Was Ted ''Kid" Lewis the greatest British fighter of all time ?

I've always assumed so, but I'm not a major authority on the merits of great British fighters.

I dont regard Fitzsimmons as a Brit, since he seems to have regarded himself as a New Zealander and then an American, I read he often entered the ring doning the stars and stripes. Otherwise, he'd be the obvious choice.

 

No

He is up against Bob Fitzsimmons (born in Britain if he liked it or not) and Jimmy Wilde.

 

lennox lewis is the greatest.

 

I'm not up on my British boxing history, but Ted "Kid" Lewis is one fascinating fighter...I need to find out more about him for certain. What info is there of his fight with Benny Leonard? Does anyone know the details? From what I understand it was a ND, but Lewis shaded it in the general opinion(?)

 

Top 3 imo. Only Fitz and perhaps Wilde has a edge on Lewis. Lewis was great in his own right. I have been impress with the few fights I have on Ted Kid.

 

He's top 5 for sure, along with Driscoll, Moran, Wilde and Fitzsimmons. A good argument can be made for top 3. His resume is probably the deepest of the lot.

 

They fought twice. Lewis won once, Leonard won once.

My pick as the greatest British fighters

1. Ted Lewis - fought in every division from flyweight to heavyweight, would have fought Dempsey for the heavyweight title if Carpentier hadn't ko'd him (when Lewis was looking at the ref)

2. Jimmy Wilde - you don't have to rely on Nat Fleischer for this one, Gene Tunney said that Wilde was the greatest fighter he ever saw

3. Len Harvey - ok this one might just be nostalgia, another fighter who fought in almost every weight division against the best, held British, European and Empire titles from middleweight to heavyweight, plus a piece of the world lightheavy title, over 100 fights and never ko'd until his last fight (by Freddie Mills)

 

I consider Ted Kid Lewis the best British fighter;obviously;obviously this is pretty subjective,but when we're talking about a guy who fought around 300 fights in several divisions including heavy's and won several titles including the world welterweight title(through several fights with Jack Britton)-we're talking about a guy who deserves to be in the argument.Regarding his fight with Benny Leonard-I think boxrec.com lists a variety of newspaper opinions(I only notice one fight between them);his fascinating biography (written by his son Morton Lewis claims his dad had the edge.For me,the best part of the book was of him walking into British Nazi Oswald Mosley's office-Mosley had hired a naive Lewis as sort of a bodyguard;anyway,"the kid"-after his retirement,walked into Mosley's office ,holding his son's hand demanded that Mosley admit he was pro Nazi,slapped him and flattened his bodyguards(this should come up if you google Ted Kid Lewis and Oswald Mosley).

 

Wilde. When you have a bloke that the #1 at flyweight in most experts eyes then he has to be rated accordingly. Outweighed in most contests, knocking out people twice his size. Top dog for me pfp. Fitz probably next up. The 'he wore a belt with the stars & stripes on' means **** all. Mick Jagger wore a similar suit at a gig on the Stones North American tour.

 

Though Wilde, Fitzsimmons and maybe even Ted Kid Lewis are 'greater' than him, I have a hard time seeing them beating Jim Driscoll in a p4p fight. That guy was ****ing class.

 

While we're on the subject of 'Best Brits'. A Wales top 5:


1. Wilde
2. Driscoll
3. Welsh
4. Calzaghe
5. Winstone



Great list. Can the English beat this Top 5? I'm not so sure. The Jocks and paddies certainly can't.

 

Still waiting for my copy (won at eBay a couple of days ago) get here, probably no sooner than mid-January, with all these holidays.

 

Good information...thanks!...Fantastic story...

 

Bloody Hell! Wales have punched above their weight when you consider their population size can't be that great. Tommy Farr wasn't bad either.

 

Fitz is buried in America. So that settles it, Fitz is an American. He sign up for it. So he is.