BoxRec

Crawford Ashley

Clinton McKenzie was in line to fight Roger Mayweather if I remember rightly a winnable fight for Clinton

Of more recent times Damean Kelly.... cracking stylist - a bit shocking that he only had one shot of the title against Paccheco in Columbia (if memory serves).

stujones wrote:Of more recent times Damean Kelly.... cracking stylist - a bit shocking that he only had one shot of the title against Paccheco in Columbia (if memory serves).

Didn't he win a version of a world title but was stripped?

Ola Afolabi - nice guy and hard done by a few times.

Nightmare Roy wrote:Michael Brodie

that loss to jorrin was a stinker.

then he had to earn another title shot.

took 3 yrs and he gets a really horrible opponent injin chi.

paddy chavez wrote:Clinton McKenzie was in line to fight Roger Mayweather if I remember rightly a winnable fight for Clinton

Now that would have been a great fight. If only Clinton hadn't got disqualified against Gambini.

Wharton
Bomber Graham
Micky Hunter

Would have loved to see the 3 of them claim a proper world title.

TopGun wrote:Ola Afolabi - nice guy and hard done by a few times.

tbh didnt think he was hard done by on the cards once. best case for a title was huck 2 but even that wasnt a robbery. couldve easily lost that. seems like a race obsessed weirdo going by his social media but dont know him personally.

A welterweight from south London. I can’t remember his name....

jamamb wrote:

TopGun wrote:Ola Afolabi - nice guy and hard done by a few times.

tbh didnt think he was hard done by on the cards once. best case for a title was huck 2 but even that wasnt a robbery. couldve easily lost that. seems like a race obsessed weirdo going by his social media but dont know him personally.

Not seen his social media, he got a massive chip on his shoulder has he. Shame

I remember watching Hardy vs Canizales at Sunderland as a kid and thought Billy got robbed.

Rob McCracken.

Noxy wrote:I always thought Adrian Dodson would win a title. Colin Jones came close too. Sammy Reeson, Macklin ...

Yes, Dodson was a superb talent thrown in too deep, too soon against Ronald Wright and it ruined him.

Matt W wrote:I remember watching Hardy vs Canizales at Sunderland as a kid and thought Billy got robbed.

Rob McCracken.

agreed

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

Good pick. Bunny dished out a real beating to Maurice Hope when Hope moved up to middleweight to challenge him. This was before Hope won the WBC light-middleweight title so it holds up as a great win for Sterling. Bunny's problem was that he faded down the stretch of 15-rounders. Over 12 rounds he was excellent.

olij999 wrote:

paddy chavez wrote:Clinton McKenzie was in line to fight Roger Mayweather if I remember rightly a winnable fight for Clinton

Now that would have been a great fight. If only Clinton hadn't got disqualified against Gambini.

Clinton was definitely lined up to fight Johnny Bumphus for the title. Mickey Duff had a verbal agreement with the Duvas but Bumphus then got done by Gene Hatcher.

Kevin Finnegan deserves a mention. He was close to a shot at Carlos Monzon at one point, particularly after winning the European title with an upset win over Jean-Claude Bouttier in France, a man who had twice challenged Monzon. Then he got his jaw bust in a winning 10-rounder and lost momentum.

Talkischeap wrote:Dave Boy Green

That Leonard Ko though !!!!!

Andy hollighan gave it good go Vs chavez . unlucky to up against a great

Dave Green is a good shout. Forget the Leonard kayo, he went over there for the payday and had already been clobbered by Jorgen Hansen, but Green on the way up was a tiger and gave Carlos Palomino a stiff argument in his first crack at a world title. It was a shame he failed to stay down at light-welterweight, where he was particularly ferocious.

dave charnley did not win a world title by Trevor Pattinson

I don’t think Close beat Eubank. I had the first 6-6 with late drama, Eubank salvaging his title with the knockdown, making up somewhat for earlier time wasting tactics of going walkabout and ignoring the actual fight. Close was impressive, nonetheless, in two spirited fights.

In the second, Eubank’s body punching was underrated somewhat and he scored many good uppercuts. The second fight is actually a very good fight, the one successful WBO defense that perhaps required the most work as it went all the way. It certainly demonstrated all of Eubank’s strengths - his immense size and power at the weight - and weakenesses - limited stamina from making the weight too long...

Close performed very well in both fights, clearly following the Watson blueprint of forcing Eubank into a pace he’s not comfortable with. In the Watson epic Eubank had debuted at the weight (168) whereas versus Close he’d been grinding down for years. Close was very tidy, busy and compact and I feel the draw result in the first fight was more than fair to him. That Eubank uppercut which scored the knockdown was a truly beautiful shot. He’d been trying it all night and Close leaned straight into this one.

For me, the strong finishes, that sudden surge of late power, retained the title for Eubank - with a draw and narrow win - both times.

I believe Wharton was regarded as better than Close, and so Eubank’s acclaimed performance against Wharton could be seen as “making up” for the Close fights. Eubank, for all his faults, fought EVERY top Brit or Celt during a very strong era of people from these countries! (Add the two with Carl Thompson at cruiserweight as well) A shame Close didn’t fight some of the other world class super middleweights. He seemed to disappear off the scene, though not as abruptly as Dave Tiberi, whom many feel was robbed against James Toney, down at 160. I am genuinely intrigued what Close and Tiberi were capable of against other top fighters. Eubank and Toney did kind of make them look like Jake Lamotta, Gene Fullmer or Carmen Basilio LOL!

In a time of less title fragmentation and not so may weights, Bomber Graham (really avoided across the mid eighties) Sibson and Clinton Mckenzie are fighters that would have won titles in another era. Also feel Pat Barrett would have done well in todays climate as would have Gary Jacobs. Outstanding fighters.

Autobarn wrote:I don’t think Close beat Eubank. I had the first 6-6 with late drama, Eubank salvaging his title with the knockdown, making up somewhat for earlier time wasting tactics of going walkabout and ignoring the actual fight. Close was impressive, nonetheless, in two spirited fights.

In the second, Eubank’s body punching was underrated somewhat and he scored many good uppercuts. The second fight is actually a very good fight, the one successful WBO defense that perhaps required the most work as it went all the way. It certainly demonstrated all of Eubank’s strengths - his immense size and power at the weight - and weakenesses - limited stamina from making the weight too long...

Close performed very well in both fights, clearly following the Watson blueprint of forcing Eubank into a pace he’s not comfortable with. In the Watson epic Eubank had debuted at the weight (168) whereas versus Close he’d been grinding down for years. Close was very tidy, busy and compact and I feel the draw result in the first fight was more than fair to him. That Eubank uppercut which scored the knockdown was a truly beautiful shot. He’d been trying it all night and Close leaned straight into this one.

For me, the strong finishes, that sudden surge of late power, retained the title for Eubank - with a draw and narrow win - both times.

I believe Wharton was regarded as better than Close, and so Eubank’s acclaimed performance against Wharton could be seen as “making up” for the Close fights. Eubank, for all his faults, fought EVERY top Brit or Celt during a very strong era of people from these countries! (Add the two with Carl Thompson at cruiserweight as well) A shame Close didn’t fight some of the other world class super middleweights. He seemed to disappear off the scene, though not as abruptly as Dave Tiberi, whom many feel was robbed against James Toney, down at 160. I am genuinely intrigued what Close and Tiberi were capable of against other top fighters. Eubank and Toney did kind of make them look like Jake Lamotta, Gene Fullmer or Carmen Basilio LOL!

Wharton stopped Close in one round in an England v Ireland international.

Autobarn wrote:I don’t think Close beat Eubank. I had the first 6-6 with late drama, Eubank salvaging his title with the knockdown, making up somewhat for earlier time wasting tactics of going walkabout and ignoring the actual fight. Close was impressive, nonetheless, in two spirited fights.

In the second, Eubank’s body punching was underrated somewhat and he scored many good uppercuts. The second fight is actually a very good fight, the one successful WBO defense that perhaps required the most work as it went all the way. It certainly demonstrated all of Eubank’s strengths - his immense size and power at the weight - and weakenesses - limited stamina from making the weight too long...

Close performed very well in both fights, clearly following the Watson blueprint of forcing Eubank into a pace he’s not comfortable with. In the Watson epic Eubank had debuted at the weight (168) whereas versus Close he’d been grinding down for years. Close was very tidy, busy and compact and I feel the draw result in the first fight was more than fair to him. That Eubank uppercut which scored the knockdown was a truly beautiful shot. He’d been trying it all night and Close leaned straight into this one.

For me, the strong finishes, that sudden surge of late power, retained the title for Eubank - with a draw and narrow win - both times.

I believe Wharton was regarded as better than Close, and so Eubank’s acclaimed performance against Wharton could be seen as “making up” for the Close fights. Eubank, for all his faults, fought EVERY top Brit or Celt during a very strong era of people from these countries! (Add the two with Carl Thompson at cruiserweight as well) A shame Close didn’t fight some of the other world class super middleweights. He seemed to disappear off the scene, though not as abruptly as Dave Tiberi, whom many feel was robbed against James Toney, down at 160. I am genuinely intrigued what Close and Tiberi were capable of against other top fighters. Eubank and Toney did kind of make them look like Jake Lamotta, Gene Fullmer or Carmen Basilio LOL!

Aye, Ray "Nothing Comes" Close was quality. He failed a brain scan in the run up to Close vs Eubank 3 and lost his licence. I was at Close vs Eubank 2, the atmosphere was something else, it was a cauldron. Chris loved it, strutting round the ring as he used to do.