Fury would never get knocked out by a Rahman or McCall. Fury wouldn't lay down knocked out for a billion dollars.
Yet you say Fitzsimmons is British, who left England younger than Lewis, spent his life then on in New Zealand, Australia and then the US where he eventually died. Your argument is inconsistent. Also moving away to live in another country doesn't invalidate your citizenship. Are all the expats now living abroad not British? Nationality is defined by if you are a citizen of that country and Lewis is still a British citizen. Now if he gave up his citizenship then yes he wouldn't be British but he is legally British. Prince William is living in the US too, married to an American is he not British anymore. How about David Beckham, lives in the US, raised his kids there, is he not British? You can nick pick reasons why Lewis isn't British but fact is he is British by every definition that matters under the law.
When i recently asked chatGPT who the greatest ever British boxer is. It had Ali as the top. Think we're safe from AI taking over the world for now.
Hilarious mate. Fitzsimmonds left Cornwall at two years old. He grew up in New Zealand and when he emigrated to America, took out U.S. Citizenship. Bob never returned to England. Lewis lived in London until he was twelve and never gave up his British Citizenship. It's no secret that Lennox came back to the UK for commercial reasons and to benefit from an easier ride in his early career than he would have got in the States but to mug him off in favour of Fitzsimmonds on the grounds of nationality ? I guess only you can answer that.
The greatest English Boxer is Ted "Kid" Lewis. He won Titles from British up to and including World at every division from Featherweight to Light Heavy. Lewis travelled to the States and won the World Welterweight Title which he defended successfully over there, holding on to it for two years. Len Harvey is a good shout too. In the modern era, no one really gets close to Lennox Lewis.
Fitzsimons is British though, how many times do I have to repeat myself? It's like people here have forgotten history, Fitzsimmons was born in the 1860's when New Zealand and Australia were still British colonies and apart of the British empire. He didn't get a U.S citizenship until 1893 when he was in his 30's. If a Spaniard from the early 1800's born in Spain then later moved to Cuba when it was part of the Spanish Empire, what is he a Spaniard or Cuban? Both David Beckham and Prince Williams were not only born but raised in the UK, again you're confusing yourself. Lewis was born in England but moved to Canada when he was a preteen, he learned his entire profession of boxing in another country and represented that country twice at the Olympics, he didn't even really move back to England, still had a Canadian passport while training with Steward in the United States. If you consider him a true Briton then have at it, I personally think it's just grasping at straws though.
Wrong, Fitzsimons family didn't leave England until 1873 when he was 11 years old, they relocated to New Zealand which was still a British colony until 1907. He didn't get U.S citizenship until he was in his 30s.
If we are talking fighters born and raised in England I'd say maybe Naseem, Lewis, or Fury. As others have said, even though it's not as straightforward as the other two, Lewis was born in England - so I'd certainly say he qualifies as one of the best if we are allowing him to represent the country. Unfortunately, it's not as glorious a pool of available choices as I'd first thought. There's been a lot of solid, respectable fighters from England but very few elite, truly special fighters...at least in my recollection at this moment.
I think he's just suggesting Lewis moving away at a young age might make some say he doesn't really qualify. Personally, I think he does, on account of being born in England, which is the only pre requisite for nationality.