BoxRec

Britain's greatest EVER fighter, for you Boxing & Sports writers.

How 'quickly' we are willing to hand out this accolade and how even more quickly we 'retract' the notion after the loss!

I have tried to impress over the years that to build on a dying or wounded entity, in this caser boxing, we MUST honour and remember it's past, it's history, it's True Greats and the reasons why... then and ONLY then do we stir up interest & integrity - Honest integrity.

Ready to 'embark' on the Ricky Hatton - Britain's greatest EVER Boxer is now re-accessed and Thank God! Welters like Kid Lewis & Berg, Roderick, Danahar & Boy Boon would walk through him...this is NOT to belittle Hatton, but rather the 'quickly' handed out greatest label.

If you build up the TRUE Greats and their respected periods and the reasons why, segwaying into our 'present' stars, then you really will renew both Interest & the Sport.

Hand out the accolades over a Rich and wide history giving credit to all and as many deserving greats with respectable 'comparisons' and watch the rise in interest. YOU have the power of the Pen and litterally dozens to write about and slowly but steadily rebuild & remind British boxing/sport fans of our miraids of greats, just like our American breathren do with ALL of theirs.

Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton, Lennox Lewis, Amir Khan, come on STOP IT, build and respectfully bring them into it, in their 'right' place.

You're right; but in all honesty, I think it's the non boxing media that have been banding this accolade about.

So many people who wouldn't even consider watching a boxing match have suddenly jumped onto the Ricky Hatton bandwagon & the vast majority of them have never seen Floyd Mayweather fight & consequently, they didn't know how good he was.

Judging by the weigh-in & the booing at the fight, most of the fans were just pseudo football hoolignas along for the ride & knew nothing about boxing.

The hype in this country has be unbelievable & poor Ricky just never had the tools to do the job against a master like Mayweather.

Ricky Hatton never was & probably never will be Britain's greatest ever fighter; that's Ken Buchanan!!!!!

I prefer to talk about ATGs rather than greatest ever and Ricky is an ATG - As you rightly point out Ken Buchanan was an ATG and one of our best ever fighters - I remember about five years ago they tried to put a dream team together on local radio of our best ever footballers - Obviously talking of best, Best was in it and all were in agreement, but others were harder to establish - Duncan Edwards name came up and while we know he was an outstanding footballer, how much film footage exists to be really sure he was a best ever - What about Stanley Matthews and Danny Blanchflower they were without question ATGs - Jackie Stamps, who the fornicate can remember him but he was said to be outstanding in his day - Its so much easier to pick players from the last 30 years and especially the current scene - Is Beckham as good as Bobby Chalton or Bobby Moore - Then we have to take into account how the game of football has changed over the years and boxing is the same also - Fights that lasted 15 rounds, different styles, training and diet, so many changes comparisons are not easily made - Its like finding the best ever pop record, Robbie Williams Angels tends to either win or be at the top - Not much consideration for the music of the 50s and 60s, but they didnt have the equipment then - I think it is virtually impossible to have best evers - Its all a matter of opinion.

All time greats -

Lennox Lewis

Still think Ricky should be in the mix somewhere.

Dare I say it - Calzaghe deserves to be in there as well.

Have to think about the rest.