I have been thinking about this for a while, of modern British fighters that have had rather odd careers. First up..... Johnny Nelson. A self confessed coward, fought in about 20 different countries, choked on two world title attempts before finally winning a WBO crown at the age of 32. Notables...... Appeared in the most boring fight ever Was chief support to DLH vs Trinidad in Vegas Was offered money by a promoter not to fight Won a split decision in Italy :shock: Secondly..... Danny Williams. A very talented fighter lacking in mental toughness and dedication. Lost fights to guys not fit to lace his boots, then performed well unexpectedly next time around. Notables: Won a fight by stoppage after dislocating his shoulder Withstood a beating before stopping the legendary Mike Tyson Was probably knocked down the most times in a World Heavyweight Title fight Handed Audley Harrison his first loss Thirdly..... Michael Gomez. An entertaining character, Gomez has been clinically dead and involved in a murder case. Was born in a ditch. Suffered several early career losses before coming back to win British and WBU titles. Seems determined to fight forever. Notables: Dishing out a savage beating to Alex Arthur Quitting in an Irish title fight Taking fights on short notice Almost stopping the undefeated Amir Khan If you can think of any more to add, from recent years, please feel free.
Johnny Nelson's career can't yet be matched for this, imo. However, while, I wouldn't wager too much dough on it, Khan is someone who could end up as a dominant champ with a crazy 1st round ko or two on his record.
Which one, De Leon or Warring? I think in terms of their whole life & career it has to be Gomez. Insane stuff.
Paul Wesley 16-50-5 (6 KO's) Despite a record that depicts a non-punching journeyman, his career includes KO wins over future world champion Paul 'Silky' Jones (rsf 2) and Britsh champion Neville Brown (Rsf 1)... Also traded knockdowns with Robert McCracken in a Britsh title loss and almost KO'd future world champion Glenn Catley. Epitomised the word 'dangeman'.:good
Good stuff - I have Boxrec'd him and there are plenty of decent names on there. I prefer those kind of opponents to the patsies that seem to be badged as journeymen or gatekeepers these days. Some of them, especially on FFN, don't even try to be competitive, their sole mission is to go the distance so they can earn and extra payday the following week. Granted, boxing needs a few of these guys, but there seems to be far too many ATM, pretending at being fighters and just milking money out of the sport.
Wesley could be a lazy fighter but he really came alive if he caught you watched him live a few times... real pro... was rated about 6 in britain till the bad run at the end.
Chris Edwards 5'3 flyweight 12-13-3 2 weight british champion, commonwealth flywieght champion at 1 point he was 1-6 fast under your nose fighter very awkward and not a good tehcnician but if you want to see somone who is good value for money chris is your man even Ian Napa right now is having a bizzzie-arr career he was touted as a great flywieght prospect. after some good uds he lost to jason booth....fine it was his first 12 rounder against a decent domestic fighter..came back against peter culshaw and lost again. comes back at feather and super feather then goes to super bantam and bantam has the worst 3 year period of any fighter of his calibur. 1-4 from 2005 - 2007 on last min he fighs jason both in a return match...booth get stotally toyed with, fights haskins and haskins almost falls apart by round 5 due to the counters napa keeps conecting with, napa wins in his first ever stoppage, goes against comebacking martin power who gave munyai a close fight and is a decent fighter in general. destroys moffet who is a bit of a pudding at this point of his career but still a decent domestic scalp. he gets a euro shot, ballone who was the bigger puncher had a great win streak aswell, even givign meladrottu a solid fight (somone ian couldnt out work). there was nothign ian had over his opponant. and i saw an incredible display. after a good start by ballone, napa starts launching lead ritgh crosses againt the southpaw and starts chasing leading to a dog fight that napa skillfully turned back to james toneyesque counterpuncher. and in round 10 after ballone throws a lead left cross and napa slips to his right and lands an uppercut to the body that buckles and bends ballone over, he drops his man. winning via 1 point on the cards. im not saying he is gonna win a world title but that win streak is incredible for a guy who was totally forgotten about less than a year ago.
Audley's is quite bizarre, from Olympic Gold Medalist to a loss to a Taxi Driver. Is only going to get bizzarer (not a word, I know) too I'd imagine.
i think amir khan -silver olympic medalist .Fought bums most of his career and will beat an aging barrera only for the media to pronouce him the new messiah. Then the poster boy will fight more bums to then unify the wbf,wbu and waa belts.he will then retire and become a taxi driver in his native bolton.