An old and shot Bute is making 168 look weak

It's "weak", not "week" ffs.

 

Clearly the division isn't as strong as it once was with Ward moving up and Froch and Kessler retired. Bute was good but over matched back then but now he's up there with the best in the division which isn't something I expected at this stage of his career.

But the division while weak is still interesting. I'm really looking forward to DeGale/Jack, think it's going to be a competitive fight. Though if Froch came back I'd put money on him to beat both of them even now. Ward would school both of them if he moved down as well.

 

atsch

 

My thought exactly.

 

IMO it is ain't the strongest, but it'd be harder to tell without the Bute yardstick. Certainly it lacks any real elite talent, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing in terms of making competitive fights and all divisions go through these kinds of lulls.

 

Ive actually just rewatched both these fight consecutively.

Im sad to say that these decisions, rds, etc were so close that if this was pre-Froch Bute, I believe most ppl here, would be saying Bute was ROBBED vs DeGale and did indeed DRAW with Jack.

Hindsight is 20/20 and the Bute from Froch, was shellshocked before he entered the ring and what followed was deer in the headlights.

His return vs Grachev and later vs Pascal both clearly show him having that look of fear after taking a punch.

As fight fans we look back to those moments and remember them when we score his latest fights and give his opponents the rds, I DID at least, and Im a fan.

Bute is NOT pulling his shorts down to his waist every time he's outside anymore. I think that's the big difference we see lately. Instead, he's keeping his gaurd up and looking to counter.

Don't discount Bute going forward.
His legs seem very fresh, his confidence high, and whether or not he becomes the SMW Champion again as he was in 2010/2011, I believe he is STILL a top 5 SMW and LHW.

Just needs to up his LOC between BIG fights. :think

 

Ward would be TOO drained coming back down.

He barely made 172 in his return vs Smith.
He was close to 190 lbs vs the Cuban robot.

Froch however, would likely IMPALE DeGale, but I believe Jack could make it to the bell and win in Vegas where the judges would be more inclined to score the close rds his way off a Haymon card.:think

 

Looks much like the MW division when Sturm, Barker, Geale, Jr, and Martinez were lollygagging around GGG.:roll:

Maybe Zurdo is the SMW GGG but he's just too young to tell.

Though his frame and strength clearly belong at LHW or CW even.:think

 

Is this a working week or a full week that includes weekends? What if people work weekends? This is all too much. If you send Boxed Ears a private message he will confirm this for you.

 

168 hasn't been strong since it lost Ward and Froch. It's competitive all the same. Think Lightweight is probably the weakest still

 

Is that just this week or next week?

 

Current 168 is certainly weaker as S6 168, which was kinda overrated at the time too imo.

What we saw back then was 2 guys stepping up from 160 too, from which one racked up 3 losses plus braindamage and only managed to beat Lacy at the weight.
The other didn't do much better, but was one of the guys knocking out aformentioned former 160'er

Then we had a prospect who didn't care about his fans who should just shut up and pay him, puling one huge stinker which resulted in a disputed loss and a really poor acting job in the other fight.

We had a Brit and an on the slide Dane, from which one underperformed and the other made in into the final surprising many.

One guy didn't make it into the tourney, because someone didn't want him there who was beating every leftover in more convincing fashion as anyone in the tourney ever did, making many wonder if he was actually the best out there.

We got a couple of poor and past it replacements, and then there was Andre Ward.

Was the S6 168 division as strong as people say nowadays?
A guy coming up from 160 was the actual odds favorite before the tourney started and an on the slide Slappy leftover as the #2 bookie favorite.
Turned out they weren't up for the task, but I think the fact that they actually fought eachother made the division look stronger as it actually was.

 

Great points.
The pre-Nottigham Bute would have UNDOUBTEDLY come thru that tournament with titles, ALL of them, but sadly, his mental break looking into the faces of those frenzied Brit fans, and Froch's never say die mentality ended what many considered an ATG prospect in Bute.

Yeah, and worse thing is that Dan Goosen, RIP, (can I type his name, or am I still at risk of banning), did everything in his power legally to keep Showtime from allowing Bute in, which essentially handed the titles to his ward, Ward. And then Dre to turn on him after he essentially bought the tournament for him.....:---(

 

s6 168 was not weak

prime froch and prime Kessler are leaps and bounds better than anything now at 160 or 168

primer Kessler takes a huge steaming dump on anything today at 160-168