Thoughts on the EBU belt?

[wrighty]

What are people's thoughts on the European title? I've always seen it as very prestigious, especially if you complete the domestic trio with the Commonwealth and British belts. A lot of the top names fought for it but I've seen it being shunned lately and not fought for or defended. There was the nonsense with the heavy weight title, they couldn't get anyone to challenge for it. You see a wealth of British fighters fighting for abc inter conti titles etc and you've seen the likes of Cash and Eubank having the opportunity to fight very beatable champions for the title in their division yet they don't take it. I know he's retired but Callum Johnson was made a challenger for the title against a pretty mediocre French man who he would have trounced for a nice bit of money. The title seems to get ignored now.

[Dioufy]

Azeez just been ordered to fight an absolute cabbage for it.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Azeez just been ordered to fight an absolute cabbage for it.

Because Cal Johnson has retired.

[Dioufy]

Azeez just been ordered to fight an absolute cabbage for it.

Because Cal Johnson has retired.

Imo it’s still a good belt as long as you fight someone around ‘European level’ and it’s a gateway to bigger fights but fights like the Azeez one don’t help its image.

Surely they could’ve found someone top 25.

[Spud]

What are people's thoughts on the European title? I've always seen it as very prestigious, especially if you complete the domestic trio with the Commonwealth and British belts. A lot of the top names fought for it but I've seen it being shunned lately and not fought for or defended. There was the nonsense with the heavy weight title, they couldn't get anyone to challenge for it. You see a wealth of British fighters fighting for abc inter conti titles etc and you've seen the likes of Cash and Eubank having the opportunity to fight very beatable champions for the title in their division yet they don't take it. I know he's retired but Callum Johnson was made a challenger for the title against a pretty mediocre French man who he would have trounced for a nice bit of money. The title seems to get ignored now.

Great thread.

I always thought the European Title was a massive sign a fighter is above domestic class but yet to be proven a world class fighter.

I used to like fighters who had a proven track record of:

Area Title
English Title
British Title
Commonwealth Title
European Title
World Title

I used to like fighters who took as it was called the “traditional” route, why it was called that god knows why, I used to debate what fighter was better than another on whether he took the traditional route.

After all that waffle its my view people dont regard the EBU title as prestigious. I blame the multiple world titles a lot for this.

Going back to fighters who took the traditional route can the forum name the fighters who
took it?

[wrighty]

Junior Witter did it from what I remember. Darren Barker too under Hennessy

[Spud]

My favourite fighter who took the traditional route and was better than what people gave him credit for was Clinton Woods.

Can the forum name other fighters?

[Ruthless-RKO]

My favourite fighter who took the traditional route and was better than what people gave him credit for was Clinton Woods.

Can the forum name other fighters?

Sauders and Fury

Fury won the Irish HW belt.

[Frostieballs]

I used to love it.

Someone mentioned Hennessy above.

Howard Eastman had it with Mick. The belt was designed for someone like him.

A real boss at that level.

I liked that Wayne Alexander had it as well.

For me, it was far more prestigious than fake World titles.

[Spud]

I used to love it.

Someone mentioned Hennessy above.

Howard Eastman had it with Mick. The belt was designed for someone like him.

A real boss at that level.

I liked that Wayne Alexander had it as well.

For me, it was far more prestigious than fake World titles.

I believe Frochy wanted to take the traditional route but for whatever reason didnt

[Spud]

For me, it was far more prestigious than fake World titles.

Completely agreed

[Steveh583]

My favourite fighter who took the traditional route and was better than what people gave him credit for was Clinton Woods.

Can the forum name other fighters?

Alex Arthur?

[Frostieballs]

I used to love it.

Someone mentioned Hennessy above.

Howard Eastman had it with Mick. The belt was designed for someone like him.

A real boss at that level.

I liked that Wayne Alexander had it as well.

For me, it was far more prestigious than fake World titles.

I believe Frochy wanted to take the traditional route but for whatever reason didnt

I can’t remember Spud.

The EBU title was often tied up in political knots at loads of weights… plus the Pascal fight came along quickly for him.

The EBU title used to sit well with the WBC in terms of rankings. Not sure if it still does.

[milpool]

The EBU belt was very prestigious back in the day, it was tough to win and winning it showed that you were just one step away from a legitimate title shot.
Unfortunately it's been devalued in recent years by all the garbage European titles peddled by the sanctioning bodies.

Let's face it, why go to Germany or Italy to fight a tough European champion when you can hold the 'WBO European' and fight a bunch of hand picked knock over jobs that'll get you a top ten ranking?! It's crap like this that does boxing no favours at all.

Oh for the days of a fighter doing the traditional route of Area, British, Commonwealth, European and World titles...

[Spud]

Oh for the days of a fighter doing the traditional route of Area, British, Commonwealth, European and World titles...

Absolutely

[bripez]

I agree with all of the above.

Another similar one is the Commonwealth title which is seen as below the British title, which doesn't make sense.

I think Frank fooked it up when he bought the organisations and used the titles to get his fighters hand picked defences

[Frostieballs]

I agree with all of the above.

Another similar one is the Commonwealth title which is seen as below the British title, which doesn't make sense.

I think Frank fooked it up when he bought the organisations and used the titles to get his fighters hand picked defences

I don’t mind the Commonwealth, but it’s always been prone to some stinking match ups!

[joshj909]

My guess is that they don't tend to obviously get anything out of it (other than the title). If you win an ABC European belt or something like that, you pay the fees and you often get ranked in the top 15 if you win it. You then have a good opportunity of can crushing your way to an eliminator or a title fight. If you win the EBU belt, it helps your brand, your global ranking and reputation but that isn't what necessarily pays the bills and it doesn't show a straight line to an ABC World Title. That's my prediction for why nobody wants it but that doesn't explain why people don't take the freebies or the guys who will never amount to anything more don't jump at the opportunity

I prefer it and other belts which aren't "branded", by the alphabet orgs.

[mickey1975]

You used to get good money fighting for it on the continent.

[margaret thatcher]

it's still a nice belt that requires someone above british to win it most cases, though no doubt there are some weak champs and especially challengers out there to cherry pick sometimes too

commonwealth is sh!te though for the most part. essentially it's the cherry pick a knockover african belt

[jameswilson]

Nicky Cook and Eesham Pickering were two pretty good European champs.

Michael Sprott fought for it several times I think.

[jameswilson]

With regards Froch I remember there being a really long saga with Dennis Inkin. For some reason I remember it as Froch was meant to fight him for the vacant WBO but I think Inkin may have actually been in the mix for the vacant WBC and then got spewed out in favour of Pascal because he was so injury prone before he (Inkin) eventually won the WBO.

[wrighty]

fornicate me Froch would have wrote off Inkin. Inkin fought Karoly Balzay who was a good Hungarian southpaw. Balzay got the nod.

Witter had a good run at European level too and had a few stoppages there. Bomber Graham used to win it every other week. Watson should have fought for it. Sod knows why Mickey Duff was fast tracking him to Mike Mcallum. That was bananas matchmaking.

[margaret thatcher]

did inkin beat froch in the amateurs? i thought i remembered some r evenge angle to that one but it's long ago now

[Nightmare Roy]

My favourite fighter who took the traditional route and was better than what people gave him credit for was Clinton Woods.

Can the forum name other fighters?

Michael Brodie was a quality European champ, made several defenses and then got jobbed fighting for the WBC, I always used to rate it highly as a title.