Is Carl Froch amongst the top ten SMW fighters of all time?

I could see Ottke beating Toney. Stylistically Ottke is a bad matchup for a in the pocket counterpuncher like Toney. Toney to me is no doubt the better fighter but Ottke was smart and I could see his hit and run tactics being successful against James.

 

Ever watched Reid-Ottke ?Ottke got clearly beaten . Reid is the guy most similar to Toney stylistically.

 

Yep and so did Jones, you just can't omit him because he spent more time in another division.

 

Of course I watched that fight and I disagree about Reid and Toney being similar. Again, I don't think Ottke is a better fighter but I could see his tactics being problematic for Toney. Toney was at his best against bangers or offensive minded fighters that he could counter. Ottke was at the end of his career against Reid and definitely lost that fight.

 

1. Roy Jones.
2. Joe Calzaghe.
3. Andre Ward.
4. James Toney.
5. Carl Froch.
6. Mikkel Kessler.
7. Steve Collins.
8. Chris Eubank.
9. Nigel Benn.
10. Sven Ottke.

 

Decent list

 

It’s very difficult to rate guys like him. Not when many others fighters have deeper resumes and more wins. But again, he has to feature somewhere on anyone’s top 10 list. Because the versions of him who beat Barkley and Tim Littles, was just a great SMW.

It’s the same with Roy.

Ottke was 34-0.

Joe was 44-0 at the weight.

Roy only had 7/8 fights in a 2 year span. But neither of those guys were as good as what Roy was in his prime at 25. The version of Roy who beat Toney was just clearly a better fighter.

 

Based on resume, he ranks higher than most. But we have to rank on ability too.

Was Carl Froch a better fighter than James Toney?

Not in my opinion.

 

Why?

Carl was a great fighter but he wasn’t unbeatable.

Andre Dirrell should have gotten the decision.

He had 2 close fights with Kessler.

Frankie Liles was a big southpaw with very good skills and power. That would have been a tough stylistic match up for Carl.

Michael Watson was also a very good fighter.

Go and rewatch the Eubank fights and remind yourself of how good he was.

Sure, I can envisage Carl beating both of them. Again, he was a great fighter with a lot of great attributes. But if you’re going to claim that there’s no way that they would have beaten him, then that’s just showing ignorance and a lack of knowledge of those guys.

They absolutely would have had a chance of beating him.

 

So you think that Andre Ward has the best SMW resume?

 

Both Watson and Liles would have had a good chance of beating Carl.

 

It’s not about what they achieved overall.

It’s how good they were and how they’d have matched up stylistically.