BoxRec

I just watched sibbo's fight against Hagler, boy was Tony out of is league. Tony sibson's career was full of ups and downs, but before he lost to Lottie Mwale (his first defeat) he fought really no body in 27 fights. im a little too young (38) to really know lots of the names but in his record i only reconise 10 of his 63 fighters.

Nobody ever seemed to knock Sibbo, he always seemed to be respected in and out of the ring. nowadays we have or had the likes of Calzaghe who always get bad media, Eubank did, and Hamed did. It seems Tony sibson was left alone, thus is why im asking the question.

What made sibbo so popular.

I don't think he was particularly popular.At least not compared to Eubank and Hamed as far as visibility with the general public goes.

Boxing fans liked him because he was a good, solid fighter with an exciting style and lots of power.

Sibbo was usually a value for money action fighter. He was also by the accounts of several people who I have spoke to who knew him or met him a few times a really nice, down to earth bloke.

Two reasons why Sibbo is still fondly thought of.

Harry Mullan the late editor of Boxing News always said Sibbo had the style to beat Chris Eubank.

Blah,blah, and kudos to Sibson....but he was nothing more than another British ring fantasy. With the dreams of the people on his back to capture the world MW crown. Anyone with even a pea brain knew he had no chance vs. Hagler. It was no different than when Hagler took the title from Minter, another british chump trying to be passed off as a champion.

Popular due to ignorance.....

sibbo was great

look at the destruction of John Collins !!!!

fought his heart out against Hagler and would have won the middleweight title against any other fighter that night

look at the demolition of minter

i was the only one to go for sibbo on points against Kaylor



plus his name could be chanted out like a football song sssiiiibbbboooooo

ringsider wrote:Blah,blah, and kudos to Sibson....but he was nothing more than another British ring fantasy. With the dreams of the people on his back to capture the world MW crown. Anyone with even a pea brain knew he had no chance vs. Hagler. It was no different than when Hagler took the title from Minter, another british chump trying to be passed off as a champion.

Popular due to ignorance.....

From what you have previously posted about Hagler being a one dimensional, slow, plodding, bumbling, foot in the bucket, fighter who stuggles against lightweights, I am surprised to hear you now say how their were contenders for his title who stood no chance against him.

kick asner wrote:

ringsider wrote:Blah,blah, and kudos to Sibson....but he was nothing more than another British ring fantasy. With the dreams of the people on his back to capture the world MW crown. Anyone with even a pea brain knew he had no chance vs. Hagler. It was no different than when Hagler took the title from Minter, another british chump trying to be passed off as a champion.

Popular due to ignorance.....

From what you have previously posted about Hagler being a one dimensional, slow, plodding, bumbling, foot in the bucket, fighter who stuggles against lightweights, I am surprised to hear you now say how their were contenders for his title who stood no chance against him.

British contenders, mate, British contenders.

Ringlicker hates Brits even more than he hates Hagler.

Sibson was a pretty good fighter, and an exceptionally strong Middleweight. I read that early in his career, he did some very heavy laboring on building sites and then frequently went to the gym afterwards. In a pushing match, not too many guys were capable of backing up Sibson. He wasn't a great fighter, but he did have those two big wins in 81-82, first when he handed Alan Minter the first 3 knockdowns of his career, and then when he turned in a dominant performance to decision number 1 contender Dwight Davision.

Tony a great fighter in my book.

..the title of this thread intrigued me, as i had no recollection at all of the famous, hugely popular tony sibson. reading it i now remember his beating up of collins, who was an inept fighter pushed in over his head after an unimpressive build-up.

Tony Sibson was big in Britain in the early-mid 80s. He had a decent local fan base and had wider appeal, a guts and glory type of fighter, good at British and European level and fringe world class. He was totally outclassed by Marvelous Marvin.
I reckon Sibbo was a cult type of fighter, one of the better British fighters of his generation, in a relatively poor era.

Decagon wrote:

Jaclem wrote:..the title of this thread intrigued me, as i had no recollection at all of the famous, hugely popular tony sibson. reading it i now remember his beating up of collins, who was an inept fighter pushed in over his head after an unimpressive build-up.

That's exactly how I see it. Without Boxrec, I never would've remembered this guy.

hindsite is a wonderful thing

u forget the brits arent supposed to beat the americans on home soil !!!!! Everyone other there thought Sibbo would be iced .

sibsons wrecking of collins caused waves

the only reason uv not heard of him...is cos u dont know ur boxing !!!!


a marginal fan on this website should be aware of all the challengers to Marvellous Marvin Hagler..... its a basic requirement 8)

John Collins was a good puncher. Big right hand but he could be hit himself.
I sparred quite a bit with Lenny Lapaglia right before he fought Collins.
Lenny had fast hands and could crack pretty good also.
John and Lenny put on an entertaining fight that was televised on nbc.
Collins got the nod.
Maybe off of this fight his people thought he was ready for Sibbo. Obviously he wasnt.
Tony belted him out .

What was there not to like? Fighters with a big punch who are there to be hit are always crowd pleasers.

His fight with Don Lee was a classic.

..funso bunso (or whatever)....indeed you make a good point. therefore i shall now devote more time boning up on boxing, so i can have at least a marginal knowledge of the subject.

Sibson sucked....that is the high and the low of it.

Sibbos biggest weakness was he liked his food too much.

I think if has around today he may well have spent most of his career at Super-Middleweight.

funso banjo baby wrote:

Decagon wrote:

Jaclem wrote:..the title of this thread intrigued me, as i had no recollection at all of the famous, hugely popular tony sibson. reading it i now remember his beating up of collins, who was an inept fighter pushed in over his head after an unimpressive build-up.

That's exactly how I see it. Without Boxrec, I never would've remembered this guy.

hindsite is a wonderful thing

u forget the brits arent supposed to beat the americans on home soil !!!!! Everyone other there thought Sibbo would be iced .

sibsons wrecking of collins caused waves

the only reason uv not heard of him...is cos u dont know ur boxing !!!!


a marginal fan on this website should be aware of all the challengers to Marvellous Marvin Hagler..... its a basic requirement 8)

I agree. Anyone that isn't familiar with Tony needs to get up to speed.

Actually, i had the impression Tony was somewhat unpopular after stopping Minter. But from the report in Ring magazine Tony got his following his win over Davison and became the #1 contender to Hagler which he faced 1 year later.

I thought Tony showed excellent defense aginst collins, ducking and weaving around his jab. Had his gloves up high and really took no jabs to the face. His body work was awesome especially the way Collins disitegrated early.

Tony could put you on the deck by just about touching him. This was the case with Don Lee. But it seems that Tony just couldn't handle southpaws. When Lee turned his stance around in round two, the tide quickly turned and it was Tony that his the deck from a sneaky left to the chin. The rest of the fight was back and forth.

I was very impressed with Tony's brilliant defense that got him thru round eight. It was just a great fight for anyone whose seen it. But the height of Don lee, the huge cut over his eye, the switch hitting, which he wasn't prepared for, and the last kd was too much for him to overcome.

Sibbo was a good fighter, anyone saying that he sucked is just plain ignorant... wheres the shame in losing to a peak Hagler??... and he lasted twice as long as Thomas Hearns!... Sibbos weakness was that he could be a bit tempremental and wasnt the most confident of characters sometimes... he also seemed to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with boxing... but on form he was a world class fighter and his career shows this... if he was around in todays diluted and protected times I'm sure he'd win a world title or two....

I'd rank Sibson in the Top 10 British Middles - probably even Top 5-6. He had a terrific punch, good skills, he could fight, box, dish it out and take it.

His wins over Frankie Lucas, Kaylor and John Collins showed all his best attributes. I didn't see the Minter fight becuase of the TV advertising row but I really fancied Sibbo to win that one.

I would say he was (and remains) a very popular and respected fighter to those who know him, and followed him. His relatively low profile approach to the game has made him a bit less visible than say Eubank, Benn and Minter, but I'd rank him right up there with those guys. (But behind Herol Graham, though at each others peak that would have been some fight!)

J

Man what a bunch of reachers from the Isles......Oh boy he beat Minter....so what?

And he could not handle "southpaws"....what kind of a fighter who is any good can't handle a south paw?

ringsider wrote:Man what a bunch of reachers from the Isles......Oh boy he beat Minter....so what?

And he could not handle "southpaws"....what kind of a fighter who is any good can't handle a south paw?

Thomas Hearns.

ringsider wrote:Man what a bunch of reachers from the Isles......Oh boy he beat Minter....so what?

And he could not handle "southpaws"....what kind of a fighter who is any good can't handle a south paw?

Hey, ringworm, ...your mumma's calling you for your dinner!... run along now little boy... 8)

Decagon wrote:

Elton John wrote:

ringsider wrote:Man what a bunch of reachers from the Isles......Oh boy he beat Minter....so what?

And he could not handle "southpaws"....what kind of a fighter who is any good can't handle a south paw?

Thomas Hearns.

Tell that to Virgil Hill.

Virgil Hill was a southpaw I know he was left handed but boxed orthadox didnt he?

jonp wrote:

Decagon wrote:

Elton John wrote: Thomas Hearns.

Tell that to Virgil Hill.

Virgil Hill was a southpaw I know he was left handed but boxed orthadox didnt he?

Sure was. Maybe Dec hasn't actually seen him.