Calum smith isn't world class

He’s also been ducked and dodged multiple times holding his career up.

 

Yeah i’m not helping myself here mate haha.

I’ll try to clarify what I mean...Groves and Degale in terms of CV are pretty decent. Groves appears to have more mileage in the tank whereas Degale’s shoulder (judging on his last 2 fights) looks to have packed in on him. I hope i’m wrong but he looks finished. Ramirez has beaten 2-3 decent opponents. Then, there looks to be a huge drop off in CV quality. Benavidez’s hasn’t got an eye catching name on his CV. Same with Zeuge, Hart, Eubank...i’m not convinced with Dirrell. Callum Smith like the above doesn’t have a world level name either. It’s subjective and just an opinion but i just feel that with his size and his jab, he has the beating of those above. He has power, and he does show flashes of quality & shot selection.

I do accept that I could be completely wrong about him, we’ll find out in the next couple of years.

 

I'm sorry but Skoglund who??

I don't think you realise how easy it is for fighters in this day and age to pad up their record against bums and quickly climb the rankings. Yarde is now ranked 14th in the LHW division, after running through street beggars and thieves. When David Haye returned from his retirement and fought De mori, and that other joke opponent, he climbed up to within the top 10 of the heavyweight division.

My point is , a fighter's ranking has no correlation to their ability in the ring.

I checked out Skoglund's record and there isn't a name there that I recognize. Maybe you can point to me some impressive performances or formidable opponents he's defeated, in your vain efforts to justify Callum's resume.

 

Smith struggles from the same issues I saw a few fights ago. He just doesn't have enough variety in my opinion, he does what he does well but then it's like he just runs out of ideas, so he ends up doing the same thing and can't seem to switch it up.

I think he needs to get a new coach personally, like most JG fighters his lack of head movement is going to cost him at the top level.

No hating on JG either, I think he gets the most out of lesser level fighters, but with fighters like Callum I think they get held back, ends up stiffling there natural ability. It's not a coincidence that most of his fighters fight a similar way with the same flaws.

 

Well that's all right considering that you are correct that a lot of our views are all subjective, but I believe we can be confident at least to say when a fighter is accomplished enough to be classified as world class or not. I could be wrong myself regarding Smith and he could show something I've never seen before and completely blast Groves out in the final. However from the evidence of all his previous fights,, limited arsenal, poor resume and having a poor one dimensional one trick pony trainer in his corner, I feel quite confident to say that Stiff isn't operating on world level.

As for Degale, currently, evidence points to the fact he is finished as a fighter. However if we look at his past record he has close wins over Bute, Direll, a draw with Badou and a close loss to Groves, I think we can confidently say he has competed at world level to a respectable degree enough to call him one of the top SMW's irrespective of his current situation.

If we do the same with Callum's resume, then I'm struggling to see any world class opponent he has fought. And then in the biggest fight of his career, against a bog standard opponent who has come in on short notice, he delivers a labored risk adverse performance while taking punishment in the process and allowing the opponent to believe he was the dominator. In my book ( which is imaginary of course) I fail to see anything to convince me that he is one of the best SMW's. Of course you can argue that he is relatively to the guys around him in the division. However just because a division's talent pool is shallow doesn't necessarily mean we propel the mediocre ones who stand out to be the best amongst a poor bunch to be better than they truly are.

 

I'm wondering if he will be suffering from a lack of confidence after his first two fights. Groves has looked pretty comprehensive so far and he wont be phased by the occasion. Callum is carrying the Smith fighting legacy on his shoulders as well as fighting for his first world title in front of massive crowd and worldwide audience.

Lets set the record straight Smith is an excellent boxer and I think we all agree he has gears to go through. It makes for a cracking final and if he can demolish Groves comprehensively all questions will be answered. He strikes me as one of those sportsmen who competes to the level of the competition. Lots of variables at play though starting with Groves shoulder and Calums hands.

 

You're forgetting the bit where Smith pulled out of the world title fight.

 

Really? What about Smith ducking a world title fight with Dirrell? Or him ducking a world title fight with Degale?

 

The thing with unbeaten, untested fighters is that you never quite know how good they are.

Smith has fought two in a row, and had a rougher time than expected against both. It may be that Skoglund and Holzken were better than they were given credit for. It may also be that Smith isn't as good as many people thought.

The chances are that the truth is somewhere in the middle, but we won't know for sure until he is in there with Groves. Regardless of whether Smith is the real deal or not, we do know that he is a huge guy for the weight with solid fundamentals and no obvious durability issues. He may or may not clean out the division, but he's likely to be a factor in it for as long as he can still make the weight.

 

He didn’t duck Direll, Dirrell changed the location and postponed it several times and in the end he got fed up.

He was then offered the Degale fight of the WBSS. Win either way makes you a world champion, lose either way and it’s a dramatic fall from grace. In hindsight he should have took the Degale fight! But now he’s got a much tougher fight against Groves, let’s see if he prevails.

 

Sorry George but they have replacements as jurgen experienced
The show must go on
Shoe on the other foot and gerorgie boy would not be as accommodating

 

Dirrell's team changed the location (so what?) and wanted to bring the fight forward by one day. Smith pulled out and a 20 year old took his place and won the belt.
Hearn offered him the Degale fight and was shocked when he didn't want to know.

 

smith is overated!

I think groves will crumble him and early