Froch Kessler showed that Europeans can do a big event well as we all knew alreadyBut I'm a bit sick of the American media dismissing the super middleweight division Any talk of Calzaghe and froch being ATG is ridiculed because of the weight having not been established long This is ridiculous and also downplays the impact some of our other great champions have such as benn,eubank and Collins as well as lesser belt holders woodhall,catley and watson I believe this is why Calzaghe,froch,benn and eubank aren't rated as highly over the pond as I think they should be so I looked through the history of the division and sure enough you find these all American greats spent time in the division Barkley Toney Jones jnr Leonard Hearns Nunn McClellan And of course the dominant no1 now Andre ward who is an established pound for pounder Then add in the fact that the show time super 6 innovation was designed around this weight because of the strength in depth and any argument is surely rendered pointless Even though the division has been dominated by Europeans through the 80s and 90s along with today's froch,Kessler,Stieglitz,Abraham etc surely this is a weak argument in a weight that constantly throws up great champions and great fights Time for respect I think,the division is deep and when the likes of Calzaghe stepped up he also beat the best at light heavy Am I right in thinking its just a perception that the Europeans can't be as good as the Latin Americans
Well, even looking at the division rankings today there are 4 recognized top belt holders 1 is a Brit, (Froch) 1 is from USA (Ward). Out of the next 10 ranked fighters, 2 for GB (Groves, DeGale) and 2 for USA (Rodriguez, Taylor), the only other country that has more than 1 is Mexico with 2. This isn't unusual for that division..although historically, both USA and GB have had stronger periods. Longest reigning super middleweight champions 1. United Kingdom Joe Calzaghe 10 years, 11 months, 15 days 2. Germany Sven Ottke 5 years, 5 months, 3 days 3. United States Frankie Liles 4 years, 10 months, 0 days 4. Romania Lucian Bute 4 years, 7 months, 7 days 5. United Kingdom Chris Eubank 4 years, 4 months, 0 days 6. South Korea Chong-Pal Park 3 years, 7 months, 17 days 7. United Kingdom Nigel Benn 3 years, 4 months, 28 days 8. Germany Robert Stieglitz 3 years, 0 months, 3 days 9. Denmark Mikkel Kessler 2 years, 11 months, 23 days 10. United States Sugar Ray Leonard 2 years, 1 months, 8 days In terms of long reigning champs in the division, GB is slightly up on USA.
Exactly but I have read the division wrote off before as a weight that is not taken seriously in America as its a European stronghold I know benn fought American opposition successfully more than once but I believe himself and Eubanks 'legacys' are unfortunately hurt by not going over to America more often The thing is at the time the big players in the division fought in Britain and in front of massive crowds so they were rewarded well financially Don king is seen in a number of crowds around that time trying to get in the action and McClellan and other big names came to Britain Britain has produced some distinguished world champions at the weight Eubank Benn Collins Calzaghe Froch In my opinion all of the above were British all time greats
Absolutely, I think it's a real shame that we missed out on prime Benn, Collins and Eubank taking on the likes of Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jnr.
Yeah I think they are too lightly regarded Look at how Calzaghe struggled for respect until he demolished Lacey And it seems Steve Collins was gutted as well considering his decision to take on jones jnr at the age of 48 Bad for boxing but I can see why he is doing it
Yep. I can see where Collins is coming from, but even if he won.. would that prove he would have won back in the day? Just his own pride needs it I guess. Maybe the oldies can still deliver ala George Foreman it might make for an interesting night if so
I have no interest In watching it if it happens but I'm sure I will It will be less of a farce than Freddie flintoff at least
