From Ring Magazine website: 10 greatest British fighters of all time

Calzaghe would be in my top 10.

 

'kid' Lewis remains on the list.

 

How the hell can they justify leaving Freddie Welsh off the list if they include Lennox Lewis? Both fought predominantly outside the UK, but Welsh undoubtedly fought more fights and more important fights in the UK than Lennox did.

Calzaghe that high of course is a joke, as many have picked up. Otherwise not an altogether bad list.

 

If you are born in Britain you are British by definition.

Period as I understand.

 

Fitzsimmons was born in Cornwall, so at best he was a Celt, but come on, he did not think of himself as British, and no one thought of him as British, until it was realized in the mid 20th century-ish that without him, Britain would of had no former Queensberry Rules World Heavyweight Champions....

 

A horse, having been born in a cows paddock, still remains to be a horse!!!!!

Fitz remains to be British, just as Johnny Famechon remains to be French, regardless of the banners they fought under. Its a bonus for another country to accept them as their own, yet the home country still deserves bragging rights.

 

Calzaghe above Lewis is 1000% correct & Im glad it has been printed as such.

This isnt `who would win H2H ?`

Its `who is better p4p ?`


Lewis never came close to being p4p no1, 2 or even 3 + Joe never got KOd cleanly by B level fighters or even lost... period !
There is of course loads more to it but Ive been thru why JC is better than Lewis on multiple occassions so I wont go into it again.


There is too much jealousy & hate on these forums when discussing Calzaghe if you ask me, you guys have to chill with this biased nonsense.

Calzaghe is a great fighter... end of.

 

He is but he hasn't done anything to merit him being so high on this list, nevermind being higher than Lennox Lewis.

Great fighters are defined partly by who they fight and this is where Calzaghe falls down slightly when compared to other British greats. I'd squeeze him in at number 10, but to have him any higher is getting carried away by his 46-0, which was built partly on a diet of mediocre fighters.

 

Joe is most certainly a great fighter..Greater then Lewis? Dont think so IMO.

I think you logic is very flawed...Most greats have losses on their ledger, quite often that reflected the quality of their opposition..Maybe not so in Lewis' case but he emphatically destroyed his conquerors in the rematches. You are putting to much emphasis on Joe's inflated record and Lewis' hiccups (which he avenged).

Joe just never fought the best fighters available for pretty much his whole career, only now has he got some very good wins on his record.

Lewis fought the better fighters and more of them..there was no disputing he was the best fighter in his division for pretty much his whole reign, you couldnt say the same about Joe..

I would really like to hear your full arguement for Joe being greater.

 

He is ours.

Keep your hands off!

 

Can we claim Jimmy Mclarnin?

 

OK, here it goes again.

Forget the undefeated thing, forget the McCall & Rahman things (they were avenged after all as you say)

I keep hearing how Lennox fought the better fighters.... both, like every champion beat guys not on their level, it happens all the time.
Lennox best wins were Tyson (shot), Holyfield (past prime), Vitali (prime)
Joe`s best wins were Eubank (past prime), Kessler (prime), Lacy (prime), Hopkins (past prime but still mightily capable)

Lennox certainly was the best HWT for a long period but Calzaghe was a better SMWT for an even longer period (even Americans had JC no1 at 168 for a LONG time)... so defo no advantage for Lewis there.

(Lennox was usually in with smaller men aswell where as Calzaghe never had that luxury.)

The only difference was the geography of were they fought there fights, not the actual opponents they fought.
Lewis beat his guys in America... Calzaghe beat his guys in the UK.... what is the difference ? :huh

Joe still cleaned up at 168 & defeated everyone there was to beat & he did it convincingly, do you REALLY believe that ANY of his 168 lb victims would have beat Joe if the fight were in the US ?.... No way, Joe won because he was the best SMWT of his time, arguably of all time.

I also think Calzaghe has better skills than Lewis, he can come forward without taking multiple punches unlike other aggressive fighters... sure Lennox is a good textbook boxer but he wasnt the quickest & could be caught a lot himself.
Lennox beats Joe in punch power but the speed, accuracy (by a little), foot movement & adaptability to come back & change things when all isnt going well goes to Calzaghe.

Some point out that Hopkins & Reid could have gotten the verdict vs Joe, I could say the same about Mercer vs Lennox & what about being beaten by Vitali before the cut & retiring rather than rematch the only man that looked capable of challenging him, people remember what they want to remember because they like/dislike a certain fighter.

Calzaghe is & was always a better fighter than Lewis IMHO.


Botswana :smoke

 

I am English myself, I just think it cheapens our great history that we have to try and claim someone on a technicality, when he clearly did not believe himself to be English/British....

 

Well ok..I appreciate the full response and If you feel that way, you feel that way, I dont think I will convince you otherwise.

But I will say I dont think Tyson was one of his best wins at all, Mike was just barely a fringe contender by that stage and Lennox fought guys who were better then that version of Mike..it was just his one of his most famous and publicized wins, not his best IMO. Geography plays no part in how I remember a fighter, it would only if said fighter was locked away in that part of the world and little film of him was available, which is not the case here.

Lennox, for a heavyweight of his size, was quite quick..especially his handspeed I feel.

Joe might have the edge when talking about their best competition but man for man Lennox has clearly the better resume...he took on a host of fighters who were either former titlists, would become titlists in the future or were titlists at the time he fought them...top contenders who were supposed to knock him off guys like Grant and Tua had levels of hype on par with Lacy..Lennox never had the luxury of feeding on Manfredo's, Sobots, Jiminez's, Pudwill's, Salems, Thornberry's etc..As heavyweight champ and a HBO regular he had a lot of scrutiny on him and could never get away with fighting guys of that calibre over and over again.

 

Err Cornwall is in England..... He is English. End of story.