Article first appeared at Roundtable Boxing
On Saturday night, Conor Benn, he of the chequered relationship with the sport’s barely imposed confines, will box for the second time as a Middleweight in his rematch with Chris Eubank Jnr. The fixture will require of the 35-year-old Eubank, who clearly won their first encounter, another brutal purge of his frame to dip down to 160 pounds however fleeting the visit will be.
The classic weight class has provided a platform for a parade of great fighters from the UK. Many of whom have progressed to achieve ever more on the world stage at the neighbouring Super-Middleweight division – not least Benn and Eubank’s fathers, Nigel and Chris Snr., thirty years ago.
Ranking those who boxed in the Middleweight division will always be clouded by the accomplishments in the neighbouring weight classes and as such, any listing of the best is a difficult undertaking. It is an opinion not a science, but here are three of the best Middleweights from the UK, with apologies to Bob Fitzsimmons – more famous for his accomplishments at heavyweight, Terry Downes, Alan Minter (who, like Fitzsimmons, won a World Title at Middleweight) and Tony Sibson, among many other distinguished omissions.
Jock McAvoy 132-14-1 (88ko)
The Rochdale Thunderbolt
It is difficult to impress upon fight fans the credibility of a fighter from a time in which so little action was committed to film, but Jock McAvoy is one such example. An active professional for 18 years, McAvoy, Joseph Patrick Bamford as he was born, compiled a mammoth record of 132-14-1 (88ko) between the First and Second World Wars. He was British Empire Champion at both Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight.
Commonly considered as the best fighter from the United Kingdom not to win a world title, his annihilation of Eddie Risko in December 1935 in a single round provides strong evidence that he would’ve defeated many of the multitudinous belt holders of recent eras. Risko was the Middleweight champion at the time but it was a non-title fight with McAvoy weighing in over 168 pounds. Unsurprisingly, Risko’s manager never extended McAvoy another chance. Alas, McAvoy’s one world-title shot was at Light Heavyweight against the outstanding John Henry Lewis the following year, though such was the spirit of his effort that the New York crowd booed the decision.
Nevertheless, McAvoy boasts an exceptional record. Nimble on his feet, the small body of footage shows a fighter with a quick and accurate jab, an ability to be in and out of range to good effect and a devastating right hand counter punch too. But his best performances were based on two-handed punching and an aggressive style that appealed to the American audience when he fought there in the mid-thirties, including three bouts at Madison Square Garden. He would contract Polio in his later years and be consigned to a wheel chair until his death, though famously stood long enough to punch Boxing News editor Gilbert Odd on the chin 10 years after an unfavourable review of his last fight with Freddie Mills. He died of an overdose on his 63rd birthday.
Randy Turpin – 66-8-1 (45ko)
Leamington Licker
The story of Randolph Turpin is one perhaps kindly described as complex. From the stupefying zenith of his victory over Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951 that earned him the World Middleweight title to the nature of his passing – he committed suicide in 1966 aged just 37 following a catalogue of issues and accusations within his personal and financial life – made for a tumultuous story.
Turpin was an outstanding Middleweight, victories over Robinson, even in the 160 pound class where Sugar Ray was less dominant than he had been at Welterweight, were not achieved by luck nor were Turpin’s many defences of his British and European Middleweight titles. He would lose the rematch with Robinson 64 days after beating him – a contractual obligation – and he would never quite scale the heights of that first win but did return to America to fight Carl ‘Bobo’ Olson for the Middleweight title in late 1953. At the point of those fights with Robinson, Turpin was known for his strength and awkwardness and only Jake LaMotta had bettered the great American in over 130 contests. Turpin’s older brother Lionel had also become the first person of colour to win a British title in 1948. It was a fighting family.
Beating Robinson alone is probably sufficient to place him a the top of any list of British Middleweights.
Herol Graham 48-6 (28ko)
Bomber
The ending of the fight with Julian Jackson in the fourth round of their 1990 world title contest remains as an epitaph of the great ‘what might have been?‘ that looms large over Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham’s career. In total control, Graham at his fluid, elusive and dominant best, Jackson is already on the brink of being stopped or pulled out by his corner in the fourth round. And then, Jackson lands one right hand, thrown with his back to the ropes and with eyes looking at his own boots and clobbers the Southpaw student of Brendan Ingle – who would later train Prince Naseem Hamed. Graham is unconscious before he hits the canvas.
Countless rewatches always leave this observer hoping Graham will duck or slip the shot this time.
Previous challenges against All-time greats Mike McCullum and Sumbu Kalambay had come and gone with narrow points defeats. The loss to Kalambay most keenly felt as it occurred whilst Graham was estranged from Ingle and the wise old Irishman was missed. Perhaps Ingle could’ve illicited tiny improvements and helped Herol across the line.
It was not to be and a 1998 loss to Charles Brewer aged 38 and boxing at Super-Middleweight proved to be his last fight. Herol Graham beat good men along the way and was, at his peak, almost impossible to hit. Alongside McAvoy he is widely labelled as the best fighter never to win a World-Title. A legacy that has not always rested lightly on his shoulders in retirement.
Whoever emerges victorious from the Eubank Jr. vs. Benn rematch, neither man is likely to displace any of the fighters mentioned but their fight is about something much more personal than their place among their predecessors.
BOXINGWRITER.CO.UK 