Rate the following British fighters on a scale of 1 to 10

Those guys didn’t need to fight outside of the US.

You shouldn’t need this explaining.

 

Just 2 years out of a 15 year career.

 

Huge scalps?

Ha!

 

Nobody was afraid to fight Joe.

Do you not realise that before he fought Lacy, he was still relatively unknown in America.

And yes, America was still boxing’s powerhouse back then.

 

And just for the record i don't care whether or not a fighter travels outside their country as long as the right fights are being made.

So @Perkin Warbeck claiming i'm giving Hopkins, Ward, free passes for fighting in primarily in America ? But i've never claimed they were road warriors ? or fought outside of America so i don't know what your point is ?

And i'm not even a fan of Hopkins or Ward so it's pretty random irrelevant point.

My issue is you're portraying Calzaghe as a road warrior when that's false.

You might aswell say an American fighter fighting from Texas to New York is fighting outside their comfort zone. Because that's way further than travelling from Wales to London or Manchester for example.

It's just silly talk.

Ask anyone from the UK if they consider a British or Welsh fighter fighting in England or Wales as fighting outside their country like some road warrior they will laugh at you.

 

How did bellew and groves make the list

 

I do enjoy elite fighters, you got me.

 

I am from the UK. Don't mind Calz, but wish he had been more ambitious early on. However, the British promoters at the time were not like they are now. The WBO wasn't really recognised in America, so Brits could win the belts fairly easily then defend against domestic opposition on terrestrial television and we all thought the world was watching what were really domestic scraps. I genuinely though Eubank, Watson and Benn were the best middleweights in the world at the time (I was only a kid), as the only exposure I had to boxing was on ITV, who never mentioned the american fighters or the other world titles. I remember getting Ring magazine for the first time and being astonished that names I'd never heard of were ranked above them, and that they didn't list the WBO belt holder as one of the champions. I suspect this is the reason that the brits then didn't really seek out the bigger challenges, the promotors just didn't have the incentive to take them abroad to fight the best in the divisions. That said, I don't think you can draw an equivalence between an american not travelling and a brit not travelling, as most of the audience, money and champions were in the US. A nearer equivalence might be someone not leaving their own state, al la Ward.

 

And yet all these British judges have scored all of Calzaghe's competitive fights with no discrepancies.

Calzaghe who was a bit of an unknown at the time fighting a well known household British fighter in Eubank all 3 British judges had it very wide for Calzaghe.

So give me 1 example in any of Calzaghe's title fights where a British judge or British referee has shown any bias towards the other fighter.

Also 11 of Calzaghe's Super Middleweight title fights were in Cardiff including his biggest fight at the weight vs Kessler.

Lacy was in UK aswell which was to Calzaghe's advantage which again was Calzaghe's biggest fight at the weight.

But again as i stated above i don't care whether a fighter travels or not aslong as the right fights are being made that's all that matters in the end.

And no I don't consider travelling 100 miles down the road to Manchester as being some type of road warrior.

Also worth nothing the stadiums that Calzaghe was fighting in Cardiff like the International arena and an Ice Rink don't have the capacity of other stadiums.

So Calzaghe travelling down the road to say Manchester for example had higher capacity and more exposure which was beneficial to him.

Finally I don't think anyone really cares in the UK where you come from Wales, Scotland, etc in regards to sportsman.

Look at Andy Murray who was Scottish the British fans loved him at Wimbledon and always cheered him on.

 

Lennox Lewis 10
Ricky Hatton 8
Carl Froch 8
Joe Calzaghe 9
Daniel Dubois 6
Chris Eubank Sr. 9
Nigel Benn 9
Anthony Joshua 7
Naseem Hamed 9
Tyson Fury 8
George Groves 7
Tony Bellew 6

 

Lennox Lewis 9.?/10
Ricky Hatton 7/10
Carl Froch 8/10
Joe Calzaghe 6.?/10
Daniel Dubois 6/10
Anthony Joshua 6/10
Naseem Hamed 7/10
Tyson Fury 7/10
George Groves 6/10
Tony Bellew 6/10

 

Read the two posts below yours from British posters who were around at the time & learn something.

 

What did zaggers do to you? Did he steal the crispy chip from your plate at the pub? There he stood, with that mocking little smarmy smile on his face, savouring the crispness and gravy while you shook with impotent rage, knowing that you couldn't do anything or you'd get duffed up. If that's the case, I begin to understand the depth of your anger towards Super Joe. Such a breach of good manners, and the crispy chip, too! That wasn't it? Show us on the doll where Joe hurt you.