Your SMW/168 Order

Ward
Kessler
Froch
Bute
Dirrell

My top five, that good for you.

 

AA vs Bika could be an really good fight !

 

:good

 

The problem with AA it's his workrate! anybody can outwork him and if AA doesn't land flush he can lost agains't a less talented guy!

 

I agree that Dirrel has the skills to beat him but who has the guy faced? I mean, if he had stayed in the tourney, I'd have him ranked but for now, it seems he likes to overact more than fight... I'm not doubting his injuries.. I'm just saying when he comes back and starts fighting the best.. then I'd consider him and his rankings.. but until then, I can't see why people wouldn't rank Johnson or Bika, or even Stieglitz ahead of him.. why keep him ranked when he says he's having a brain injury preventing him from fighting for some time?..

And when he comes back, he should fight Kessler.... IMO

 

The Mike Tyson syndrom he is beating bums but he's doing it in style

 

Froch
Ward
Bute

 

Now this is where I'm left scratching my head!!

25% of esb have Ward in their P4P top ten (see separate poll)
55% of esb have Froch in their P4P top ten (see separate poll)

45% of esb have Ward as the best 168lber
37% of esb have Froch as the best 168lber

what the hell is going on here! make your mind up esb

 

1. Ward
2. Froch
3. Bute

 

1. Ward (highest respect for outboxing a Kessler that had recovered from his loss to Calzaghe, dominated every top 10 SMW he's faced all that early in his career, very hard fighter to train against)

2. Bute (Andrade II-on ring generalship is superb, varied arsenal of power punches with good strategy to place them, great accuracy on top of that, hard to rate him resume wise because of his exclusion from the S6, cannot believe for the love of god that Froch would outbox him)

3. Froch (gave Kessler a very close fight, isn't afraid to go to war - actually he's super competent at it, awkward style and awesome reach, maybe one too many defensive flaws to honestly pretend he wouldn't take series of flush shots from Ward & Bute)

That's all that matters to me right now. Dirrell might come back and might even want a tune-up fight before Bute, but to me Kessler is borderline retired... until I see a press release that tells me otherwise. This kind of discussion will have a much greater meaning by the time the S6 winner will have faced Bute.

My $0.02.

 

Bute may have good ring generalship, and could probably beat Froch, but that is not what fighters are ranked on. There rankings are based on achievement, and as is clear to anyone who is not blind, Froch has a better resume and has clearly achieved more than Bute. Thus should be ranked ahead of him.

My £0.02

 

Yep. Your rankings are based purely on resume. But the OP suggested otherwise, something like 35% H2H based. That's where Bute gets the edge over Froch for me, that's all. I totally, totally agree that Froch's resume & experience with top tier SMW is superior to Bute's.