Unlikely British fighters that became world champs

Froch well out of his league.

 

paul ingle - remember being pissed off when it was announced he was fighting naz.

just thought he was strictly domestic level cannon fodder. despite his excellent effort i didn't think he'd win a world title.

he did and defended it in MSG. :yep

just so sad how it all ended up. :-(

 

Without a doubt :thumbsup

 

Kid Galahad, Fabio Wardley, Gavin Rees,

 

Fabio Wardley has to be a shout, he was written off at every level, no one expected him to win the British title never mind the world title.

 

Outside of the ones mentioned....maybe Ricky Burns. Lost comfortably to Alex Arthur and Carl Johansson early in his career without really doing much previous to that.

Johnny Nelson. Lost his first 3 fights. Got to be some kind of record. Losing the first 3 and still going on to become a World champion.

 

My first thought was Johnny Nelson, lost his first 3 and 5 of his first 11 fights, so after 11 fights he had an almost 50% loss rate.

 

Rocky Fielding

 

Mcdonnel twins

 

Yes and Ricky became a three weight world champion
Let’s not forget that

 

Has your X account been hacked, mate? You've got a pinned tweet highlighting some fake crypto scam.

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Some good shouts and people have already mentioned the ones I was thinking of.

There’s a fair few “unlikely” champs when you think about levels they were at earlier in their career. It’s a slightly different angle to “upsets”. Honeyghan for example was a huge upset against Curry, but I wouldn’t consider him an unlikely champion; he was clearly a very talented fighter even if most expected Curry to beat him.

However, what it does show as well is that fighters who do things the “right way” can develop as a fighter and move through the levels. Fighting tough competitive fights at domestic and euro level, even if they lose a few, can lead to a more well rounded and experienced package down the line when they get the chance at world level.

 

That's a disservice to Ingle, mate. He was a top-level amateur and a genuine world-class pro, go watch how he won the British title against Colin McMillan. Then went the traditional route, adding the Commonwealth and European titles before becoming world champion.

He was very highly touted when he turned over, and Maloney managed him carefully – almost matched him early in his career with Alfred Kotey in 1996, but sensible heads prevailed. The Naz opportunity was too good to turn down, and then he went and won a world title. If anything, he never reached his full potential.

 

Terry Flanagan

 

Flanagan v Crolla would’ve been a cracking fight at the time they held world titles and a big fight in Manchester, shame it never happened due to the Queensbury / Matchroom “divide” at the time.