British & Irish boxing 52 fight history knowledge challenge

[magwitch]

http://boxrec.com/boxer/9024
Just noticed Jimmy McLarnin was born in the UK, what a run of opponents he had in the later years of his career and there's a few youtube videos to boot.
Definitely one to add to the likes of Benny Lynch and Ted kid Lewis to have a look at.

Benny Lynch rings a bell - no pun intended....came across him in a book once. A Scottish and a British ATG from around the 30s and 40s if I'm not mistaken.

A fight I should get round to watching which I only ever read about in the BN was circa 2008 where Zab Judah won a lot of praise for going to war with Cotto in New York in front of a gazillion Puerto Ricans. That sounded like a great fight....in fact I am gonna see if it's on youtube tonight

Edit: whoops - just noticed it says British and Irish. Moore Macklin was a good, if scary fight. The pace at which they set off isn't comfortable viewing imo!

[davie]

http://boxrec.com/boxer/9024
Just noticed Jimmy McLarnin was born in the UK, what a run of opponents he had in the later years of his career and there's a few youtube videos to boot.
Definitely one to add to the likes of Benny Lynch and Ted kid Lewis to have a look at.

Benny Lynch rings a bell - no pun intended....came across him in a book once. A Scottish and a British ATG from around the 30s and 40s if I'm not mistaken.

I was thinking of buying the book Benny, I just watched a documentary on him, interesting character.
119 fights by age 25 then apparently drank himself to death by 33. Us Scots eh?

[davie]

Chris Pyatt v Sumbu Kalambay

https://youtu.be/O9aLlNMNjj0

[Boxerbeetle]

Lloyd Honeyghan vs Donald Curry is my vote.

This gets my vote aswell.

Mine too.

[Horse]

This gets my vote aswell.

Mine too.

Lloyd Honeyghan vs Donald Curry is probably going to be Week 3's fight.

Davie, I know you voted for Brian London vs Floyd Patterson this week, but Honeyghan vs Curry was originally your suggestion from your second post. Any objections?

[handsofstone]

I watched Calzaghe/Reid on sunday so i'll watch Eubank/Watson 1 this sun

[Counter-puncher]

Curry Honeygan is a decent call

I have I think a very good one for the following week but we can discuss that this time next week

[Horse]

I'm going to vote for a heavyweight again and go proper old
Brian London vs Floyd Patterson in 1959.
It's one of the oldest I've found where I've got the full fight on film. (footage looks a little grainy but that's what happens when you watch old fight film)
Gives us a chance to dig into a little history and learn something about a couple fighters we possibly don't know much about

Is it really that hard to get full fights from before the 1960s?

I thought it would be a decade or two before that, before there would be major problems getting footage.

[davie]

I'm going to vote for a heavyweight again and go proper old
Brian London vs Floyd Patterson in 1959.
It's one of the oldest I've found where I've got the full fight on film. (footage looks a little grainy but that's what happens when you watch old fight film)
Gives us a chance to dig into a little history and learn something about a couple fighters we possibly don't know much about

Is it really that hard to get full fights from before the 1960s?

I thought it would be a decade or two before that, before there would be major problems getting footage.

Unless it's a British fighter featuring in a world heavyweight bout or facing Sugar Ray Robinson, then yes,, you're usually limited to the 2 minute long highlights from British Pathe footage

Particularly before 1950, I've been trying to track down footage off Archie Moore v Ezzard Charles from the late 40s and it just flat out doesn't exist. 2 of the top 10 greatest fighter who ever lived, fought a trilogy of fights in America in the age of television and no fornicator thought to take a camera with them, it beggars belief

[davie]

How's about this for a find?
https://youtu.be/LVwNVzqQeeg & https://youtu.be/zU_sT_FvyWU
Bob Fitzsimmons vs James J Corbett for the world heavyweight crown in 1897.
It's as grainy as we're going to find, but Bob was born in Cornwall, so we're having it

against Bill Laing
https://youtu.be/5clfV1gZV0A

Unfortunately no footage of his fights with Jack Johnson, his 2 KO losses to Jim Jefferies or his win over Nonpariel Jack Dempsey

[davie]

An interesting one here.
A guy I've always wanted to watch a bit of, Dariusz Michalczewski, is being discussed over on BOTP.
I had a look at his record to see if he ever fought British opposition for this thread and spotted, Nicky Piper and Mark Prince.
Mark Prince I've never saw fight (that I can remember) so I had a look at his record and he was 18-0 when he faced Michalczewski for the WBO title, he had another win after that bout then retired for 14 years, coming back in 2013 to start a 4 fight winning streak winning the much vaunted MBC cuiserweight title and culminating in stopping a man 30lbs heavier than him, in one round, only 3 months ago

https://youtu.be/B_Xbv3D2GKY

We might not just be witnessing the past, we could be looking at the future right here folks

[PredatorHayds]

Id be up for watching the prince fight.

He still can't get a license of the BBBoC

[davie]

Again, just an excuse to watch a master at work, but here's Glasgows own Gary Jacobs against the best fighter on the planet at the time
https://youtu.be/bUD-v-r9rNw

Of course Gary fought for Scottish, British, Commonwealth, European, international, inter-continental and world titles and even won a few. So there would be plenty to pick through if we wanted something else, but I'd like an opportunity to drool over one of Sweet Pea's masterful performances

[Horse]

So what about week 4?

I think something from the early 80s or possibly the late 70s and continue to steadily move back through time.

[forestbox]

Bob foster v Chris Finnegan 1972

[Counter-puncher]

Bob foster v Chris Finnegan 1972

Or conteh - Finnegan for an all British clash, at the time the biggest ever purse for a British title fight. Superb technical fight

[forestbox]

Bob foster v Chris Finnegan 1972

Or conteh - Finnegan for an all British clash, at the time the biggest ever purse for a British title fight. Superb technical fight

Yh agree.foster

[PredatorHayds]

Bob foster v Chris Finnegan 1972

Or conteh - Finnegan for an all British clash, at the time the biggest ever purse for a British title fight. Superb technical fight

Finnegan Conteh would be a good one

[Counter-puncher]

Horse, my opinion fwiw is that fights that go the distance, and thus scoring them is part of the deal, will make for better threads.

[stevedoc]

Rocky Kelly vs Tony Brown 1986 welterweight british title eliminator shamelessly pinched from a BOTP thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u76ZyHL-75U

I met rocky last year at a show and he couldn't believe that he was my idol along with hagler, still fit as a fiddle with out an ounce of fat on him ,he was such a nice and humble guy and spoke about what happened to Steve watt it bothered him alot as you could guess .

[davie]

Horse, my opinion fwiw is that fights that go the distance, and thus scoring them is part of the deal, will make for better threads.

Horse, My opinion, fwiw is that the Curry vs Honeyghan was far more entertaining than the previous 2 fights and i'll likely watch it back 10 times before I ever put myself through watching Watson vs Eubank 1 ever again.
Not as much to discuss though, so technically C-p is right.

I'm off to watch someone get knocked the f**k out on youtube now

[davie]

Rocky Kelly vs Tony Brown 1986 welterweight british title eliminator shamelessly pinched from a BOTP thread
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u76ZyHL-75U

I met rocky last year at a show and he couldn't believe that he was my idol along with hagler, still fit as a fiddle with out an ounce of fat on him ,he was such a nice and humble guy and spoke about what happened to Steve watt it bothered him alot as you could guess .

A little bit of British boxing history I never knew about until you posted that, not nice news, but a significant bit of history none the less
http://articles.latimes.com/1986-03-18/ ... steve-watt

[davie]

Horse, my opinion fwiw is that fights that go the distance, and thus scoring them is part of the deal, will make for better threads.

On that note, I'll go for a 15 round decision for next weeks fight
1981, WBC lightweight title, Glasgows very own annoying commentator Jim Watt vs the explosive Nicaraguan legend Alexis Arguello
https://youtu.be/-xI-fzqUZbk
https://youtu.be/VXvm0icbpYM
https://youtu.be/XI_wT89EIts
https://youtu.be/KNvkuJ2AYZU
https://youtu.be/SS-Z5Vlu-Fs
https://youtu.be/ASi_8xzRocg

[Horse]

Horse, my opinion fwiw is that fights that go the distance, and thus scoring them is part of the deal, will make for better threads.

What about a fight that is close before a late rounds stoppage?

Most of the fights selected will probably go the distance, but I don't think that we should ignore fights with stoppages.

[davie]

http://www.boxingnewsonline.net/the-10- ... history/2/

Just read this article about blatant robberies
No 9 was Joe Brown vs Dave Charnley
Could be an interesting one for scoring