From Ring mag website: 10 greatest British fighters of all time

Yea...one could argue that I suppose and I am second guessing myself a bit...it's about time I broke down the record of Lennox Lewis in depth to decide how great he truely is.

What I will say is regarding your train of thought, I think Calzaghe is more beatable at the hands of great MW's and LHW's than Lewis is by ATG HWs....though it could be argued that the depth of talent, particularly at those lower weights make that inevitable.

Anyways I'm off lads, fun debate.

 

If you're placing a lot of emphasis on skills you can knock Buchanan into to top 5 easily.

 

I would anyway.......cracking boxer

 

One of the things I find interesting about this thread is the comments regarding Lennox Lewis, being a recent fighter who is now a few years retired. I loved Lennox as a fighter and think he's a top guy but it seems that time does in fact do a fighter's legacy a lot of good. The feeling that that Lennox fought high calibre, top quality fighters throughout his career is something that seems to have developed since he retired. And the Rahman and McCall lossess are big blemishes as can you honestly say either were top class elite fighters?!? It is also the case that many of the opponents who Lennox is now lionized for beating are of no greater standing than the those who are referred to as 'bums' on certain present fighters' resumes, whilst his biggest wins were against 'past their prime' legends that are now being seen in a slightly different light as time passes by since retirement. That bodes well for Calzage's legacy for instance. The Klitschko fight then threw up more questions than answers, but the good thing about time is that sportsmen seem to become greater the longer it is since we saw them last

 

You have Calzaghe above Lewis in a British list of greats???

 

Yes, personally I think Calzaghe is a better all round fighter but I'm not going to argue the relative merits of each fighter's resume at this point. If Kessler goes downhill from here, for instance, then I feel that hits Calzaghe's legacy fairly badly it but if he becomes a potent force at 168-175 then the opposite is true. I think we have our pre-war and post war lists and Lennox and Calzaghe are probably the top 2 post war it's fair to say. The one thing I have against Lennox is that a top class fighter should not at the peak of his powers lose to what appears to be, and then is later confirmed to be, low class opposition. Whateverr you say about Calzaghe's level of opposition, he's never lost and been sparked out by any of them and Lennox has.

 

My first thought was how funny this joke was.

Lennox lewis lower than calslappy lmfao

 

That is unfair, Lennox was a heavyweight and got knocked out. It happens in that weight class - one punch is all it takes. A human being caught by an 18+ stone man is a lot different from being hit by a 12 stone one, irrelevant of how much you weigh. There are dynamic differences between super middle and heavy weight. The qualities needed to perform in both differ greatly. It's not like Lennox was out boxed and lost on points - then there would be a case.

 

I understand what you're saying but in weighing up a fighter's qualities then professionalism and chin come into play whether you're a heavyweight or a flyweight. I just don't see Rahman and McCall knocking out some of the truly great heavweights even if they landed flush. If you go through their resumes then the Lennox wins are anomalies for them

 

Henry Cooper nearly had Ali out of there with just one punch.

 

And against a Bruno or quite possibly Lennox he may have finished them off in the next round. Whether a fighter is 'there' or not they go on instinct. Ali's instinct against Cooper was to get up and go to his corner unlike Lennox who was 'out' against Rahman and doing the wibble wobble after the McCall knockdown. Even if it hadn't been the end of the round Ali was still up to try and weather any further punishment. If it was a Lennox who Cooper had hit he may not have got up or then been finished off in the next round, but not someone with a class chin and recovery powers like Ali

 

The compilation of any ATG list for a sport with the longevity of boxing is extremely difficult, given the lack of extensive footage of the earlier fighters. I consider myself to be a student of the sport but would find it very difficult to compare the records and skillset of Jimmy Wilde to Ken Buchanan for instance. I tend to seperate my ATG listings into several era based groupings which makes it much easier to compare like with like: Pre Marquis of Queensbury, MoQ to Dempsey, Dempsey to Clay, Clay to Date.

Having said that it would have to be a very good argument indeed to convince me that a fighter with the silky Pepp like skills of Ken Buchanan or the technical aptitude and achievement of Lennox should not be in any British top 5 list. Calzaghe would be struggling to get into my top ten.

 

John Conteh needs to be in the top 10, Lennox should be top 3, Calzaghe ranked way too high. Hamed and Hatton deserve more respect coz even though they got beat, they got beat by elite fighters, whereas Joe has never fought an elite fighter.

 

Fitz was born in Cornwall. He moved away as a kid. He learned his trade down under (both boxing and blacksmith lol)

 

Very difficult not to have Lennox Lewis at number 1. Conteh is arguably the most gifted British fighter I think I have ever seen. Honeyghan should definitely be in the top 10 as should Naseem Hamed. The old timers who by the way I love are sometimes rated higher from a nostalgic perspective. Benn and Eubank are interesting omissions. McGuigan had a shot at being a great fighter but messed it up by losing to Stevie Cruz and never fighting Azumah Nelson. A gallant losing effort would have helped his case just look at what the names of Sugar Ray Robinson and Don Curry do respectively for Randolph Turpin and LloyD Honeyghan.