Surely Calzaghe can't be classed as a middle/supermiddle as he never fought at middle. :tong Arguably Eubank and Benn were at their best at middle a weight Joe never made or fought. Folk say Benn lost a fair bit of snap out of his punches away from MW and Eubank his finishing instinct.
Benn seemed to lose power but in reality he was just fighting much bigger men than himself. He used to enter the ring at around 12st as a super-middle for his first few years at the weight, and was fighting mostly light-heavies/cruisers coming down..
Calzaghe is probably the greatest super middleweight of all time. He has to be the best at 168 in the UK for sure. 160, its a toss up.
Jones beat Lacy better, Ward beat Bika and Kessler better, Collins beat Eubank better, Malinga beat Reid better, Graham was beating Brewer better. Really was he that good at super-middle?
Did he ever even turn a punch over, let alone pivot with a punch? The amount of illegal shots and bull**** stoppages in his career....disgraceful.
Like saying Spinks beat Cooney better than Holmes. You need to consider when they fought. Lacy was an undefeated/the next coming of Tyson killer and Kessler was the undeafeated unified and lineal champ. Eubank was fought on short notice and was a huge step up. I think he broke his hand versus Reid. Ultimately, his body of work and his dominance puts him there. If only someone like Jones stuck around and unified one or two belts then he'd probably be the best but at 160 and 168 he never capitalised on his biggest wins at those weights.
I rated Kessler higher after the (Calzaghe) fight! I didn't rate him, he hadn't fought anyone. I didn't rate Lacy at all, I thought he was ****.
Its hard to say who was best and Herol Graham should be on the list.Benn was very good but he had the loses to Eubank,Watson and Collins on his slate.Calzaghe went unbeaten but I think he would have lost to a prime Benn and a prime Eubank I will go with this Eubank Benn Calzaghe Watson Collins Graham Ried Pyatt Eastman
He's not really a hater of anyone, more of a lover of someone. Anyway, i'm just messin with him. He's a good, knowledgable lad really.
Wharton and Woodhall belong on the list for sure.Catley was decent I will never forgive Starie for the 12 rounds of mind numbing boredom he and Calzaghe put on in Manchester.