BoxRec

Horse wrote:

ElJefe wrote:Light Middleweight:
1. Lara
2. Charlo
3. Smith

No way is Smith No. 3.

He's a complete joke of a champion.

He doesn't even deserve a top 10 spot.

ElJefe wrote:Admittedly biased towards him as I like him as a fighter, on second thought I would have had Andrade ahead of him and possibly Trout, but I can't think of 5 on top of that. Jermell, Martirosyan, Bundradge? Hardly a stacked division.

Horse wrote:

ElJefe wrote:Admittedly biased towards him as I like him as a fighter, on second thought I would have had Andrade ahead of him and possibly Trout, but I can't think of 5 on top of that. Jermell, Martirosyan, Bundradge? Hardly a stacked division.

It's a weak division, but Smith still doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the top.

Tarkus wrote:Fury is the only number one, but his status is very shaky. He has not yet won the rematch. He has not yet have a defense. He has not yet defeated other top men in the division. Apart from Klitschko win Furys CV is pretty weak.

DeGale is close but I cant call him number one. He could have lead the division by now but where are the unification fights? Now young guns are coming up and his status is getting even less assured.

I think having 13 belt holders and 1 (weak) champion means that UK has mediocre talent but fighters have been able to maximize their potential in recent years. Lot of credit must be given to promoters for been able to get title shots for their less then stellar clients. Especially forum favorite Eddie, 8 out of 13 are his men.

Wales wrote:If you beat the man you are the man. In that sense he's #1.

However, Wlad had become the man by unifying and beating all comers over a 10 year period. Wlad had hit 40 and He'd only fought once in 23 months, an uninspiring points win over Bryant Jennings who'd got the fight after a SD win over Mike Perez ffs.

Like I said, on paper Fury is #1, but I'm not sure he's the best.

Also using the "to be the man beat the man" theory, what happens if Fury beats Wlad then 3 low level guys for argument sake Chisora Whyte and Adamek but Joshua goes on a 5 fight KO winning streak beating Brazeale Parker Wilder Povetkin Ortiz ? Is fury still #1?

Tarkus wrote:Fury is the only number one, but his status is very shaky. He has not yet won the rematch. He has not yet have a defense. He has not yet defeated other top men in the division. Apart from Klitschko win Furys CV is pretty weak.

DeGale is close but I cant call him number one. He could have lead the division by now but where are the unification fights? Now young guns are coming up and his status is getting even less assured.

I think having 13 belt holders and 1 (weak) champion means that UK has mediocre talent but fighters have been able to maximize their potential in recent years. Lot of credit must be given to promoters for been able to get title shots for their less then stellar clients. Especially forum favorite Eddie, 8 out of 13 are his men.

BitPlayer wrote:

Tarkus wrote:Fury is the only number one, but his status is very shaky. He has not yet won the rematch. He has not yet have a defense. He has not yet defeated other top men in the division. Apart from Klitschko win Furys CV is pretty weak.

DeGale is close but I cant call him number one. He could have lead the division by now but where are the unification fights? Now young guns are coming up and his status is getting even less assured.

I think having 13 belt holders and 1 (weak) champion means that UK has mediocre talent but fighters have been able to maximize their potential in recent years. Lot of credit must be given to promoters for been able to get title shots for their less then stellar clients. Especially forum favorite Eddie, 8 out of 13 are his men.

Weak as in third best in the division? Because h was No.3 on Boxrec whose rankings are literally a measure of how strong your CV is.

Autobarn wrote:

Tarkus wrote:Fury is the only number one, but his status is very shaky. He has not yet won the rematch. He has not yet have a defense. He has not yet defeated other top men in the division. Apart from Klitschko win Furys CV is pretty weak.

DeGale is close but I cant call him number one. He could have lead the division by now but where are the unification fights? Now young guns are coming up and his status is getting even less assured.

I think having 13 belt holders and 1 (weak) champion means that UK has mediocre talent but fighters have been able to maximize their potential in recent years. Lot of credit must be given to promoters for been able to get title shots for their less then stellar clients. Especially forum favorite Eddie, 8 out of 13 are his men.

Less than stellar clients and mediocre talent?

Like Olympic gold medalists Joshua and Degale?

Or pros who learned the trade in the hard 12 round fights like McDonnell and Crolla to win fierce fights vs international opposition?

Some fighters like Burns and Bellew have benefited fighting for titles when the champion is unable to defend. Their promoter is pretty sharp and able to sneak them in. But others like Fury, McDonnell (in two consecutive fights) and Brook beat champions - away from home to boot.

A number of big fights are in the making, such as Brook v Vargas, Fury v Klitschko 2, Crolla v Linares, Degale v Jack...Fights such as these can take us closer to the answers.

SamWise72 wrote:I think the point with Fury is that he's undoubtedly number 1, but almost certainly not the best. Maybe not even in the top 5. Sooner or later, if he doesn't retire, he'll have to fight Ortiz, or AJ, or Wilder or even Pulev, and at that point, a lot of people think he'll be exposed. None of this stops him being the number 1.

SamWise72 wrote:I think the point with Fury is that he's undoubtedly number 1, but almost certainly not the best. Maybe not even in the top 5. Sooner or later, if he doesn't retire, he'll have to fight Ortiz, or AJ, or Wilder or even Pulev, and at that point, a lot of people think he'll be exposed. None of this stops him being the number 1.

Wales wrote:UK now has 13 world champions. But how many fighters do we have who are truly #1 in their division though?

Can make a case for De Gale at SMW.
Fury on paper at HW cos he beat the man, but I don't think he's #1, really?

Is that it? 1 maybe 2 from 13

danamba7 wrote:I swear we are the only nation to be able to somehow turn such a positive into a bit of a negative. Fury may be the only proven number 1 but AJ, Degale, Brook, McDonnell, Frampton Crolla/Flanagan could prove to be. Ideally there wouldn't be this many belts of course but let's enjoy this success.

Wales wrote:
However, Wlad had become the man by unifying and beating all comers over a 10 year period. Wlad had hit 40 and He'd only fought once in 23 months, an uninspiring points win over Bryant Jennings who'd got the fight after a SD win over Mike Perez ffs.

Horse wrote:

Wales wrote:Fury on paper at HW cos he beat the man, but I don't think he's #1, really?

gilgamesh wrote:He's not wrong Horse. There's at least 5 dudes at Heavyweight that could kick his ass.