My hope is that Tommy has agreed to everything required and that he steps in the ring and smashes the YouTuber into tomorrow and then tells the world what was expected in the contract. Allow these fights to happen, but there should not be clauses, it’s a disgrace to the sport.
All done. Have to say a good fight, very enjoyable. Fury just edged it. He was well cut up at the end.
Only saw a bit of him, but James Hare was a decent fighter himself, Emu. They had some talent in that ingle stable, though he wasn't an ingle style fighter as i recall. He'll have been same time, same stable, same weight as junior witter. Bit of a herol graham fan in the 80's, somehow managed to come up short in the big fights, but got his shots against top quality operators. Still occasionally watch the jackson fight and wonder how a guy with his amazing reflexes, didn't see the ko punch coming. Probably answered my own question... he didn't see it. Out before he hit the floor.
Yeah James was a great fighter. Won a minor version of the world title, the WBF I think it was. If he had a bit more power he'd have gone a bit higher.He was a typical Ingle fighter, very hard to hit. I've been in the gym at Wincobank a few times and met Junior Witter, Brendan, Dominic, Johnny Nelson (really great guy), a young Kell Brook (who I was told was the next big thing), Clinton Woods, Richard Towers. All very welcoming guys. Had some great nights out at the boxing and back then the domestic scene was bustling. Some really good fights. I was never in to the big arenas and the one time I went to support Harey at the MEN I missed his fight because I was in the bar. He limped up to where we were sitting and settled in to watch Michael Brodie and Injin Chi fight each other to a standstill with a broken nose, cauliflower ears, black eye. Ge was fuming when we told him we'd been drinking Guinness downstairs and missed his "Rocky" fight.
Happy days fella... they all seemed decent guys 'from a distance'. Naz being the exception. Brodie Chi was brutal. Pretty much finished Brodie.
Brodie got home in Sunderland early hours to find his wife throwing all his clothes all over the lawn and wanting a divorce if memory serves me correctly. A night to remember...
Always thought witter had a load of talent but probably didn’t really have the belief… a bit underrated. Meanwhile, over the penines, Hatton was incredibly well managed and somewhat over-rated. But Fair play.. your mate was starched by a legit world champion.
Alan Bosworth he worked as a driver for the local council who often threatened to sack him if he had time off so his training worked around a full time job. He’d often get offered fights at short notice
Witter was highly skilled but wasn't easy on the eye so never really took off. It's all about selling tickets and Witter wasn't really making promotors money. Hatton on the other hand....
Watched him fight shea neary… gave him a really tough fight. Guys like him are/were the mainstay of boxing. Nothing but respect for him. You lose a few close fights and end up a ‘journeyman’… as you say the cards are stacked against you, but you still take the fights and give a good account of yourself. He fought a who’s who of the the guys of his generation… Fair play.
That’s true enough - most fight fans like a chin first slugger. That said if he was white and had a set of football fans behind him it would have helped sell a few tickets. I liked a counter puncher, so never really liked or rated Hatton particularly, and quite liked witter. Shame they never fought. Witter could be too safety first and never got over the ‘runner’ rep after the Judah fight he took at short notice. As mentioned earlier I don’t think he really believed in himself.
I am an 80's child. I was brought up on pressure fighters like Mike Tyson and ultimately Nigel Benn. I had a soft spot for Hatton. His win against Kostya Tszyu is up there as an all time contender of a result by a British fighter imo. His win against Castillo is often overlooked too. His longevity suffered because of his lifestyle outside the ring. My favourite boxer in my lifetime is Lennox though. He had everything.
I was spoilt in the early 80s with Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran. Early to mid 80s the heavyweight division was just a non event and I loved the Welterweight - Middleweight division. Loved Lennox but his career should have been even better if it wasn’t for those scared of him and the thieving Don King Most disliked British Boxer David Haye he grinds my gears
I didn’t and don’t dislike Hatton the person, just think he was brilliantly protected/managed. My view was always that the tszyu fight was a great fight but it was also superb matchmaking - timing is everything, I think i was one of the few outside the blue moon brigade who gave Hatton a chance… Tszyu was fairly inactive and ageing. Never fought again. Castillo was a very good fighter and the only guy who has a genuine claim to have beaten Mayweather. But was he ever teally the same after the corralles fight? He came up in weight and his one fight at light welter before hatton was a disputed win against a guy who Had no real right to push him close. So for me, Castillo… good win but great name on your cv, and great match making. Harsh truth ( and I accept it is very harsh considering who they are!) is Ricky fought two great fighters in their primes and got the sh*t kicked out of him. There are very few British world champions who’ve actually beaten a top world champion in their prime. Stracey beat an all time great in Napoles, but again got him at just the right time as did mcguigan with Pedrosa. The standout is obviously Turpin beating Robinson and in my lifetime honeyghan beating curry… and even then the yanks will claim curry was weight drained. Never really liked Nigel benn either though can’t fault the excitement his fights brought. I was there for his standout win against McClellan… maybe the best card ever put together in a uk ring… and a very tragic ending obviously. I’m with you on Lewis though bud! …. get me started on Boxing
Yeh, The post Ali/Holmes apocalypse of coke snorting heavyweights was desperate until Tyson cleared them out. Everything from feather to middle was brilliant in the early to mid 80’s though. In addition to the fab 4, you had Sanchez, nelson, arguello, Pryor, Benitez… all time greats and they fought each other. Only really Hagler, at middle until the others came up to fight him. Middleweight picked up with super middle in the late 80’s early 90s. Happy days. can’t argue with David haye on the dislike list but Carl Froch tops it for me.
