Michael Watson vs fellow brits??

The problem is it is highly likely we never got to see Watson at his peak due to the sad premature end to his career.

Against Don Lee and Nigel Benn he looked a classy counterpuncher but perhaps a little limited and too orthodox in the prevalent british stand up style of the era.

Going forward against Mccallum he was totally outclassed and knocked out for the ten count. Watson had a poor night and was battered. Many others would have declined after that, instead Watson came back a stronger offensive fighter vs eubanks, two fights which very easily could have been Watson wins.I gave him the first fight.

Ok based on what we did see from watson and the fighters below on their best day against him

v Graham.........Graham outpoints him clearly 117-112
v Collins.......it turns into a hard gruelling fight and Collins wins a very close one.
v Minter........Alan wins a points decision 116-112

 

I liked watson as a boxer and more as a human being for what he went through and come from
I think Graham would have won by points
But I think if Collins used his come forward attack which was quite slow attimes it would have been another Benn type fight and I would gave it to Watson

Against Minter again i think watson would be able to out speed and counter him which would cut Minter. A stoppage by cuts would be the likely outcome.of that

 

Michael Watson outfought and out thought Nigel Benn, for arguably 69 minutes of two fights against a prime Eubank he looked superior, nothing here to suggest Herol, Collins or Minter could have beaten him. Just my opinion and I feel privileged to have been a fan in the Saturday Night Heroes era on terrestrial TV were we seemed to have big fights every Saturday night, pubs would be rammed, Benn, Eubank, Watson, Collins Naz, Bruno.. Great days

 

Nothing here to suggest minter or Graham could have beaten him? I have a 1990 boxing news where Watson spoke of how difficult a fight Graham would be...Watson beat a Nigel Benn who was just a novice fast limited powerpuncher...the fact a jab put Benn down and he more or less quit exhausted after 6 rounds says it all....it's a picture far removed from the defensively adept,skilled fighter with great stamina Benn would become... the formidable champ from 1992-1996....hell the Miami Benn who learned good lateral movement,pacing and going 10 rounds v amparo and Williams was a far more polished boxer than "watson edition benn"....my point is yes Watson may well have improved,like Benn did to the extent he very likely would have had a long reign as a wbo or wbc champ...But ....based on what we saw I could see herol graham having too much skill and smarts for the more one dimensional Watson.....minter too was a better more polished boxer....many Americans just remember the Hagler fight where he threw away his game plan got cut and slaughtered...or the fading version v hamsho and sibson.....if u consider the minter of finnegan and antuofermo ....he was a smooth southpaw boxer with underrated power...he even shook up Hagler somewhat....I think he would handle Watson...all evidence points to that.....Collins is a toss up granted Watson very well would win that

 

What an informative post there. And I fully respect your opinion. Here's my theory.

Collins in my opinion was too crude one dimensional and would have been completely out boxed for a wide UD.

Graham fell short every time he got near world class. An argument could be made for Watson doing so. But Watsons performance against Eubank x 2 suggests he may have caught up with Graham at some point and landed one on the light switch.

Minter.. I think is the toughest of the 3 but Mike outboxes him for a close UD or SD.

Like I say just my opinion

 

He looses to Graham but Beats Collins and Minter

 

Watson was no Julian Jackson in terms of punching power

 

Agreed. He weren't feather fisted either

 

Agreed.

 

He and Collins is a really good matchup. I think in a 3 fight series neither is capable of going 3-0 because the opponent is just too good.
Minter, I think is made to order and gets busted up. Those nice straight punches do the job and just who ever had a hard time landing punches on Alex? Sibson is the tougher matchup come to think of it, and I think Tony has the much better chance of the 2 southpaws.

Agree that Graham is wrong for him.

Turpin that beat Robinson beats him. Tough tough matchup. What a formidable guy on that night---great great shape. By the way my dad went to that fight and always talked about how on that night, how terrific a fighter Randy was. Even to the point where he thought Turpin could have taken Monzon.

Finnegan is another tough tough matchup.

Quite a few tough hombres in that opponent selection when you look at it. How many guys are going through all that competition without losses along the way? The beauty is/was usually the UK had rematches as well so there may be like say 11 fights total. Wow. What boxing fan would not want to catch that?

 

Just how I envisage it.