Top 100 British boxers - the final list (1-20)

Here is the final top 20, bringing to an end the debate for the Top British boxer of all time. As we seem to be going through a golden age, it will be interesting to see where some of our current heroes will be in a year's time. Where, for instance, will Matt Skelton feature if he pulls of the upset of upsets against Ruslan Chagaev on Saturday.

Some may be disappointed that there do not seem to be many changes in the top ten. Well, it is my list, and I did take on board all the comments and, to a lesser extent, the vote.

The biggest change sees Nigel Benn drop out of the top five, with Ken Buchanan moving up a place. Jimmy Wilde also moved up three places to six, which saw Benn drop to seven, Hamed to eight and Honeyghan to nine. Jim Driscoll, Dennis Andries and Benny Lynch all move into the top 20.

Well, I've thoroughly enjoyed doing this list, now onto the next one. The idea is to do one division worldwide per month. And round them up at the end. I don't know when that will be, but I reckon the A40 roadworks at Acton still won't be finished!

1. Ted 'Kid' Lewis

2. Joe Calzaghe

3. Lennox Lewis

4. Randolph Turpin

5. Ken Buchanan

6. Jimmy Wilde

7. Nigel Benn

8. Naseem Hamed

9. Lloyd Honeyghan

10. Ricky Hatton

11. John Conteh

12. Jack 'Kid' Berg

13. Barry McGuigan

14. Jim Watt

15. Freddie Welsh

16. Alan Minter

17. Jim Driscoll

18. Chris Eubank

19. Dennis Andries

20. Benny Lynch

Comments

[Straight left]

By placing Joe Calzaghe at number two (to state but the most glaring travesty) you've undermined any credibility this list might have deserved. Calzaghe does not belong in the top 100, let alone the top 2.

The man has built his fame on fighting over-the-top 'name' opponents at the opportune time in an era when the talent in the middleweight to lightheavy divisions is at an all time low. Calzaghe would have been lucky to last a round with the likes of Jock McAvoy, and Len Harvey would have boxed him senseless, and given him a lesson in delivering a stiff straight left (which, in case you don't know, is the oldtimers' version of a jab), as opposed to the arm punches Calzaghe throws himself.

To see him flay his arms around like a novice as though he hasn't been taught to punch correctly and then find him ranked above men he wouldn’t have been fit to share a ring with would be laughable if it were not so terribly sad.

Naseem Hammed?! Jim Driscoll would have feinted him silly!

Ricky Hatton at number 10!? Would Hatton have gone 15 rounds with the great Henry Armstrong as Ernie Roderick did? Is Roderick even on your list? Have you even heard of the man?

I could point out the errors and omissions in this list until I ran out of space to type, but I think you get the idea…

Essentially you can’t compare fighters from different eras like-for-like, but if you insist on doing so you should at least take the stats into account. Look at the number of fights they had, the quality of opposition, and the number of active fighters in that era – which is perhaps most telling of all.

As an example, there were around 6,500-7,000 active professional boxers in Britain in 1929. How many are there in 2009? A few hundred? It stands to reason that if there are 10 times as many fighters competing for honours then the overall standard will be a hell of a lot better.

How would Calzaghe have got on in an era with ten times as many fighters, where he couldn’t hand-pick his opponents, or choose where he wanted to fight, and he had to fight week in week out to make ends meet? Would he have been a world champ, a British champ, or even a Welsh champ? I couldn’t say even the last one with any certainty.

Unless you've done in-depth research into the careers of these old-time fighters you should refrain from ranking them, because you're otherwise simply not qualified to pass judgment on them.

Perhaps you have a good understanding and knowledge of the fight game from, say, the last 20 or 30 years, and if that is the case then you should stick to writing about it. From this list I can tell you know very little about pre-war British boxing.

In future do yourself and these great men who fought in the sport’s greatest era a favour, and write about what you know.

[Phill Arrowsmith]

Someone had to do this so I'll do it first. We always favour older boxers when deciding on 'The Greatest'. Partly for good reason i.e. one world champ from fewer divisions.
I wonder where Joe will appear when people look back in 10, 20, 50 years time. I suspect he could be right at the top.

[zakłady bukmacherskie]

nice blog, i am sure i will back here often

[bryn roberts]

chris eubank in at 18, come on!
he was technically a superb boxer, strong and could bang. he battered nigel benn in their first fight and was far superior to the dark destroyer in my book.
and so was micheal watson.
i would have loved to see chris in his prime take on roy jones or james toney.

[Ron Lewis]

I would refer you to my remarks of December 6!

Check Top 100 British boxers in categories on the right, then go to Nos 11-20.

[Danny C]

In response to Mike's comments (Barry Mcguigan is not British), the reason he is probably in this list is he represented Northern Ireland at the 78 commonwealth games and took out British citizenship.

He is also chairman of the PBA.

It's a shame this issue has always been thrown up whenever McGuigan is mentioned.

No one seems to question Dennis Andries (born Guyana) or Herbie Hide (born Nigeria) or even questions Lennox Lewis when he represented Canada at the Olympics.

No one is disputing where he was born.

[frank dunn]

Henry Cooper in top 20 please. But for a bit of bad refereeing he would have beaten Cassius Clay.

[Dave Potter]

I would agree with most of the Top 20 however i'm absolutely shocked that Jim "Head Butt" Watt made the Top 20. His tactics against Sean O'Grady would have guaranteed disqualification in 90% of World Title fights fought in civilised countries however by some quirk nothing was done. He was a limited albeit brave fighter who would struggle to make my top 100.

[martin ryan]

disappointing that Dave Charnley and Howard Winstone did not make the top 20.
very very surprised.

[Ron Lewis]

Jim and Duncan, thanks for joining the debate if a bit late. Click on the category Top 100 British boxers on the right hand side to read all the posts and the debate. The next list will be the greatest middleweights of all time, so please feel to contribute to that debate.

[Jim]

No Freddie Mills

[Ron Lewis]

Downes is at 22

[Duncan Heenan]

Where is Terry Downes?
World Middleweight Champion missing!

[p.hooper]

I am not sure about this top 20,some of the best names are not included.we have gone back to the old days ,moved forward to today and missed the middle.

[Crashing Dashing Kid]

Good to see common sense prevail and Kid Lewis remaining atop the pile. Very entertaining article this has been over the past few weeks. Well done to the writer. I'd have had Benny Lynch higher and Turpin lower. Certainly Lynch was better than Andries but I'm sure many on the list thought they were better than Dennis!

[Ron Lewis]

Mike, see the earlier reply under The Top British Boxers (11-20)

[Mike]

Barry McGuigan is from Clones in Monaghan, which is in the Republic of Ireland. I understand he is loved in Britain as he is in Ireland and long may that respect continue. It's fantastic to see him so highly rated by your newspaper. The fact remains that he is not British. Why is he in the list?

[James Fairweather]

One could quibble about precise orders till Doomsday, but with the exception of Moran for Minter and, arguably, Winstone for Andries, those are the names that I'd expect to see in the Top 20.

A really noble effort, Ron, if I may say so - it's interesting, don't you think, how few of our brightest and best can truly be accounted "great" in world terms? The top half-dozen, certainly; Driscoll, Welsh, Lynch and Moran are also deserving members of the Hall of Fame in Canastota. McGuigan is a more controversial selection, as will Hamed be if he gets elected. Barely a dozen names in all - the difference between very good and truly great was never so starkly illustrated.