BoxRec

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

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

On paper he is for his win over Wlad, but ability wise there's good argument he isn't.

If Fury still isn't the 1, then what can he do to become and wouldn't that have been a very easy task before Klitschko?

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?

So of 13 we have 2 #1s?

Fury definitely

De Gale and McDonnell possibly

Let's be positive.

Some are still in development...

Degale, Crolla are Brook are likely all headed into unifications. This is the key, for me. Where the real action is. Wher the big answers are.

McDonnell beat a rival title holder twice last year, though the guy had to forfeit his belt to make the fight. As good as a unification but his promoter is not headlining him at home which is odd.

Fury might be throwing it away, or not, but there is no disputing he's heavyweight #1 after easing casually by Klitschko.

CaptainSpacerod wrote:Fury definitely

De Gale and McDonnell possibly

Can't have McDonnell above Yamanaka or Moreno IMO

Fury is the only British fighter who is certainly no 1

Maybe make a case for Flanagan. Personally I say Barthélemy.
DeGale and Fury are 100%.

Fury definitely, DeGale possibly. That's it.

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.

Fury and JDG are the best in their respective divisions. You could make a case for Flanagan/Crolla or Jamie McDonnell. I think Brook Is the best Welter and Frampton is the best SBW but it is difficult to argue they points with Brooks record and Carl's apparent reluctance to face Rigo (now he's moving up to feather)...

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.

I agree, we should be positive mate.

But upon reflection, if we take emotion out of it - then it's actually a good topic.

In boxing it's very rare to have more than two or three guys in the whole sport whom are regarded as "The Man" and the rest of the divisions usually have arguments as to who is the best that are rarely settled due to promoter conflicts and tv station politics (Adonis / Kovalev).

Wlad was possibly the man at heavy, but we must consider the state of the division he had mastered. I'm taking nothing away from Wlad's run, but Wales does make valid points. I suppose we can really answer it after the rematch, but even then people might (rightly) believe Wlad had grown old which is a fair point.

Elsewhere we have Ward moving up to Kovalev's turf so we have two main men there yet to fight and settle that score.

Below them we have Golovkin in a marquee division, but one that is relatively weak when compared to the history of 160lb.

Below him we have Floyd (in recess or whatever) and then below Floyd we possibly have Rigondeaux who is not as good as the experts and taste makers have us believe and is utterly negative and safe. If we had a banger like Zarate or a hammer-fisted Olvares in there right now he'd run for his life. Regardless, Rigo is still 'The Man' in and around bantam / super bantam.

Any of our guys that operate in the divisions not mentioned above, have either a legit claim or at least an argument with Degale being the current belt holder to precide over a weak division whom can regard himself as no1 in my opinion.

Fury is the world champion.

The rest are belt holders.

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.

Fury is Number 1 HW
Degale is Number 1 SMW

Bellew has half an argument he is Number 1 CW

I think Flanagan is Number 1 LW but needs a big fight to prove it

Frampton will be number 1 FW if beats Santa Cruz id say

Wales wrote:On paper he is for his win over Wlad, but ability wise there's good argument he isn't.

He had the ability to beat Klitschko pretty easily.

If he's not No. 1 then who is?

There are a ridiculous number of belts now but UK is still punching above its weight and that should be celebrated, regardless of your views on the alphabetti-spaghetti sanctioning bodies.

Certainly there's not many one could rate as being the number one in their division apart from de gale and fury. If either Haskins or McDonnell fought and beat Yamanaka then they could lay claim to it; Bellew isn't even number one in the WBC until he beats Drozd...

Heavyweight:
1. Fury

Cruiserweight:
1. Lebedev
2. Glowacki
3. Bellew

Super Middleweight:
1. DeGale

Middleweight:
1. Golovkin
2. Alvarez
3. Saunders

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

Welterweight:
1. Thurman
2. Brook

Light Welterweight:
1. Crawford
2. Postol
3. Matthysse
4. Broner
5. Troyanovsky
6. Provodnikov
7. Figeuroa
8. Burns

Lightweight:
1. Linares
2. Barthelemey
3. Flanagan

Featherweight:
1. Lomachenko
2. Santa Cruz
3. Russell Jr
4. Selby

Super Bantamweight:
1. Rigondeaux
2. Frampton

Bantamweight:
1. Yamanaka
2.McDonnell

Two #1's.
Three #2's.
Four #3's.
One #4.
One outside the top 5.

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.

You make a very good point. It is a great period for UK boxers, and many are just approaching their peek, so hopefully that number will go from about two to five or six in the next year or two.

I'm just going to base mine off a mixture of actual status and potential - Fury is number 1 at heavyweight currently, Bellew isn't number one at cruiserweight but Id give him a good shot against the guys I'd currently pit above him ie Lebedev, Glowacki, etc

Degale I think might be number one at super middle

Brook whilst I shit on him a lot for the opponents he's fought is definietly good enough to be number 1 at 147 and he could beat any of the top guys in the division Imo. Him vs Thurman or Spence are the two most intriguing fight in the deciding the best in the division imo. I'm not including mayweather or Pacquaio as they're retired and I think Bradley would lose to the other two I listed.

Crolla is a dark horse at lightweight- his win over Barroso in particular has sold me more on his credentials than in times gone by.

Both Selby and Frampton also could be number one at featherweight. It's between those two guys and Santa Cruz and Russell Jnr.

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.

Whilst I'm not at all convinced that Fury is the best heavyweight on the planet, he definitely has to be considered as the division's No 1 since beating Wlad.

One other thing - fvck Rigo. He might well be the best super-bantam, but I don't blame anyone for not wanting to fight him as his set-up is just far too amateurish. Frampton or Quigg could have ended up wasting months of their career training for a fight with him to fall through at the last minute cos he didn't bother getting his visa again.