What British boxer disappointed you most?

haye a bit

i was just expecting more better fights from him after all the ridiculing of the heavyweight division he did which really got me behind him as the things he was sayign needed saying but since then theres not been a lot to support, ruiz and barrett were good but 2 ok fights in a few years isnt exactly what i was hoping for to say the least

hopefully he turns it around and has a good fight vs wlad, but even if he wins rather than thinking 'oh great he'll rule the heavyweight division and put some excitement back in it' id expect him to do nothing for about 15 months then fight a 41 year old vitali

rambling but you get the idea

 

Totally agree on Barnes and the Light Middles. Spot on mate.

Yeah tbh he gave a lot of excuses after the first fight. Felt unwell that sorta stuff. Basically kidded himself that he wasn't on form and Martinez got lucky. He did buzz Martinez in round 2 i think but Sergio was just sheer class and the second fight you can see him really feel the weight at LMW. Richard met a world class nobody who was soon to become a somebody.

 

Naseem Hameed.

 

It has to be Naseem Hamed. No shame in getting beat by Barrera, bu the fact that he never really came back after that and never attempted to get back to the very top is very dissapointing. Towards the end of his career it seemed like he wasnt taking his boxing as seriously as at the start...

 

Disappointed is probably the wrong word but I always thought Peter Culshaw could have made it to a higher level than he did.

 

Alex Arthur dissapointed me big time. He was very talented and skillful. Obviously Audley was a disaster and Naz had the potential to be a great fighter.

 

Have to agree with this. He had bags of potential. The money didn't do him much good i reckon. His hands apparently balooned up after fights aswell. I think he just lost the hunger late in his career.

 

Ian Napa...

Got involved with the wrong crowd and, as a result, his career was ruined and although he won the European belt, it could have been a lot more...

One of the best pure boxers I have seen from our shores.

 

I think that's a reasonable criticism.

Perhaps he realised that he could make stacks of money fighting handpicked opponents for a while before taking the big fight that the fans want to see.

If he hadn't given it the Bertie Big Bollocks routine and had just fought regularly for two years before taking this fight I'm sure many people would look upon him differently, including me.

It's his cherrypicking of Harrison that rankled me the most, but Sky are equally to blame for that farce it must be said.

 

Ricky Hatton. For in my opinion being one of the most gifted british boxers but not training right during his career, all the time spend in his training camp making him lose all that lard he puts on after EVERY fight could have spend in a more productive manner

 

Naz for retiring after his fight with Manuel Calvo. But also not being active.

He was great in 1997. Fighting five times.

Then in 1998, 1999, 2000 he fought just twice in each year. Until his one loss against Barrerra in 2001, and then his last fight in 2002.

It was strange how the more he brought religion into his boxing, the crapper he became.

He went from flying british flags and not saying anything about allah. Then "allah" crept into his post fight interviews. Until his last fight were he flew the yemeni flag soley, and started spouting his allah akbar stuff before his fight against Barrerra.

Religion shouldn't come into any sport.

 

:deal

 

Agreed, i really expected him to come back for one last try but he was well and truely beaten by Barrera that night.

 

The greatest thing I ever saw in the ring mate :good

Naz coming in, grabbing the microphone, shouting all that bollcks about Allah (BEFORE THE FIGHT HAD EVEN STARTED) to a pro-christian crowd and then getting his arse handed to him by a Christian Mexican :deal

For me Naz is the exact opposite of this thread..... I have taken no greater pleausre from a fighter i've loved than i did watching Naz, a fighter I couldnt stand take his hiding like a good little boy

WAR MARCO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for the thread........I would have loved to have seen where kevin Lear could have gone.

 

I think Hatton is a strange case.

If he'd applied himself to staying in reasonable nick out of training camp and fought the fighters he did he'd still finish with a 45-2 slate.

What is frustrating about him is that he had had about 20 fights before moving up to domestic title level, then 16 WBU fights, only about six of them against what you'd call a good opponent.

It was the classic Allegedly tactic of waiting for a weak champion or a faded top man before making the move.

If he hadn't left Allegedly and went on the Ricky Burns run of weak defences I'm sure even the most die-hard Hatton fan could accept him being criticised. But to his credit he took on some stiff challenges in his latter career building toward the Floyd fight.

It's just frustrating that because of his lifestyle and crap promotion he didn't achieve more in his 47 fights, and that he was arguably starting to slide by the time he made his move.