Chris Eubank Sr is never shy to toot his own horn, as evidenced by his ‘Simply the Best’ moniker, but even he would concede that another man should be regarded as the greatest British fighter of all time.
Without diving too deep into the history books, the general feeling is that Lennox Lewis, Joe Calzaghe and Bob Fitzsimmons are among the finest fighters ever produced on these shores.
Lewis became the undisputed heavyweight champion in 1999, unanimously outpointing Evander Holyfield after boxing to a controversial draw in their first encounter.
‘The Lion’ also avenged his only two professional defeats, against Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, and is undoubtedly regarded as one of the all-time greatest heavyweight champions.
Calzaghe, meanwhile, retired with a 46-0 (32 KOs) record following back-to-back victories over Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr at 175lbs.
Prior to that, the Welshman had beaten the likes of Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler – taking their unbeaten records – during a remarkable 22-fight world super-middleweight title reign.
It is therefore difficult to dispute Calzaghe’s status as the number one British fighter in history, even if many would argue that Lewis and Fitzsimmons – who became the first ever three-weight world champion – were able to gain more notoriety through their respective heavyweight campaigns.
But even so, Eubank has insisted while speaking with Now Boxing that Calzaghe, who unanimously outpointed him in 1997, is unquestionably the very best.
“Joe Calzaghe is the number one fighter in the history of the game. He beat Chris Eubank, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones over 36 rounds when we each had one of our best ever performances left in us.
“He never lost. Joe Calzaghe is the number one boxer, the top fighter ever.”
Calzaghe claimed his WBO super-middleweight strap against Eubank when they squared off in Sheffield, with the masterful southpaw scoring a first-round knockdown before securing a wide points victory.
