After the demolition of Callum smith by Canelo It has been made brutally clear that the current state of british boxing leaves us a million miles behind north and south America and even eastern Europe. Smith was regarded as one of the top 5 fighters from Britain before the Canelo fight and let's be honest he tried his very best but was completely and utterly outclassed. This has got me thinking about who we actually have that can be called true world/elite class. Josh warrington- had improved enormously, gained huge victories over frampton and selby, both of which were just passed their best but nevertheless great all action fighter , relentless work rate, seems to have a good chin but his boxing fundamentals are quite poor and arguably lost to galahad - verdict not elite. Saunders- possibly one of the biggest underachievers ever in british boxing never had the work ethic or commitments to achieve at the very top, has the pedigree and skills but not dedication, has a couple of good wins , I personally think his victory against lee was a great performance, not many people gave lee that kind of work. Unfortunately think his best days are now gone. Verdict- not elite. Josh Taylor- great pedigree , great heart, skills determination, chin , will to win, great inside game, can box and can also have a war when needed. Over time I think the prograis fight will look even better in a couple of years. Hasn't put a foot wrong as yet my only concern is he does get hit lots every fight, up until now he has come through as he takes on the elite this could be he downfall . Verdict- needs that career defining fight to be classed as elite. Fury - great movement , brilliant ring I.q, always delivers when it has mattered, great jab , brilliant chin, seems to be a human wrecking ball now he is with sugar hill, however his best wins have been an ageing wlad and wilder, both great champions but wilder has proved you be a one trick pony, it was a great performance but one I feel has been over hyped. His list of other opponents are very average. For all his skills for a big man and i am one of his biggest fans i do think is the best of an average bunch and dont think he would be classed as an elite fighter in past eras and dont think he should be classed elite now just because he is the current best. If fury was the same size as say dillian whyte he would never have come close to winning a title- verdict, no Joshua- great for british boxing , capable of knocking any heavyweight out, seems to be improving atm, however has far to many flaws for a heavyweight and due to this likely to be ironed out against the very best. Wouldn't be in the top 25 in the world in 1980 -2000. Verdict- no These seem to be the 5 british boxers most people class as our top 5 for me not 1 is elite. Thoughts
Do the top 4 South American fighters out do these top 4 Brits? How many south American world champs are there and how how many Eastern European world champs are there right now? There aren`t any South Americans in the ring mags P4P top 10 and I don`t think North American is even that strong in terms of depth of talent right now either.
How different this thread could be had certain fights been judged properly and drug testing been more frequent and more vigilant. I rate Alvarez but it can't be ignored. Taylor has a brilliant record given the amount of fights he's had, he's fought a number of very good to excellent boxers, the Prograis one in particular was fantastic but Postol is also a hell of a name to have taken so early in his career. Alvarez is elite level, right now, I don't like the way he's got there but there's no doubt about it, he's up there. I want to see him take on the best in their prime though, no clauses or anything, just going in with the best when they're at the top of their game. The last time he did that he lost, to Golovkin, in my eyes.
Taylor and fury are miles ahead of every1 else in terms of levels at British levels. For instance look at who bjs has faced in how many fights compared to Taylor ,its laughable really. Warrington imo heart got him through big fights and maybe catching certain fighters at the right time but dont think he's elite. Done remarkably well though Just opionons
glad you are finally coming around old chap! AJ and Fury are all you people have... that's not all bad, its certainly a start, and at least their both HWs but this whole crop of guys you've been trying to feed us the last 5 years has got to stop already... whether its warrington, or Callum, or fielding, or Luke campbell george groves or BJS or Liam neeson for that matter , it doesn't really matter. these guys all look the same and they always fold under the bright lights and the rest of us are getting tired of them dragging down otherwise great PPV matchups. they are a total sham! be happy with what you got
Josh Taylor, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are all elite boxers and if you asked an American boxing fan they would agree. I think we are being too hard on ourselves here by not rating those as elite. I thought that it was obvious that Callum Smith wasnt that great prior to the Canelo fight. He beat an injured George Groves who was on the verge of retirement and lost to John Ryder 116-112 in his previous fight. I fully expected him to be destroyed and he was. Inactivity and father time has called time on BJSs claims to be an elite. You cant dine out on one win over Lemieux whilst ducking Canelo and GGG for the rest of your career. Even if he was to face either of those two next year, I think he has deteriorated physically and through inactivity now to not be at his best. Which he would need to be in order to be competitive.
Warrington and Josh are about the same level in terms of fundamentals both fighters stay on the line too much after punching.
J.Taylor and AJ for me. I don't understand how AJ cant be veiwed as elite with being 2 time unified WC and when he beaten Pulev he had beaten 5 of the current 10 ring magazine top 10 (which is the same as Fury, Wilder, Povetkin and Whyte combined). What other boxer can say that at present? All ready has a top 10 all time HW resume. The winner of AJ vs Fury would certainly be elite. J.Taylor already has at better resume at his weight than Crawford dis before he moved up. BJS has potential and a solid resume (Lee, Lemeuix, Eubank Murray,Ryder, Sullivan) and has potential to be but lacks a signature win at present.
I agree with Joshua and Taylor, I think if you were being fair you'd put Fury there too but you are very biased against him so won't because you aren't objective. I think on ability Saunders has potential. This is going into your realm now, but I'd argue his CV is just 'ok'. I'm not sure how you can not include Fury (presumably you'll base that on 'resume') but then include Saunders as a potential.
