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Ranking the greatest Scottish boxers


BoztheMadman
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This time, I'm gonna make it shorter, 'cause it's bloody exhausting to write about each fighter in a detailed way! Note: I'm not ranking Josh Taylor, since his career is far from finished. Here are the greatest sons of Scottish boxing:

 

1. Benny Lynch

 

Widely considered the greatest Scottish boxer, Lynch won the world flyweight title in 1935 by stopping Jackie Brown by TKO2. He also won the European title by KO8 against Pat Palmer in 1936 and beat the 42-0 Peter Kane by KO13 and Jackie Jurich by KO12, but before that fight he was unable to make the weight limit and so lost his world title. He fared less well once he went up to featherweight and lost his only two fights there before retiring in late 1938. His record is 88 wins, 34 by ko, 14 losses and 17 draws. He died in 1946 at the age of 33. He was posthumously inducted into the IBHOF in 1998.

 

2. Ken Buchanan

 

The best postwar Scottish boxer, so far anyway, Ken Buchanan won the world lightweight title by SD15 against Ismael Laguna in 1970, after narrowly losing in an attempt to win the European one against Miguel Velazquez. He made two successful defenses, decisioning Ruben Navarro and then Laguna in the rematch, both by UD15, before losing the title to the legendary Roberto Duran by TKO13, after being fouled numerous times and stopped in controversial manner. He won the European title in 1974 by stopping the excellent Antonio Puddu by TKO6, but failed to win another world title against Guts Ishimatsu, dropping a UD15 to him in Japan in 1975. His last stage of career was unsuccessful and he retired with 8 losses and 61 wins, scoring 27 ko's. Like Benny Lynch, he has been inducted into the IBHOF.

 

3. Tancy Lee

 

The 5'2 Tancy Lee is most famous for his legendary victory where he beat the 94-0-1 Jimmy Wilde for the world flyweight title by TKO17, in 1915 at Covent Garden. Just before that, he also stopped the first Welsh world champion, Percy Jones, by RTD14. He lost his world title only 9 months later, when he was stopped by Joe Symonds by TKO16. He avenged that loss next year, stopping Symonds by RTD17. He then attempted to recapture the world title against Jimmy Wilde the next year but lost by KO11 to the legendary Welshman. He also won the British featherweight title by KO4 against Charlie Hardcastle and defended it against Joe Conn by KO17 and Danny Morgan by PTS20. In 1919, he lost in the bid for the Euro title when he was stopped by Louis De Ponthieu by KO17. He retired in 1926, with a record of 41 wins, 28 by ko, 10 losses and 2 draws. He died in 1941, aged 59.

 

4. Scott Harrison

 

Scott Harrison aka The Real McCoy won the WBO feather title twice, second time making six defenses. He first beat Julio Pablo Chacon by UD12 to win it in 2002, before defending it by another UD12 against Wayne McCullough. He then lost it in his second defense, by split decision against Manuel Medina, but reclaimed it in a rematch by TKO11, in 2003. This was his greatest victory and his probably second greatest was when he knocked out Michael Brodie in 4. He vacated the belt in 2006, after not being able to make a mandatory defense due to various problems. His last fight was in 2013, when he lost by UD to Liam Walsh, at lightweight. His record is 27 wins with 15 ko's, 3 losses and 2 draws.

 

5. Jackie Paterson

 

Another outstanding flyweight and a contemporary of Benny Lynch, the 5'3 Paterson won the world title in emphatic fashion, knocking out Peter Kane in 1 round at Hampden Park in Glasgow, in only 61 seconds! It was in 1943 and in 1946 he also won the European bantam title by disqualification in 8 against Theo Medina. He also won the Commonwealth bantam title before that by decisioning Jim Brady. He lost to Rinty Monaghan due to cuts over both eyes, after knocking him down twice first, in a non-title fight in 1946. He then defended his world flyweight title on points against Joe Curran, at the same time as the European bantam and Commonwealth and European flyweight titles. He then lost the Euro bantam title by KO4 in a rematch with Theo Medina. He finally lost his flyweight titles by KO7 in a rematch against Rinty Monaghan, in 1948. At the end of his career, he fought Manuel Ortiz and Vic Toweel, going the distance against them but losing to both. His record is 63 wins with 40 ko's, 25 losses and 3 draws. He died after he was stabbed in a bar fight, after a drinking session, in Durban, South Africa, where he had moved, 19 November 1966. He was 46.

 

6. Ricky Burns

 

Burns is somewhat of an overachiever, as he is so far the only Scot to win world titles at 3 different weights. Talent wise, he is definitely below these 5 guys. The lanky 5'10 Burns also won the Commonwealth super feather title. He first became a WBO super feather champion by beating Roman "Rocky" Martinez by UD in September 2010. He defended the title successfully 3 times and then stepped up to lightweight. He first won the interim WBO title there by outpointing Michael Katsidis, and then the full title by decisioning Moses Paulus. He stopped Kevin Mitchell by TKO4 in one of his best victories, in September 2012. He then made two more defenses, first by a corner retirement in 9 against Jose A. Gonzalez and then in a questionable draw against Raymundo Beltran. He finally lost the title to Terence Crawford by UD in March 2014. He won his third and final world title, a WBA super lightweight one, when he stopped Michele Di Rocco by TKO8 in May 2016. After defending it against Kyril Relikh by UD, he lost it to Julius Indongo by UD in April 2017. In his so far last fight, last October, he dropped a majority decision to Lee Selby. His record is now 43 wins with 16 ko's, 8 losses and 1 draw. He has never been stopped.

 

7. Jim Watt

 

One of the best Scottish lightweights, Jim Watt won the WBC title in 1979, by stopping Alfredo Pitalua by TKO12. He had previosly won the European title in 1977, by TKO1 against Andre Holyk. He beat Perico Fernandez by UD in his second defense of that title. He made 4 defenses of the WBC title, beating European champion Charlie Nash by TKO4, the Olympic gold medallist Howard Davis jr by UD15 and the 73-1 Sean O'Grady by TKO12. He lost the title to Alexis Arguello by UD15, in June '81 at Wembley. He was the only man to last the distance against Arguello in his lightweight world title bouts. Also one of very few to go 15 rounds with him. Watt retired after that fight with a record of 38 wins, 27 by ko, and 8 losses. He has since become a famous commentator.

 

8. Alex Arthur

 

In contrast to his rival Ricky Burns, Alex Arthur is an underachiever, as he was capable of more than just winning the interim WBO title, at super featherweight. Blessed with both height, punching power and the boxing skills, Arthur defeated Burns, who was then 13-0, in his first defense of the European title in 2006, by UD12. After making 2 more defenses, in July 2007 he faced Koba Gogoladze and stopped him by TKO10 to win the interim WBO belt. Previously, he lost only one fight to Michael Gomez, when he was dominated and stopped by TKO5 in an upset in 2003. After making one defense by UD in a thrilling action-packed fight against Stephen Foster, he fought Nicky Cook for the full title in September 2008 and experienced another upset loss by UD in a very close fight which some had Arthur winning. After losing to 20-6 Nigel Wright by PTS8 in 2009, he fought sporadically until 2012, before retiring at 34 and with a record of 31 wins, 21 by ko, and 3 losses.

 

9. Paul Weir

 

Weir was I believe the first Scottish and British minimumweight world champion and a very fine fighter, in his own words an aggressive counterpuncher with a lot of skill and savvy. Born in Glasgow but raised in nearby Irvine, Weir stands 5'3 and turned pro in 1992, aged 24. In his only sixth fight, he won the WBO minimum title by stopping Fernando Martinez by TKO7, 15 May 1993 at the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow. He defended it successfully against Lindi Memani by UD before losing it to Josue Camacho, also by UD, 2 February 1994 in Kelvin Hall, Glasgow. He then went up to light flyweight and immediately won the WBO belt there as well in his very first fight, beating Paul Oulden of South Africa by UD, 23 November 1994 at Magnum Centre in Irvine. Again, he would make one successful defense, against Ric Magramo by UD, before losing it to the great Jacob "Baby Jake" Matlala. After a closely contested 5 rounds, Weir was unable to continue due to an accidental headbutt-cut and lost by 37-38 on all scorecards. That was on 18 November 1995 and they would have a rematch on 13 April next year, at Everton Park Sports Center in Liverpool. This time, Weir performed worse and only got a couple rounds from two of the judges before being stopped by a TKO10. He continued fighting as a flyweight and won 3 fights there before challenging for the Euro title against unbeaten Dane Jesper D. Jensen, but was stopped by TKO8, 2 May 1997 in Randers, Denmark. Next year in January, he also lost in a bid for the Commonwealth title when he was stopped by TKO11 against the non-contender Alfonso Zvenyika Lambarda. It was clear his past days were behind him and he retired after winning one fight and losing the last, in November 2000. His record is 14 wins with 4 ko's and 6 losses, 3 by ko.

 

10. Murray Sutherland

 

A super middleweight and light heavyweight whose career was a mixed bag, but he has won the IBF title at smw and fought many of the best fighters of that time and giving most of them good fights. Sutherland first fought for the WBC light heavy title against Matthew Saad Muhammad in 1981 and was stopped by KO9 after doing well for most of the fight and being slightly ahead on two scorecards. He then challenged the WBA champion Michael Spinks in 1982 and was stopped by TKO8 after a competitive fight. In 1983, he drew against Robbie Sims and then lost to Tommy Hearns by UD10, at middleweight. He finally achieved glory in March 1984 by winning the first IBF super middle title on points against Ernie Singletary, in Atlantic City. He however lost the title in his first defense, fighting away in South Korea, against Chong Pal Park; after putting Park down once, he was down three times and stopped by TKO11. He retired in 1986, after being stopped by Lindell Holmes by TKO3 in a fight for the USBA smw title. No other Scot has won a world title at 168.

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