Carl Frampton lists his Top 10 pro and amateur male fighters
Lockdown has prompted an up-spring in nostalgia articles and a rise in all things list.
Top 10’s are as popular in 2020 as Top Trumps where in 1990s. In fact there have been so many lists we are not far off having a ‘Top 10 Lists’ list.
Irish-boxing.com hasn’t been immune and we have listed our Top 30 pro fighters of the last 30 years.
Former two weight world champion and a fighter well within the Greatest Irish Fighter of All Time debate, Carl Frampton has joined the party over the last two weeks.
‘The Jackal’ has used his popular Sunday Life column to give his top 10’s, ranking the Top 10 Irish pro and amateur fighters in separate lists.
Frampton’s boyhood hero Wayne McCullagh finished top of his pro pile, while his childhood friend Paddy Barnes sits proudly on the top of his amateur list alongside Michael Conlan.
The Lists are as follows:
1. Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes
“The top two on my list were the easiest to pick but the order was not and I have to admit that over the past seven days my head has been melted by the lobbying of both Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan as I worked out who should be top of the pile,” Frampton explains.
“When it came down to it, I couldn’t separate them because for different reasons they deserve to be the No.1.”
3. Michael Carruth
4. Kenny Egan
5. Joe Ward
6. John Joe Nevin
7. Wayne McCullough
8. Jason Quigley
9. Andy Lee
10. Stephen Kirk
1. Wayne McCullough
“After winning an Olympic silver medal in 1992 in Barcelona, Wayne McCullough won the WBC World bantamweight title in 1995 in one of the greatest wins on away soil by any Irish or British fighter, defeating Yasuei Yakushiji in Japan,” Frampton said explain his choice.
“It’s a shame that it often tends to be overlooked by many, probably because Wayne is from Northern Ireland.
“Wayne got his chance at the title the hard way as only a year earlier he won the North American crown after a war with former world champion Victor Rabanales to put him in position to face Yakushiji.
“The level of opposition he faced was top drawer – having memorable battles with the likes of Daniel Zaragoza, Prince Naseem Hamed and Erik Morales as well as a brutal title defence with Jose Luis Bueno in Dublin. Wayne’s my top pick because at three different weights he fought the best and that win out in Japan was special.”
2. Steve Collins
3. Dave McAuley
4. Andy Lee
5. Brian Magee
6. Ryan Burnett
7. TJ Doheny
8. Matthew Macklin
9. Bernard Dunne
10. Ray Close
