Calzaghe aside- who is the GOAT at 168?

It's possible he sustained some memory loss during his sparring sessions with Joe. To quote Sir Andy OBE: ''I've never been hit so hard and often''

 

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Catley and Matthews went onto become world champions and with a bit of luck Francis (RIP) who was considerably more talented than both (granted Catley could really whack though and so could Matthews) would've too and that's a FACT, btw. I got a healthy and injury free Francis sparking out prime Roid.

 

Disagree about that but he was a real talent and that magical left hand of his would've laid Roid out cold on his back had it connected on that disgusting old lady glass mandible of his and I think it would of.

 

BEST JAB
Dean Francis: It was a sparring partner, I never fought him in a fight. Dean Francis had a jab that you couldn’t see coming. You couldn’t see it, because he never turned his elbow up. He effectively turned his fist, so you never saw it, it was too quick. It was a beautiful thing to experience, even the pain of them. I wouldn’t put anybody’s jab in front of Dean Francis’ jab.

BEST DEFENSE
Dan Schommer: He totally had me off my guard and proceeded to give me a boxing lesson. He took one of my teeth out and they gave me the decision for which I apologized, maybe eight years ago. He’s now a successful businessman up in Canada. I found him and apologized for the judges robbing him of that fight. It was in Sun City, South Africa in 1995. You couldn’t hit him. He was always slightly out of range, which is why he was able to pick me off like he did.

FASTEST HANDS
Joe Calzaghe: I was in a fight where I knew when he dropped me in the first round that I would not get a look in until the 11th or 12th rounds. Five seconds before the bell rang I caught him, and he held on, but I took a real beating. For every one shot I was landing, he was landing four. You can’t beat speed and he had it in abundance.

BEST FOOTWORK
Dan Sherry: I fought (Sherry) in my first world title defense in Brighton in 1991. He was trained by a fellow, one of the greatest, Sugar Ray Leonard, and his footwork, if I remember correctly, was effective.

BEST CHIN
Eduardo Domingo Contreras: He was from Argentina. Contreras, by far, had the hardest chin. If you watch that fight, you’ll see what I mean. I dread to think how he is today. He took everything. I was landing with emotion [Laughs].

SMARTEST
Schommer: His entire act; the way he stood at the press conference, the way he spoke to you. There was nothing about him, he had no cut of a fighter. He was completely disarming. When you watch the fight, you see I get completely outboxed. I got the decision and accepted the decision, at the time, because I was the aggressor. But when you’re being picked off because you’re missing shots, you should not win the fight. I wasn’t being effective.

STRONGEST
Nigel Benn: If someone was strong, it didn’t matter because strength isn’t what it was about. You can’t beat me with strength. You can only beat me with skill and device. You can’t bully me and beat me, because I was technically competent. Nigel Benn, for instance, in the second round of (fight one), lifted me up in the air. I thought, ‘This guy doesn’t know what he’s doing’ because he doesn’t care about his charge. He’s burnt out a percentage of his charge. When someone’s over you, you always go limp, you never use your strength. That type of bravado is called stupidity. It’s always better to use technique. I’ve said many times before, I wasn’t that good, but I was intelligent.

BEST PUNCHER
Benn: I’ve never been knocked out, but I came near a couple of times. Johnny Melfah hit me with a shot in the third round at the Albert Hall and I sensed white light. But when Benn hit you, you stayed hit. The impact of the hit stayed with you for at least two-and-a-half seconds. Everybody else, when they hit you, that hit starts dissipating straight away. With Benn, it stayed for like two-and-a-half seconds and obviously, within a split-second, another (punch) would come because he punched in bunches. If you couldn’t hold one, there was no way you were going to hold two, and then it would be three or four. Benn, by far, hit the hardest.

BOXING SKILLS
Schommer: You couldn’t hit him; he was just slightly out of range. You’ve got to remember, it’s not just boxing skill, it’s also the intellect. Here’s a man who has disarmed you beforehand because he made you think he wasn’t anything special. I have to read another fighter and he’s the only fighter I read wrong. OK, and Joe Calzaghe, obviously. His boxing skill was exemplary. He was able to make me miss and pay. Michael Watson, the performance in the second fight, was comprehensively brilliant. He had taken the advice of the great Mike McCallum who said, ‘The only way to beat Eubank is to stay on him for three minutes of every round’ which I thought was impossible. That’s exactly what (Watson) did.

BEST OVERALL
Benn/Michael Watson: It’s not fair, it’s not a question I can answer. If I tell you Nigel Benn, Michael Watson did far more to me than Nigel Benn did. Nigel Benn never put me down, but Watson put me down (sic: Benn was credited with a knockdown in fight one, which Eubank contests was a slip). Michael Watson gave me a boxing masterclass for 10-and-a-half rounds, so it’s not fair to ask that question. A man peaks in his life and, that night, September 21, 1991, Michael Watson peaked.

My favourite Francis performance. Roid actually had Carr in for some sparring over on his ranch/dog and rooster torturing facility and he said he had a really good chin and was able to withstand his roid bombs

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