The Lonsdale belt - The one I respect the most!!!

With all these World belts coming and going..World titles being bought and sold basically....

It's great to see how much the Lonsdale belt is respected and sought after.....Always think that a fighter who is British champion has a worthy belt......

Always look forward to watching British title fights.....European ones just don't do it for me as there are too many garbage French or Italians in the rankings....

If I was British...these days I'd probably cherish a lonsdale belt to a WBo, WBA etc..(probably just as hard to win!!)...and It's still a remarkable achievement !!

Years and years of history...

The NABF and USBA are pretty much pointless......

Yep The Lonsdale belt - Certainly the one I respect the most!!!

A British Champion is certainly to be respected.....Long may it continue!!

I do tend to agree Truss, whatever elese has changed there has only ever been one governing body in the UK and so if you win a lonsdale belt you are winning the same belt great fighters have been winning for generations. Also a beautiful belt to look at, can't imagine why any fighter would rather have some inter continental nonsense than the Lonsdale.

I agree to an extent to be honest, though realistically I would still value a world title to a londsale being that it actually means more, but I think you're right, generally they are revered and very respected which is most certainly good for the domestic scene over here.

Very true Mate.....Also fellow Brits seem to be a lot harder to beat than most foreign imports..

Congratulations on your new position Alex..

Erm, cheers Truss...

Easy with the dots...

Breaching my copyright...

Just not used to you being nice to me! It feels good!

I remember reading a story about Hugh Russell, an Olympic Bronze medalist at the 1980 games. He turned pro after, with his goal to win the Lonsdale Belt outright. Once he did so, he promptly retired, and started a career in photography.

Winning the British Title was like winning a World title for him. I can't help but think that people now just see it as a stepping stone to a world title, and don't give it the respect it deserves. Nathan Cleverly, for example, never bothered defending it for a second time, which would have let him have it for keeps.

I think now people regard it more of an after-thought, and do by doing so, it has become devalued from what it once was.

Great stuff Truss.

Some fighters do take it very seriously some see it as a stepping stone. George Groves said his priority is making the 2 more defences required to get one for keeps which was good to hear.

The EBU belt gets you a better World Ranking so can't blame a fighter for moving on because sometimes there isn't the fighters at their weight worth defending against.

The most highly regarded and respected british of recent years is Carl Froch, the up and coming british fighters would do well to take a leaf out of his book, cement your place at the top of your division in britain before moving on to the world scene.

totally agre truss, would also say that often the best fights are british title fights. world tiltes are often mismatchs set up by the promoters are result in not great fights. british tilte fights are normally pretty even and good scraps.

agree with others that its a great way of improving before moving onto the proper world stage. think khan missed out on this, he'll tell you he was too big for british title, but really he would have been chucked in with some tough fights for less money and wasnt intrested when he could be given a "world title"

Not sure Khan did dodge fighting for the British title to avoid tough fights. John Thaxton was the British champion when Khan was the Commonwealth Champ. He fought Limmond and Earl for the Commonwealth belt which were pretty much the same level as fighting Thaxton.

Earl was gone by that time, Katsidis took everything from him.

At the time Thaxton would have been a valid and risky fight, was a fight Khan obviously should have won but he was still in his era of hanging his chin out to dry and getting knocked sideways by the likes of Willie Limond. Jonno was no great shakes but had a bit of a dig and always turned up in great condition, would have been interesting and should not be overlooked when Khan withdrew from the purse bids he did so to fight the shell of Michael Gomez, who was absolutely not a tougher fight at the time than Jonno.

Didn't Thaxton lose to a journeyman in a guy I think was called Walker around this time?

rowley wrote:At the time Thaxton would have been a valid and risky fight, was a fight Khan obviously should have won but he was still in his era of hanging his chin out to dry and getting knocked sideways by the likes of Willie Limond. Jonno was no great shakes but had a bit of a dig and always turned up in great condition, would have been interesting and should not be overlooked when Khan withdrew from the purse bids he did so to fight the shell of Michael Gomez, who was absolutely not a tougher fight at the time than Jonno.

I forgot he withdrew from purse bids for the Thaxton fight to take on Gomez. I wouldn't put much between Limmond and Thaxton. Thaxton could hit harder but Limmond was the better boxer. Maybe the power Thaxton had was what put them off.

Michael Gomez was a good choice also, problem is, if he decided to take on Thaxton, then we could be debating that he could have taken on Gomez... Who by the way gave him plenty of problems in his fight anyway. True warrior was Gomez.