Top 10 promising fighters from "The New Wave" at 168

nice to see Dirrel back after what had happened, i always like anthony better than andre, he seems heavier handed

 

I think Andy Lee will end up as a super middle weight.

Hes 6'2 and looks big in the ring at 160.

 

Im a fan of george groves since the whole degale fight hype.
I hope he does well at 168.

 

Was about to post Di Luisa. He is quite interesting. Now a days we dont se that many talented Italian prospects.

Here he is against Nobert Szekeres(Who has also been stopped by danish middleweight prospect Patrick Nielsen)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXlUkOQzFtg[/ame]

He has some things going, technique, combinations and especially power, but seems pretty hittable..

 

Im not tearing your post apart Jasper just correcting a few bits.
Leonard didnt win on the cards. It was a draw against Hearns.
LaLonde didnt win a SMW title he was a LHW world champ. Leonard got LaLonde to fight at SMW but that had to include LaLondes title even though it was a SMW fight.
R Jones was at SMW longer than he was MW and as for a pit stop J Toney was at SMW longer than he was MW or LHW. It wasnt a pit stop. I think it was easier for fighters like Jones away from the tougher competition at SMW, same as Toney as they both avoided the tough fights at those weights and fought less tough opposition.
Just another point M Nunn was at SMW longer than he was MW or LHW.

 

Top 10 SMW 'prospects', IMO:

1 - James DeGale
2 - Peter Quillin
3 - George Groves
4 - Isaac Chilemba
5 - Thomas Oosthuizen
6 - Shawn Estrada
7 - Marco Antonio Periban
8 - Dominic Wade
9 - Edwin Rodriguez
10 - Serge Yannick

Honorable Mentions - Jinner Guerrero (who I've never seen fight, so I didn't rank him), Anthony Dirrell (who really doesn't have his brother's talent and has a lot of other issues, IMO), Denis Grachev (who could really step up if he starts to focus solely on boxing and not also MMA), Dyah Davis (who seems to be improving), Ezequiel Maderna.

Looking at it, I might be overrating Groves or underrating Rodriguez. They're pretty similar, although Groves' defense is much better.

 

I take it you put DeGale above Groves because you feel DeGale will go further than Groves? I only ask because Groves as you know, has the win over James

 

Yes, I like DeGale much better long-term. I think he has more talent and better technique, and hopefully the loss to Groves will be a learning experience. Groves has tremendous heart, which will help him overcome a lot of things though. However, I feel he has some fundamental defensive flaws that will get exposed more as he moves up the ranks - he just doesn't have enough quickness to use the defense he does against speedy fighters.

 

There is another Mexican (Gilberto Ramirez Sanchez) who is worth adding to your list btw

Not seen Guerrero but I'd advise waiting until he fought outside of Colombia/Ecuador before getting excited.

 

I'd agree with having DeGale at the top of the list. Despite the loss, he is still the best prospect in the division I think and, honestly, I don't think there are many better prospects in the sport. I'd say he is up there with Benavidez in terms of potential. I know that sort of praise sounds crazy considering he just lost but he just needs some fine tuning. When he gets that, he will become unbelievably good.

He's currently a better fighter, and beating better fighters, than Dirrell, Froch, Ward, Kessler or Bute were at the same stage. The man considered the best of those, Ward, had already been down badly against two guys in his first 10 fights and shown real weaknesses - DeGale has just shown minor flaws. If he switches to a world class trainer, he will beat all those big names in a couple of years time.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jw33GjBHkg&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jw33GjBHkg&feature=related[/ame]

He'll certainly be a Super Middleweight one day, he's only something like 19-20 at the moment and will certainly grow into a man...