Riddick Bowie wrote: ↑26 Aug 2025, 06:54
You can call him anything, doesn't mean the public will connect with him. Lennox never really took off over here, couldn't fill the 5,000 seat Wembley Arena versus McCall and Botha, PPVs flopped. Difficult to get excited about a guy who grew up in Canada, learnt to box there, had a weird accent and spoke of himself in the third person all the time. Who relates to that?
Taansend did.
In fact Taansend was at his first & last pro bouts.
Riddick Bowie wrote: ↑26 Aug 2025, 06:54
You can call him anything, doesn't mean the public will connect with him. Lennox never really took off over here, couldn't fill the 5,000 seat Wembley Arena versus McCall and Botha, PPVs flopped. Difficult to get excited about a guy who grew up in Canada, learnt to box there, had a weird accent and spoke of himself in the third person all the time. Who relates to that?
Taansend did.
In fact Taansend was at his first & last pro bouts.
But Taansend's single positive experience is not representative of general public opinion.
Taansend is an outlier, not the norm, and he should know that no man test Riddick Bowie's broader claim, BOYO!
tigermoth87 wrote: ↑25 Aug 2025, 02:52
We're currently going through a dark patch of British boxing. We have no prospects other than Itauma. All the rest across the divisions are gonna get exposed as soon as they step up. And Itauma is more Slovakian than British.
I think it’s odd to claim he’s more Slovakian. Can’t he be both? British is a broad church
You can call him anything, doesn't mean the public will connect with him. Lennox never really took off over here, couldn't fill the 5,000 seat Wembley Arena versus McCall and Botha, PPVs flopped. Difficult to get excited about a guy who grew up in Canada, learnt to box there, had a weird accent and spoke of himself in the third person all the time. Who relates to that? Similarly, Moses isn't the most endearing character and doesn't have any charisma, but he is exciting in the ring and is fighting in an era with a much larger base of casuals then there were in Lennie's day.
Two fights with around five minutes of action in all of 2025 isn't going to help his cause.
I understand your point a lot more now, thanks for elaborating, appreciated.
Moses is a much easier sell as it's not that deep anymore. I'd guess he's very well known already through TikTok clips and YouTube shorts showing him banging people out with his age emblazoned all over the footage. He's not crossed over yet, but the name value Whyte brought will have helped as will the link with Usyk.
mickey1975 wrote: ↑26 Aug 2025, 15:30
Moses is a much easier sell as it's not that deep anymore. I'd guess he's very well known already through TikTok clips and YouTube shorts showing him banging people out with his age emblazoned all over the footage. He's not crossed over yet, but the name value Whyte brought will have helped as will the link with Usyk.
Can't see him being another Joshua popularity wise
mickey1975 wrote: ↑26 Aug 2025, 15:30
Moses is a much easier sell as it's not that deep anymore. I'd guess he's very well known already through TikTok clips and YouTube shorts showing him banging people out with his age emblazoned all over the footage. He's not crossed over yet, but the name value Whyte brought will have helped as will the link with Usyk.
Can't see him being another Joshua popularity wise
No, definitely not. They brainwashed a nation with that one.
mickey1975 wrote: ↑26 Aug 2025, 15:30
Moses is a much easier sell as it's not that deep anymore. I'd guess he's very well known already through TikTok clips and YouTube shorts showing him banging people out with his age emblazoned all over the footage. He's not crossed over yet, but the name value Whyte brought will have helped as will the link with Usyk.
I’m out the loop with all this as I’m not on Tik Tok or social media, I suspect it’s very important but I cba with all those platforms, it must be tiring as a boxer having to faff about with all that but it’s probably me being an old fart.
mickey1975 wrote: ↑26 Aug 2025, 15:30
Moses is a much easier sell as it's not that deep anymore. I'd guess he's very well known already through TikTok clips and YouTube shorts showing him banging people out with his age emblazoned all over the footage. He's not crossed over yet, but the name value Whyte brought will have helped as will the link with Usyk.
I’m out the loop with all this as I’m not on Tik Tok or social media, I suspect it’s very important but I cba with all those platforms, it must be tiring as a boxer having to faff about with all that but it’s probably me being an old fart.
mickey1975 wrote: ↑26 Aug 2025, 15:30
Moses is a much easier sell as it's not that deep anymore. I'd guess he's very well known already through TikTok clips and YouTube shorts showing him banging people out with his age emblazoned all over the footage. He's not crossed over yet, but the name value Whyte brought will have helped as will the link with Usyk.
I’m out the loop with all this as I’m not on Tik Tok or social media, I suspect it’s very important but I cba with all those platforms, it must be tiring as a boxer having to faff about with all that but it’s probably me being an old fart.
How comes Eubank, Benn etc were all regarded world champs in the 80s and 90s with WBO titles but Lennox was regarded undisputed in the 90s and 00s with only the other 3?
handsofstone wrote: ↑27 Aug 2025, 11:21
How comes Eubank, Benn etc were all regarded world champs in the 80s and 90s with WBO titles but Lennox was regarded undisputed in the 90s and 00s with only the other 3?
Maybe just the promoters built them as world champions.
I seen where the IBO belt is on the line and the poster reads world championship boxing. British media will call their world champions whatever they want. I think the WBC, WBA and IBF unanimously don’t regard WBO as on their level.
handsofstone wrote: ↑27 Aug 2025, 11:21
How comes Eubank, Benn etc were all regarded world champs in the 80s and 90s with WBO titles but Lennox was regarded undisputed in the 90s and 00s with only the other 3?
Is this a serious question?
The WBO was a second tier world title In the 90s and into the early 00s.
Benn and Eubank were billed as world champions over here but any boxing journalism of that era acknowledged the WBO was a lesser belt. When Holfyfield and Lewis were gearing up to unify Herbie Hide was defending his WBO trinket against Damon Reed and Willi Fischer. It was just a joke.
handsofstone wrote: ↑27 Aug 2025, 11:21
How comes Eubank, Benn etc were all regarded world champs in the 80s and 90s with WBO titles but Lennox was regarded undisputed in the 90s and 00s with only the other 3?
Is this a serious question?
The WBO was a second tier world title In the 90s and into the early 00s.
Benn and Eubank were billed as world champions over here but any boxing journalism of that era acknowledged the WBO was a lesser belt. When Holfyfield and Lewis were gearing up to unify Herbie Hide was defending his WBO trinket against Damon Reed and Willi Fischer. It was just a joke.
Some of the fighters were rated well despite the low rent belt.
It was around then that it was the fighter, rather than his belt which was important.
Look at Ottke, despite having a better belt, we wasnt rated at the top of the division
handsofstone wrote: ↑27 Aug 2025, 11:21
How comes Eubank, Benn etc were all regarded world champs in the 80s and 90s with WBO titles but Lennox was regarded undisputed in the 90s and 00s with only the other 3?
Is this a serious question?
The WBO was a second tier world title In the 90s and into the early 00s.
Benn and Eubank were billed as world champions over here but any boxing journalism of that era acknowledged the WBO was a lesser belt. When Holfyfield and Lewis were gearing up to unify Herbie Hide was defending his WBO trinket against Damon Reed and Willi Fischer. It was just a joke.
Some of the fighters were rated well despite the low rent belt.
It was around then that it was the fighter, rather than his belt which was important.
Look at Ottke, despite having a better belt, we wasnt rated at the top of the division
Doesn't matter, it was the belt of choice for fighters who weren't The Man of their division and/or wanted easy or no mandatories. It was the Big Three belts and then the WBO.
handsofstone wrote: ↑27 Aug 2025, 11:21
How comes Eubank, Benn etc were all regarded world champs in the 80s and 90s with WBO titles but Lennox was regarded undisputed in the 90s and 00s with only the other 3?
Is this a serious question?
The WBO was a second tier world title In the 90s and into the early 00s.
Benn and Eubank were billed as world champions over here but any boxing journalism of that era acknowledged the WBO was a lesser belt. When Holfyfield and Lewis were gearing up to unify Herbie Hide was defending his WBO trinket against Damon Reed and Willi Fischer. It was just a joke.
Not sure when it was but think it was up until some point in the 2000s that an Undisputed World champion was considered to be someone holding WBA, IBF and WBC titles.
In fact I'm not sure who the first WBO champion was that unified it with another of the 3 belts, I seem to remember the WBO champions rarely seemed to ever unify.
Last edited by jameswilson on 27 Aug 2025, 14:59, edited 1 time in total.
jameswilson wrote: ↑27 Aug 2025, 14:49
Not sure when it was but think it was at some point in the 2000s that an Undisputed World champion was considered to be someone holding WBA, IBF and WBC titles.
In fact I'm not sure who the first WBO champion was that unified it with another of the 3 belts, I seem to remember the WBO champions rarely seemed to ever unify.
Hopkins wasn’t it? First 4 belt undisputed champion. Then he lost them.
jameswilson wrote: ↑27 Aug 2025, 14:49
Not sure when it was but think it was at some point in the 2000s that an Undisputed World champion was considered to be someone holding WBA, IBF and WBC titles.
In fact I'm not sure who the first WBO champion was that unified it with another of the 3 belts, I seem to remember the WBO champions rarely seemed to ever unify.
Hopkins wasn’t it? First 4 belt undisputed champion. Then he lost them.
Yeah I think Hopkins vs DLH may have been the first 4 belt undisputed fight.
handsofstone wrote: ↑27 Aug 2025, 11:21
How comes Eubank, Benn etc were all regarded world champs in the 80s and 90s with WBO titles but Lennox was regarded undisputed in the 90s and 00s with only the other 3?
Is this a serious question?
The WBO was a second tier world title In the 90s and into the early 00s.
Benn and Eubank were billed as world champions over here but any boxing journalism of that era acknowledged the WBO was a lesser belt. When Holfyfield and Lewis were gearing up to unify Herbie Hide was defending his WBO trinket against Damon Reed and Willi Fischer. It was just a joke.
The WBO was a second tier world title In the 90s and into the early 00s.
Benn and Eubank were billed as world champions over here but any boxing journalism of that era acknowledged the WBO was a lesser belt. When Holfyfield and Lewis were gearing up to unify Herbie Hide was defending his WBO trinket against Damon Reed and Willi Fischer. It was just a joke.
Why would it not be a serious question?
Is that a serious question?
Why would it not be? You reckon if the IBO becomes the 5th title and legitimatized in 5 years time, we'll all look back at Eubank Jr as former world titlist?
