Best British boxer ever?

Agreed Conteh was an excellent fighter although I have a scouse bias

 

Jack 'Kid' Berg would be in my top 3 or 4.

 

Kirk could have been the best modern day fighter imo but he just didn't live the life. Probably the most talented british fighter along with Naz. Shame he didn't kick on after his win against Duran, so many big fights were out there around that time.

 

If you do not count Fitzy, I would say Wilde myself.

10 Benny Lynch
9 Freddie Welsh
8 Naseem Hamed
7 Joe Calzaghe
6 Jack 'Kid' Berg
5 Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis
4 Jim Driscoll
3 Lennox Lewis
2 Jimmy Wilde
1 Bob Fitzsimmons

 

Yeah mine as well although to be fair we have had many fine boxers over the years

 

Audrey, all day long.

 

With respect,Billy,Colin Jones beat him twice.At his best I think Conteh,but for results Calzaghe.Hope he doesnt spoil it.

 

Sorry Trecco you beat me to it,didnt see your post.

 

Laing was pretty talented but has become really overrated in hindsight; he gets more mileage out of the flash-in-the-pan upset win over old, disinterested Duran than the porno industry got out of Traci Lords. He was fast and athletic with some very good offensive attributes, but he also had a low ring IQ, average punch resistance and the lack of fundamentals/defence that would have always seen him come undone against the best imo. Other good, arguably better welterweights who never won world titles - such as Brian Curvis, Ernie Roderick and Eddie Thomas - don't get nearly the same amount of attention in comparison.

Nice to see Joe Bowker's name thrown into the mix. He rarely gets mentioned anywhere and struggles in the huge shadow of Driscoll much of the time.

I don't know with Kids Lewis and Berg tbh. They were great fighters with great CVs without a doubt, but lost their biggest fights conclusively to the likes of Britton and Canzoneri. They're up there though, no doubt. Berg has some amazing names on his CV.

Wilde is hard to get to get full grasp on because of the uncertainty of his record being complete and the consistent lack of big names on it. I wouldn't mount an argument with anyone who has him at the top though. He was one of a kind.

Driscoll is as good a shout as any for me. You could mount a good argument that he's a top 5ish featherweight of all time, and featherweight is historically a very deep division. How many other British fighters outside of maybe Wilde, Lynch and Lennox - the latter's division being comparatively weak - can say that? Looks great on what little film we have of him and has the big names on his record to back it. If he'd gotten the fight with Freddie Welsh sooner and had managed to win, he might have been a dead on cert. He was the best featherweight in the world in all but title really.

Lynch and Conteh were both undoubtedly great fighters at their very short peaks and the depth of their records is nothing to sneeze either, though not of the highest echelon. They're what you call a tragic waste of talent, far more so than Laing.

So many of our other greatest names were very unlucky in one way or another: Conteh and Calzaghe's bad hands; McGowan's bad skin; Winstone being slowly managed and having to contend with the legendary Saldivar for top honours; Buchanan looking set to rule the roost for the foreseeable future before Duran stuck his oar in; Rudkin not getting the nod against Rose, being frozen out at his peak thanks to poor decisions and then having to contend with Harada and Olivares the other two times; McAvoy being frozen out after starching Risko without the title on the line and having to move up to 175 to tackle one of the atgs in John Henry Lewis; Kane's career being disrupted by the war; Caldwell coming across Jofre. Several others with ill luck too like the Finnegan brothers, Minter, Sibbo, Graham, Charnley.

Driscoll, Lennox, Wilde, Buchanan, Lynch and the two Kids are all dead certs with Conteh leading a chasing pack including McGowan, Rudkin, Winstone, Welsh, Harvey and Moran, all snapping away for the last 3 spots. Maybe Turpin, Bowker, McAvoy, Minter and others jostling just below them.

I rate Calzaghe highly h2h but don't like him in the 10 for lack of depth. I rate Naz a bit lower than Calzaghe on a h2h basis but don't like him in the 10 also for lack of depth and capitulating during/after the Barrera fight.

Benn, Eubank, Graham and co aren't in the discussion, good though they undoubtedly were.

 

Randy Turpin's name deserves a mention. Not #1 and probably not top #5 but definately worth an honourable mention.

 

Fitzsimmons identified himself as Cornish which is good enough for me. Definitely a Brit more than anything else. Half English by blood, born here and identified himself as being from a place part of the British Isles.

So yeah, he's the best Brit by a country mile.

 

Bruno? Nah I'm joking..... who was Fitz

 

I thought he was half-Irish, half-Cornish.
Emigrated to Australia and New Zealand as a child.
As soon as he arrived in America, he took US citizenship. He often fought with the 'stars and stripes' banner wrapped around his waist.

 

Tinribs,right at the end of 2012 thats got to be post of the year.Good mentions for our great 60s boxers who never got the money or recognition of the later ones.Agree with you about Laing being overrated.Apart from Jones,stopped by Fred Hutchins.Anybody remember Buck Smith?Although Kirkland was a smashing boxer,think wed all agree.For me,your best was about Naz.If he never fought Barerra,would have been well up in this,but I dont believe he believed he could win on the night.This may sound silly,but must have been the first time he didnt jump the rope.Think hed have been beaten at any time by Barerra.No disgrace,the guys an all time great.

 

Got to agree. Could have been the best boxer ever.

:good