Sven Ottke vs James Toney

What I like or appreciate about Ottke was his technique. I was an amateur fighter in the late 80's/ early 90's and I have always been a huge fan of international competition and the guy was pretty incredible at that time. His technique was so good he was able to neutralize way better athletes with distance and timing.

 

Both Toney and Ottke had fights where they struggled with lesser fighters. What sets them apart was Toney's willingness to fight the best opponents especially early in his career. Later in his career his promoter always put him in against guys that were taylor made for his style of counter punching. Thay said he still deserves respect for how bad ass he was. 30 year pro that never got KOED is impressive as hell considering the level of competition faced.

Ottke is judged harshly for being a world champion that never left his back yard. Sure plenty of other fighters did the same thing like Roy Jones Jr for example refused to fight over seas which after what happened to him in the Olympics is understandable. I think Ottke was an outstanding boxer and I love and notice the little things he did in the ring that made him great but I also recognize he needed to do more to be recognized as a truly great WORLD champion. Calzaghe crossed the pond and beat BHOP and Roy and also took out the clear number two 168 pounder in Kessler. Ottke never did anything remotely like that as a pro. However he did beat Juan Carlos Gomez, Antonio Tarver, Zsolt Ederi and Micahel Moorer in the amauters which is just a crazy good accomplishment. Both were tremendous fighters in there own way.

 

I am a fan of Ottke but the fact is he did not leave Germany and did not clear out his division like Ward did. Ottke did not fight either Calzaghe or Beyer which I don't put 100% on him. It takes two to tango and Calzaghe wasn't particularly interested in going to Germany and Beyer was a friend and stablemate. Calzaghe beat both Lacy and Kessler who were the other two best fighters at that point at 168 as Ottke was retired at that point. You have to admit as good as Ottke was he did have a lot of close flights that truly could have fone either way. Again, the point of this thread is how I believe he would be an extremely difficult opponent for Toney based on his style. He was a very good champion but not a great one that traveled the globe taking on all comers in there own backyard. Calzaghe beat both Lacy and Kesslwr before coming to the US and beating the long reigning middleweight champ Hopkins who had just won a belt at 175.

 

I'm sure Ottke's promoter influenced him to stay in Germany where they would make more money fighting than anywhere else. Ottke was a star there and a National hero for what he accomplished in international amatuer competition.

Not sure how you can dismiss what Ward accomplished in that tournament? Ward, Kessler, Froch and Abraham were the top dogs of that era.

Bute feasted on guys like Glen Johnson and Jesse Brinkley. When he stepped up and fought the top guys like Froch he was destroyed.

I brought Hopkins into the discussion regardless of weight class because of what a difficult guy he was to fight. Any win over him especially during that time period when Hopkins was not only beating but dominating guys like Tarver and Pavlik is impressive.

Botton line, I respect Ottke as a fighter but I understand why he is not in the hall of fame. He chose to fight in Germany for the majority of his career often with German refs and all German judges instead of being a world champion that fought around the globe. I think that decision was made with making the most money possible in mind more so than legacy which is fine and his decision but it is also why he is not on the hall of fame.

Calzaghe did the same thing until he realized his legacy was at stake. He came over to the US and fought two legends and that means something to folks. Look at Muhammad Ali. He fought in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia etc. That's a world champion and a big reason why he loved around the world.

 

He is definitely an acquired taste as a fighter. It's the little things that he does that impress me. Controlling distance and exceptional timing and footwork. His opponents never could set their feet and if they had superior hand speed, he took that away.

All that said, he was a polarizing dude for sure.