This is not a question of how he would fare against them but how his current achievements rank against the aforementioned fighters past achievements and what does he need to do to eclipse them? Ricky Burns http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=71275&cat=boxer Scott Harrison http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=14697&cat=boxer Jim Watt http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=9526&cat=boxer Ken Buchanan http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=142&cat=boxer Personally I dont think he will ever be able to match Buchanan's achievements (would love to be proved wrong) but is certainly more than capable of going down in history as having a better career than Watt and Harrison!
At the moment he loses to harrison and Buchanan but would be a good fight against watt. He never has the ability to beat Buchanan but might have the ability to beat harrison in the future.
I'm not asking how he would get on fighting them but how his current/future achievements in the ring would compare with these fighters achievements. Edit: I'd have him vs Watt 50/50, vs harrison 40/60, vs Buchanan 10/90
If ****** would match him with top 10 lightweights from here on in, then he may have a chance but unfortunately I expect a similar run of fights a la his WBO super-feather reign!
Burns would have been a nightmare for Harrison, Scotty always struggled against tall rangy boxers like Medina & Polo, & Ricky Burns is better than those two! Stand & trade with scotty & he would make mincemeat out of you, but he ****in hated chasing opponents when they boxed at long range! I could see Burns nicking it on points. As for Watt, dont underestimate how good, tough & awkward he was, put it this way I watched the full Buchanan-Watt fight about a year ago, & although Watt was young, he gave Buchanan one helluva scrap in a real scrappy encounter & I thought Buchanan was lucky to get the nod... Watt is still adamant to this day he got robbed, & if you see the fight you might just agree with him!
could not agree more, Think Watt is much more than people remember or think, was a greeat win for Burns, but dont think he is in the same league as the Great Jim Watt, not just yet
Ken Buchanan is at the top for me. For a Scotsman to go to Puerto Rico and beat Laguna in his own backyard in conditions akin to a steam room is unbelievable. Thats nothing against Watt or Harrison. All great fighters. Harrison a great champion who will hopefully go on to achieve more now if he gets his license back. All World Champs but it all goes back to the fact that back in the day it was so much harder to become a true World Champ. Just boxers now victim of circumstance. Ricky is already a Scottish great, but he can now go on to be the all time greatest Scottish boxer. Always difficult comparing, different times. Harrison would have fought anybody, but being a WBO champ it wouldn't be so easy I suppose. It would be very difficult now for any boxer to achieve what those in the 30s/40s/50s/60s/70s done.
Ken B always rightly gets credit but its nice to see Jim Watt not getting underestimated, he held the record for successful defences of a world title by a Brit for years and most of the guys that have since "beat" him in that achievement have done so because here were 4 world titles to dilute the talent pool, not just 2 like there was in Watts day.
Legacy wise hes a fair piece behind Watt and Ken, but if he picks up another couple of good wins and a proer title at lightweight and he beats Harrison.
Very true Gazman. A while back me & my mate got a hold of most of Jims big fights, & the guy shocked me with just how good he was. He didnt have the fastest hands, but his style was so awkward he could always drag his opponents into his kinda fight, he was a stylistic nightmare! His last hurrah against Arguello apart, Watts achievements & resume shouldnt be written off so easily. Burns has a bit to go to match Watt, but hes getting there