I never hear his name ever mentioned and I was wondering where does he rate among Benn,Eubank and /Calazaghe.He wa a very talented boxer.
Fourth of four. But Hope was a very solid alphabet champion, and is probably one of the 20 finest post World War II British fiighters. On top of this he was an influence to the West Indian origin fighters who came along on later on in the 80s, like Honeyghan, Bruno and I suspect Benn.
very good fighter brought up the old school way, matched hard and often from the off. i rmemeber him well used to see him often in the street and he trained at the royal oak gym in canning town. he was a good career light middle. stepped up to middle to face bunny stirling, another famous west indian but lost. went to germany against dagge and was unlucky not to win got a fdraw in his first title fight, then i think he beat vito antuerfermo in italy and then beat the very strong and rugged italian mattioli who like antuerfermo was built like a tank in italy to win the title. defened v an american whose name i forget kenty ? won in the mid rounds. then v mattioli again this time in england and again won inside the distance. then v a black south american and then the loss to benitez in america when he retired. part of the famous terry lawless stable of boxers at the time and was a very humble and quiet man, never in the spotlight except when fighting. fought a lot on tv in a time of only 3 channels in the uk so was very well known. this was in an era when you were never given easy title fights or easy matchmaking and really had to earn there money.
