My timeline of the premiere SMW in the world.

I guess it's about right with Eubank from '91-'92, Toney in '93-'94... Jones in '95. I'd have Collins in '96-'97. Then Calzaghe and Ward.

 

I am sorry but there is no way in the world that Eubank was the number 1 in the world in 1991-92. He wasnt even a world champion. The WBO was not considered a real title at this stage. It was like the current WBU title it wasnt a consideration. The Benn win was a good upset win, and it did put him in the mix for consideration, but there is no way that his WBO title would see him ranked higher than that of the other three titles that were at least considred real world titles.

 

Graziano Rocchigiani deserves a mention.

 

Froch was only a world champion for 2 weeks of 2008 and won a vacant world title against Pascal, who at the time, had done very little. So I feel that is not a very strong case to say he is the premiere super middleweight.

2009, he beat top ten ranked jermain taylor, a good win, but I'm not sure this is better than wins against Andrade and Mundine,

I do also disagree with reid as number 1 in 96, not because of Liles, but because Roy Jones was a super middleweight world champion in 1996, so I'd be interested in seeing your justification for having Reid above Roy Jones.
Steve Collins going into 96 of the back of a win over Eubank and wins over Nigel Benn in 96, also in my opinion must be above reid. Not Eubank and Benn at their absolute peak, but surely better than reid wins? especially as reid wasnt a world champ until late in 96.

 

but what criteria was froch top dog? because think in terms of both record and head to head kessler would have to be higher

 

No, he wasn´t. Kessler had a superior run to Froch before Calzaghe left the division, more or less cleaned it out. Froch´s only wins of note were Pascal - and this also only in hindsight - and Taylor while Kessler has muptile wins over Top10 guy on his ledger by that time. Kessler should clearly rank above Froch.

 

When Mikkel Kessler knocked out Markus Beyer in 3 rounds in October 2006 to unify the WBC and WBA supermiddleweight titles, he became the generally recognized number 1 supermiddleweight in the world as far as I can recall. Lacy aside, Calzaghe had been fighting utter cans for years & years up to that point.

 

Lacey was an overhyped muclebound joke.certainly never the best man in the division.

 

Anyone who had seen his fight with Omar Sheika knew this at the time. An overhyped underskilled mediocrity who had the physique but none of the talent. Resume absolutely stinks.

 

We are talking about 1990 to 1991.

The WBA Champ was Christophe Tiozzo, who I dare say was quite highly thought of. He lost in 91 to Victor Cordoba. I would who did not lose until 92 when he faced Nunn.

The WBC had Mauro Galvano as the champ until he lost to Benn in 1992.

The IBF, which was usually but not always just a little lower rated than those two titles had Lybdell Jones holding the title until he lost to Darren Van Horne who eventually lost to Iran Barkley in 1992.

I would suggest that Tiozzo was the man until he lost it to Victor Cordoba. 92 is an interesting one though. I get the feeling that Barkley might have just taken the title ahead of Nunn, although i can see why Nunn should be considered the man also.

I dont see how Eubank can be considered no1 without having been a world champion. And no the WBO was not a world championship.

 

Lybdell Jones:rofl:rofl

Luf, i was never impressed with Lacy, but he did get a lot of hype and a fair amount of people picking him over calzaghe.

Joe had been turning in some very lacklustre recent performances.I actually thought he looked past it.Like a fighter who's busy young man's style was really starting to fragment.That was the only reason i thought musclearm might have an ok shot at an upset.

I still reckon Calzaghe was past his prime by that point.turned out he was coasting a fair bit as well though, and able to raise his game at the prospect of bigger fights, but Lacy and to a lesser extent Kessler not being that great had a part in it too.