{"id":461219,"date":"2025-09-29T19:42:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/461219\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T19:42:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:42:16","slug":"lennox-lewis-misses-out-as-britains-greatest-ever-boxer-determined-by-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/461219\/","title":{"rendered":"Lennox Lewis misses out as Britain’s greatest ever boxer determined by Hall Of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

The British Boxing Hall of Fame (BBHOF) has determined that Joe Calzaghe is the greatest fighter to hail from British shores.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calzaghe received the accolade after a group of historians and writers conducted a poll ahead of the annual Hall of Fame awards, held in Hastings, East Sussex, on September 21.<\/p>\n

\"Calzaghe<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Calzaghe retired undefeated as a two-weight world championCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

‘The Pride of Wales’ bettered the likes of Lennox Lewis<\/a> and Ken Buchanan to scoop the gong, while he was also inducted into the BBHOF on the same night.<\/p>\n

How good was Joe Calzaghe?<\/p>\n

Calzaghe, who retired in 2008, was a deserved winner of the award.<\/p>\n

The Welshman boasts an unblemished 46-0 record<\/a> as well as separate world title reigns at super middleweight and light heavyweight.<\/p>\n

He picked up his first major belt in 1997 by dropping and outpointing an ageing Chris Eubank<\/a> Sr for the vacant WBO super middleweight crown.<\/p>\n

Over the course of a remarkable run, Calzaghe retained the red and gold strap for ten years, defending it against 21 opponents, while unifying three of the four 168lbs world titles simultaneously.<\/p>\n

Calzaghe would have become undisputed as well, were it not for sanctioning body politics.<\/p>\n

In 2006, he beat Jeff Lacy to add the IBF and Ring Magazine belts to his collection in a one-sided affair that cemented his position as the best super middleweight on the planet.<\/p>\n

But following one defence against Cameroon’s Sakio Bika, he was forced to relinquish his belt after opting to face Peter Manfredo Jr rather than his IBF mandatory challenger, Robert Stieglitz.<\/p>\n

The decision cost him a four-belt shootout with Mikel Kessler in his next outing, with only the WBA, WBC and WBO straps on the line.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Calzaghe overcame the then-undefeated Kessler with flying colours before opting to move up in weight for one last roll of the dice at light heavyweight <\/p>\n

\"Calzaghe<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Calzaghe beat the likes of Hopkins (pictured), Jones Jr, Kessler and LacyCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Victories over Bernard Hopkins<\/a> and Roy Jones Jr<\/a> followed as Calzaghe established himself as the lineal 175lbs king.<\/p>\n

Who else could have been crowned the ‘greatest British boxer of all time’?<\/p>\n

While Calzaghe has undoubtedly done enough to lay claim to the title of ‘Britian’s best’, he isn’t alone.<\/p>\n

Lewis achieved undisputed supremacy at heavyweight and avenged both of his losses to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman<\/a> during an illustrious career.<\/p>\n

Among the long list of divisional greats ‘The Lion’ has beaten are Evander Holyfield<\/a>, Mike Tyson<\/a>, and Vitali Klitschko<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is also a case to be made for Calzaghe’s fellow countryman Jimmy Wilde, who held the British\u00a0and world flyweight titles from 1916 to 1923.<\/p>\n

The Merthyr Tydfil technician is widely considered to be the greatest 112lber of all time and retired with a staggering 137\u20134\u20131 record.<\/p>\n

\"Wilde<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Wilde is also a potential candidate for Britain’s greatest boxer having utterly dominated the flyweight division during the 1910s and 1920sCredit: Getty\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Former world middleweight champion Randolph Turpin famously beat Robinson in 1951Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Other names that prop up amongst historians include the sport’s first three-weight world champion Bob Fitzsimmons, two-time welterweight title holder Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis, and Randolph Turpin, who famously beat the consensus GOAT Sugar Ray Robinson at the peak of his powers.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, there is no right answer, but Calzaghe is a solid pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The British Boxing Hall of Fame (BBHOF) has determined that Joe Calzaghe is the greatest fighter to hail…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[154427,1935,4496,154428,154426,134768,29796,97652,79,154429,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-461219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-bob-fitzsimmons","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-boxing-news","11":"tag-jimmy-wilde","12":"tag-joe-calzaghe","13":"tag-ken-buchanan","14":"tag-lennox-lewis","15":"tag-randolph-turpin","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-ted-kid-lewis","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115289295944116286","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}