BoxRec

When I was a kid (70's) British Heavyweight boxing was seen as a joke in the US. We were known as the land of 'Horizontal Heavyweights'. Things got better though & we now seem to be standing on the cusp of a Golden Age in British Heavyweight Boxing (or in the middle of one).

But it can be hard for me to keep up with who's who, especially with the up & comers so I'd appreciate any input from the more knowledgeable posters.

Or the comedic ones

I'm listing some top blokes or potential fighters who could have an impact. I've left out Bellew & Haye. I like both fighters but I've just left them out. Same with Chisora. But feel free to add them if you think they'll be making an impact in some way. I just couldn't be bothered

So as it stands (not really in any order)....

Anthony Joshua, 27. 19(19)-0. We know all about him. Rematch or Pulev next? Do you think he's the best around?

Tyson Fury, 28. 25(18)-0. Hopefully coming back on Hughie v Parker bill in September. We were treated to a million videos of him training a couple of months back but no so much now. Would love to see him back at his best.

Dillian Whyte, 29. 20(15)-1. Limited but fun fighter. I'd give him a 30-40% chance of toppling Wilder.

Hughie Fury, 22. 20(10)-0. Fights in 2 weeks against a journeyman & should fight Parker in September. I make this a 50/50 fight.

Nathan Gorman, 21. 9(7)-0. Anyone? Seems fairly heavy for 6'3". I see that he fights.......

Nick Webb, 29. 11(9)-0. .....for the British title. Neither one has met anyone decent yet. is this a case of two British level fighters?

Kash Ali, 25. 11(3)-0. Also fought low level opponents. Does he have talent?

Daniel Dubois, 19. 3(3)-0. Fr@nk W@rrens great white hope (you know what I mean ). Still early but looks the part so far. Did he get shook up a bit in his 2nd bout?

Joe Joyce, 31. Has he fought yet? Is he turning pro under Haye Promotions? I didn't see the Olympics last year. He's getting on so what's the plan for him?

Naylor Ball, 20. 3(1)-0. A mate from Slough told me to look out for this lad. Big unit, still a kid. Anyone seen him?

Lawrence Okolie, 24. 3(3)-0. I know he's a Cruiserweight but I've read that he's planning on being Heavy sooner or later. And at 6'5" he has the height. Does he have the talent or punch?

Can anyone add anything to these fighters or have I missed anyone? Seems that every few weeks I read about a fighter turning pro who has special talents

I do seem to remember some other name recently turning over but I might be thinking of Joshua Buatsi who is definitely not a Heavyweight.

Thanks everybody

I wouldn't mind seeing Gorman step it up if I'm honest.

I think we should drag some of those Americans - Joey Abell, Adam Kownack, Derric Rossey & Jason Bergman and have a US Vs. UK Heavyweight bout.

horndawg80 wrote:I wouldn't mind seeing Gorman step it up if I'm honest.

I think we should drag some of those Americans - Joey Abell, Adam Kownack, Derric Rossey & Jason Bergman and have a US Vs. UK Heavyweight bout.

Great idea

I think Josh Sandland is worth watching. Only 2 fights so far but both decent opponents.
http://boxrec.com/boxer/782449

Alex Dickinson recently made his debut, a bit older, but he looked alright albeit against poor opposition
http://boxrec.com/boxer/801419

Personally I thought Joyce was unlucky not to get the nod in the Olympic final, but it was close and an Olympic silver medal is not to be sniffed at.
He is tough, strong and heavy handed. At 31 he may have turned pro a bit late but given his experience I see no reason why he can't be in contention for the British within 12-18 months.

Okolie is tall but very lean, he would be better off as a rangy cruiserweight rather than a skinny heavyweight. He is quick, carries a dig but a bit reckless, he will be in some good fights I'm sure, but needs to work on his defence.

Haven't seen much of Gorman or Webb but it is good that the Lonsdale belt is going to be active again.

Alot of buzz around Dubois at the minute, but more to do with sparring stories than anything he has done in the ring as yet. The most exciting prospect in the country at the moment, but only time will tell if he can live up to the hype.

I am very excited about Dubois - I think he could be a massive star, if he gets matched correctly and promoted in the right way. I heard something that W@rren wants him to fight for the British title in his next fight or the one after (if he can get the age restriction lifted.) I think it's way too early for that yet, I understand W@rren wants to get Daniel's name out and about in the British public and get a big following like AJ, but there's other ways around then throwing him in a British Heavyweight title fight in his 4th or 5th fight.

We have the best heavyweight scene in the world and real strength in depth. Anything that gets these guys fighting each other regularly will make it even better.

MY favourite British Heavyweight was 'Fainting' Phil scott who apparently used to win bouts by pretending to be hit in the groin.

Here's an odd 1978 US article about British Heavyweights which details fainting Phil

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... 2564d0382b

It's a short article but makes really interesting reading about the old US view of Britain's heavyweights.... including asking why there hadn't been any good Brit heavies of West Indian extraction

I take a comedic approach then. With Haye on artificial life support, Fury on the rock bottom (and never coming back) and Hughie struggling with whatever he is struggling with UK HW scene inst anything great. There is really only one world class HW, Joshua and one fine prospect, Dubois. It does help though that the world number one is British and that there is some depth for making decent domestic fights. Like Gorman vs Webb. Certainly an interesting contest if it happens.

Frazer Clarke just won silver at europeans, I think he would make a very good pro.

I'm surprised you didn't list Gary Cornish. Yes, he got steamrolled by Joshua but he is far better than the likes of Kash Ali whose opponents make Cornish's look like a murderer's row - had just one bloke with a winning record and he was 1-0 and is since 1-5.

Naylor Ball got knocked down by a bloke who was 0-2.

Gnome wrote:I'm surprised you didn't list Gary Cornish. Yes, he got steamrolled by Joshua but he is far better than the likes of Kash Ali whose opponents make Cornish's look like a murderer's row - had just one bloke with a winning record and he was 1-0 and is since 1-5.

Naylor Ball got knocked down by a bloke who was 0-2.

Cornish didn't get steamrolled, it's well known he was schooling Josh until he got caught.

From the list, only Joshua and Tyson Fury are world level for me - the only one I think can potentially go beyond domestic level is Dubois.

One thing is that there are a lot of good fights that could be made amongst the list fighting each other- I wonder how many matches will be made?

keirw wrote:
Okolie is tall but very lean, he would be better off as a rangy cruiserweight rather than a skinny heavyweight.

He could have a word with AJ's nutritionist, seems quite adept at putting a lotta meat on ya bones.....

mickey1975 wrote:

Gnome wrote:I'm surprised you didn't list Gary Cornish. Yes, he got steamrolled by Joshua but he is far better than the likes of Kash Ali whose opponents make Cornish's look like a murderer's row - had just one bloke with a winning record and he was 1-0 and is since 1-5.

Naylor Ball got knocked down by a bloke who was 0-2.

Cornish didn't get steamrolled, it's well known he was schooling Josh until he got caught.

Exactly - for 50 seconds the heavyweight landscape looked different. With Joshua having to rebuild whilst Cornish went on to world honours.

Joshua just got lucky. He knows it. Gary knows it. Eddie Hearn knows it. That's what 'ain't gonna be no rematch...."

boxingknockout wrote:

mickey1975 wrote:

Gnome wrote:I'm surprised you didn't list Gary Cornish. Yes, he got steamrolled by Joshua but he is far better than the likes of Kash Ali whose opponents make Cornish's look like a murderer's row - had just one bloke with a winning record and he was 1-0 and is since 1-5.

Naylor Ball got knocked down by a bloke who was 0-2.

Cornish didn't get steamrolled, it's well known he was schooling Josh until he got caught.

Exactly - for 50 seconds the heavyweight landscape looked different. With Joshua having to rebuild whilst Cornish went on to world honours.

Joshua just got lucky. He knows it. Gary knows it. Eddie Hearn knows it. That's what 'ain't gonna be no rematch...."

I thought the ref could of easily stepped in.

The gulf in class was hard to watch until he got lucky.

Gnome wrote:I'm surprised you didn't list Gary Cornish. Yes, he got steamrolled by Joshua but he is far better than the likes of Kash Ali whose opponents make Cornish's look like a murderer's row - had just one bloke with a winning record and he was 1-0 and is since 1-5.

Naylor Ball got knocked down by a bloke who was 0-2.

The point of this thread was me asking about these fighters.

I know Cornish isn't very good. I don't know about the others so I asked.

Thanks for your response

Dubois & Goreman are great prospects imo. I imagine both will want to go for the British title sooner rather then later (assuming the age limit is changed) so should be interesting to see how that one plays out.

No love for big David Price? Or is he retired now? Would be cool to see him back in the mix at domestic/commonwealth level.

PredatorHayds wrote:

boxingknockout wrote:

mickey1975 wrote: Cornish didn't get steamrolled, it's well known he was schooling Josh until he got caught.

Exactly - for 50 seconds the heavyweight landscape looked different. With Joshua having to rebuild whilst Cornish went on to world honours.

Joshua just got lucky. He knows it. Gary knows it. Eddie Hearn knows it. That's what 'ain't gonna be no rematch...."

I thought the ref could of easily stepped in.

The gulf in class was hard to watch until he got lucky.

Too true. I think Cornish will be a fighter we respect in retrospect. he will also be the subject of many 'what could've been' type articles.

It must hurt Gary when he looks at AJ now and thinks 'that should be me.... but I know Eddie Hearn will never risk the Golden Goose against me again...."

tobyh5 wrote:

keirw wrote:
Okolie is tall but very lean, he would be better off as a rangy cruiserweight rather than a skinny heavyweight.

He could have a word with AJ's nutritionist, seems quite adept at putting a lotta meat on ya bones.....

He should get some stew and dumplings from Joshua's mum.

Mukel wrote:Frazer Clarke just won silver at europeans, I think he would make a very good pro.

He looked terrible in the final. Ukrainian dude gave him an absolute thrashing. He needs to improve leaps and bounds to be a serious player.

Tarkus wrote:

Mukel wrote:Frazer Clarke just won silver at europeans, I think he would make a very good pro.

He looked terrible in the final. Ukrainian dude gave him an absolute thrashing. He needs to improve leaps and bounds to be a serious player.

AJ got stopped at that level!

mickey1975 wrote:

Tarkus wrote:

Mukel wrote:Frazer Clarke just won silver at europeans, I think he would make a very good pro.

He looked terrible in the final. Ukrainian dude gave him an absolute thrashing. He needs to improve leaps and bounds to be a serious player.

AJ got stopped at that level!

Good point.

If you learn from a bad experience it can become a good one

PredatorHayds wrote:

boxingknockout wrote:

mickey1975 wrote: Cornish didn't get steamrolled, it's well known he was schooling Josh until he got caught.

Exactly - for 50 seconds the heavyweight landscape looked different. With Joshua having to rebuild whilst Cornish went on to world honours.

Joshua just got lucky. He knows it. Gary knows it. Eddie Hearn knows it. That's what 'ain't gonna be no rematch...."

I thought the ref could of easily stepped in.

The gulf in class was hard to watch until he got lucky.

Taansend wrote:

Gnome wrote:I'm surprised you didn't list Gary Cornish. Yes, he got steamrolled by Joshua but he is far better than the likes of Kash Ali whose opponents make Cornish's look like a murderer's row - had just one bloke with a winning record and he was 1-0 and is since 1-5.

Naylor Ball got knocked down by a bloke who was 0-2.

The point of this thread was me asking about these fighters.

I know Cornish isn't very good. I don't know about the others so I asked.

Thanks for your response

Ok cool. What do you think of Josh Sandland's future? His debut win over Jone Volau looks even better now that the latter knocked out 11-0 Sauerland fighter Burak Sahin in Germany a couple of weeks ago.