49-0, NOT 50-0
I WAS interested to read your articles relating to Floyd Mayweather’s legacy in the August 30 issue. I do not subscribe to the notion that he retired unbeaten at 50-0, simply because I do not believe that his last ‘fight’ was in fact a legitimate boxing match. How anyone can accept that arguably the greatest fighter of his era – a statement which I do not disagree with – can take on a man who has never had a professional boxing match in his life and include that on his résumé is beyond me. It was not a fight, it was a circus. No, sorry, Mayweather’s record is 49-0. Rob Green
FRAGMENTED TV COVERAGE
ON the subject of the sanctioning bodies having multiple ‘world’ title-holders and the various titles becoming so fragmented that they are worthless, my opinion is, who cares? I would regard myself as a genuine boxing fan but for as long as I can remember I haven’t really cared about the titles on the line but more about the rivalries.
What I do care about, however, is the fragmentation of boxing coverage shown on the broadcasting channels. It only seemed like last year that if you had Boxnation and Sky Sports you pretty much had it covered, but now that Frank Warren has linked up with BT Sport – pretty much making Boxnation a waste of money, in my opinion – and ITV Box Office has got the World Boxing Super Series, it’s become increasingly difficult to watch the sport I love. I sat down the other week to watch Carl Frampton – a Warren fighter – only to find out his fight was not on Warren’s channel, Boxnation, but on BT Sport. So I missed the fight and my interest in Frampton died just a little. Let’s hope the cashing in of all these channels doesn’t completely kill off the interest of future boxing fans. Richard Flanagan
A SERIES SORTS IT
FOLLOWING on from the recent Joe Bugner-frank Bruno debate on these pages, and other ‘what if’ matchups where the outcome is uncertain, I feel that we don’t need to pin a prediction down to only one possible outcome in fantasy fights. If both boxers are evenly matched, a fight could end several ways had they fought several times. For example, I think Muhammad Ali would’ve beaten Mike Tyson, but I’d give Tyson an outside chance. So, I’d say in a five-fight series I’d give four to Ali, one to Tyson. Simon Collins
MORE IN THE MIX
I ALWAYS enjoy hearing other readers’ opinions regarding fantasy fights, such as the recent discussion on these pages about who would’ve come out on top if Barry Mcguigan, Naseem Hamed and Howard Winstone had all fought in their primes.
I’d like to add three more names into the mix – Wayne Mccullough, Scott Harrison and Carl Frampton. The matches I’d propose would be Mcguigan vs Mccullough, Hamed vs Frampton and Winstone vs Harrison. Harrison was a monster at featherweight, while Mccullough would fight all day long.
As for Frampton, he is the best British/ Irish feather of this generation, in my opinion.
While we’re on the subject, if there was to be a World Boxing Super Series tournament featuring the best British and Irish middleweights/super-middles through history, who would make your list? I’d have Randolph Turpin, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Michael Watson, Joe Calzaghe, Carl Froch, Steve Collins and James Degale or George Groves.
You could make an argument for nearly any of these fighters winning the tournament, depending on the draw. Wayne Bailey