Mikkel Kessler or Kelly Pavlik???

Agree.

You got to think that even if Pavlik won, it would have been over an "old" BHOP. On the contrary, he lost. The only significant news that could have come out of that fight was bad news: an upset. And the upset is what he got. So, BHOP took him to school. Now, we should really see what Kelly is made of now after suffering his first lost.

 

LOOK...

Kessler and Pavlik are VERY likely to fight at some time...

Trying to hate on the other guy's resume will only hurt your own guy once they fight. Either because he wont get credit for winning, or because he will be ridiculed for losing.

They are VERY likely to square off unless one of them disappears from the scene.

 

Touche, old boy.

 

Well you've got 3 of the top 6 right in your own list. Ward would be right outside the list you've put foward also. That's 4 of the top 7 fighters right there.

Dirrell is a wildcard for sure, completely unproven you are correct there and we'll see how that works out. As for Abraham, a lot of people are high on him, he's still a pretty exciting addition as far as I'm concerned.

Man, you'll have a pretty tough time telling anybody Andrade or Bute have a claim to being the king of the division above the winner of the tournament.

You sound kinda like Pavlik, overly negative and critical, when you probably both wish the middleweight division had the quality and gumption to put something like this together.

 

Taylor was a maybe. I like the guy and hate to write him off. Still..... So that is really only two. I'm not that well versed in the SMW division. I was kind of head scratching at The Rings list though to be honest.

I'm not sure Abraham does much at SMW.

Based on Andrade performances, I think Kessler and Bute need to meet up to settle that debate. At this point I'd favor Kessler, but that isn't an opinion based in FIRM analysis.

Kessler is 'your guy' so maybe you are too accepting of the implications of this tourney. I'm trying to be realistic.

Kessler worthy.
Froch has earned his ranking for sure, but I see him as vunerable and it drops off after that. I'm not really expecting a Taylor rebirth. I think AA shows 'reach problems' at SMW. The only other excitement is if one of the two Andres can prove to be 'for real'. I think Saurland chose wisely to show case the new talent in his stable and put together one hell of a promotional coup but it is what it is.

 

It's very close but I'll say Pavlik has the slight advantage.

 

Any which way you look at it all of these guys make a top 10. Any time you get 6 of the top 10 in a division in a tournament fighting it is both exciting and..well...novel.

I don't know what they put in the water over there in Ohio but its depressing the ass off you guys. You and Kelly need to lighten the hell up, Bute has no claim for anything over the winner of this tourny.

If you made a poll I think most people would consider all of these guys tougher nuts to crack than Andrade. I'm not saying its right or wrong but its true, try it for yourself. And well, we can live without Bute for now. He'll come later. It will be Bute that has it all to prove against the winner.

 

That question only can come from the states. Kesslers resume is far better than Pavliks...

 

You and Hermit are certainly having an interesting discusion. It took me a minute to decide whether or not I wanted to interupt. However, I would like to touch on your phrase "any which way you look." If one looks in a certain direction, one will see that Bute and Pavlik were not invited to Sauerland's party. Bute, one of the best boxers around the weight -- Pavlik, one of the most dangerous guys around the weight -- not invited. It does make one wonder:think

 

Kessler has yet to prove that he is THAT good. He has some decent wins on his record, but imho there's only one guy on the list who really is world-class and that is Calzaghe. So he has to show what he got in the SMW tournament and if he will reach the final he'll earn respect. Andrade, Mundine and - especially Beyer - are good boxers, but nothing special.

Pavlik has the better record. He's won against Miranda and two times against Taylor and that's something you can't take away from him. He's world-class by now and the fact that he lost to a living legend doesn't change this.

Miranda and Taylor are better wins than Beyer and Mundine imho.

If Pavlik and/or Kessler will be remembered in the books as true champions will depend on the future steps in their career.

 

Say whatever you want, but one thing just isn't true and that is that Sauerland didn't invite him, because of AA taking part in the tournament. This would imply that Sauerland / AA's team ducked Pavlik and you know that this just isn't true. Money was the problem and nothing else...

 

If you were a boxer...you'd be a punchy, one eyed, Euro bum.

 

Why?

 

If Abraham had even a single hair on his ass he would have demanded that Pavlik get an invitation. Does Sauerland controled Arthur's balls as well as his fight schedule?

If Sauerland and Showtime had any serious interest in crowning the best in the division, Bute would be there.

It's going to be fun to watch this tourney unfold, but I'm already getting tired of the silly **** about how the winner is automatically #1 in the division. Suppose Pavlik blows Williams right out of the ring, Bute posts another win over Andrade, and then Bute and Pavlik fight, wouldn't the winner of that fight have a legit claim to the #1 spot?

 

Pavlik now, but only by 2xTaylor fights! After super six tournament, Kessler!