BoxRec

If Goodson beat Ball last week , Britain would have no world champions,. we've been blessed let's be honest but when was last time we had no world champs?

Calzaghe was champ from 97 until about 08/09,.I dare say we've always had champs after that until now,

I'm guessing 96?

handsofstone wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025, 20:16 If Goodson beat Ball last week , Britain would have no world champions,. we've been blessed let's be honest but when was last time we had no world champs?

Calzaghe was champ from 97 until about 08/09,.I dare say we've always had champs after that until now,

I'm guessing 96?

Good question!

It wasn't 1996, though - if you're counting WBO. Naz held that all year.

Lenny Cravats wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025, 23:06

handsofstone wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025, 20:16 If Goodson beat Ball last week , Britain would have no world champions,. we've been blessed let's be honest but when was last time we had no world champs?

Calzaghe was champ from 97 until about 08/09,.I dare say we've always had champs after that until now,

I'm guessing 96?

Good question!

It wasn't 1996, though - if you're counting WBO. Naz held that all year.

Ah I know Bruno was 95, either way we're on a good run tbf

Frank always had WBO in his pocket. Naz was always a world champion from 94 to 2000 and Calzaghe was champion from 97 to 2006-7

By then

Curious how the volume of our 'world champions' increased dramatically with the creation of the WBO...

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 04:58 Frank always had WBO in his pocket. Naz was always a world champion from 94 to 2000 and Calzaghe was champion from 97 to 2006-7

By then

You've singled out two of our very best champions who could have been champs with any organisation. Hearn (Barry) had weaker WBO champs as well.

mickey1975 wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 11:10

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 04:58 Frank always had WBO in his pocket. Naz was always a world champion from 94 to 2000 and Calzaghe was champion from 97 to 2006-7

By then

You've singled out two of our very best champions who could have been champs with any organisation. Hearn (Barry) had weaker WBO champs as well.

Sorry I forgot you’re related to Frank.

Tbh, I rate Naz, Cus he unified and held all the org belts at some point. He just ended up vacating the others.

Joe C on the other hand took him 7 years to unify.

Who were Barry’s weaker WBO champions.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 11:17 Who were Barry’s weaker WBO champions.

Eammon Loughron
Paul Weir

Coco wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 11:20

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 11:17 Who were Barry’s weaker WBO champions.

Eammon Loughron
Paul Weir

Literally who I was going to say...

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 11:17

mickey1975 wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 11:10

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 04:58 Frank always had WBO in his pocket. Naz was always a world champion from 94 to 2000 and Calzaghe was champion from 97 to 2006-7

By then

You've singled out two of our very best champions who could have been champs with any organisation. Hearn (Barry) had weaker WBO champs as well.

Sorry I forgot you’re related to Frank.

Tbh, I rate Naz, Cus he unified and held all the org belts at some point. He just ended up vacating the others.

Joe C on the other hand took him 7 years to unify.

How am I related to Frank?

mickey1975 wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 11:10

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 04:58 Frank always had WBO in his pocket. Naz was always a world champion from 94 to 2000 and Calzaghe was champion from 97 to 2006-7

By then

You've singled out two of our very best champions who could have been champs with any organisation. Hearn (Barry) had weaker WBO champs as well.

And after the WBO got more established, Hearn used the IBO, and FW the WBU

Benn won the title in 1990 & between he & Eubank they have the early 90's covered.

McCrory was champ in 89.

Honeyghan 86-89

Andries in 86 & 87

Finbar in 85. Does he count?

Murray Sutherland in 84

Charlie Magri in 83.

It looks like 1982 is the winner.

Before that Jim Watt was Champ but he lost to Arguello in 1981.

Yup

A bit of context: the last Brits to hold major world belts before 1982 were Jim Watt (WBC lightweight, 1979–20 June 1981) and Maurice Hope (WBC light-middleweight, 1979–23 May 1981) — both had lost their titles in 1981, so by 1 January 1982 there were no British world champions.

The next British fighter to win a world belt after that was Charlie Magri (WBC flyweight), who won his title in March 1983.

uk is one of the strongest boxing countries, we are blessed with loads of talent and the promoters to help them get there

only the usa is clearly ahead for depth. mexico and arguably japan at the moment has prob had better fighters at the very top levels, but are more limited in terms of having talent throughout the weights

Boxing as we know it pretty much has it's origins in the U.K. so it's no surprise that there's always a strong Boxing presence there.

We're currently going through a dark patch of British boxing. We have no prospects other than Itauma. All the rest across the divisions are gonna get exposed as soon as they step up. And Itauma is more Slovakian than British.

tigermoth87 wrote: ↑25 Aug 2025, 02:52 We're currently going through a dark patch of British boxing. We have no prospects other than Itauma. All the rest across the divisions are gonna get exposed as soon as they step up. And Itauma is more Slovakian than British.

I think it’s odd to claim he’s more Slovakian. Can’t he be both? British is a broad church

tigermoth87 wrote: ↑25 Aug 2025, 02:52 We're currently going through a dark patch of British boxing. We have no prospects other than Itauma. All the rest across the divisions are gonna get exposed as soon as they step up. And Itauma is more Slovakian than British.

Any prospects that stepped up after 2016 failed at Euro or world level.

I know Hearn gets stick sometimes for putting his prospects in with tough opponents, but they’re only gonna fight 2-3 times a year then why not.

Taansend wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 18:07 It looks like 1982 is the winner.

This actually has me thinking.

If you're under 43 you've never known a world where the UK didn't have a Boxing 'world' champion

tigermoth87 wrote: ↑25 Aug 2025, 02:52 And Itauma is more Slovakian than British.

Mate, he was 3 when he moved to Chatham.

He's more Chav than anything else

handsofstone wrote: ↑23 Aug 2025, 20:16 If Goodson beat Ball last week , Britain would have no world champions,. we've been blessed let's be honest but when was last time we had no world champs?

Calzaghe was champ from 97 until about 08/09,.I dare say we've always had champs after that until now,

I'm guessing 96?

Not 1996, as Bruno was still champion for part of it and Hamed had a trinket and was demolishing opponents for fun.

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑24 Aug 2025, 19:49 uk is one of the strongest boxing countries, we are blessed with loads of talent and the promoters to help them get there

only the usa is clearly ahead for depth. mexico and arguably japan at the moment has prob had better fighters at the very top levels, but are more limited in terms of having talent throughout the weights

Also lottery funding for the ams has been huge, and helped bring a lot of fighters on

What about Lauren Price.

SeanBrennan wrote: ↑25 Aug 2025, 05:43

tigermoth87 wrote: ↑25 Aug 2025, 02:52 We're currently going through a dark patch of British boxing. We have no prospects other than Itauma. All the rest across the divisions are gonna get exposed as soon as they step up. And Itauma is more Slovakian than British.

I think it’s odd to claim he’s more Slovakian. Can’t he be both? British is a broad church

You can call him anything, doesn't mean the public will connect with him. Lennox never really took off over here, couldn't fill the 5,000 seat Wembley Arena versus McCall and Botha, PPVs flopped. Difficult to get excited about a guy who grew up in Canada, learnt to box there, had a weird accent and spoke of himself in the third person all the time. Who relates to that? Similarly, Moses isn't the most endearing character and doesn't have any charisma, but he is exciting in the ring and is fighting in an era with a much larger base of casuals then there were in Lennie's day.

Two fights with around five minutes of action in all of 2025 isn't going to help his cause.