Has Super 6 Been A Sucsess?

In the beginning i thought it was a brilliant idea. Got to see some really good fights:good But way to long between the rounds. And then the pull outs came, and the stupid replacements, and not to forget Wards home-turf avantage. it killed the excitement. All in all i dont think its been as good as expected!

 

What started out with so much promise has failed to deliver the goods.Too many pull outs(which was predictable) too much time off between fights and the perception that certain fighters had a distinct "home" advantage,which has proven to be oh so true.Injuries and the fake bull**** pulled off by Dirrell,with no visable consequences,has proved to me that Showtime didn't have full control of this tourney.
It has failed to deliver the expected result.

 

Kessler WBA
Froch WBC
Bute IBF
Stieglitz WBO

+ 2 solid mandos

Taylor and Abraham unproven back then at 168, both proven unworthy by now at 168.
Ward, only fought Miranda before S6.
Dirrel fought nobody before S6.

Super 6 guys became the best over night cause Showtime said so

 

You're the one ignoring people's fights and judging them solely on their worst loss. Let's not ignore Abraham's other fights, shall we?
Wins vacant IBF title against Kingsley Ikeke. Defends it against Shannan Taylor, Kofi Jantuah, life-and-death with Edison Mirande, Sebastien Demers, Khoren Gevor (guess who's in the news for losing shamefully against Stieglitz and DQ himself in the process? The same Stieglitz Andrade pummeled. The same Andrade who did nothing to impress you.), Wayne Elcock, Elvin Ayala, Edison Miranda again, Raul Marquez, Lajuan Simon, Mahir Oral, the overblown corpse of Jermain Taylor, and Andre "... the worst fight I've ever seen." Dirrell.
Tell me, which of these victories made you get such a hard-on for Arthur Abraham? Or maybe it was his latest win over Stjepan Bozic that did it...

Your second point: I know he KOed Taylor. The world knows he KOed Taylor. And he won against Dirrell. But winning and outboxing are different things. Had Gatti caught Floyd and put him down for the count, would that mean he wasn't outboxed up to that point?
Froch was behind against Taylor at the time of stoppage, because he had been outboxed. He was outboxed by Dirrell, who threw away the victory by being a coward. And he was outboxed by a far-from-his-best Kessler.

I'll respond to your third question in another post.

 

Abraham and Taylor have proven not to be among the very best at 168 but AA was undefeated and coming off a good run at 160. Taylor had fought very well against Froch before being stopped with seconds to go.

Ward and Dirrell were unproven but included because of their perceived ability and potential. Can you honestly say including Ward was a bad choice? Dirrell showed he has amazing talent despite being a *****.

Are you saying you would have included Steiglitz and "two solid mandos" ahead of Ward?

 

no, i'm just saying that Showtime's choises are disputable. Ward beating Miranda was enough to make him mando to some ABC belt, Dirrell's win over Stevens would be also sufficient if we take in account that Brinkley got his shot by beating Stevens. Andrade has beaten Otis Grant, Yusaf Mack, Stieglitz and Tsypko; fought for 2 belts; altmost got the IBF from Bute; i call Andrade a more "solid" mando, at that time, then Ward or Dirrell;
also Taylor was shot at that time, that was a terible choice; Green was also a terible choice.
(i only included Stieglitz because he had/has a belt)

 

super 6 has been serious.

 

Choosing the 6 best for a long-duration tournament is unrealistic. The rankings vary too much and too fast for that.
Had it been a shorter tournament, the 6 I would've chosen at the moment it was created would have been Kessler, Froch, Bute, Andrade, perhaps Ward based on potential and Karoly Balzsay.
This last one was still unbeaten at that point, showed some promise for a while and defeated fellow unbeaten Dennis Inkin. It turns out however, this choice would have been a mistake, as he was ulteriorly found lacking something at the highest level by losing to Stieglitz.
Stieglitz himself wasn't an option at the moment the tournament got set up. He was only working his way back up after his loss to Andrade and was fighting nobodies at that point and got his belt when beating Balzsay, after the Super6 was announced.
The thing is, I don't know if they thought to offer Bute a spot, but he would have been torn if they did, because he wanted to face Andrade to settle all the question marks. Had they invited both Bute and Andrade, that would have solved everything.

 

So saying Abraham is better than Magee means I have a hard-on for him? Seriously? I don't have strong feelings about him one way or the other but does the list of fights you listed not impress you more than Magee's record?

Froch was out-boxed for long periods against Taylor before the ko but the Dirrell and Kessler fights are different. He didn't land a lucky punch or get a late stoppage - he went to the scorecards in two very close fights.

 

I find it hard to argue with the original Super 6, outside of Taylor.. who was clearly on the decline.. would have preferred Bute.

The concept is great, but Pro Boxing has proven again that just because it's good on paper doesn't mean promoters, fighters, and injuries won't **** everything up.

The BW tourney is smarter, if less compelling, because it will actually be pulled off.

 

Almost everyone would have liked Bute to be involved but, for whatever reson, it didn't happen. You said the Super 6 didn't showcase the best fighters at 168 but in Froch, Kessler and Ward, they included 3 fighters you say are among the best in the division and you admit that including Balzsay would have been a mistake. Personally, I don't think Andrade had a better argument to be there than AA or Taylor and I can't see how his involvement would have made the tournament any better.

 

No. That list impresses noone.

 

Could you list all of Magee's victories which impress you so much more?

 

It wouldn't have made the tournament any worse, either. And that's my point. I'm not saying the tournament in itself was a bad thing. I'm saying there isn't that huge a gap between the fights in the tournament an the fights outside it, as what is perceived.

Thought exercise: Imagine Abraham would have pulled out of the tournament after the shellacking received from Carl Froch. Imagine then that Bute would have offered him a lot of money and they agreed to fight last march, instead of the Magee fight. Everyone would be saying Bute picks on a limited, broken fighter who lost badly his previous fight. Yet noone says that about the proposed Ward-Abraham fight. That, my friend, is the power of propaganda!

 

I'm not the one calling Magee the best.
I see you've backtracked slightly from

to