BoxRec

When I picked up following boxing - after it went off our terrestrial screens - in the mid/late '90s, there were quite a lot of foreign fighters who plied their trade in British rings. Some of these guys realy made an impression on me, like Winky Wright, blocking, jabbing and generally being a class act in defending his WBO 154 title; Harry Simon, a beast of a volume puncher who did away with our guys like Lueshing & Wayne Alexander in exciting fights; Baby Jake Matlala, the smallest boxer I've ever seen who had a late career resurgence and beat on our guys like Cantwell and Weir and proved himself an accomplished pressure fighter with great handspeed and an excelleny defense.

I think guys like those really added class to big, stacked fought cards in the 1990s.

Who are everyones fave imports from this era? Who are the best current ones?

These guys were great for the purists. Why don't we get guys like this any more?

I remember Donovan Boucher coming over here and beating Jacobs, Laing, Hughes and Wright. Then Boucher ran into Loughran and got stopped, looking back that was probably Loughrans best fight.
All of Bouchers fights over here were good entertainment.

Justin Juuko was good to watch on the way up, best super feather on these shores for a while, shame he never made it in world class, he seemed to have all the skills.

I've got great memories of Winky, Simon & Matlala. The latter deserves HOF consideration, to have achieved what he did on the road, at his age (with wins over titlists Weir, Clinton, Carbajal, Burgos)

The best import now, I'd say, is Jackson Asiku. He's got what seems a solid base now. No more journey(man)ing around at late notice and poss getting a raw deal. I think he'll beat Nedal Hussein for the Commonwealth title, in what will be a rematch of a fight JA lost.

In decent times Martinez, Romanov and Rothmann have all been decent imports. Hopefully we'll see more of the likes of Chad Dawson over here as well.

Alfred Kotey was excellent to watch whilst over here.
Also Daniel Jimenez , Daniel Santos showed the difference between euro and world title class in his wins over here.

Affif Djelti beat a host of our superfeathers , he was quality , and a old man in boxing terms as well

Sergio Martinez is the one that immediately sprang to my mind, he's a class act

Lenny Albert wrote:In decent times Martinez, Romanov and Rothmann have all been decent imports. Hopefully we'll see more of the likes of Chad Dawson over here as well.

Chad dawson's quality, but why would we see him over here?

viciousmaussa wrote:

Lenny Albert wrote:In decent times Martinez, Romanov and Rothmann have all been decent imports. Hopefully we'll see more of the likes of Chad Dawson over here as well.

Chad dawson's quality, but why would we see him over here?

Dawson was on a recent british bill, beat Jamie Hearn.
He may end up being an opponent for Woods in the future.

topper123 wrote:

viciousmaussa wrote:

Lenny Albert wrote:In decent times Martinez, Romanov and Rothmann have all been decent imports. Hopefully we'll see more of the likes of Chad Dawson over here as well.

Chad dawson's quality, but why would we see him over here?

Dawson was on a recent british bill, beat Jamie Hearn.
He may end up being an opponent for Woods in the future.

He is a Gary Shaw fighter and I think he was only over here cause Lacy was the main event.

On the subject of Matlala, Dave McCauley's KO of him looks great in retrospect (although at the time I though - where did they dig this midget up from?..)

I remember watching Espana, or 'claws' christ he was a deadly looking bastard until he got done over.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I remember watching Espana, or 'claws' christ he was a deadly looking bastard until he got done over.

Espana was schooling Quartey until he got KO'd

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I remember watching Espana, or 'claws' christ he was a deadly looking bastard until he got done over.

Wasn't Espana with Barney Eastwood, i seem to remember he had a few fighters from that part of the world at the time, Chena was one i think,

viciousmaussa, "of the likes of Chad Dawson" meaning more up and coming stars being showcased on British cards like Dawson and Lacy were.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I remember watching Espana, or 'claws' christ he was a deadly looking bastard until he got done over.

He was a touh un alright fighting out of belfast with BJ Eastwod, bizarrely.

Didnt he beat a shopworn Meldrick Taylor.

His stablemate (or was it cousin?) was a hard punching dangerman with a soft chin...can't remember his name...oscar something was it?

Lenny Albert wrote:viciousmaussa, "of the likes of Chad Dawson" meaning more up and coming stars being showcased on British cards like Dawson and Lacy were.

hope to see that, nice to have some foreign flavor on british cards. doesn't seem to happen so often

wouldn't gary shaw rather get burned alive while stuffed in a car boot, than come back to england?

fried bread wrote:wouldn't gary shaw rather get burned alive while stuffed in a car boot, than come back to england?

you would have thought so, though there was talk of Winky Wright coming over to try and gain some sort of revenge fort his team mate by fighting JC.

Cant see it happening myself.

Tapia at the York Hall was an awesome night

McCallum on a stage in Hammersmith, vs Glen Thomas. Good little night for British boxing & McCallum came back to fight Carl Jones on the Benn-McClellan show a couple of years later

viciousmaussa wrote:McCallum on a stage in Hammersmith, vs Glen Thomas. Good little night for British boxing & McCallum came back to fight Carl Jones on the Benn-McClellan show a couple of years later

Yeah McCallum's best performance over here has got to be his stoppage of Michael Watson, was really a masterclass he did that night.

topper123 wrote:

viciousmaussa wrote:McCallum on a stage in Hammersmith, vs Glen Thomas. Good little night for British boxing & McCallum came back to fight Carl Jones on the Benn-McClellan show a couple of years later

Yeah McCallum's best performance over here has got to be his stoppage of Michael Watson, was really a masterclass he did that night.

Incidentally rewatched that fight for the first time in years last nite on ESPN Classics. Forgot how subtley brilliant he could be...

Loynesy wrote:Tapia at the York Hall was an awesome night

Yes indeed he got a great reception. One of the best atmospheres I can remember at York Hall.

Poor Paul Lloyd suffered vs both Austin and Barrera here.... both fights indicicated the gulf in class between domestic challenger and world class.

Manuel Medina was involved in 4 good fights over here - although only won one of them.

Victor Polo was another one who looked very good in his trips to Britain, but he must hate the officiating here.

Although best single performance I have seen by an import was Gayo Vargas vs Paul Hodkinson.

TerribleTerry wrote:

topper123 wrote:

viciousmaussa wrote:McCallum on a stage in Hammersmith, vs Glen Thomas. Good little night for British boxing & McCallum came back to fight Carl Jones on the Benn-McClellan show a couple of years later

Yeah McCallum's best performance over here has got to be his stoppage of Michael Watson, was really a masterclass he did that night.

Incidentally rewatched that fight for the first time in years last nite on ESPN Classics. Forgot how subtley brilliant he could be...

Yeah me too, he was awesome that night. There are some great fights on ESPN Classics, although they have had some dodgy early Lewis fights on a fair bit recently.

nickd wrote: Yeah me too, he was awesome that night. There are some great fights on ESPN Classics, although they have had some dodgy early Lewis fights on a fair bit recently.

The quality control is all over the place isnt it?

One night you might be treated to say Saddler - Pep or Graziano v Zale, the next its Lennox v Dascola???

bizzare.