Mike McCullum – BOXINGWRITER.CO.UK

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.

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I don’t wish to demean Roy Jones Jnr, one of the finest fighters of his, or any, generation, but the publicity shots circulated today showing the once pound for pound king of the sport dressed as Captain Hook, the infamous pirate from the Peter Pan stories made me laugh out loud. Easy to muse whether the Light-Heavyweight great had a moment of self-awareness either before, during or after the shots were taken. Here is a man who whipped McCallum, Hill, Hopkins, Toney and more – who was arguably the purest athlete the sport has seen -reduced to wigs, props and gimmicks.

Surely, he caught a glance of his reflection and posed the question to himself; “what the f*** am I doing?”.

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