(prime) Jeff Lacy in today's SMW division.

Leave aside the indirect pro- or anti- Calzaghe agenda-toting nonsense, please. Throw a peak unbeaten Left Hook in with the following ten, who constitute the current best of the crop @ 168lbs:

Lucian Bute
Callum Smith
Badou Jack
Gilberto Ramírez Sánchez
James DeGale
Felix Sturm
Anthony Dirrell
Fedor Chudinov
Andre Dirrell
Arthur Abraham

(I left off Martin Murray just because he only has fought twice at the weight, and both times against fellow up-jumped middleweights, knocking out José Torres and losing (officially) to Abraham)

How many does he beat? :think

Again: check your agenda crap at the door. :nono I don't want to see a single post about JC if possible, unless you're drawing on their match-up to provide analysis of any of these.

 

Those with the most suspect whiskers (Jack and Dre) get sparked, is my guess. So too could the younger Dirrell - and to a lesser extent Bute, although smart money would be on Bute hanging on to get a decision, maybe getting off the canvas late to do so.

Chudinov is rather basic, and Sturm a shell of himself. The young Lacy that generated so much hype during his initial rise had enough strong performances to suggest he would get through both of them. Abraham would be close for much the same reason as Sturm, but good luck to Lacy getting the nod in Germany. It could be a see-saw affair with Chunky but I feel like the Brit would edge it, giving Lacy more angles than he's comfortable dealing with (but occasionally also laying on the ropes and permitting Jeff to put in some work and steal a few rounds).

Mundo has too much talent and Ramírez Sánchez too many physical advantages, I think.

 

Lacy was always better than Curtis Stevens, first of all - even after losing. Stevens wouldn't have ever beaten Vitali Tsypko or gone the distance with Jermain Taylor. He truly was a power-reliant hype job, far more so than Lacy, who, though no master technician, could box a bit.

Dirrell vs. Froch was an ugly, dirty mess in which both men looked horrid. Styles make fights, and Lacy's style is quite dissimilar to Froch's even if their raw power is comparable (or Froch's is superior). He'd get to him eventually, despite Andre's best attempts to pull a Stevens. tta

 

He'd make a top 11.

 

I see I'm not alone in thinking he chins Badou.

 

Sturm getting beaten almost unanimous. :think (one more vote than Jack)