What are your thoughts on the middleweight division right now?

It's a funny division at the moment in that there's a clear top 2 (williams & martinez) then alot of average fighters who will never have a chance of beating the top 2 (sturm, sylvester, geale)

then you've got possibly the most promising young fighters coming through in any division in the sport (pirog, golovkin, lemieux, guerrero, chavez jr, jacobs, kirkland if he moves up). i think this will be the hottest division in boxing within the next 2 years, it could be on the cusp of a historical period that's looked back upon as great in years to come, hopefully they all get matched and some classic fights are made.

my top 5 at present would probably be martinez, williams, pirog, sturm, golovkin. i dont include pavlik in this as i cant see him ever making 160 again.

 

Currently the middleweight division is of pretty high interest to me because we have Paul Williams taking on Sergio Martinez in a great rematch for the genuine World Championship between the best two guys in the division. Unfortunately though, even this fight is being ****ed around by a stupid catchweight of 157 lbs or something.

It doesn't really matter too much who the top 5 are though in any division because there are too many weight classes and pointless titles messing them up.

The best decade in the division was undoubtedly in the 50s when Sugar Ray Robinson had probably about a dozen top quality fights. He won the title about 5 different times as well I think.

The best champions in history for me have been Robinson, Monzon, Hagler and Hopkins.

 

It's a fairly weak division at the moment when you compare it to the past.

I don't think the bout means a lot for the division in the future. Williams is talking of moving down, and Martinez moving up. They've got nothing else to achieve at the weight.

As Johna said, Martinez and Williams are much better than the rest, but there are a few stars on the way up.

 

They both had weak reigns overall. Both seems to do their best winning the title (and the rematch) and then just thread water for a while, during which they were still considered the best, but as soon as they faced a rest they were shown to have seriously deteriorated.

I think they were both good when they won it, but just did nothing after, faced nobody and wouldnt put much stock in either's reign.

 

Pavlik coulda been a real tough force and made some more credible title defenses had he not made the catastrophic mistake of running into said Mr Hopkins. As he said in that famous interview with Steve Bunce "I TAKE SOULS" Its true, and Pavlik joins the list of guys that came out so mentally scarred from a beating from Bernard. His 2 tough wins over Taylor will go down as his greatest achievements as im not sure he'll be the force he could have been with better management and comparing anyone with a top 5 best middleweight period Hopkins is unfair.

The middlewieght division as it stands with the previously mentioned fighters will give a few shocks ala Pirog Koing Jacobs and people like Matt Macklin and Darren Barker have a genuine chance of being world champions as they fit in. In Matt Korobov 160lbs has 1 of the worlds best propests too and maybe he will be fast-tracked onto the world scene.

I must say its gr8 to see Martinez-Williams 2, a brilliant 1st fight almost guaranteed brilliant 2nd and we see the 2 best in the division go at it which is always good

 

Lemieux is going to clear that division up next year.

That kid is a BIG star in the making.

 

:good

Yup.

Nothing really to add to what has already been said on this topic. Top two are probably as good as the top two in any other division. Outside of that you've got a raft of competitors on a pretty level footing but then a bunch of real, real prospects.

Agree with the above though, Lemieux is my pick. Fights like a mini-Mike. Lets hope he just doesnt turn out to be another Jeff Lacy.

 

It's frustrating a lot of those Middleweight Prospects are not US based and due to this I worry if we will see them built up as attractions and I doubt if we will see those fights as being mega fights unfortunately.

It is also extremely frustrating that the WBA and WBC are forking out titles left, right and centre meaning that you have fighters such as Golovkin, N'Jikam, Chavez Jr getting supposed 'World Titles' rather then working their way up their ranks and into genuine contenders and genuine Champions.

 

Weak on proven talent, very good potential. Thats the current middleweight division in short.

1. Martinez
2. Williams
3. Pavlik

4.. Sturm
5. Sylvester

Best prospects
------------
Pirog
Golovkin
N'dam N'jikam
Lemieux

 

Did you rank those prospects in order? Just out of curiosity.

Not seen N'dam N'jikam. What's his style like?

 

Pavlik and Taylor provided the best genuine world title fight at the weight for ages when they fought a few years ago. Was a terrific matchup and if anyone hasn't watched it I'd suggest having a look. Great showing of everything that's great about boxing. Unfortunately both seemed to go downhill after this fight and their catchweight rematch.

 

Not in any order, no. I rate NDNJ the lowest after his recent fight where he really struggled with a limited but game opponent. Does not have anywhere near the power of the other three on that list so he struggles to deter strong fighters. I'd describe him as a boxer/mover, he circles the ring, throws fast, flashy punches but he also has a tendency to have macho moments where he mixes it up and often comes out worse.