Best boxing city in UK and Ireland

Belfast is a great place to watch boxing...:yep I have been in The Oddesey when it has been crammed to the rafters and the noise was something to behold...:happy

 

Manchester now, Liverpool for the future!!

 

Nottingham has had some quality fights

 

The only thing missing just now in Belfast is a pro world champ,saying that when paul mccloskey gets a shot i see him winning it class act and theres prospects like Martin,yourself and the hyland bros things looking healthy :good

 

It's gotta be Blackpool ;-)

 

The Hylands and McCloskey aint from Belfast though Billy. Although, McCloskey does train there.

 

If the question is which city produces the best boxers it is impossible to compare as a city like Belfast is tiny compared to the "city" of London for example. If we compare boxers from different regions instead it is a much better way to measure success.

In the last 20 years the combined number of medals won at the Olympics, World, European and EU championships is as follows :

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- 47 (Northern Ireland boxers won 13 of these medals and 34 were won by boxers from the Republic), this is from a population of just over 6 million.

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- 54 (broken down into regions - London 10 , North East 9, North West 19 , West Midlands 9, East Midlands 2, South East 1, Yorkshire 2, East 1, South West 1). This from a population of just over 51 million.

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- 15, population about 3 million.

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- 3, population just over 5 million.

So relative to the size of these regions Ireland is producing the most talent in amateur boxing.


In the same time frame the number of world champions produced from each region is :


London -

Henry Akinwande WBO Heavyweight

Frank Bruno WBC Heavyweight

Nicky Cook WBO Super Featherweight

Chris Eubank WBO Middleweight, WBO Super Middleweight

David Haye WBA, WBC, WBO Crusierweight, WBA Heavyweight

Lennox Lewis WBC, WBA, IBF Heavyweight

Duke McKenzie WBO Bantamweight, WBO Super Bantamweight

Colin McMillan WBO Featheweight Champion



Yorkshire -

Naseem Hamed WBO, IBF, WBC Featherweight

Paul Ingle IBF Featherweight

Paul Jones WBO Light Middleweight

Johnny Nelson WBO Cruiserweight

Junior Witter WBC Light Welterweight

Clinton Woods IBF Light Heavyweight



East Anglia -

Nigel Benn WBO Middleweight WBC Supermiddleweight

Glen Catley WBC Super Middleweight

Herbie Hide WBO Heavyweight




East Midlands -

Carl Froch WBC Super Middleweigth

Chris Pyatt WBO Middleweight




North West -

Ricky Hatton IBF, WBA Light Welterweight WBA IBF Welterweight -

Paul Hodkinson WBC Featherweight

Amir Khan WBA Light Welterweight

Robin Reid WBC Super Middleweight

Carl Thompson WBO Cruiserweight




West Midlands -

Richie Woodhall WBC Super Middleweight



Scotland -

Alex Arthur WBO Super Featherweight

Pat Clinton WBO Flyweight

Scott Harrison WBO Featherweight

Paul Weir WBO Minimumweight WBO Light Flyweight

Ricky Burns WBO Super Featherweight




Wales -

Joe Calzaghe WBO, IBF, WBC, WBO Super Middleweight

Barry Jones WBO Super Featheweight

Enzo Macrinelli WBO Crusierweight

Robbie Regan WBO Bantamweight

Steve Robinson WBO Featherweight

Gavin Rees WBA Light Welterweight



Ireland -

ROI -

Steve Collins WBO Middleweight WBO Super Middleweight

Bernard Dunne WBA Super Bantamweight

N. Ireland -

Eamonn Loughran WBO Welterweight

Dave Boy McAuley IBF Flyweight

Wayne McCullough WBC Bantamweight



Based on this London and Yorkshire come out on top both for number and quality of world class professional fighters produced but the size of these regions has to be taken into account also.