Best brits to never win a world title

Alrite gents. who do you reckon is the best never to win a strap.

Personally I think Herol Graham takes some beating. One of the most naturally gifted boxers ever from these shores.

Absolute tragedy he never was champion,he was so close.

Jim Driscoll, one of the great featherweights but being a man of his word cost him the chance to finish the job against Attell.

Graham, Eastman and then the complicated case of Owen Moran.

Hi, Adam T. Ah, this old chestnut. Well for my money there's one contender only-Herol Graham

https://www.606v2.com/t27274-herol-bomber-graham?highlight=herol+graham+andygf

Bomber normally tops this pole. Best fighter or best talent? There's a decent argument that graham was unlucky... And a decent one that he was a bit of a choker.

Best talent not to win a title? Laing?

Laing of course, great fighter. The body snatcher says that Herol was probably best pure boxer he faced. High praise indeed from a man who had a trilogy with James Toney

Exactly the same argument for Eastman as well Milky, was without a doubt in my mind a better middleweight than Joppy but was so lackadaisical he left it too late. Graham started well against McCallum as he often did but then let himself get outworked in the second half of the fight.

Eastman, Graham and Laing had all the talent in the world but didn't have mental fortitude to make the most of their talent.

The Kalambay and mccallum fights were similar in that you just felt that graham wasn't his usual self. To this day I've never worked out whether the occasion got to him or whether the moves and reflexes that made fools of lesser fighters, just didn't quite work against the very best. Given that neither kalambay fight was for a world belt, I guess the natural conclusion is that it was more technical issue than choke.

The Jackson fight was different, just a loss of concentration against probably the best one punch ko merchant of his generation.

What about Tony Sibson? If there had been 4 middleweight titles to fight for in the early 80's then I think he would have won one. He was just unlucky that when he was fighting at middleweight, Hagler was the only option if you wanted to become champ.

Joe Bugner's another one. He had to compete in heavyweight boxings greatest era, and again there was only one title to fight for.

Colin Jones was very good as well, in an another era he would have held a belt.

Good call Hogey...

Thought he beat Mccrory first up..

Lot of time for this guy

Seeing as he was robbed out of winning an ABC...

Give Michael Brodie a mention..

Beat me to Brodie there TRUSS...would also give a shout-out to Michael Watson.

Michael Watson is a great shout. Anyone that ever boxed him says how fantastic a natural boxer he was and also strong as an ox. Great shout Dave.

Howard Winstone, took the great Saldivar all the way before succumbing to the expected late onslaught not once but three times.

Sibbo is a good shout.............Three shots at a belt.......Awful against the dreadful Andries but we'll forgive him that because of the great battle with Don Lee..

Was going to mention Bradley Pryce but he's just biding his time before striking with the speed of a snake and the ferocity of a particularly angry tiger.

Tremble wiv fear...Bradley is near!!!!!

Wrote this ages ago, Cowdell is up there with one of the top guys to have never won a world title from Britain in my view mate.

Pat Cowdell was a very promising boxer the second he turned professional. The man was a former 4 time ABA Champion and also a Commonwealth Gold medalist combined with an extremely respectable Olympic Bronze Medal.

He showed signs of having World Class ability from the beginning of his career, showing a wide range of boxing techniques, he was able to move in and out of range with ease and caught out his opponent using his quick hands. Whilst perhaps not having enough power to be known as a banger, he very much held respectable power in both hands to hold off opponents and force opponents onto the backfoot.

His career shot off quickly easily battling his way a shot at the British Featherweight title against Dave Needham. One that sadly Cowdell lost on a slightly controversial 15 round points decision. However because of this he managed to immediately gain his chance to a rematch to rectify this and beat Needham to a close decision winning the British Featherweight Title. He went onto defend this title and would win the much coveted Lonsdale belt. Cowdell then went on to beat all of his domestic challenges that awaited himpushing him onto a World Title shot against Salvador Sanchez. Sanchez was at the time 41 - 1 and was P4P No. 2 just behind Sugar Ray Leonard and in many other peoples eyes was actually P4P No 1. Many people naturally gave Cowdell no chance, with newspapers actually writing about Cowdell possibly just taking the fight with the financial implications.

Cowdell proved all the critics wrong by even making the full 15 rounds and not only that seriously pushing Sanchez to the limit, giving the worldwide superstar and extremely stern test. He lost on a narrow but fair split decision but proved that he was a very worthy opponent to anyone on the Featherweight scene.

Cowdell bounced back from his World Title loss and began blasting his way through the domestic scene once more and won the European Featherweight Belt in a one sided victory ending in a 12th round knockout. He defended his European Belt multiple times earning him another shot for the WBC World Title.

He would fight Azumah Nelson, many thought that as long as Cowdell could stay away from Nelson's power he would be able to use his superior boxing ability and beat Nelson. Sadly Cowdell had to feel the power very early and was knocked out in the first round by a punch that would have taken out most Featherweights.

Pat's career fizzled out somewhat after this however he would move up to Super Featherweight and win a British title and defend it several times before being taking out by the unbeaten Floyd Harvard in the eighth.

In my opinion Pat has a real shout at being one of the best British fighters that eluded a World title. As his style was not massively exciting he didn't set the world alight and possibly cost him other shots at world titles by not bringing in enough of a draw, however I do feel that it was mainly down to timing and facing teak tough opposition that he never won a world title.

The Sanchez fight certainly had one of the worst cards I've ever seen.........

Think Cowdell won it on Stevie wonder's........

Thought the guy was a complete stinker...........Though in fairness I've only seen 3/4 fights !!

He's a lovely chap........But Nelson did us all a favor..

Ok, so outside the obvious/already mentioned, here are a few names that immediately spring to mind ( Im not saying these were good enough too be world champion....but that is not the question)

david starrie, david barnes, kell brook (will he ever?), maurice cullen (bit biased, knew the guy), michael jennings, henry wharton.

Actually, within the parameters of the question "best brits never to win a world title" you'd have to consider all Lonsdale Belt winners who never achieved world honours.

Henry Wharton
Alan Rudkin
Kevin Finnegan
Johnny Owen
Ernie Roderick
Ryan Rhodes
Jamie Moore

3fingers wrote:Ok, so outside the obvious/already mentioned, here are a few names that immediately spring to mind ( Im not saying these were good enough too be world champion....but that is not the question)

david starrie, david barnes, kell brook (will he ever?), maurice cullen (bit biased, knew the guy), michael jennings, henry wharton.

Barnes and Jennings weren't close to world class. Was Cullen?

Rendall Munroe: already beaten current title holder Martinez and recent title holder Terrazas.

Both finnegan's are decent shouts.

Henry Wharton? We're scraping the barrel a bit now. If you're having Wharton I'm putting fidel Castro smith forward... As he gave him a boxing lesson (before being completely jobbed) and was infinitely more talented.

milkyboy wrote:Both finnegan's are decent shouts.

Henry Wharton? We're scraping the barrel a bit now. If you're having Wharton I'm putting fidel Castro smith forward... As he gave him a boxing lesson (before being completely jobbed) and was infinitely more talented.

Wharton gave Benn a tough fight - dropped him in fact - though was outclassed by Eubank and well beaten by Reid.

Not a world class fighter in the truest sense but so many fighters have landed alphabet belts in recent years I think it's fair to say he belongs with the best of the rest.

Glad I actually joined the forum. Some knowledgeable posters on here. All my mates think I know everything about boxing but I certainly do not. Thanks for the replys guys!

hazharrison wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Both finnegan's are decent shouts.

Henry Wharton? We're scraping the barrel a bit now. If you're having Wharton I'm putting fidel Castro smith forward... As he gave him a boxing lesson (before being completely jobbed) and was infinitely more talented.

Wharton gave Benn a tough fight - dropped him in fact - though was outclassed by Eubank and well beaten by Reid.

Not a world class fighter in the truest sense but so many fighters have landed alphabet belts in recent years I think it's fair to say he belongs with the best of the rest.

He did give benn a decent argument, haz. Ultimately though he was a poor mans ricky hatton. Strong local football following got him the clout to get the chances... And contributed to the worst decision I personally have ever seen in a British ring against smith... Who would be more deserving of a place on the list.

AdamT wrote:Glad I actually joined the forum. Some knowledgeable posters on here. All my mates think I know everything about boxing but I certainly do not. Thanks for the replys guys!

Welcome Adam. There are some knowledgable posters. And I'm here too.

One guy who rarely gets a mention in this debate is Dave Charnley. Good enough to push the excellent Joe Brown all the way and would almost certainly be a champion in the multi belt era.

What do you know about Roderick Rowley?

Roderick rowley was a robber and a r**ist

Welease Wodewick!!

milkyboy wrote:

hazharrison wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Both finnegan's are decent shouts.

Henry Wharton? We're scraping the barrel a bit now. If you're having Wharton I'm putting fidel Castro smith forward... As he gave him a boxing lesson (before being completely jobbed) and was infinitely more talented.

Wharton gave Benn a tough fight - dropped him in fact - though was outclassed by Eubank and well beaten by Reid.

Not a world class fighter in the truest sense but so many fighters have landed alphabet belts in recent years I think it's fair to say he belongs with the best of the rest.

He did give benn a decent argument, haz. Ultimately though he was a poor mans ricky hatton. Strong local football following got him the clout to get the chances... And contributed to the worst decision I personally have ever seen in a British ring against smith... Who would be more deserving of a place on the list.

I was at the Wharton Smith fight,even his own fans knew he'd been well beaten, shocking decision,Bomber Graham lost to Frank Grant the same night,told before the fight Graham was having major problems behind the scenes,didn't even look like Bomber.

Bomber Graham would have been nailed on World Champion now,and I feel Sibbo would have definitely picked up a belt.

Nico the gman wrote:Bomber Graham would have been nailed on World Champion now,and I feel Sibbo would have definitely picked up a belt.

Yep. Sibbo was a better fighter than the recent crop of British middles.

Thought Graham was nailed on to beat McCallum...A lot of us back home rated him...

Seemed to choke on the big occasion...Just didn't commit enough...

Not sure If he was an Ingle fighter but quite a few of them seemed to under achieve..

The Jackson loss was unforgivable though..

Nico, forgot the graham grant fight was on the same bill... Bomber did look a shell.

Truss, graham was the 'original' ingle fighter... Setting the style that naz etc would emulate.