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Is London, England the toughest place to win a fight?

Posted: 20 Feb 2007, 19:13
by elmersalsa
Is London, England the hardest place to win a fight against a local son?

Not too many boxers that had defended their crowns have come out of England victorious. Only a few fighters like Ali, Hagler and Joe Brown had come out of England victorious in title defenses or in world title bouts.

Why is so hard to win against a local in England???

Even the greatest fighter pound per pound, Sugar Ray Robinson lost his crown in England vs Randy Turpin. Is there a harder place to
win a fight against a local than London, England?

Re: Is London, England the toughest place to win a fight?

Posted: 20 Feb 2007, 19:42
by Collins2000
elmersalsa wrote:Is London, England the hardest place to win a fight against a local son?

Not too many boxers that had defended their crowns have come out of England victorious. Only a few fighters like Ali, Hagler and Joe Brown had come out of England victorious in title defenses or in world title bouts.
Why is so hard to win against a local in England???

Even the greatest fighter pound per pound, Sugar Ray Robinson lost his crown in England vs Randy Turpin. Is there a harder place to
win a fight against a local than London, England?
How about

Witherspoon
Tyson
Chitalada
Arguello
Barrera
Galloway
Vaca

to name but a few who I think, without looking, won or defended 'world' titles in the UK...

Posted: 21 Feb 2007, 04:33
by john2345
Yes...Germany.

J

Posted: 21 Feb 2007, 12:51
by dr_devious
Italy is also more difficult for an away fighter to get a decision than London. The standards of refereeing and judging fights are as fair in the UK as anywhere.

Posted: 21 Feb 2007, 14:40
by JC
Also something to remember is that UK promoters have a fair amount of money to entice fighters with. I think many graet fighters have come over here when a little past their best for a last big payday against the young up-and-comer like Pedroza, Tszyu and Vazquez did.

Posted: 21 Feb 2007, 15:54
by pundit
The endless drizzle, ugly women and horrible food suck all energy out of a non-Brit. :TU:

Posted: 21 Feb 2007, 16:11
by JC
pundit wrote:The endless drizzle, ugly women and horrible food suck all energy out of a non-Brit. :TU:
You forgot the warm beer and altitude.

Posted: 21 Feb 2007, 23:15
by funso banjo baby
silly thread :evil:

Posted: 22 Feb 2007, 08:40
by Heartbreak_Kid79
Germany.

How many times did Sven Ottke keep his super middleweight title in germany when he looked to have been outpointed?

Robin Reid clearly won his fight with Ottke, when Reid floored Ottke with a perfectly legal punch the german referee refused to count and then docked Reid a point!

Posted: 22 Feb 2007, 13:15
by pundit
Heartbreak_Kid79 wrote:Germany.

How many times did Sven Ottke keep his super middleweight title in germany when he looked to have been outpointed?

Robin Reid clearly won his fight with Ottke, when Reid floored Ottke with a perfectly legal punch the german referee refused to count and then docked Reid a point!
This was the one time.

(Larsen and Brewer I are marginal cases)

Posted: 22 Feb 2007, 14:04
by jimglen
it seems there has been a sordid History with regard to London...Top promoters, Top Venues, many Top fighters, writers and the like ended up there and so on.

While I was travelling around selling my book (ex-boxers assoc), there was a 'definite' complaint of a North/South divide and that was right here in England! Manchester, Liverpool, Norwich and an Annual event of Ex-Boxers Assoc weekend in Blackpool all making the same observation...

In Scotland it was made very clear and people even stated "had Watt & Buchanan not gone South, especially Jim Watt, well they would not have gained the opportunities afforded them. I can't say, but I don't doubt it.

Anyway in my research, I discovered there is a British bias in general (still), and during the pre and post War period, Britain was evenly 'rivaled' by France for hometown verdicts, I can't comment on Italy, but I understand Germany is presently bad for it(???).

Posted: 23 Feb 2007, 10:02
by funso banjo baby
thread getting sillier by the second :roll:

Posted: 23 Feb 2007, 11:10
by elmersalsa
NOw that it comes to my knowledege, Tokyo, Japan is another hard place to come out of there wtih the title in your hands.

A example of that was Antonio Amaya from Panama was robbed at least in 2 fights over there.

But back to London, England. The most notorioius losses against locals:

Benn KO10 McClellan
Hatton TKO11 Tyszu
Turpin W15 Robinson
McGuigan W15 Pedroza
Lewis KO2 Razor Ruddock
Buchanan KO5 Morocho Hernandez
McGuigan KO11 Bernard Taylor
Watt W15 Howard Davis
Bruno W12 Oliver McCall

Posted: 23 Feb 2007, 11:34
by Ezzard
elmersalsa wrote:NOw that it comes to my knowledege, Tokyo, Japan is another hard place to come out of there wtih the title in your hands.

A example of that was Antonio Amaya from Panama was robbed at least in 2 fights over there.

But back to London, England. The most notorioius losses against locals:

Benn KO10 McClellan
Hatton TKO11 Tyszu
Turpin W15 Robinson
McGuigan W15 Pedroza
Lewis KO2 Razor Ruddock
Buchanan KO5 Morocho Hernandez
McGuigan KO11 Bernard Taylor
Watt W15 Howard Davis
Bruno W12 Oliver McCall
Elmer

I'm pretty sure that McGuigan-Taylor was in Ireland and Watt-Davis in Scotland.

Hatton-Tyszu was Manchester.

Posted: 23 Feb 2007, 11:43
by cosand
London might be the toughest place to win anything.
You start with Hethrow airport, where the standard response to questions from any employee is 'A might hectic today isn't it " ?
You then move on to your hotel room, which would be grounds for a human rights law suit for most inmates in a US prison.
You then dine on food that seems to have been prepared for 80 year old nursing home patiants, all against a backdrop of drizzle, the smell of urine, and people with bad teeth and blank stares on their faces.
Other then that, London is a great town !

Posted: 23 Feb 2007, 14:49
by funso banjo baby
cosand wrote:London might be the toughest place to win anything.
You start with Hethrow airport, where the standard response to questions from any employee is 'A might hectic today isn't it " ?
You then move on to your hotel room, which would be grounds for a human rights law suit for most inmates in a US prison.
You then dine on food that seems to have been prepared for 80 year old nursing home patiants, all against a backdrop of drizzle, the smell of urine, and people with bad teeth and blank stares on their faces.
Other then that, London is a great town !

ive never heard anyone over the last 40 years say 'its a might hectic today isnt it'

spare the racism please.... u watch too much TV bushbaby 8)

Posted: 24 Feb 2007, 10:10
by funso banjo baby
stay away from london

Sprotts on the prowl :box:

Posted: 24 Feb 2007, 18:26
by cosand
>>>>funso banjo baby



Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 857
Location: london
Posted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:49 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cosand wrote:
London might be the toughest place to win anything.
You start with Hethrow airport, where the standard response to questions from any employee is 'A might hectic today isn't it " ?
You then move on to your hotel room, which would be grounds for a human rights law suit for most inmates in a US prison.
You then dine on food that seems to have been prepared for 80 year old nursing home patiants, all against a backdrop of drizzle, the smell of urine, and people with bad teeth and blank stares on their faces.
Other then that, London is a great town !



ive never heard anyone over the last 40 years say 'its a might hectic today isnt it'

spare the racism please.... u watch too much TV bushbaby>>>>>

Well I guess if you never herd anyone use that phrase, you need to get out more.

Racism ?
What "race" would you be talking about ??

Posted: 24 Feb 2007, 18:45
by JC
cosand wrote:What "race" would you be talking about ??
The London marathon?

Come on guys let not get too sensitive. :box:

Posted: 24 Feb 2007, 23:04
by Owain
The 3 worst countries for hometown verdicts are Germany, Italy and Spain ...... by far (in no particular order)
You all know the saying 'You've gotta knock out the guy to get a draw' boy, does it ever apply to those 3 countries.

Posted: 24 Feb 2007, 23:25
by pundit
Owain wrote:The 3 worst countries for hometown verdicts are Germany, Italy and Spain ...... by far (in no particular order)
You all know the saying 'You've gotta knock out the guy to get a draw' boy, does it ever apply to those 3 countries.
Ah, interesting.

As far as I know the most legendary robberies in the history of boxing happened in the US. For example Sharkey vs. Schmeling, or more recently Foreman vs. Schulz.

Posted: 25 Feb 2007, 08:58
by Arbachakov
Thailand is actually the worst for robberies.

You pretty much have to knock the home fighter out.

Posted: 25 Feb 2007, 15:31
by m1kee50
elmersalsa wrote:NOw that it comes to my knowledege, Tokyo, Japan is another hard place to come out of there wtih the title in your hands.

A example of that was Antonio Amaya from Panama was robbed at least in 2 fights over there.

But back to London, England. The most notorioius losses against locals:

Benn KO10 McClellan
Hatton TKO11 Tyszu
Turpin W15 Robinson
McGuigan W15 Pedroza
Lewis KO2 Razor Ruddock
Buchanan KO5 Morocho Hernandez
McGuigan KO11 Bernard Taylor
Watt W15 Howard Davis
Bruno W12 Oliver McCall
Funny that 5 of your notorious losses are KO's. Did the ref hit them as well? Lets not get started on Vegas Judging shall we? It would be best if we all admit that there is a bit of bias in all areas, whcih is why promoters work so hard for home advantage in general. But you never hear a yank agreeing with that, maybe the reason you cannot think of many fighters to have gone abroad and won is because your promoters have the money to keep the fights in the USA.

Oh and Terence, Tyson fought in manchester and scotland, so he's nearly right. Dont forget we are the same size as Oregon, so a fight in England is a fight in england (or london as the case may be)

Posted: 26 Feb 2007, 02:24
by Sweet P
Almost every country is the same if your not the home town fighter.

Posted: 27 Feb 2007, 11:01
by elmersalsa
Well the reason I pick London, England is because when fighters fight over there, It seems that they lose to concentrate in the fight. The crowd starts singing loud and probably that scares the foreign fighter a little bit. That singing brings like strenght to the local fighter. For example, check the Nigel Benn fight vs Gerald McClellan. I know that Nigel had heart, but if the fight was in America, would he had the same courage like he had in that London ring with all that singing???