncher.

Right now, Lloyd is the best we've had at welterweight in the modern era and by some considerable distance.

Maybe the mercurial Kirk Laing - with the right preparation and at his prime - could have danced around Lloyd and had him swinging at shadows. But Kirk would have needed all the stars perfectly aligned and for Lloyd to make mistakes.

[lillywhite14]

What happens is ickle Ricky points out that none of the others can match his popularity, then orders them all down to light welter for the big payday where he drags them all into deep water and drowns them

[Bricks]

The rosi win showed how composed and patient a boxer lloyd was at his peak and how a hostile environment didnt bother him.That was a brutal one punch kayo and look at who rosi went on to beat.

As champ he partied very very hard,had a relentless schedule and personal problems,and became a wild powerpuncher with damaged hands neglecting his considerable skills and defence in what should have been his glorious world title reign ....

Yet he still reigned from 86 to 89 and even with bad hands scored the fastest world title ko over hatcher,massacred bumphus,had more one punch kos over chung and vaca and smoothly outboxed blocker.

Than suffered the two worst beatings i have ever seen in a boxing ring in 2 huge grudge fights and he was totallyshot.....

Yet strangely his career continued in a very odd purgatory, he reverted to a safety first light punching boxing style, and started wearing a skirt in the ring, and fought on another 5 years never coming close to what he had been

[magwitch]

Honeyghan > Hatton > Brook > Khan.

Brook Hatton would have been a fight I'd have loved to watch, but Brook's too big for him imo. I think Hatton was a harder worker and a smarter fighter than most. If they were the same weight I'd tip Hatton. Brook would need to find a moment of brilliance or for Hatton to make a bad error to win.
My view is biased as I've seen loads of Hatton and comparatively little of Brook, but still.

[freddydoesdallas]

It's a bit strange how brook is lambasted for not fighting worthy opponents at welterweight in other threads yet in here he's pretty much seen as the second coming!

So far, I don't think he's really shown anything to suggest he is truly world class. Honeyghan and Hatton were. Over the next couple of years, Brook might show that he belongs at that level and I really hope he does. Until then, he shouldn't rank above 2 great fighters.

[Counter-puncher]

Yet he
and smoothly outboxed blocker.

he didn't smoothly outbox Blocker at all. he looked ragged and clumsy for quite large portions of the fight and gassed quite early.

[olij999]

The rosi win showed how composed and patient a boxer lloyd was at his peak and how a hostile environment didnt bother him.That was a brutal one punch kayo and look at who rosi went on to beat.

As champ he partied very very hard,had a relentless schedule and personal problems,and became a wild powerpuncher with damaged hands neglecting his considerable skills and defence in what should have been his glorious world title reign ....

Yet he still reigned from 86 to 89 and even with bad hands scored the fastest world title ko over hatcher,massacred bumphus,had more one punch kos over chung and vaca and smoothly outboxed blocker.

Than suffered the two worst beatings i have ever seen in a boxing ring in 2 huge grudge fights and he was totallyshot.....

Yet strangely his career continued in a very odd purgatory, he reverted to a safety first light punching boxing style, and started wearing a skirt in the ring, and fought on another 5 years never coming close to what he had been

Much as I am a fan of Honeyghan, he didn't score a one-punch KO versus Chung. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnaxGzkxbF4 - he whacked Chung on the thigh, Chung refused to continue and so Honeyghan was declared the winner. It was all a bit underwhelming, as I recall. And Vaca II wasn't a one-punch KO either - Honeyghan threw the kitchen sink at Vaca for the whole fight, and Vaca eventually went down from a body shot - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhNEFs1ICio .

But I agree with you about the oddness of his light-middle career - it was very strange watching him during that period.

[Tuan_Jim]

I remember that Pazienza fight. Honeyghan was still holding his hands up, bumbling and reeling about the ring 10 minutes after it was stopped. It was spooky to see. That he boxed on after that, and took a hammering versus a strong young hitter like Dodson, is unsettling.

[Counter-puncher]

Yet he
and smoothly outboxed blocker.

he didn't smoothly outbox Blocker at all. he looked ragged and clumsy for quite large portions of the fight and gassed quite early.

I rewatched this last night and actually Honeygan wasn't as ragged as I remembered, at least in terms of defence his head movement and reflexes made him as elusive as ever. I think the raggedness I remembered was more to do with the number of shots he missed quite wildly, lots of wide/clubbing/leaping lead left hooks and southpaw left hands. but fair play mugabi he did definitely outbox Blocker, who was no mug himself.