It can be argued that the two Dirrells, and possibly even Ward aren't in their prime yet. But in two years, they certainly will be. By then, the SMW division will have shaken itself out as its competitive period comes to a close. The best young fighters in the SWM division, who appear to be Ward and the Dirrell brothers, will have only become more seasoned and better two years from now. They'll also have become bigger and may grow into being light-heavyweights. The Dirrell brothers are untested and unproven, but their talent is clearly there and they may achieve their potential over the next two years. In the LHW division, Hopkins would have almost certainly retired, and Dawson should probably have gotten his revenge on Pascal with no further questions, leaving Dawson as the undisputed #1, having regained his lofty position as a P4P fighter and a fully developed, prime veteran at 31 years old. In the meantime, we will have seen the rise of a fantastic, under-the-radar talent who broke out into the mainstream in 2012 - Ismayl Sillakh. Many observers see the same natural gifts in him as they saw in Dawson, Ward and Andre Dirrell. With a lineup of top talent like Dawson, Ward and Sillakh, potentially great wildcards like Andre and Anthony Dirrell, a strong supporting cast like Tavoris Cloud, Nathan Cleverly, Jean Pascal, and Zsolt Erdei, and some old war horses who might have moved up like Froch and Bute, are we on the verge of a major competitive breakout at Light-Heavyweight over the next two years? What's your assessment of the future of the LHW division? How would a top-10 filled with names like these compare to other LHW eras?
Ward is in his prime. The two Dirrells aren't. I honestly think the Dirrells need a new trainer. Anthony has the most talent but he's not progressing like he should and he's not fighting often enough. Andre has physical gifts but the wrong temperament. These flaws can be corrected and they both probably will be champions someday, but they need a better trainer because both rely too much on physical gifts and not enough on their technical ability.
And a good LHW division. Most SMW guys are tall and skinny so they will be moving up in weight. Meanwhile at LHW we have Hopkins, Dawson, Pascal, Cloud, Erdei, Shillakh, that British belt holder and a few more guys.
No question. But between the decent LHW division shaping up, and developing SMW fighters like Ward and the Dirrells, are we looking at a merging of the best talent from the two divisions to create a huge talent pool. If the Dirrells and Sillakh live up to their potential, perhaps the best #1-10 lineup of any division in decades.
By the names currently in the division, and the names due to move up at some point it is going to be really spicy. Even more so than the welterweight division. Very unlikely someone could go through all of those names unbeaten.
I agree with this thread... it's only a matter of time before guys like Ward and Bute are no longer able to make 168. They'll match up well with anybody at LHW. Oh yeah, and Dawson isn't that great... he's talented but weak mentally.
Its laughable you're considering the Dirrel's to be great match-ups whilst Pascal is in the 'supporting cast'. Pascal, outside of Hopkins has the best style match-up to beat Ward when he moves up IMO. The LHW division is very good now, we just need Cloud to be more active, Erdei to challenge again, Sillakh to get a shot and Cleverly to step up.
I classify Pascal in the supporting cast because unless he actually beats Dawson in the rematch, he will have been 0-2-1 in his previous three fights, and likely would no longer be a viable top contender by 2013. Pascal might not even make it to a rematch if his next fight ends up being against Sillakh as the WBC ordered. Obviously anything can happen over the next two years, but looking at the Dirrells and Pascal, it's clear there's more top level upside for the Dirrells (whom I labeled "potentially great wildcards") in 2013 than for Pascal, whose best fight in 2013 will likely be a LHW rematch against Froch in some sort of title eliminator.
So your basing your current opinion on future hypotheticals and also ranking two fighters who have fought absolutely nobody and shown weaknesses over the former lineal lhw champ who is still young that possesses blinding speed and good power who is very physically strong and come into fights in shape that would put 99% of fighters to shame. Just happens he is now criminally underrated because he lost to one of the best and most experienced fighters in the last two decades. atsch I take it you are American then.
He's good but I don't think he's ready for Ward mentally. I think he has the physical assets to beat Ward without the discipline or technical capability.
