In the last 12-18 months we've witnessed Bellew, Groves, Haye, Frampton, Selby, DeGale McDonald, Murray & others beaten down. The class of these fighters is subjective; all can objectively agree that the aforementioned have all been involved in memorable British Fight Night's (perhaps Jamie can be excused here). It seems like yesterday that we were being repeatedly sold the Sky narrative that Britain had more World Champions than any other country, the legitimacy is yours to question. But those with a bit of a knowledge are aware that out of that crop very few, if any, were elite. My question is; what will the next 12 months have in store for British boxing? I predict Josh Taylor, Andrew Selby and BJS will pick up world titles. Whilst we may be thin on the world level, I believe Hearn & Warren will invest heavily in domestic dust ups. The Fowler v Cheeseman fight is being brewed up nicely, as is Buatsi v Yarde and Warrington v Galahad. Would you be happy to see regular competitive domestic bouts over international world title fights? One fight I'd love to see this year is Garton v Benn. I think it has all the ingredients to be an absolute WAR. Regardless of what people think of Benn, I enjoy watching him; he's vulnerable, tough and game. A very sellable commodity to the casual market.
Luke Campbell is another I could see winning a world title this year, albeit a vacant title if Mikey Garcia vacates the WBC as expected.
I think the level most domestic fighters are at, at the minute is the level of competitive domestic bouts. There’s not many out there who are ready to step up, obviously Fury, Callum Smith and Joshua are already at a level where nobody doubts then you’ve got Warrington and Charlie Edwards who’ve just defied the odds and became world champions recently. Below that you’ve got your Crolla’s, Khan’s, Brook’s maybe even Liam Smith who will be in world title fights this year but they haven’t really got much chance of winning. Luke Campbell, great fighter but he’s not going to beat Mikey Garcia if that fight happens. Then your supposed prospects like Buatsi, Yarde, Fowler, Cheeseman, Gorman, Dubois just simply aren’t ready for a world title fight. The only British person I see winning a world title this year is Josh Taylor and could possibly add Fury in there too. Jack Catterall id fancy if he gets the Hooker fight but it’s a big if.
Hi Frank (Smith), Garton would annihilate Benn. Not really interested in domestic showdowns unless there is some genuine needle or it's two top prospects fighting for domination (Gorman v Dubois for example). Otherwise I'd like to see boxers in competitive fights with those ranked only a few places higher or lower. The faster boxing moves towards the UFC template the better IMO.
Dont be a moron, that was only a '' sky narrative '' because you don't like them. At one point we did have the most world champions by country. Fact... Great achievement by all the lads involved at the time.
Believe it or not, I'm a fan of Sky. I like what they've done for the sport here. But that constant repetition of 14 world champions. Haskins won his as his opponent failed to make weight, Ricky Burns beat Di Rocco, Liam Smith beat an unknown American, etc. Hardly any of that crop could have legitimately been considered the elite in their division. FFS, I'd say at least half were outside the top 5 in their division.
Yeah, as much as we have to give credit, they wer nto built on solid foundations. We had a lot of world champs, but not many of them beat the best to get those belts.
I think the only one was Jamie McDonnell and to be fair he has been stripped of the IBF and won in American twice.
You don’t have to be particularly good to win a belt. No disrespect but Stuey Hall won one, and it was doubtful whether he was one of the best 20 bantamweights in the world. Of course there was a Sky narrative which was pushing this, but the true fans knew that not all of them were the best at their weight.
Garton-Benn would be an absolute war. Could see Garton stopping Benn in mid rounds. Fell like Garton would come out with the intention to box and then as is often the case with Garton, he would get drawn into a brawl from around round 4, before stopping Benn in round 7/8. Atmosphere would be good as well, what with Garton having the football following and Benn having the casual following. Doubt it happens though because of Warren/Hearn politics, unless Benn is made mandatory for the British this year.
