How do Americans rate the British middleweights of the 80s?

It's an interesting dilemma because I don't know if I'd favor Benn/Eubank/Collins against those 3 but at the same time Jones/Toney certainly didn't seem to want any part of them. I don't think it's a money thing because the fights would have been massive. I think it's more the pressure that Benn/Eubank/Collins weren't massive names in America and the possibility of taking a risk against elite opponents who your own fans know very little about isn't very appealing. I can't blame Bernard at all because he wasn't particularly well known himself during Benn/Eubank's prime and certainly wasn't a big money fighter until after 2000 when he knocked out Trinidad. I don't think Benn/Eubank/Collins wanted much to do with him either. He certainly would have had to come across the pond to make that fight happen.

 

Yep, exactly my thoughts on it. There's just more money about in the States and that's what puts the onus on our British fighters to make the trip. The promotion will be bigger, the fight will be bigger, everything is just bigger if it takes place in the States. I loved Froch/Groves II and it was MASSIVE, but none of my mates in the states had any idea it was even happening.

 

I think you'd have to be mental and extremely biased to not rate a prime RJJ as the class of this group, but Eubank/Benn/Collins would all have been in with a good shout against Toney IMO. Benn/Collins would have had a punchers chance against RJJ but it's easy to forget that until he slowed down and got caught by Tarver the man had never been hit cleanly in 50 professional bouts.

 

Impossible to say. When do you think Roy began juicing? He looked frighteningly good when he was being robbed of a gold medal in Seoul.

 

Either way, I'm simply discussing the product I saw in the ring, however it got there. Whatever Roy put in his body, what you saw at the end was the best of this group in my humble opinion. It doesn't diminish what I saw from the rest of the bunch. All time greats in my estimation.

 

I'm interested to see what you think of this lot. I've only been on this forum a week but I've already picked up that you don't think much of Calzaghe. I rate him very highly despite a number of questionable defenses. Is it a British bias or do you just not like Calzaghe's style? In my opinion it's a big challenge to not be entertained by Benn and Eubank.