Johnny Nelson thinks there is just one British fighter who is better than legendary Welshman Joe Calzaghe.
Calzaghe famously retired unbeaten as a two-division world champion. He was super middleweight ruler for a record 10 years and made 20 defences of his title, beating the likes of Sakio Bika, Jeff Lacy, Mikkel Kessler and Chris Eubank.
Calzaghe moved up to light heavyweight for his final two fights and beat both Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins to truly secure his legacy.
However, speaking to Boxing King Media, Nelson named his top 10 all-time British fighters with Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis at number three, Calzaghe at two, and a heavyweight star at one.
“Number one, has got to be Lennox Lewis. It’s got to be Lennox Lewis because, as a heavyweight, what he achieved as a heavyweight and some of the fights he had, he brought it to the surface.
“No, he didn’t box Mike Tyson at the pomp of his career, or Evander Holyfield. But what he did was, every dangerous fighter that he was in front of him, he got rid of him. And when he got knocked out, he’s in the ring saying, I want a rematch. He’d come back and fix it, right or wrong.
“Lennox Lewis is so calm, he’s so placid, he’s so down to earth. He just says how it is. If you look at the size of him, then you realise the athleticism he had, you think, ‘How did you do that?’ So Lennox, I have to put him at number one, because there’s nobody that rivals him at heavyweight. That’s the richest prize in sport.
Lewis was a three-time world champion and a two-time lineal champion as well as being the last man to hold the undisputed championship before Oleksandr Usyk when he beat Evander Holyfield in a rematch. He retired in 2003 after a stoppage win over Vitali Klitschko.
