Nope. Not even close. SMW is a bit of a wasteland and for a lot of the same reasons I didn't get too excited by Crawford unifying 140 I can't start lauding praise on Groves for winning a tournament with only one title in it and a few solid also rans.
Afraid not. Beating Cox, Eubank Jr, and Smith/Braehmer is a fine run but not enough to break p4p top 10. Don't forget how hard Groves struggled before he finally won a title, he's good but not good enough for top 10.
I think people are placing too much prestige in the accomplishment of winning these tournaments. When I think of Andre Ward, I don't really think of the accomplishment of winning the Super Six. I think of clear victories over genuine high-quality 168lbers in Kessler and Froch. I'd say that winning the whole shebang would be a considerable achievement for George Groves, but I wouldn't say that the actual run resonates all that much in terms of the higher echelons of the sport.
You say that like the quality of competition in the SMW tournament and the CW tournament are comparable. They aren't.
It'd be enough to make him number one at 168, which isn't a strong division. Not too ten but clearing out the other champions or making noise at 175 (that won't happen) could help him get there.
Should Usyk win the CW tourney, no doubt he deserves a greater kudos than the winner of the 168 version. But that will be mainly because he beat Gassiev, not because he won the tourney per se. Wlodarczyk, Perez, Kudryashov and a washed-up Huck isn't that impressive a pool. Briedis is good, but overrated on this forum for whatever reason. Dorticos, while quite basic, is dangerous and rugged. That's a stronger mob than the 168 mob, but it wouldn't be outrageously stronger if not for the two clear standout talents who are meeting in the final. They are the prize for one another, much moreso than anything that was done on the road to Jeddah or the achievement of lifting the Ali trophy.
Briedis proved in his fight with Usyk he wasn't overrated. I was one of his biggest critics. I didn't see anything special in him. But he showed his merit by giving Usyk as close of a fight you can have while still winning. The chances of Usyk/Gassiev being closer than that fight is unlikely.
Well, I thought Usyk beat Briedis obviously enough (around 116-112, a margin that indicates a 'close but clear' type of fight), but he didn't exactly look all that brilliant against Mike Hunter a couple fights before. I know this is sacrilege on these forums, but, if you were surprised at Briedis being competitive with Usyk, maybe it's less a matter of you having grossly underestimated Briedis and more that Usyk isn't quite as wonderful as some have it? Then again, there's the argument (which has been made by Usyk fans on this forum) that Usyk fought down to Briedis somewhat and will bring his A game to the Gassiev bout out of respect for the Russian's punching prowess. Usyk-Gassiev may or may not turn out to be a close fight, but the 'who won more rounds in a losing effort against Usyk?' triangle would be a dicey gauge for determining whether Gassiev is as good as or better than Briedis. That said, if Briedis really is the next best thing in this tourney, that's not saying a lot for the tourney (though I still grant that it's a clearly stronger overall pool than the 168 version). I don't believe it's the case, though - I think Gassiev will prove a very good scalp for Usyk, assuming the Ukrainian gets the expected win. Gassiev has much more time left than Briedis, of course, but Briedis shouldn't be done yet, so we'll see what they go on to achieve respectively.