Best fighters to come out of Ireland
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AndreWardFan2006
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Best fighters to come out of Ireland
Doing a paper on this subject and am interested to hear who you think are some of the best to come from this country.
You could also split the answer into two - "Irish born and bred, and boxed at least for part of their career from an Irish base" ...and.... "Irish born but emigrated at a very young age and grew up in both life and boxing in the USA and elsewhere"
In the former camp you'd have Barry McGuigan, Wayne McCullough, Rinty Monaghan, Dave "Boy" McCauley, John Caldwell, Freddy Gilroy, Charlie Nash, Steve Collins, Dan McAlinden to name a few. I know Collins and McCullough spent a lot of time in the US, but they did grow up in Ireland and also had some career presence in the country. Likewise McAlinden lived in England when he went pro. Of the above I'd say McGuigan, McCullough, Collins, Monaghan, and McCauley were the best - at least in terms of actual achievement. Gilroy and Caldwell not too far behind. Other notable names include Jack Doyle (better known as a "character" than a fistic genius!), Jem Roche, Billy "Spider" Kelly and his father Jim, John "Young" McCormack (British Lt Heavy champ) and his brother Pat, who grew up in Dublin but went pro from a London base. I'm doing this from memory, so apologies if I've omitted anyone obvious!
For guys who were born in Ireland but left at a very young age and in essence grew up in their adopted homeland, you have several of the names in the earlier posts. Jimmy McLarnin was - IMO - probably the best. Mike McTigue and Jack McCauliffe also have notable claims.
Of course Bernard Dunne is making waves at present, but it's probably a bit early to rate him vis-a-vis the likes of Collins and McGuigan, etc, though time will tell.
J
In the former camp you'd have Barry McGuigan, Wayne McCullough, Rinty Monaghan, Dave "Boy" McCauley, John Caldwell, Freddy Gilroy, Charlie Nash, Steve Collins, Dan McAlinden to name a few. I know Collins and McCullough spent a lot of time in the US, but they did grow up in Ireland and also had some career presence in the country. Likewise McAlinden lived in England when he went pro. Of the above I'd say McGuigan, McCullough, Collins, Monaghan, and McCauley were the best - at least in terms of actual achievement. Gilroy and Caldwell not too far behind. Other notable names include Jack Doyle (better known as a "character" than a fistic genius!), Jem Roche, Billy "Spider" Kelly and his father Jim, John "Young" McCormack (British Lt Heavy champ) and his brother Pat, who grew up in Dublin but went pro from a London base. I'm doing this from memory, so apologies if I've omitted anyone obvious!
For guys who were born in Ireland but left at a very young age and in essence grew up in their adopted homeland, you have several of the names in the earlier posts. Jimmy McLarnin was - IMO - probably the best. Mike McTigue and Jack McCauliffe also have notable claims.
Of course Bernard Dunne is making waves at present, but it's probably a bit early to rate him vis-a-vis the likes of Collins and McGuigan, etc, though time will tell.
J
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elmersalsa
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Jimmy McLarnin, the best from Ireland bar none!!! He beat more Hall of Famers than anybody in history, I think.
Jack McAuliffe was one of the best Irish
Was Packey McFarland Irish or Irish American???
Mike McTigue was one of that country's best.
Barry McGuigan was overrated in some point, but one of the best from Ireland
Jack McAuliffe was one of the best Irish
Was Packey McFarland Irish or Irish American???
Mike McTigue was one of that country's best.
Barry McGuigan was overrated in some point, but one of the best from Ireland
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AndreWardFan2006
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HomicideHenry
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Though I do not think he ever fought in Ireland, except for a few exhibitions in the UK-Ireland, I'd toss in the name of John L. Sullivan. His parents were from Ireland.
Wayne McCullough is one of the better in my mind, though I often hear alot of criticism on his part. McCullough certainly was somewhat a controversial figure in the sport and in his native land. Born in Ulster (protestant), he waved the flag of Catholic Ireland at the Olympics and then he married a Catholic woman and often had death threats for doing so.
Rinty Monagahn in my opinion was the greatest 'true' Irish fighter. I cant think of any fights he would have had outside of his country or at least out of the entire UK. Then I would probably say Jem Roche, as most of his fights were in Dublin, Ireland.
Jim Coffey was another great Irish fighter and in my opinion was far better than Bombardier Billy Wells, who was supposed to get a title shot at Jack Johnson. Peter Maher was another great fighter from Ireland, though the majority of his career was fought in the USA and he must have been really good considering champion James Corbett gave Maher his title when Corbett 'retired' for a time.
There was alot of great ones, but Jimmy McClarnin was the best of the bunch on a p4p basis.
Wayne McCullough is one of the better in my mind, though I often hear alot of criticism on his part. McCullough certainly was somewhat a controversial figure in the sport and in his native land. Born in Ulster (protestant), he waved the flag of Catholic Ireland at the Olympics and then he married a Catholic woman and often had death threats for doing so.
Rinty Monagahn in my opinion was the greatest 'true' Irish fighter. I cant think of any fights he would have had outside of his country or at least out of the entire UK. Then I would probably say Jem Roche, as most of his fights were in Dublin, Ireland.
Jim Coffey was another great Irish fighter and in my opinion was far better than Bombardier Billy Wells, who was supposed to get a title shot at Jack Johnson. Peter Maher was another great fighter from Ireland, though the majority of his career was fought in the USA and he must have been really good considering champion James Corbett gave Maher his title when Corbett 'retired' for a time.
There was alot of great ones, but Jimmy McClarnin was the best of the bunch on a p4p basis.
I'm not setting out to introduce politics or religion into this thread, but just to correct a point you make.... McCullough's wife was/is not a Catholic, indeed there was what I'll call "a bit of talk" about her writing a letter of support to a well known UVF (Protestant paramilitary) gunman called Michael Stone when he was in prison first time round for attempting to kill Gerry Adams and other Sinn Fein leaders at a funeral in Belfast. (He's now back inside for a morer recent effort!) Their marriage was conducted by a well known Prorestant clergyman cum politician, and both are from East Belfast which is in the main a Protestant area.IrishRufusMurphy wrote:Wayne McCullough is one of the better in my mind, though I often hear alot of criticism on his part. McCullough certainly was somewhat a controversial figure in the sport and in his native land. Born in Ulster (protestant), he waved the flag of Catholic Ireland at the Olympics and then he married a Catholic woman and often had death threats for doing so
McCullough did indeed box for All-Ireland as an amateur (boxing is run on an All-Ireland basis, like rugby. Soccer/Football is by contrast still two teams - one for Northern Ireland, one for the Republic). There was - again - some "talk" that Wayne shouldn't have gone to a post-Olympic's homecoming parade in Dublin, etc etc - the usual sort of thing that you got at the height of "The Troubles", but he rose well above all that sort of thing. (I think this is all referred to in his book). Wayne was always popular in Ireland, across the religious and political divide.
Barry McGuigan - a Catholic - married a Protestant girl, and took some flak for opting to fight for the British title (he was born in the Republic) being unkindly referred to as "Barry the Brit" in some circles. Barry was eligible to fight for the British title as his father had been born in Northern Ireland. I guess he may well have had a few death threats in his time - and i'm sure Wayne had a few too - but that was a sign of the times, and often such threats were more pub-talk than real intent. Barry was generally popular across all of Ireland, and was a major force in getting professional boxing going again in a big way in Dublin. For much of the mid-to-late-twentieth century Belfast was where the big professional shows were held, with Dublin being in the main an amateur boxing town, albeit with a few small shows from time to time.
Again I stres that I don't want to turn this thread into a religious or political debate! I had enough of that when I grew up in Ireland! :)
J