Britain and Ireland's greatest boxing nights 2001-2011 - Please vote!

I'm writing a series of articles on British and Irish boxing's greatest nights from 2001-2011 (up to and including Oct 15.) I'm avoiding the 90s just now because Eubank, Benn, Watson has been done to death. At the moment I have no idea where this serial may land - maybe self publish, published, magazine, website...

Anyway, I would sincerely appreciate it if you could pick your top ten fights to have taken place on British and Irish soil from 2001 to 2011. I'm going to be contacting a host of boxing writers to get them to vote as well. I've placed this thread on other forums as well. So far I've had a very good response via email, forums, twitter and facebook.

The fights with the most votes will be made up into a top ten. From there I will write about them and interview every person possible who was involved with the fight, from the matchmaker to the ref to the fighters themselves.

If it takes off I'll look at doing other eras as well.

I'll keep the thread alive for a couple of weeks and let you know the results.

So if you could take the time to cast your top ten, as I said, I'd sincerely appreciate it.

Thanks


Shaun Brown

Calzaghe vs Lacy (spelling!!)

No matter how many people say now that Lacy was over-rated there was an awful lot of people who backed Lacy to win.

Of course a onesided beating ensued.

What kind of fights do you mean more specifically? Do you mean actual great fights in terms of excitement and action? Or ones with the most significance and acheivement attached?

Hatton v Tszyu would be a certainty to start with I imagine

Hatton v Tzyu

Calzaghe v Kessler was better (of course knowing what we know now)

Froch v Pascal

Khan v Prescott

manos de piedra wrote:Hatton v Tszyu would be a certainty to start with I imagine

Haye-Maccarinelli.
Calzaghe-Kessler.
Froch-Pascal.

I have to say the best fight on these shores from 2001 - 2011 has to be Dunne v Cordoba. Epic

If anyone hasn't seen this fight, its a must watch, its on youtube

manos de piedra wrote:What kind of fights do you mean more specifically? Do you mean actual great fights in terms of excitement and action? Or ones with the most significance and acheivement attached?

No specifics mate. Simply just want your votes on Britain and Ireland's greatest boxing nights. It can be great fights, significance, achievement.... you pick.

Depends on whether you mean the fight or the event. In terms of an event I would say Calzaghe v Kessler (which I had the pleasure of attending). 50,000 people all in one place watching the fight and the drinking in Cardiff before hand was amazing. The fight didn't disappoint either although it was not a classic. Fight wise though, Hatton v Tszyu was special. I watched that fight down my local the next morning and everyone in the pub was just blown away. Must admit I didn't think the Hitman had it in him to beat Tszyu but he proved me wrong. Harrison v McCullough was another classic. That was non-stop war.

Scottrf wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:Hatton v Tszyu would be a certainty to start with I imagine

Haye-Maccarinelli.
Calzaghe-Kessler.
Froch-Pascal.

Moore-Rhodes (or Macklin but that was a lesser title)
Khan-Kotelnyk

From an Irish perspective, the night Bernard Dunne defeated Ricardo Cordoba was certainly the greatest night over this period.

That day Ireland had defeated Wales to win their first Grandslam in God knows how long. That night in The Point/O2 had an undercard of Andy Lee, Andy Murray (who recently fought Gavin Rees) and the token appearance of Jim Rock. A lot of the Rugby players had made it over for the fight, and if memory serves me, they got a standing ovation from the crowd.

The fight itself was an absolute cracker. He put Cordoba down in the third. Cordoba got back up and put Dunne down twice in the fifth. Knowing Dunne had a terrible chin, I thought it was all over, but he made it to the end of the round. Coming out for the sixth, again I thought it was only a matter of time before Cordoba KO'd Dunne, but he boxed brilliantly and controlled the round.

Coming into the 11th, I had the fight close, possibly Dunne slightly ahead, but unknown to anyone, the judges had Cordoba winning by 7, 5 and 3 rounds. Cordoba by this stage was looking increasingly tired, and towards the end of the round Dunne put him down. He got back up, but the crowd roared Dunne on as he floored him again. Time was running out as Dunne went again on the offensive this time to finish it. It was agonizing as the seconds ticked down, but finally Dunne put him down again and the referee stopped the contest. There was one second left on the clock when the referee did so.

Cue elation in the ring and the stands, although it was worrying that Cordoba taken out on a stretcher and straight to hospital. Lots of Guinness was consumed that night, on a day widely regarded as the greatest day in Irish sport.

Write all that just for Soldier of Fortune to nip in ahead of me.

Ones I have attended that stuck in my mind were as follows

Calzaghe Lacy - Unbelievable performance and easily fogotten plenty were tipping Joe to lose.

Froch Pascal - Start of an unbelievable run of fights for Carl and a cracking atmosphere and fight

Calzaghe Kessler - 50,000 and a unfication fight, can't ask for much more.

Others worth a mention

Hatton Kostya for reasons others have stated

Woods Hoye, am a Sheffield lad so seeing Clinton win a title at the fourth attempt was emotional stuff and proof persistance has its rewards.

Macklin Moore - Best domestic fight I have seen in an age.

6oldenbhoy wrote:From an Irish perspective, the night Bernard Dunne defeated Ricardo Cordoba was certainly the greatest night over this period.

That day Ireland had defeated Wales to win their first Grandslam in God knows how long. That night in The Point/O2 had an undercard of Andy Lee, Andy Murray (who recently fought Gavin Rees) and the token appearance of Jim Rock. A lot of the Rugby players had made it over for the fight, and if memory serves me, they got a standing ovation from the crowd.

The fight itself was an absolute cracker. He put Cordoba down in the third. Cordoba got back up and put Dunne down twice in the fifth. Knowing Dunne had a terrible chin, I thought it was all over, but he made it to the end of the round. Coming out for the sixth, again I thought it was only a matter of time before Cordoba KO'd Dunne, but he boxed brilliantly and controlled the round.

Coming into the 11th, I had the fight close, possibly Dunne slightly ahead, but unknown to anyone, the judges had Cordoba winning by 7, 5 and 3 rounds. Cordoba by this stage was looking increasingly tired, and towards the end of the round Dunne put him down. He got back up, but the crowd roared Dunne on as he floored him again. Time was running out as Dunne went again on the offensive this time to finish it. It was agonizing as the seconds ticked down, but finally Dunne put him down again and the referee stopped the contest. There was one second left on the clock when the referee did so.

Cue elation in the ring and the stands, although it was worrying that Cordoba taken out on a stretcher and straight to hospital. Lots of Guinness was consumed that night, on a day widely regarded as the greatest day in Irish sport.

I agree. I have to also say Macklin v Moore aswell

Scottrf wrote:

Scottrf wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:Hatton v Tszyu would be a certainty to start with I imagine

Haye-Maccarinelli.
Calzaghe-Kessler.
Froch-Pascal.

Moore-Rhodes (or Macklin but that was a lesser title)
Khan-Kotelnyk

Dunne-Cordoba
Burns-Martinez

6oldenbhoy wrote:Write all that just for Soldier of Fortune to nip in ahead of me.

Haha sorry, you put it better then I ever could haha. It gets my vote. Would have amazing to witness live

Macklin v Moore
Hatton v Tszyu
Gomez v Arthur
Calzaghe v Lacy
Calzaghe v Kessler
Haye v Thompson
Froch v Pascal
Dunne v Cordoba
Burns v Martinez
Katsidas v Earl

The best night I've experienced in terms of being there in the flesh was Froch-Pascal at the back end of 2008. Having seen so much of Froch on his way up down at the arena, it was very rewarding to see him lift the title in a fight of the year contender, and a real bear pit atmosphere, too.

Nice list Manos. I couldn't miss out Khan so put in his title winning effort. Haye-Thompson, the days of boxing on the BBC!

Yeah I forgot Khan v Kotelnik was in Britain

Thank you very much for the response so far guys. From forums, twitter, fb, emails there have been 35 fights chosen. With a total of 108 votes so far.

sbrown wrote:Thank you very much for the response so far guys. From forums, twitter, fb, emails there have been 35 fights chosen. With a total of 108 votes so far.

Can you shortlist them?

Vitali Klitschko vs Lennox Lewis was a competitive fight.

Maybe ruined by the cuts but it ushered in a new era.

Unfortunately it was in America.

Scottrf wrote:Unfortunately it was in America.

"British and Irish boxing's greatest nights from 2001-2011."

Comes down to interpretation I suppose. I didn't read it that the fights had to be in Britain or Ireland.

Strongback wrote:

Scottrf wrote:Unfortunately it was in America.

"British and Irish boxing's greatest nights from 2001-2011."

Comes down to interpretation I suppose. I didn't read it that the fights had to be in Britain or Ireland.

"Anyway, I would sincerely appreciate it if you could pick your top ten fights to have taken place on British and Irish soil"

Scottrf wrote:

Strongback wrote:

Scottrf wrote:Unfortunately it was in America.

"British and Irish boxing's greatest nights from 2001-2011."

Comes down to interpretation I suppose. I didn't read it that the fights had to be in Britain or Ireland.

"Anyway, I would sincerely appreciate it if you could pick your top ten fights to have taken place on British and Irish soil"

You're right, I should have read the whole article.

Can't see it being a great list if its on home soil only. Fury v McDermott might make it.

Hatton v Tszyu, great night and I had the privilege of being there to see Ricky fulfill his destiny.

36 votes away from 500.

earl vs. katsidis
dunne vs. cordoba
haye vs. maccarinelli
froch vs. pascal
hatton vs. tzuyu (sp)
moore vs. rhodes
moore vs. macklin
maccarinelli vs. ola afolabi (probably alone on this)
haye vs. thompson
mitchell vs. katsidis

damn perhaps mitchell - murray was a good shoutand liam walsh - paul appleby though a small fight was excellent

Alex Arthur vs Michael Gomez

Aaaargghh only 23 votes away from 500! Not bad for a one man band with no media publicity!

84 fights been nominated over forums, email, twitter and facebook.

Any more votes guys? I'm shutting off on Halloween and the hard work begins.

105 fights nominated
659 votes

and a mention on Bunce's show

Who are the front runners mate?

sbrown Buncey gave you a shoutout on Bunce's boxing hour, did you see it?

He was telling people to go online and vote. You're mildly famous!

Michael Brodie vs In-Jin Chi

6oldenbhoy wrote:Who are the front runners mate?

I won't deny that the top ten contain some of the usual suspects. Hatton v Tszyu etc but 11 to 20 has an interesting mix of Khan v Prescott, Hatton v Lazcan, Haye v Thompson and Murray v Mitchell.

I'll publish the list in full, across all forums where I posted, when voting ends on Halloween.

Then the hard work of writing a book begins.

AlexHuckerby wrote:sbrown Buncey gave you a shoutout on Bunce's boxing hour, did you see it?

He was telling people to go online and vote. You're mildly famous!

Yeah I did. I was mildly chuffed

sbrown wrote:

6oldenbhoy wrote:Who are the front runners mate?

I won't deny that the top ten contain some of the usual suspects. Hatton v Tszyu etc but 11 to 20 has an interesting mix of Khan v Prescott, Hatton v Lazcano, Haye v Thompson and Murray v Mitchell.

I'll publish the list in full, across all forums where I posted, when voting ends on Halloween.

Then the hard work of writing a book begins.

That one's a little suprising.

The Galveston Giant wrote:

sbrown wrote:

6oldenbhoy wrote:Who are the front runners mate?

I won't deny that the top ten contain some of the usual suspects. Hatton v Tszyu etc but 11 to 20 has an interesting mix of Khan v Prescott, Hatton v Lazcano, Haye v Thompson and Murray v Mitchell.

I'll publish the list in full, across all forums where I posted, when voting ends on Halloween.

Then the hard work of writing a book begins.

That one's a little suprising.

Surprised me too. But there's no denying it was a great night because it was a great event. I asked everyone for their greatest fight nights. No criteria, basically whatever floated your boat as a great night. Some have went for Khan v Prescott "because it made him a man" as one person said. Some chose Froch v Dirrell because it was the beginning of the S6 "I had goosebumps" to add another quote from a voter. Each to their own.

Given where certain fights are currently placed there's a few surprises for you all.

sbrown wrote:

The Galveston Giant wrote:

sbrown wrote:

6oldenbhoy wrote:Who are the front runners mate?

I won't deny that the top ten contain some of the usual suspects. Hatton v Tszyu etc but 11 to 20 has an interesting mix of Khan v Prescott, Hatton v Lazcano, Haye v Thompson and Murray v Mitchell.

I'll publish the list in full, across all forums where I posted, when voting ends on Halloween.

Then the hard work of writing a book begins.

That one's a little suprising.

Surprised me too. Given where certain fights are currently placed there's a few surprises for you all.

Looking forward to the results.

Would agree GG that Hatton Lazcano is a bit of a surprise, however the more I think about it, it kind of does make sense that it features. Is rare enough that a fighter can draw 50,000 in this country but to do it for a tune up on the back of a loss is staggering and is pretty much historical so perhaps should feature.

Can't be too suprised i suppose with a Hatton fight rowley, the guy didn't have many off nights.

The sheer popularity as well.
Don't forget that a lot of the casuals would have voted for Hatton.

Does Ireland include all of Ireland or just northern Ireland not all of Ireland is in Britain now. It is strange for sport there are two football teams but only one rugby team.

Dunne v Cordoba was a great fight but it was in southern Ireland not sure if that counts?

Waingro wrote:Does Ireland include all of Ireland or just northern Ireland not all of Ireland is in Britain now. It is strange for sport there are two football teams but only one rugby team.

Dunne v Cordoba was a great fight but it was in southern Ireland not sure if that counts?

He's so cute.

Waingro wrote:Does Ireland include all of Ireland or just northern Ireland not all of Ireland is in Britain now. It is strange for sport there are two football teams but only one rugby team.

Dunne v Cordoba was a great fight but it was in southern Ireland not sure if that counts?

Yes it counts.

I'm at 842 votes folks. Trying to get to a 1000 by end of play on Monday.

So if you haven't voted, please do!

Editor of Boxing Monthly has kindly agreed to write the book's foreword for me.

Glyn is a good lad. Good luck with the book.