Is Canelo the Greatest Super Middleweight of all time?

The Eubank Calzaghe schooled would fk up anyone Canelo fought at 168... Canelo pretty much got a Gimme in his fight with a near shot 40-year old stationary target and still failed to impress & gassed.. 168 is a wasteland right now .. & Canelo could only dream of putting on a boxing display like Calzaghe did against the likes of Lacy and Kessler and Eubank ... asking if he's The Greatest super middleweights of all time is like asking if Devin Haney is the greatest LW ever

 

A one handed "stationary target.." at that!

 

168 tends to be top heavy and a fly by weight. The greats might pick up a belt or two and then move one. That is what makes it a difficult weight to assess and for establishing greatness because there aren't too many lineal champs who stick around for the next guy to beat and show their greatness. I say the weight class has always been a bit weak, but it was especially weak when Canelo took it over. All we have is the eye test, but no I don't think Plant, BJS or Smith were as good as Froch, Kessler, Ward or Calzaghe. While I think Canelo gets overly criticized I don't think he had much of a hill to climb at 168, I think head to head he is still competitive with those guys, but just a step below eeking out some of those wins.

 

Toney is a great win on paper, but he was weight drained and not his normal self when he fought RJJ. Canelo beating GGG at SMW is a great win on paper as well, even at 40 years old, GGG is a quality win. We saw what GGG just did to Murata. Canelo just undressed GGG coming off a good KO win.

Given how weight drained Toney was when RJJ beat him, and given GGG's age, those 2 wins were not against Toney or GGG in their primes, but still great wins nonetheless. Outside of RJJ's win over Toney, who else did he beat at SMW? He never beat a guy like Callum Smith, he never became Undisputed, Canelo fought 3 Undefeated fighters who he dominted (Smith) / brutally stopped (Saunders & Plant). No one RJJ beat at SMW is comparable to those wins. Vinny Paz was coming off a broken neck. Becoming Undisputed beating 3 undefeated SMW Champs, then a one-sided clinic vs GGG is better than RJJ's SMW run by a mile. A win over a weight drained James Toney by itself is not better than what Canelo has accomplished at 168 thus far, and he's not done at 168.

Ward has more quality wins at 168 than RJJ, and has arguably beaten better names than Canelo. (well besides GGG at least) but Canelo's level of dominance vs Smith, Saunders and Plant needs to be considered. Ward while he has a great win over a Prime Froch, that was a very close fight. While Canelo hasn't fought anyone like Froch, he has dominated everybody he's fought thus far at 168. It's an interesting comparison, Ward certainly accomplished a lot at SMW, but Canelo could still have many more years defending Undisputed at 168.

 

Calzaghe slaps the **** outta him.

 

Super Joe for me

 

We would never know how good BJS and Caleb Plant is at SMW because they played it safe and fought C level comp to maintain their undefeated records in order to get a Canelo fight. Callum Smith only bested George Groves. GGG fought his entire career at MW. You’re not seriously comparing these guys against the battle tested and proven SMWs of Andre Ward & Frochs era.

 

No one ever said Douglas is a top HW. But, the question is being asked about great SMW and Canelo is on the list, so it makes sense to compare best wins. I think comparing overall level of opposition is the best way to determine which the best is. How do you determine who the best is?

 

Y’all must’ve forgot.

 

Agreed! He has Kessler, which is a good win. Is it better than anything Canelo has done? But, other factors to consider are longevity as champ and an undefeated record. That goes a long way when determining ATG status. Canelo cleaned out the division and became undisputed. A great accomplishment. I can see why Canelo is on the list and ranks near the top.

 

This threas dint go how you wanted did it not.

But Calzaghe did exactly what Canelo did, its just he got stripped in between fights.

Plus his resume is a whole lot deeper in the division.

Not to add his LHW 2 fight series is better than Canelos.