Adam McMeeking

Don’t call yourself the heavyweight champion until you beat Tyson Fury

Don’t call yourself the heavyweight champion until you beat Tyson Fury

An avalanche of news stories – with some suggesting that Tyson Fury’s heavyweight career had been derailed by anything from mental health issues, to PED usage, and recreational drugs – has fallen on the heavyweight landscape over the last couple of months.

The WBA and WBO recently stripped Tyson Fury of their titles, catching up with the IBF, who did the same in 2015 (unbelievably, just 7 weeks after Fury had won their title, the IBF crowned Charles Martin as their champion for beating Vyacheslav Glazkov).  The WBC claim Deontay Wilder is the world champion. Joseph Parker is now in possession of the WBO belt.

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The UK’s 10 Best Boxers of the 21st Century so Far

The UK’s 10 Best Boxers of the 21st Century so Far

In the early part of the 1900s, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, claimed an abundance of excellent fighters: Ted “Kid” Lewis, Bob Fitzsimmons, Freddy Welsh, Jim Driscoll and Jimmy Wilde, to name but a few. In this article – 100 years since these men fought – we rank the best boxers to have emerged from these tiny shores, between, 2000-2016.  Just 16 full years have passed this century so far, but they’ve been stacked with some fantastic pugilists.

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Menacing middleweights: Hagler, Golovkin and Burley – the most avoided fighters in the division’s history

Menacing middleweights: Hagler, Golovkin and Burley – the most avoided fighters in the division’s history

Even after ascending to the position of #1 contender in 1977, Marvin Hagler’s title shot was not forthcoming. His wait as the division’s top challenger – lasting over 2 years – became the longest in middleweight history.

Early on in Hagler’s career, heavyweight royalty, Joe Frazier, warned the young middleweight why promoters and their showpiece fighters would want nothing to do with him:

“You have three strikes against you: you’re black, you’re a southpaw and you’re good.”

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Britain’s 5 Best Heavyweights Ready to Stamp Authority over Post-Klitschko Era

Britain’s 5 Best Heavyweights Ready to Stamp Authority over Post-Klitschko Era

It’s been 18 years since London-born Lennox Lewis tore the lineal title, in March 1998, from Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs, to add to the WBC belt he already owned. Back then, former world title holder Frank Bruno had not fought for two years, but Norfolk’s Herbie Hide still held the WBO strap, he’d won from Tony Tucker the previous year. The mid-late 90s is possibly the most successful spell in British heavyweight history, but now, in 2016, the United Kingdom’s current crop of heavyweights are looking to change that.

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Kali Meehan: Once Anthony Joshua has won the title, Joseph Parker will beat him

Kali Meehan: Once Anthony Joshua has won the title, Joseph Parker will beat him

After a 19 year professional career that has propelled him all over the globe, former heavyweight world title challenger, Australian based New Zealander, Kali Meehan 42-6 (32 KOs), knows what qualities are required to reach the pinnacle of the sport. I recently spoke to “Mean Hands” Meehan, via telephone – from his home in Wyongah, New South Wales, Australia – to discuss both his colorful career, and to hear his assessment of his previous opponent, one of boxing’s rising stars: Joseph Parker.

Hailing from Levuka town, on the Fijian island of Ovalau – an island on which rugby is virtually a way of life – Kali Meehan’s mother would surely never have envisaged that her future son would one day become a successful prize-fighter, when she ventured to New Zealand half a century ago.

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Trail of Destruction: Mike Tyson’s Top 5 wins

Trail of Destruction: Mike Tyson’s Top 5 wins

“I don’t succeed when I make a guy a champion,” hall of fame boxing trainer, Cus D’Amato, once said. “I succeed when I make that fellow champion of the world and independent of me. When he doesn’t need me anymore.”

It’s been almost 30 years since Mike Tyson’s first world title fight. Cus didn’t live long enough to witness his protégé become champion. ”Iron” Mike may have exhibited menace and maturity inside the ring, but outside of it, he was a vulnerable young man, who still needed the guidance and stability his father figure provided. Equipped with such shrewd, compassionate tuition, Tyson would almost certainly have coped far better with the pressures and temptations that are inevitable when catapulted into international superstardom – his fighting prime would very likely have been extended. As was the case in early life – when growing up in crime-ridden Brownsville, in eastern Brooklyn, New York City – Mike was again, forced to learn the hard way.

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David Haye’s Greatest Fights

David Haye’s Greatest Fights

David Deron Haye – born in Bermondsey, London, England, on 13th October, 1980, to an English mother and a Jamaican father – is one of the finest British boxers of the 21st century so far.

A talented amateur, Haye won a silver medal at the world championships in 2001, before turning professional in 2002. His victory over Jean Marc Mormeck in France in 2007, is one of the rare occasions a Briton has won a Ring Magazine title on foreign soil.

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The 10 Best Unbeaten Streaks in Heavyweight History

The 10 Best Unbeaten Streaks in Heavyweight History

When attempting to compare and rank the unbeaten streaks of various fighters it is essential to consider the quality of the opponents that they defeated. If this is not done, Nioklay Valuev’s 47 fight run would rank ahead of George Foreman’s 40 fight undefeated streak. With all due respect to the often underrated “Russian Giant”, this would be ludicrous.

So, determining the quality of each “opponent” is important. The fairest and most objective way to do this – in this writer’s opinion – is to judge each boxer against the standard of the era in which he fought.

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Ring Legends v Modern Greats – Ranked by Number of Victories Over Top 3 Opponents

Ring Legends v Modern Greats – Ranked by Number of Victories Over Top 3 Opponents

How do you compare the records of modern day boxers with those of past pugilists?

In the days of “Homicide Hank” – Henry Armstrong, and the “Brown Bomber” – Joe Louis, there were only eight divisions, with just one world champion in each division. During the last few decades the professional boxing world has metamorphosed: there are now dozens of world titles littered throughout seventeen weight divisions.

Assessing and comparing the quality of opposition boxers from different eras have defeated is therefore a tricky task.

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