The UK Top Twenty

1= Amir Khan
1= Kell Brook
3- Carl Frampton
4- Jamie Mcdonnell
5= George Groves
5= James Degale
7- Scott Quigg
8- Billy Joe Saunders
9- Lee Selby
10- Kevin Mitchell
11- Tyson Fury
12- Ricky Burns
13- Tony Bellew
14- Martin Murray
15- Callum Smith
16- Kid Galahad
17- Chris Eubank Jnr
18- Anthony Joshua
19- Josh Warrington
20- Lee Haskins

I am assuming that Carl Froch is now in de facto retirement, he’s been a joy to watch over the years, whether you dislike his personality or not you cannot deny he’s been a credit to British boxing with both his matchmaking and grit in the ring.

At this moment in time i’m loath to separate Brook and Khan who despite getting there in different ways are at the same point in their careers, until they fight each other or produce a top top win at Welterweight I feel an equal ranking at the top is fair.

Jamie McDonnell may be a tad high for some, he’s fairly quietly gone under the radar in picking up belts and beating belt holders; he could were it not for a couple of odd political decisions be the unified IBF, WBO and WBA regular world champion. He has in the process shown real determination in taking the 0’s of the big hitting Julio Ceja and the stylish Tomoki Kameda, a couple of blunt fights in between but steps up when it really matters.

Groves and Degale are hard to separate, both with upcoming world title fights of varying difficulty, another big British showdown could be on the cards in they’re both successful, win or lose there are plenty of options at 168lbs with Callum Smith slowly stepping it up.

Beyond what I feel is a fairly world class top 6 there’s not a lot of difference in quality, the careers of Burns, Murray and Bellew are now on a downward path while men like Joshua, Warrington and Selby are on a strong upsurge. Kevin Mitchell as he always seems to be is in last chance saloon and whether Saunders, Galahad and Eubank and progress further than where they currently are remains to be seen.

Overall I feel as though British boxing is as strong as it has ever been, the proliferation of titles helps with that but I would say there are at 15 world level operators currently from these shores.

Not read this yet hammer but I will later....but do you have any idea what Channel Khan vs Algieri is on?! Can't find it anywhere. Not on sky or boxnation.....it's on Spike TV and I've never heard of that.

Cheers in advance

Only briefly looked at this Hammer and a pretty good list and ratings. From a first glance only real gripe think Mitchell is a tad high , would fine a place for Cleverly in the top 20. Not sure Joshua should be making top 20 as of yet as his opposition has been dreadful but depends if we're basing this on talent. Would prob rank McDonnell 3rd tbh although don't think he a better talent than Frampton but at this point he has stronger CV.

Cheers, Rodders

mobilemaster8 wrote:Not read this yet hammer but I will later....but do you have any idea what Channel Khan vs Algieri is on?! Can't find it anywhere. Not on sky or boxnation.....it's on Spike TV and I've never heard of that.

Cheers in advance

I'm pretty sure Sky will pick it up mate as the have a vested interest in Khan, with Khan Brook still a potential fight. Spike TV is what its on in America, one of the channels that PBC is on with all Al Haymon fighters. Spike TV generally pick up the slightly smaller cards, CBS the pretty big cards and NBC pick up the real big ones like Thurman Vs Guerrero and Garcia Vs Peterson. Spike have had the Dirrell Vs. Jack fight and Berto Vs. Lopez, CBS showed Figueroa and Burns just to get you a scale as to how big certain fights are for which channel. Wish I was in america man, primetime TV on free to air TV awesome matches like that, so good...

Only things I'd gripe on Hammer is Cleverly would be in just before Josh Warrington just at the moment. And for me would have Murray just before Belles. Just in there posturing with the big men in there division, Murray pushed Martinez to the wire and could say Murray has given Golovkin his hardest fight alongside Kassim Ouma's test. Whereas Bellew was bombed out by Stevenson with relative ease, can see the argument that Murray is coming off a loss and Belles a win over Cleverly, but for me Murray pushing Golovkin means more than a slodge to the finish over Cleverly who doesn't look a real Cruiser. Rest of list I would say is about bang on as normal mate.

Every time I write Bellew my autocorrect changes it to Belles...

Have realised i've forgotten a whole divisions worth of talent; Flanagan, Crolla, Coyle and Campbell.

Rodders, it's a bit of a mish mash of criteria really; ability, record and divisional standing, the top eleven are all around the top 5 in their weight class, beyond that I have maybe gone too far towards ability than CV.

Warrington was a tricky one, I do rate him although fringe world level is his limit i'd say but unlike a lot on the list he is British, European and Commonwealth champion which must mean something. Cleverly I have no idea what to do with, his record isn't great, he seems completely gun shy and just leaves me feeling a bit meh, we'll know a bit better after the Braehmer fight.

I have a horrible feeling that the Khan fight will be on Spike TV over here as well but if not it has to be SKY, nothing to gain for him fighting on Boxnation. Haymon and Hearn seem to be building up a bit of a transatlantic partnership too.

Seems ok to me although I'd have De Gale above Groves by one, I'd also have Selby, Fury, Mitchell and Saunders above Quigg.

Good list though especially without having remembered Crolla and Campbell. I wouldn't have Coyle in there, he is poor.

Would have Brook as #1. Ring have him #1 behind FMJ and 2 places ahead of Khan who's #3....

Burns shouldn't be that high having lost three of his last four.

Hard to disagree too strongly with anything in that list, Hammersmith, but I think I'd put Frampton at number one right now. Collectively I think his best handful of wins are definitely comparable to Brook's, particularly as he's looked so dominant in them, and he's already shown a couple of different styles of fighting which have been equally effective. Of the top three I think he's arguably the most complete fighter right now.

Splitting Khan and Brook depends on how far back you go in each man's history when evaluating their claims and also on who you think would win if that fight gets made, I guess. I'd go with Khan head-to-head and he seems to be going through one of those peaks in his up-and-down career at the moment, so I'd probably give him a very narrow edge. But as you having them tied at the top shows, it's wafter-thin and to be honest there's not much between the top three at all. But a pretty clear top three they are at the moment.

Outside of that again it's hard to really find any fault but I'd probably put Murray ahead of Bellew. Think Bellew has flattered to deceive a couple of times when he's stepped up his competition, and while Murray has losses to the top divisional guys he's fought, I'd take his efforts against Martinez and Golovkin over Bellew's against Stevenson. But that's a marginal kind of deal again.

Seconded on Frampton, although his division isnt nearly as deep his best wins compare favourably to that of Khan amd Brooks, plus he generally looks the superior boxer p4p. He doesnt actually seem to have any flaws in his game, he has that ability to adapt and fight any way he wants.

And once again seconded on Murray over Bellew for reasons listed by Chris

Other minor things is i'd have Groves ahead of Degale as he has the victory over him and untill degale fights dirrell we dont know if he can beat a top figher. After Dirrell then look for them to swap if James wins. Think Eubank Jr and Galahad should be above Smith as theyve done slightly more in their careers thus far but not much in it and think BJS is a few places too high. He isnt world class yet and has seem to hit a bit of a plateu at euro level recently, im unsure if he can elveate his game

I do have Khan down as the clear and distant number one skill wise, a good distance ahead of Frampton in that regard, there's such a difference in quality between Welterweight and Super Bantamweight too. Brooks win over Porter gives him the edge too, going over to America to face an unbeaten champion not many were giving you a shot at beating is mightily impressive. For me the strong mentality and discipline he showed outdoes Frampton comfortably beating someone we all expected him to beat.

I couldn't possibly put Murray above Bellew for the simple reason he has yet to beat anyone, he's lost with distinction three times but the latter has beaten a few ranked contenders.

Welter is definitely a deeper division than Super-Bantam, agree there. It's the best division in boxing in all likelihood. But aside from Porter, Brook hasn't really tasted that strength of opposition at 147 that much. I'd put Brook's win against Porter ahead of any single win from Frampton, but as I said before I'm looking at their wins collectively to this point. I think it balances out pretty closely, but Frampton has looked dominant and a million dollars against every higher class opponent he's fought so far and mixed up his boxing superbly. In the old, traditional sense of pound for pound (just rating fighters as talents irrespective of weight) I think Frampton deserves real consideration. But obviously over time other factors have come in to it, which is understandable.

Assuming Brook takes care of Gavin, getting another top win over someone like a Maidana or especially a Thurman would solidify his claim a bit more, for me. Needless to say that beating Khan, if that fight happens, would definitely do the trick as well. Outside of Rigondeaux, which team Frampton are a bit sheepish on, I can't see a win at 122 for Frampton which would justify him staying ahead of Brook if Kell managed something like that later in 2015.

Are the guys Bellew has beaten that much better than the guys Murray has beaten really? A certain sanctioning body might have had them in their top ten / five etc, but that doesn't always mean that much. Miranda was pretty faded and under-sized. Chilemba was a decent win over a good stylist, admittedly, but I thought Bellew got a bit of a gift draw in their first fight (credit to him for getting it spot-on in their return, though). McKenzie, McIntosh, Bolonti, and old Brudov etc doesn't particularly excite me more than Khomitsky, Blackwell and Bursak going on the eye test. There might be an edge to Bellew in that respect, fair enough, but Murray was arguably unlucky not to uneat the then lineal champion at 160 and at least made Golovkin earn his money. You don't tend to get prizes for being a runner-up in boxing but if you're comparing two similar level guys then defeats can come with a bit of a caveat.

'Tis a fine list, though. Not major quibbles by any means.

I'd say you could still put an arguemenr out there at the general Frampton sticks close to Khan and Brook with a win over someone like Donaire or Quigg even if one of them gets a key win in there division of like a Maidana etc.

What do people think of a Khan rematch with Maidana just as a side note, Khan outboxed Maidana last time but now seems to understand much better on getting to a fighter quicker... See Floyd and Broner. Garcia has done wonders with Maidana, once just a slugger struggling with the boxing technique of a really aged Morales fighting 17 weights above his fearsome best, now a guy that at times genuinely in the centre of the ring slipping jabs that were Manny on the side of the head, OK I've gone a tad far there!

Khan seems to have understood how to solve a crisis far more under Hunter and now looks very smart and solid in many respects. Most importantly now post Roach isn't putting himself in as much position to be caught out, his defensive footwork has seriously improved, always think boxers will have a nightmare with Khan as if you aren't hurting him or pressuring him its damn hard to win rounds against those nifty combinations and holding tactics. He's kinda almost like a much more exciting Wlad with Virgil as he seems far more keen to hold up close, not to Wlad extremes mind.

Tough really to gauge who's got much better at what? Plenty of times Lopez's punches were starting to cause major problems in that fight and the movement but once again as usual when everything's going wrong against a near top level opponent that is just missing a slight ingredient he is able to get on top and turn the tide with a single punch. And he's done it several times Broner looked to be making a comeback until Maidanas left hook well and truly ripped up the script, of course Ortiz and Khan fights themselves show that he's still dangerous at any second.

Tough to call and its one of those near unbettable fights for me as simply nearly anything can happen, don't forget Khan had Maidana down with a body shot in the first so he realistically could take out Maidana who does look vulnerable in a fair few moments, he ain't no Provodnikov!

Was meant to say was hitting Manny on the side of the head, impossible doing these long messages on phone