He was a lowly WBO belt holder for a decade. Out of 45 opponents, only about 10 of them were world level opponents. His resume is very poor. He is massively overrated by many.
Come on. He was a WBO belt holder for a decade. He fought roughly 10 world level fighters out of 45 opponents. He’s massively overrated by many. He was hid away in Britain, just content to fight whoever Warren and the WBO served him. He wouldn’t go to America and push for the biggest fights. He’s most famous for fighting Lacy, Kessler, Roy and Hopkins. Lacy and Kessler had beaten nobody noteworthy. They were both good, but non great fighters. Roy was shot. And he’d literally said that before they fought. The best win of his entire career was a split over a 43 year old Hopkins. What else is there? Brewer? A split over Reid? A faded Eubank on 11 days notice? Mitchell? A very weak resume for such a supposed great.
Because he won all of his fights. Racked up a lot of title wins. Beat some quality opponents. Showed a lot of skill and speed. Brilliant enough for me
We know that he won all of his fights. But again, only about 10 of his 45 opponents were world level. All of the others were domestic and Euro level guys. He was having bogus WBO title fights for years, against guys who literally weren’t world level fighters. They were billed as world title defences, when the WBO were a laughing stock, and when his title opposition were Euro level fighters. Not guys from Europe. European LEVEL fighters, again as in - non world level. His decade long WBO reign was awful. There’s nothing impressive about having 21 WBO title defences, and fighting a guy like Mario Veit twice.
What on earth are you talking about? Schooled silly by Montell Griffin twice? Well you obviously haven’t seen either of those fights. James wasn’t in any way schooled, and both of those fights were very close and controversial. James was unlucky with those decisions. You’ll find that those fights have been debated for years, where many people think that James won at least one of those fights. Also, Joe wouldn’t even have fought a guy like Griffin at LHW. He only had 2 fights there. One against a 43 year old Hopkins, and one against a shot Roy, after literally saying that the fight was pointless, as Roy was shot. Joe had the opportunities to fight at LHW for years. But he passed up on the opportunities. And even when he was at a dead end in the division, and when he was literally starving himself in order to make the weight. So Joe would never have fought Griffin. He was too busy and too content, fighting guys like: Will McIntyre, Tocker Pudwill, Kabary Salem, Mger Mkrtchyan and Evans Ashira etc.
Your whole argument seems to be tethered to the notion that he was “ just the WBO champion “ which is a strawman argument to say the least. You DO realize that he was the linear champion at super middle don’t you ? He was ranked at or near the top of that division for close to a decade.
A straw man, how? He won a vacant WBO belt, back when it wasn’t in any way respected. A vacant belt after beating Eubank on 11 days notice. Then he held it for a decade, where most of his title defences were against guys who literally weren’t world level opposition. Yes, he was ranked at the top. It was a weak division. He was ranked with Sven Ottke, who held the majority of the main titles.
Along with vegemite, lamingtons, pavlova, kangaroos and meat pies, Fitz is Aussie made and forever owned. I can even link contemporary newspaper reports referring to him as an Australian. Never mind other newspaper reports that claimed him to be from England and New Zealand also - they were the “fake” news of the day. Our little bros off the mainland, the Kiwis, are always trying to steal our “stuff”. It’s the old sibling rivalry, you know.
Dino, It might be that time again. You know what I’m talking about. The Darrin Morris incident. These guys have either forgotten, or they’re not aware of, just what a joke the WBO were back then.