The 10 Best UK Fighters of the 21st Century

Lewis and Calzaghe certainly 1 and 2 in that order for me.

 

1 Joe Calzaghe
2 Carl Froch
3 Tyson Fury
4 Anthony Joshua
5 Josh Taylor
6 Carl Frampton
7 David Haye
8 Ricky Hatton
9 Scott Harrison
10 Ricky Burns
11 Kell Brook
12 Billy Joe Saunders
13 Clinton Woods
14 Ryan Burnett
15 Leigh Wood
16 George Groves
17 Josh Warrington
18 Callum Smith
19 James Degale
20 Tony Bellew
21 Jamie Mcdonnell
22 Robin Reid
23 Amir Khan
24 Enzo Maccirinelli
25 Sunny Edwards
26 Nathan Cleverly
27 Chris Billam- Smith
28 Liam Smith
29 Lawrence Okolie
30 Junior Witter
31 Alex Arthur
32 Anthony Cacace
33 Anthony Crolla
34 Lee Selby
35 Joe Cordina
36 Nick Ball
37 Daniel Dubois
38 Jack Catterall
39 Lee Haskins
40 Paul Butler
41 Darren Barker
42 John Ryder
43 Martin Murray
44 Scott Quigg
45 Dereck Chisora
46 Matthew Macklin
47 Kal Yafai
48 Charlie Edwards
49 Gavin Rees
50 Terry Flanagan
51 Dillian Whyte
52 Luke Campbell
53 Stuart Hall
54 Nicky Cook
55 Jamie Moore
56 Chris Eubank Jr
57 Kid Galahad
58 Ryan Rhodes
59 Kevin Mitchell
60 John Murray
61 Mark Hobson
62 Brian Magee
63 Joe Joyce
64 Anthony Yarde
65 Joshua Buatsi
66 Rocky Fielding
67 Matt Skelton
68 Hughie Fury
69 Danny Williams
70 Michael Hunter
71 Howard Eastman
72 Liam Williams
73 Sam Eggington
74 John Simpson
75 Paul Appleby
76 Josh Kelly
77 Callum Johnson
78 Stephen Foster Jr
79 Michael Gomez
80 Dean Francis
81 Garry Buckland
82 Matty Askin
83 Andrew Selby
84 Liam Walsh
85 Maxi Hughes
86 Matthew Hatton
87 Dennis Mccann
88 Carl Johanesson
89 Denzel Bentley
90 Lee Mcgregor
91 Ian Napa
92 Fabio Wardley
93 Jason Booth
94 Martin J Ward
95 Lewis Ritson
96 David Price
97 Audley Harrison
98 Jon Thaxton
99 Frankie Gavin
100 Derry Matthews

 

Calzaghe
Froch
Hatton
Lewis
Fury
Taylor
Khan
Haye
Frampton
Joshua

 

On what planet is Amir friggin Khan up at the top haha

He retired in 2024, his last win in a world title fight was all the way back in 2011, so the last 13 years of his career he didn't have a single world title win. His manufactured, small world title reign was just 3 years. He lost 6 times, knocked out 5 times. And was mostly known for his laughing stock moments and failures in the ring. He peaked early and briefly with a lot of leg ups in the industry, but it was all downhill from there.

Kell Brook was always a better fighter than him, no matter when that fight had every taken place, Brook would have always have been the winner.

 

I take into account the context of the wins against Klitschko and Wilder. Nobody had got close to Klitschko in a decade and I think Tony Thompson was one of the only few to present something of a challenge to Klitschko with his southpaw stance. That was a while ago and I could be wrong. Klitschko had just plonkered Pulev the previous year who fought and went double the length with Joshua six years later pushing forty. Klitschko had been knocked out but never outboxed, and for it to happen in Germany was incredible. He was a huge underdog.

Coming back from being an alcoholic and drug-abusing sumo and going straight in with Wilder in America after two soft touches was something incredible. Then plonkering Wilder in the next one before going to war in the third, clearly out of shape, and having the personal issues with his child. That was a fight for the ages.

Fury'\s colourful rise up the rankings is something I don't discard. He was in plenty of competitive matches from a young age and it was just an incredibly entertaining story.

Admittedly the lines then become blurred between most memorable and better. It's obviously subjective to a considerable degree, but just not sure how Hatton could be above Fury by any metric. The things I remember about Hatton are him beating Tszyu and getting clocked by Mayweather and Pacquiao. Castillo was washed when Hatton beat him.

You're not Scottish, by any chance, are you?

 

Some years from now, Eddie Hearn gives yet another exclusive interview....

"Koogs, you don't understand. For a fighter, any fighter, to face defeat, to get back up off the canvas and back in the gym, that takes a lot. For a champion though Koogs, a man at the very height of the sport, well that's another thing entirely. Remember this is a wealthy man, he doesn't need to box for money, this is about the sport, about pride. It's about how you face defeat and turn it into victory. That's why when AJ beats IBO champion Joe Le Taxi tomorrow night and becomes a seven time world champion, that will be the single greatest achievement in boxing history. Now, my flying car has arrived so we'll have to cut this short.....

 

Sounds like Hearn, verbatim. And the public would lap it up! I often did wonder how long it would take for another one of these bodies to find itself alongside the four others, but I'm starting to think the Saudi belt could come along before that and leave the lot of them playing second fiddle. Joshua might pick up a strap while the big dogs go for the Saudi title.

 

I think the top 4 of Lewis, JC, Froch and Hatton is pretty set in stone (order can vary)

 

His win vs Maidana probably better than the most.

 

You do know Maidana wasn't that well regarded at the time. He'd lost to the mediocre Andreas Kotelnik, went life and death with Victor Ortiz, and lost every single round to Devon Alexander.

He improved later on when he moved to Robert Garcia. But make no mistake about it the Maidana at light welter from the Kotelnik/Ortiz/Khan fights was nowhere near as good as the end of his career Garcia trained version at welterweight in the Broner and Mayweather fights.

 

No I get that. But he was a crude slugger (Khans kryptonite) and he roughed out a good win.

The point I was making is that although Khans career ended in a farce, he was decent for a few years

 

No Johnny Nelson on that list. He made 9 world title defences in the time frame.

 

Better than Frampton ?? No way for me.
I always thought Harrison was good but nothing special.

 

Only because the thread starter said the fighter has to have fought at least a 3rd of his fights during this century.

 

Lennox laid the groundwork in the 90s
Putting him at the top for this century would be like putting Bryan Robson as the best Man Utd player of the 90s.