:hey no? Im only joking and its not worth spiralling this thread into another Calzaghe versus thread so lets stick to talking about probably the greatest unfulfilled talent of british boxing Mr John Conteh.
Yes, let's. Conteh was arguably the smoothest and most skilled operator to ever come from these shores. One of the great Light Heavyweights from one of the greatest eras for the weight! I believe at one point he was so highly regarded he was mentioned as a possible opponent for Muhammad Ali! I might be misremembering that though.
Conteh fought on an Ali card (Ali-Bugner I think) and it was Ali who suggested he was too small for a HW and to give 175 a go. Maybe thats what you are thinking of Flea?
Yes i think your right in saying that he when he started out the view was that he would grow into heavyweight and though he did have a number of fights up at the weight the story i heard was that it was Muhammed Ali himself who advised Conteh to stay at light heavy. Maybe he was scared Whilst he certainly didnt have a bad career I think he had David Haye syndrome 30 years before it was invented and fell in love with his media personality and he did become a big name at the time being a good looking charismatic bloke. This not to mention a number of alcohol and domestic related problems ultimately meant he never applied himself fully. He used to live in a house just down the road from me in a nice area called in Champsville but apparently police were often called to disturbances there because of disputes with his brothers or missus. Was sat near Conteh at Alan Rudkins funeral RIP he still seems in good shape and an intimidating fellow would have hated to have had to face him in the squared circle....
Cheers lads, knew Ali was involved somehow On Conteh, of course hand problems and partying lifestyle took years off his prime. But way past his best, he put in a Herculean effort against one of the greatest Light Heayweights of all time, putting in a masterful boxing display until Saad did his usual thing and roared back! But near one-handed displays against Yaqui and Ahumada=Insane. And robbed against Parlov as well. With Finnegan x2, Bogs, Hutchins, Rondon, Bennett, Shmidtke, is a more than solid resume. Add in his ability, and he has to be rated in the top 10 British fighters of all time IMO.
This is very spurious but; there's a woman at my work who told me her ex-husband sparred with one of Contehs brothers back in the day. She reliably informed me he was supposed to be considered better than John but got injured or summat. Poor source, I know.
You obviously weren't on here when Flint Island hijacked the whole Brit forum with his Enzo Macc fantasy matchup threads. It got so out of hand that he got banned for it. (Flint claimed he got banned for stalking me instead of the Enzo threads, but, whatever...).
I think it's daft to discount Cooper in this one. :yep He did have some great assets with his jab and left hook and would prove a big challenge for Conteh, who despite having a few fights at HW did not really face the competition that would lead me to be confident in picking him. I'll go with Cooper, razor thin decision. Conteh is pure class though. :deal