5 best british pound for pound since 1976

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 04 Oct 2006, 08:00

He may well do, as will Nigel Benn I think. Both fighters were immensely popular figures in their day, and both took part in a series of high profile fights, especially Benn who bucked the trend by going to America and bashing the yanks up on their own turf.

Floyd · Post by **Floyd** » 04 Oct 2006, 08:56

harrygreb wrote:no takers for boza edwards?

Boza was never in a bad fight. He was on TV alot in the 80's here in the States. One of my favorites growing up.

yiddo14 · Post by **yiddo14** » 04 Oct 2006, 10:08

jamesmcdonnell wrote:What about the rest of Calzaghe's resume? One swallow doth not a summer make, and the rest of Hatton's resume is pretty poor. Tackie and Vince Phillips were his best wins prior to Tszyu, and Maussa and Collazo are hardly future hall of famers.

Calzaghe for me has done more over a longer period. He has never beaten a future hall of famer, (unless Lacy or Eubank make it in), but he's still beaten some world class fighters, and been at the top of his division for a long time now. He also has to get Kudos for remaining unbeaten for so long.

Don't get me wrong,it is close to call.
Thing is,with Joe's talent and the amount of years he has been around,this should'nt even be debatable.
I want to see Lacy in with another top super middle before I jump on the wagon slagging him off,and Eubank was done as a great fighter the second Eubank/Watson 2 finished.
For all his talent,this is all Joe really has to show for it.People can argue he held a 'world title' for x amount of years,but lets remember,when Joe won the WBO version,it was about as significant as the WBU is today.
IMO it still is the poor relation among the different versions.

IMO Hatton shades it over Joe.
Beating Tszyu makes all the difference.A win over him,is the same as Joe beating B-Hop.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 04 Oct 2006, 10:26

I admit it is close. The one thing which slightly denigrates Hatton's win, is that his opponent retired, more than likely for good. I do wonder whether the hunger was there for Kostya that night, or whether he just thought 'you know what, sod it, this kids all over me, I'm knackered, I just got paid a bloody fortune, let's call it quits and get out of the game in one piece.'

That doesn't make it a bad win, as I don't buy that Tszyu was anywhere near shot or past it, I just think that Hatton made him quit because he was near the end of his career and he just didn't fancy it any more. I don't know that Tszyu could have won the fight, he seemed to have nothing left towards the end, but I think he feared he was going to get stopped and so quit before he got busted up. A few years earlier it would have been a lot harder to get that result.

Lenny · Post by **Lenny** » 04 Oct 2006, 11:20

Definitely Hatton just had far too much hunger for Tszyu that night. But anyway you look at it it's a better win than anything Calzaghe has done by a long way.

yiddo14 · Post by **yiddo14** » 04 Oct 2006, 13:14

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I admit it is close. The one thing which slightly denigrates Hatton's win, is that his opponent retired, more than likely for good. I do wonder whether the hunger was there for Kostya that night, or whether he just thought 'you know what, sod it, this kids all over me, I'm knackered, I just got paid a bloody fortune, let's call it quits and get out of the game in one piece.'

That doesn't make it a bad win, as I don't buy that Tszyu was anywhere near shot or past it, I just think that Hatton made him quit because he was near the end of his career and he just didn't fancy it any more. I don't know that Tszyu could have won the fight, he seemed to have nothing left towards the end, but I think he feared he was going to get stopped and so quit before he got busted up. A few years earlier it would have been a lot harder to get that result.

Do you agree that given Calzaghe's natural ability,and the amount of time he has been about,we should'nt even be debating this though?

Thats the dissapointing thing...... :(

harrygreb · Post by **harrygreb** » 04 Oct 2006, 16:41

good that we can give boza his due, i didnt know limon had said such a crass thing to him. poetic justice prevails.
good luck to ya cornelius. you make it on to my list, me old son.

WildWaylon · Post by **WildWaylon** » 04 Oct 2006, 16:59

Hatton is an excellent boxer and stands among the very best but Tszyu was past his peak when they met - I therefore put Joe in front but I will qualify that by saying only just - Also had Hatton performed better last time out, I thought he lost, maybe I would have had him level with Calzaghe - Anyway its just my opinion which counts for very little - Both fighters deserve our respect for still being and 0 especially Joe, its been a long time since his pro debut.

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 05 Oct 2006, 04:50

so which fight rates highest in these ones, all of them were long term title holders at the end of their careers at the time of facing the opponents from these shores.

Ricky Hatton v Kosta Tszyu
John H Stracey v Jose Napoles
Barry McGuigan v Eusebio Pedroza

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 05 Oct 2006, 05:26

Good question.

I would say Stracey's over Napoles is the best win. In Mexico, and it was pretty one sided for the most part. Although Napoles was 35 and never fought again, he was still in pretty good form.

McGuigan put on a better vs Pedrosa than Hatton did vs Tszyu, but Pedrosa was on the slide and hadn't put in a performance like Tszyu did vs Mitchell.

harrygreb · Post by **harrygreb** » 05 Oct 2006, 07:46

stracey's win tops this group. i remember finding it by chance on my tranny radio just before the fight started. i lay down on the living room floor with the lights out and listened...i was almost there. unforgettable.
it tops the list because
1. napoles was still in pretty good nick
2. it was in a very hostile environment
3. john was decked in the first round

to win like he did after that shows a lot of bethnal green bottle

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 05 Oct 2006, 08:05

Tough call in those three, but I think Napoles was really on his last legs when John H got hold of him, plus it was a cuts win - as opposed to Barry and Hatton giving the long reigning champs a real beat down. But like you say, the latter two were on home ground.

I'd have Honeyghan's win ranked over all three in fact. Curry was rightly ranked world P4P #2 at the time, on previous form, and Loyd battered him out of sight, in the other guys back yard too.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 05 Oct 2006, 14:49

MightyWarrior wrote:Tough call in those three, but I think Napoles was really on his last legs when John H got hold of him, plus it was a cuts win - as opposed to Barry and Hatton giving the long reigning champs a real beat down. But like you say, the latter two were on home ground.

I'd have Honeyghan's win ranked over all three in fact. Curry was rightly ranked world P4P #2 at the time, on previous form, and Loyd battered him out of sight, in the other guys back yard too.

Agree with your last paragraph for sure and probably with the first one. I don't think a prime Stracey could have been in the same league as a prime Napoles.

However, I would say the same applies for Pedroza for sure.

harrygreb · Post by **harrygreb** » 05 Oct 2006, 15:50

how can you agree with the first paragraph??????????????????

did you not see the fight?

stracey gave napoles a right hiding, his face was a mess not by some fluke but because of the pounding it took from johns jack hammer combinations.
the cuts were the result of stracey picking his punches with great accuracy and skill. if the ref hadnt rescued napoles he would have been knocked out. would that have made it any more conclusive for you?

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 05 Oct 2006, 16:27

harrygreb wrote:how can you agree with the first paragraph??????????????????

did you not see the fight?

stracey gave napoles a right hiding, his face was a mess not by some fluke but because of the pounding it took from johns jack hammer combinations.
the cuts were the result of stracey picking his punches with great accuracy and skill. if the ref hadnt rescued napoles he would have been knocked out. would that have made it any more conclusive for you?

Sorry, I meant with the part MW said about Napoles being on his last legs. As I said in my first post, it was a more conclusive and convincing a wn as Hatton vs Tszyu - and pretty much as dominant as Barry over Pedroza.

I didn't agree with MW's part that it was ONLY a cuts win. Also, Hatton didn't give Tszyu a prolonged beat down. Only in the last 4 rounds, I think Sky only had Hatton 1 round up at the time of the stoppage, lets not forget in the early mid rounds Tszyu was showing how he would have dealt with Hatton in his pomp - pretty damn comfortably.

McGuigan DID give Pedroza a systematic, PROLONGED beat down though.

harrygreb · Post by **harrygreb** » 05 Oct 2006, 17:29

certainly did