Top ten Brits never to have won a world title - Part I by Matthew Hoskins May 16th 2008

Many debates have been had over who was Britain's greatest world champion, but what about the best British fighter never to win the ‘big one'?  Yet another addition to BBN's growing writing staff, Matthew Hoskins, has compiled his top ten.  Here's numbers six to ten - the top five to follow soon. 10 - Billy Schwer Schwer was the hard fighting light/light-welterweight from Luton.  He makes this list as he never won one of the big four (WBC, WBO, WBA or IBF). He challenged for two versions, the first was for Rafael Ruelas' IBF lightweight title. The fight took place in Las Vegas and although Schwer fought hard, he was stopped in the eighth round as Ruelas proved to have a bit too much for the Luton man and it would be four long years before Billy would challenge for world honours again. During the four years between title fights, Billy had won and lost the commonwealth title beating Stephen Chungu then losing three fights later to David Tetteh via twelfth round stoppage.    However, Schwer regrouped and strung some good solid wins together culminating in a European title win against Oscar Garcia Cano via a tenth round KO. Three defences later and Billy was poised to take on the WBC champion Stevie Johnston. This time Billy didn't have to travel as promoter Mickey Duff had managed to get him home advantage at Wembley Arena. The fight itself went all the way and although Billy was out boxed he gave a good account of himself going down 118-110 three times on the score cards. After this fight Billy climbed through the ropes three more times before calling it a day, losing to Colin Dunne and Pablo Daniel Sarmiento with a win over Newton Villarreal for the IBO title sandwiched in between. Billy is now a motivational speaker, life coach and occasional actor.  9 - Michael Brodie  Brodie was a stylish box-fighter from Manchester. With Brodie being a quiet young man, promoter Jack Trickett had to really sell the Manchester fighter until people actually saw him fight, then the turnstiles would be revolving like windmills. Brodie turned professional in 1994 with a win over journeyman Graham McGrath. He worked his way through a succession of journeymen and contenders to take his record to18-0 and give him a chance at the Lonsdale belt. Brodie won the British super-bantamweight title by knocking out Neil Swain in 10 rounds, two fights later he added the commonwealth title by stopping Wilson Docherty before out-pointing Serguei Devakov for the European strap. When reigning WBC super-bantamweight champ Eric Morales moved up to featherweight, Brodie was nominated to box for the vacated title against Californian Willie Jorrin. The fight was close but many thought Brodie (despite being dropped in the tenth) had done more than enough to win, however Jorrin was awarded the majority decision. Despite being heartbroken  by the loss, Brodie fought on and three years later another opportunity would come his way. He beat the very capable Juan Cabreara and was poised to fight his friend and former amateur rival Naseem Hamed but Naz retired and never fought again. When Eric Morales moved up again the WBC title was declared vacant and again Brodie was nominated to fight for the title against the hard hitting Korean Injin Chi.  The fight was brutal and Brodie and Chi engaged in a war for the ages. By the end of the twelfth round Brodie was very badly marked up and Chi had been hurt badly in the mid rounds by Brodie's body attack. The fight was close but initially it was awarded to Chi on a majority decision until an error in the adding of the scorecard was noticed and the fight was declared a draw. Chi and Brodie went at it again six months later, however Brodie was dropped early on and when Chi unloaded a barrage of punches the Manchester man had no answers and was stopped in the seventh. All seemed lost for Brodie, when Frank Warren threw him a bone in the shape of Scott Harrison the WBO champion from Glasgow . This was to be Brodie's last appearance in the ring and although he fought well for the first three rounds, in the forth the much lager Harrison unloaded a left hook to the body that put Brodie down for the full count. Michael won every thing at domestic level but couldn't quite win the big one, although I'm sure anyone who saw him fight will remember him fondly. Rumours of a comeback have been circulating. 8 - Johnny Owen Owen was the bionic bantamweight from Merthyr, so called because of his skeletal frame. Johnny Owen was a great amateur who represented Wales and won seven Welsh titles. He made his professional debut on the 30th September 1976 with a points win over George Sutton.  After nine wins and only five different opponents (Owen fought both Neil McLaughlin and George Sutton three times) he was poised to fight for the British title. The British champion was Paddy Maguire who had lost a European challenge in his previous bout. Johnny knocked Maguire out in eleven rounds and within ten professional fights he had become British champion. Seven fights later Johnny became Wales' first commonwealth title holder at bantamweight, beating Paul Ferreri over fifteen rounds.  Next up was a trip to the Mediterranean coast to fight Juan Francisco Rodriguez, the European champion. The fight took place at the The Bull Ring, Almeria , Spain . The fight was marred with controversy, as the champion was not shy of using his head and forearm. After 15 rounds almost everyone knew Johnny had won except the judges and the fight was awarded to Rodriguez. To add to insult Johnny had his purse docked £4000 in return for money which had been taken from a Spanish boxer who had boxed in Britain  the year before.   Seven wins later and it was Rodriguez who would have to come to Johnny. The bout took place at the Leisure Centre, Ebbw Vale, and with the fight being a much cleaner affair this time around, Johnny was awarded the title via a unanimous decision.   Owen returned to defend his British title against the formidable John Feeney who was 18-0 at the time. After a tough fight Johnny, again, was awarded the decision on points after fifteen rounds.  Owen then had to travel to Los Angeles, for his next fight would be against WBC champion Lupe Pintor. The fight itself was close for the first eight rounds and Johnny held his own against the Mexican slugger. From the ninth round however the Pintor began to come on strong, Johnny was bleeding heavily from the mouth and nose and the champion was cut over both eyes. It was brutal. In the ninth Owen was dropped for the first time in his career when a round house right caught landed and put him on the seat of his trunks. The fight had turned and Johnny seemed unable to keep the champion off him. In the twelfth and what turned out to be the final round, with two minutes gone, Owen was put down again. He rose to his feet for the mandatory eight count, but with five seconds remaining Johnny was knocked down again, this time it was apparent he would not get up as he was unconscious before he had hit the canvas. Johnny was rushed to the hospital and despite several operations he had slipped into a coma. Johnny Owen was pronounced dead on November 4th 1980. He was 24 years old.  Everyone who ever met Johnny said of how quiet and polite he was. There was a statue unveiled in Merthyr Town Center by Lupe Pintor in memory of the brave Welshman on November 2nd 2002. 7 - Kirkland Laing  The ‘gifted one' as he was known, was referred to by Mickey Duff as the best fighter he ever managed (in Duff's biography '20 and Out'). Kirkland Laing was an enigmatic fighter from Hackney and you won't here many stories of how he didn't get the decisions he deserved or those about heroic world title fights; just about one great night and a lot of ‘what ifs'. Laing debuted as a professional on April 14th 1975 with a quick win over Joe Hannaford and he kept fighting and winning to 13-0-1 the blot being a draw to Peter Morris, which was emphatically erased in five rounds in his very next fight.  He won the British title beating Henry Rhiney via tenth round knock out. Three fights later he would meet his first real test in the shape of the world class Welshman Colin Jones. Laing was putting on a show dancing around Jones ‘pot-shoting' his way to victory while Jones stalked chased on. The ‘gifted one' was cruising his way to victory when in the ninth Jones connected with Laings jaw and the fight was over. Laing had to rebuild after such a set back which he did with two solid wins and an eliminator for the British title. After beating Joey Singleton, a rematch with Jones was agreed and the fight turned out to be a carbon copy of their initial contest. Laing outboxed Jones for long periods before Jones nailed him again in the ninth and got the stoppage. After his latest set back Laing beat Cliff Gilpin in another Britsh title eliminator but then lost to Reggie Ford who was 9-7-1. Kirkland then beat the journeyman Joey Mack and his next fight would send shockwaves through the boxing world.   On the 9th April 1982, Laing fought Roberto Duran who was looking for an easy win having lost two of his last four (to Ray Leonard and Wilfred Benitez). The fight was close on the cards but anyone who saw it knew that Laing was winning. Laing danced, jabbed and frustrated Duran all night and ‘hands of stone' just couldn't get going. After ten rounds no one could believe what they had just witnessed as Laing was awarded a victory by split decision. The fight was named the 1982 upset of the year by The Ring magazine. Big things lay ahead for Laing as Mickey Duff was being contacted by people from Sugar Ray Leonard to Thomas Hearns. However, Laing was nowhere to be seen and rumours of partying and drug use were rife. Another story that Laing was sleeping rough on a park bench had made its way back to Duff who understandably was not happy. When Laing did return over a year later he was knocked out by Fred Hutchings. Although he went on to win the British and European title he never hit the highs of the Duran fight again. When people think of Laing you can't help thinking ‘what if?'.      6 - Colin Jones  The welterweight from Gorseinon, Swansea, was managed by Eddie Thomas. As a great amateur Jones was the youngest British boxer to qualify for the Olympic Games until 17-year-old Amir Khan in 2004. Colin boxed in the 1976 Montreal Games, losing in the  third round (of the tournament) to Victor Zilberman ,a Romanian who went on to win a bronze medal.  He turned professional following the Olympics in 1977 with a five round knockout of Mike Copp. Jones fought to a record of 13-0 (10), and although he was a known slow starter, Jones could wipe out an opponents' points lead with one punch from either hand. At 13-0 he fought for the British title against the ‘gifted one' Kirkland Laing. After nine rounds Laing was well ahead on the scorecards when Jones connected with a right hand. Laing held onto the top rope as Jones unloaded with both hands and the fight was stopped making Jones the new British champion. Jones added the Commonwealth title and repeated the trick beating Laing again in 9 rounds one year later. His first defeat was a controversial one as after breaking down Curtis Ramsey with body shots Jones was disqualified when he hit the American as he was down. Jones rebuilt with some solid wins culminating in a European title win via a chilling two round knock out of Hans-Henrik Palm.    As Jones had cleaned up at domestic level the goal was now the vacant WBC welterweight title and Jones was chosen to face the American Milton McCrory for the crown. Despite being a massive underdog Jones plied forward while McCrory danced and popped out jabs and other punches that had little or no effect on Jones. When Jones connected however his punches were far more telling and seemed to hurt the American, the fight was close. The decision was announced as a draw which meant the title stayed vacant and they would have to do it all over again. Five months later they fought again with the fight being very similar to the first, except Jones was dropped in the very first round. However Jones fought back after losing the first three rounds, hurting the American on several occasions but still unable to put him away. Much like the first fight, the second went all the way and McCrory was declared the winner via a split decision.   In 1985 Jones went after the WBA welterweight title against the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world at the time, Don Curry. This time there would be no controversy as Curry's hand speed and power proved too much for Jones and he was stopped in the fourth after suffering a horrific cut to his nose. Colin Jones announced his retirement and went on to train and manage fighters and is still well regarded in his native Wales.

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Brilliant Brodie May 16th 2008, 03:44:21 by grinter1 Michael Brodie was a terrific fighter probably the most value for money boxer in the country at that time and I include Hamed and Hatton in that, I regularly travelled up from sleepy Somerset to watch this lad box he was a very skillful brutally tough boxer, always gave 110% and was always made to do it the hard way. I would love to see him comeback. (Good call...except the comeback bit, surely? I saw him a few months ago at York Hall and, although reportedly in training, he looked like he'd aged a bit, if you get my drift. Wouldn't want to see him get bashed up - Ed.)