British boxing is in a great standing at the moment with numerous world champions and leading contenders.
Since the inception of the sport by our British fore-fathers, we continue to be an influencing force with some great fighters produced down the years and to this present day. We talked recently with top5onlinecasinowebsite owner and he will add soon a sport betting section with articles about British boxing.
The first boxer to be recognised as a Heavyweight Champion was James Figg in 1719. The first origins of modern boxing in Britain can be traced back to John “Jack” Broughton, a bare knuckle champion of the 18th century who devised the first widely recognised set of boxing rules.
These were collectively known as the “Broughton Code.” The “anything goes” nature of boxing at this time was slowly replaced by a more civilised successor, with Broughton realising the need for a semblance of order following the death of an opponent – George Stevenson in 1741.
Broughton introduced the use of boxing gloves for exhibition bouts and the rule that a man could not be struck when knocked down. These are laughably obvious notions now; though they marked the beginning of a revolution at the time of Broughton and his ilk.
Modifications known as the Revised London Prize Ring Rules were drawn up in 1853 and they controlled the sport until the end of the 19th Century, when the Queensberry Rules came into use. These Rules were drafted in 1857 by a boxer, John Graham Chambers, under the auspices of John Sholto Douglas, 8th Marquis of Queensberry.
British boxing has developed these basic principles over centuries of fine tuning and championship pugilism and they are now engrained into governance of boxing worldwide: – underlining the paramount importance of Britain to the sport as a whole, not just on these shores.
To the present day practitioners: – feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on the top fighters by weight class listed below: –
Top British Boxers as of August 2015 – by the weights
Heavyweight – Tyson Fury – 24-0 (18KO’s)
Cruiserweight – Tony Bellew – 24-2 (15 KO’s)
Light – heavyweight – Nathan Cleverly – 29-2 (15 KO’s)
Super – middleweight – James DeGale – 21-1 (14KO’s) IBF World Champion
Middleweight – Billy – Joe Saunders -22-0 (12 KO’s)
Light middleweight – Brian Rose – 27-3-1 (8 KO’s)
Welterweight – Kell Brook – 35-0- (24 KO’s) IBF World Champion
Light welterweight – Ricky Burns – 38-5-1 (12 KO’s)
Lightweight – Terry Flanagan – 28-0 (11 KO’s) WBO World Champion
Super Featherweight– Stephen Smith – 22-1 (12 KO’s)
Featherweight – Lee Selby – 21-1 (8 KO’s) – IBF World Champion
Super – Bantamweight – Carl Frampton – 21-0 (14 KO’s) – IBF World Champion
Bantamweight – Jamie McDonnell – 26-2-1 (12KO’s) – WBA World Champion
Super – Flyweight – Paul Butler – 18-1 (9KO’s)
Flyweight – Kevin Satchell – 14-0(3KO’s)
To be continued… We look at all the current British world champions, the world ranked contenders and the up coming British prospects to look out for.
