My All-Time 60 Best British Fighters

Moran does seem one of them fighters, that the more you get to know of him, the higher he will go up the list.

 

Buchanan's star burnt bright, but for only a shortish period of time. Yes bad timing and an inability to get the matches he wanted cost him, but this is not a list of the most unlucky fighters. Naseem, Eubank and Benn constantly got and often won career defining fights over a longer period of time than Ken.

Was Buchanan more talented? Maybe, yes, but Buchanan wasted that talent though bad management and lets be honest poor training habits. This list is not about wasted potential...

(And absolutely no offence intended to AlFrancis, I am merely trying to be subjective in my opinion) Rudkin and McGowan were both very good fighters, who fought in a strong era, but lacked that career defining win, to boost them up the list. Yes, they may of been unlucky to lose the odd fight on away soil, but this list as mentioned above, does not take that into account.

 

Surely Hatton over achieving at world level is a plus?

I struggle to find the quality to replace Marsh, McAuley, Andries and McKenzie. And I would agree Woods and Witter would not of become world title holders in the 70s, but they would of still been heavily involved in the British and European scene, they had quality in them.

The Finnegans were fine fighters, but again, where are the career defining wins? I only see courageous defeats against the absolute top level fighters on their resumes.

If it was a popularity contest then yes, both of them are going to be top 30.

 

Yes I gave kudos to Rudkin's efforts against Rose and Harada; McGowan's series against Chionoi.

But I considered the intangibles of a journeyman pro coming in as late substitute to win a title (as an underdog), that made him seemingly the weakest alphabet champion (up to that point) ever. Only to then systematically beat every decent Featherweight that Britain had (including two that were world ranked), until bumping into Naseem, as worth more.

 

I would put Caldwell and McGowan in a group just below Hoko and McMillan, and a bit further behind, still, McKenzie (though it was a 126lbs McKenzie, clearly pre fight, not the force he once was).

And clearly Robinson does not have the level of names that Rudkin did, and Rudkin overall was more consistent, but at a lesser level than Robinson was for a two year period in the mid 90s.

It is kind of the opposite point I was making about Graham, but the reason I feel I can use the argument, is that we are talking about fighters at a lesser level than that.

I originally planned to do a top 100 list, but when I went though the fighters I felt merited debate as to whether they should be there, I think I had a 110 tops, which IMO, was not enough to justify a top 100 list.

 

Look at Naseem's resume:

He easily beat a streaking Robinson.

He gutted out a win over a Medina who would have years left on the clock.

Tom Johnson had not lost a fight for six years going into the Naseem fight, and was considered the premier Featherweight of the time.

Kevin Kelley only had one defeat on his resume.

Vazquez had one defeat in eight years going into their fight.

McCullough was a still near the top of his game, with only the Zaragoza defeat going in.

Cesar Soto was arguably at his peak going into the Naseem bout.

And Bungu had not lost a fight for eight years.

That is a pretty decent win resume compared to the vast majority of British fighters.

 

I felt 60 worked out well, you had to be a little bit special to get on the list. Even Herbie was not without merit and a bit of ability in his pomp.