Get Real About British Fighters

Joe Calzaghe's claims to greatness though holding no real substance are nothing new. Previous holders of the various Super Middleweight titles have also shouted their "greatness" loud, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank among them and even Frank Warren, who promoted them says they were OK but no more than good British fighters who were never world class.
Calzaghe like Ricky Hatton has been carefully matched in order to build a record. Before the fight with Mayweather, a fighter I had never seen, I predicted that Mayweather would stop Hatton in about ten rounds. Its not that I'm psychic its just that I'd seen Hatton fight several times and he was always wide open and although aggressive was clearly not a devastating puncher. If Mayweather was, as he was reputed to be, the best pound for pound fighter in the world Hatton clearly had no chance against him.
The same is true of Calzaghe. He is good but Hopkins and Jones have been around for the whole of his career and he waited until they were relics before fighting them and they still succeeded in dropping him in the first round. This begs the question, if Calzaghe had fought either of them five to six years ago, would he have even survived the first round?
Britain has had great fighters, Ken Buchanan, Randolph Turpin, Howard Winstone, Walter MaGowan, to name but four, who fought when there were only a handful of world championships available to win and thousands of fighters contesting them. To accept Calzaghe's claims simply because he has remained unbeaten is to denigrate the achievements of those truly "great" fighters.

During my lifetime I can only recall one British fighter who has been awarded Ring Magazine's title of best pound for pound fighter in the world and that was Ken Buchanan who won it by defeating the two-time lightweight champion, 27-year old Ismael Laguna, twice on foreign soil. He also beat off a young and aggressive leading contender, Ruben Navarro, and an unbeaten welterweight Donato Paduana.

Those in the fight game who are shouting Calzaghe's claims the loudest are those with a vested interest in convincing the gullible that when paying to see Calzaghe fight, they are paying to see true greatness. They are not, they are paying to see, a fit, able and competent boxer who has plied his trade successfully against mediocre and burnt out opposition.