BoxRec

Martin Murray has had a record 37 world title shots and was robbed in every one, even the one he was knocked out

i think murray actually had an argument for winning his title shots.

a guy like mitchell the ultimate fall short in world title fights guy of late. 4 title shots, 4 stoppage losses (even against burns!), all his career losses in title fights. each time he seemed to have a reaslitic shot too. just couldnt get it done at that level. him being stopped hard and early by burns seems strangeish too. wonder if he mentally couldnt handle world title preassure.

Dave Charnley from Dartford.

Won British, European & Commonwealth (Empire) Lightweight titles but lost to the great Joe Brown in a fight of the year.

He'd be a multi weight Champ nowadays.

Any takers on Ryan Rhodes and John Murray?

Vincent stevenson wrote:Colin jones

That’s the first one that sprang to mind with me as well

mimmy123 wrote:

gb wrote:Henry Wharton is an obvious one. Billy Hardy ran Canizales close.
Holligan and Neary were decent too, as was Michael Ayers.

Technically Neary was a world champion.

behave

littlepug wrote:

mimmy123 wrote:

gb wrote:Henry Wharton is an obvious one. Billy Hardy ran Canizales close.
Holligan and Neary were decent too, as was Michael Ayers.

Technically Neary was a world champion.

behave

Have you not seen The Fighter? He's Irish as well.

mickey1975 wrote:

littlepug wrote:

mimmy123 wrote:
Technically Neary was a world champion.

behave

Have you not seen The Fighter? He's Irish as well.

ha ha yeah, they took a few artistic liberties there !

jamamb wrote:i think murray actually had an argument for winning his title shots.

a guy like mitchell the ultimate fall short in world title fights guy of late. 4 title shots, 4 stoppage losses (even against burns!), all his career losses in title fights. each time he seemed to have a reaslitic shot too. just couldnt get it done at that level. him being stopped hard and early by burns seems strangeish too. wonder if he mentally couldnt handle world title preassure.

Pretty sure Mitchell only had 2 actual title fights (Burns and Linares, the latter being a great fight).

Katsidis and Barroso were Interim and eliminator, respectively.

What you say is right though, everytime Mitchell fought above British level he came up short. Was that was due to some sort of mental block? or was he just wasn't as good as people thought? It is hard to say.

keirw wrote:

jamamb wrote:i think murray actually had an argument for winning his title shots.

a guy like mitchell the ultimate fall short in world title fights guy of late. 4 title shots, 4 stoppage losses (even against burns!), all his career losses in title fights. each time he seemed to have a reaslitic shot too. just couldnt get it done at that level. him being stopped hard and early by burns seems strangeish too. wonder if he mentally couldnt handle world title preassure.

Pretty sure Mitchell only had 2 actual title fights (Burns and Linares, the latter being a great fight).

Katsidis and Barroso were Interim and eliminator, respectively.

What you say is right though, everytime Mitchell fought above British level he came up short. Was that was due to some sort of mental block? or was he just wasn't as good as people thought? It is hard to say.

He wasn't that good. Johannesson should have ended the myth early on if he was fit (you knew that was coming CP).

IRLangmaid25 wrote:Any takers on Ryan Rhodes and John Murray?

Came on to say Rhodes! He was a favourite of mine as a boy and a man! He had a great Indiam summer in his career which I thought he'd maybe pick a title up but it wasn't to be!

Dave Charnley.

Noxy wrote:I always thought Adrian Dodson would win a title.

100% agree

Growing up he was the boxer I wanted to be like... what a fighter in sparring he was unreal.

Andy Holligan......drew the seriously bad/dangerous JCC card but still went out to Mexico and gave it a proper, proper go.

The fight is on the tube and for a few rounds Andy is taking it to Chavez...well worth looking up btw.
Brave man but perhaps Andy could/should have bided his time and grabbed himself a belt against a mere mortal?

As others have mentioned....Charnley, Brodie, Dave Boy Green and as a leftfield choice Ray Close almost certainly beat Eubank first up and should have been a world champ.

Bodyshot3 wrote:Andy Holligan......drew the seriously bad/dangerous JCC card but still went out to Mexico and gave it a proper, proper go.

The fight is on the tube and for a few rounds Andy is taking it to Chavez...well worth looking up btw.
Brave man but perhaps Andy could/should have bided his time and grabbed himself a belt against a mere mortal?

As others have mentioned....Charnley, Brodie, Dave Boy Green and as a leftfield choice Ray Close almost certainly beat Eubank first up and should have been a world champ.

Good call, Ray Close. He was an excellent fighter, even if he lacked the X factor. Eastwood showed what he could do with him and McAuley.

Exoddus wrote:Kevin Mitchell as others have stated and Danny Williams way back in the day. He had good skills, a huge punch and a decent chin. Then he randomly switch off in fights and not look interested at all. Like Joe Bugner.

Williams was a solid prospect till he totally facked up his euro title fight vs the Turk Samuel Sam or whatever his name was. Dreadful performance. He gradually turned into a journeyman from then on

mickey1975 wrote:

keirw wrote:

jamamb wrote:i think murray actually had an argument for winning his title shots.

a guy like mitchell the ultimate fall short in world title fights guy of late. 4 title shots, 4 stoppage losses (even against burns!), all his career losses in title fights. each time he seemed to have a reaslitic shot too. just couldnt get it done at that level. him being stopped hard and early by burns seems strangeish too. wonder if he mentally couldnt handle world title preassure.

Pretty sure Mitchell only had 2 actual title fights (Burns and Linares, the latter being a great fight).

Katsidis and Barroso were Interim and eliminator, respectively.

What you say is right though, everytime Mitchell fought above British level he came up short. Was that was due to some sort of mental block? or was he just wasn't as good as people thought? It is hard to say.

He wasn't that good. Johannesson should have ended the myth early on if he was fit (you knew that was coming CP).

He was good, I just question his dedication in terms of living the life. Out the ring he didn’t seem the most solid and it effected his career.

Johannesson was a decent British level fighter but Mitchell was a cut above that. It was a great fight though

Good call, Ray Close. He was an excellent fighter, even if he lacked the X factor. Eastwood showed what he could do with him and McAuley.

Agreed, Close was very handy indeed and boxed Eubank perfectly and should have got his hand raised first time up.
Stay busy, box at a constantly high pace/tempo but don't just walk in and get nailed.

Eastwood will always be remembered for his roller-coaster with Barry, but for a brief time he turned Belfast into a European fight hub. Dave Boy McAuley, Crisanto España, Paul 'Hoko' Hodkinson were all on the books.

Paul Smith

Ossyrules wrote:

mickey1975 wrote:

keirw wrote: Pretty sure Mitchell only had 2 actual title fights (Burns and Linares, the latter being a great fight).

Katsidis and Barroso were Interim and eliminator, respectively.

What you say is right though, everytime Mitchell fought above British level he came up short. Was that was due to some sort of mental block? or was he just wasn't as good as people thought? It is hard to say.

He wasn't that good. Johannesson should have ended the myth early on if he was fit (you knew that was coming CP).

He was good, I just question his dedication in terms of living the life. Out the ring he didn’t seem the most solid and it effected his career.

Johannesson was a decent British level fighter but Mitchell was a cut above that. It was a great fight though

A cut above? That's a bit like saying AJ was a cut above Wlad in April.

Herol Graham
Michael Watson
Gary Mason

mickey1975 wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:

mickey1975 wrote: He wasn't that good. Johannesson should have ended the myth early on if he was fit (you knew that was coming CP).

He was good, I just question his dedication in terms of living the life. Out the ring he didn’t seem the most solid and it effected his career.

Johannesson was a decent British level fighter but Mitchell was a cut above that. It was a great fight though

A cut above? That's a bit like saying AJ was a cut above Wlad in April.

erm he was mate. aj went down and got up to win. wlad didnt.

Noxy wrote:

Bodyshot3 wrote:Andy Holligan......drew the seriously bad/dangerous JCC card but still went out to Mexico and gave it a proper, proper go.

The fight is on the tube and for a few rounds Andy is taking it to Chavez...well worth looking up btw.
Brave man but perhaps Andy could/should have bided his time and grabbed himself a belt against a mere mortal?

As others have mentioned....Charnley, Brodie, Dave Boy Green and as a leftfield choice Ray Close almost certainly beat Eubank first up and should have been a world champ.

Good call, Ray Close. He was an excellent fighter, even if he lacked the X factor. Eastwood showed what he could do with him and McAuley.

Close now works at belfast city airport. Me and another poster on here went to wstch Frampton and he came up to us at the airport (disabled assistance ) asking whst we'd been doing.

Was hilarious. Went something like;


What ya been at lads?

'We've just been to watch Frampton avalos actually '

Close : 'i did a bit of boxing back in the day'

Us: (expecting the usual billy bullsh*it) oh yeah?

Yeah, i boxed eubank for the world title!

We were dumbfounded.

Southy1922 wrote:

Noxy wrote:

Bodyshot3 wrote:Andy Holligan......drew the seriously bad/dangerous JCC card but still went out to Mexico and gave it a proper, proper go.

The fight is on the tube and for a few rounds Andy is taking it to Chavez...well worth looking up btw.
Brave man but perhaps Andy could/should have bided his time and grabbed himself a belt against a mere mortal?

As others have mentioned....Charnley, Brodie, Dave Boy Green and as a leftfield choice Ray Close almost certainly beat Eubank first up and should have been a world champ.

Good call, Ray Close. He was an excellent fighter, even if he lacked the X factor. Eastwood showed what he could do with him and McAuley.

Close now works at belfast city airport. Me and another poster on here went to wstch Frampton and he came up to us at the airport (disabled assistance ) asking whst we'd been doing.

Was hilarious. Went something like;


What ya been at lads?

'We've just been to watch Frampton avalos actually '

Close : 'i did a bit of boxing back in the day'

Us: (expecting the usual billy bullsh*it) oh yeah?

Yeah, i boxed eubank for the world title!

We were dumbfounded.

Excellent!

Bunny Sterling. Ranked #1 Middle Contender by 'Ring' at one stage from memory.