The Top 20 Greatest Super Middleweights of All-Time

By Cliff Rold

The Other Nine, Pt. 2

Follow the sweet science long enough and even a passing fan will hear, with sounds of awe, about an ‘original eight,’ about a bygone era when the sport’s weight classes were limited to just that number with (usually) just that many World champions.

The era didn’t last very long. 

As early as the 1920s, prizefighting saw extra prizes added by way of Jr. divisions at Featherweight, Lightweight and Welterweight.  Over the course of time, the total number has grown to a modern seventeen weight classes.  Sometimes derided as bastard divisions, most didn’t begin with particular esteem.  As the years and indeed decades have passed, all have built their own legacies in blood and all have produced greatness in the ring.

Through the course of “The Other Nine,” the best of each of the in-between classes will be given their due, examining how the champions of each performed against and in comparison to each other.

Super Middleweight

Like so many of the in between classes, it’s hard to find much clamor in the beginning for a Super Middleweight class.  The division, after a couple of previous flirtations with existence, was formally birthed by a then-fledgling IBF in 1984.  On March 28 of that year, journeyman Murray Sutherland captured a fifteen round decision over Ernie Singletary.

It was less than a nuclear arrival.

Sutherland would be stopped one fight later by Chong-Pal Park and Park would go on to a healthy run.  In 1988, the WBA crowned its first 168 lb. champion, a distinction which would also go to a Park who had vacated his IBF belt between tilts.  Park’s lineage would hold up through the WBA reign of Bruno Girard but become obscured and insignificant as the division developed.

The WBC and WBO would join the fray in 1988 with initial titlists Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns and the division quickly began the climb to respect.  Often a panacea for European fighters, America’s best have also played a strong role and while there has been many an ornery bastard over the years, it has hardly been the makings of a bastard class.  Beginning with the classic Hearns-Leonard II in 1989, Super Middleweight has been the home of some of the best and biggest fights in the sport over the last two decades.  45 men have claimed some share of a ‘world’ title at Super Middleweight; it is their turn for a look back. 

In determining a top twenty, this largely statistical analysis will focus solely on bodies of work in the Super Middleweight division.  Active fighters involved in the world title scene for more than three years are included and of course subject to change over time.

The Top Twenty

20) Thomas Hearns – 2.25 Points: Inaugural WBO titlist also competed in the division’s first unification fight against Leonard, a draw which even Leonard acknowledges as overly friendly to him…Detroit native made only a brief stop in a career mark of 61-5-1, 48 KO, capturing the vacant crown against James Kinchen and defending twice…Faced two other fighters who held titles at 168 (Murray Sutherland, Iran Barkley) but those results happened in different divisions and do not count here.

19) Lindell Holmes – 3.25 points: Ohio’s Holmes was one of the divisions original faces…career mark of 45-8, 36 KO…IBF titlist 1990-91, defeating Frank Tate for the vacant crown…defended successfully three times…faced five divisional titlists (Sutherland, Park, Thulani Malinga, Darrin Van Horn, Chris Eubank) six times, defeating Sutherland and Malinga.

18) Graciano Rocchigiani – 3.5 points: In a division birthed from sanctioning body politics, it is only fitting we get early on the first man who picked up a vacated title…German Rocchigiani snared the IBF title in 1988 against Vincent Boulware…career mark of 41-6-1, 19 KO…IBF belt vacated when Chong-Pal Park contested for the WBA strap…Rocchigiani defended three times from 88-89 before moving up to Light Heavyweight…ultimately faced two other titlists in division, Malinga and Eubank splitting win and loss in that order…Most famous for fight against Roy Jones which didn’t happen one division higher and via lawsuits almost bankrupted the WBC.

17) Jeff Lacy* – 3.5 Points: Florida’s 2000 U.S. Olympian got off to a roaring start only to peter out in recent years…career mark to date of 24-2, 17 KO…IBF titlist 2004-06…four successful defenses…faced two titlists in Robin Reid and Joe Calzaghe stopping Reid and being thumped by Calzaghe over the route…has one other loss in the division to Jermain Taylor.

16) Michael Nunn – 3.75 Points: Once considered one of the sports brightest lights, the Iowa native Nunn came to Super Middleweight off of a KO loss to James Toney one division lower…captured the WBA title in controversial fashion from Victor Cordoba, representing a strictly lineal claim to the crown descending from Park, and removed doubt with clear rematch win…held from 1992-94 with four successful defenses…coughed up the crown to journeyman Steve Little in career worst loss in 1994 and attempt to recapture was stunted by Little conqueror Frankie Liles…168 showed off some of the best and worst of Nunn…career mark of 58-4, 38 KO.

15) Markus Beyer – 4.5 Points: German based boxer rates this high more from longevity in division …Held the WBC title three times from 1999-2006, making eight defenses over the course of those reigns…career mark of 35-3-1, 13 KO…faced five fellow titlists (Richie Woodhall, Glenn Catley, Eric Lucas, Cristian Sanavia, Mikkel Kessler) six times, defeating Woodhall, Sanavia and Lucas, the last of these in controversial fashion.

14) Richie Woodhall – 5.5 Points: Former British Olympian had an up and down professional career…career mark of 26-3, 16 KO…WBC titlist 1998-99…made two successful defenses…faced five titlists in all after suffering a stoppage loss to Keith Holmes for a Middleweight title (Malinga, Catley, Vincenzo Nardiello, Beyer, Joe Calzaghe)...captured decisions over Malinga and Catley, stopped Nardiello and was stopped by Calzaghe in a near classic…narrowly lost title to Beyer after coming off the floor three times early and making a strong late rush.

13) Frankie Liles – 5.5 Points: Las Vegas based Liles was and still is often overlooked but for a time was an excellent fighter…career mark of 32-3, 19 KO…WBA and lineal titlist 1994-99…posted seven successful title defenses and lost only once in his first 33 bouts, to Tim Littles by decision…avenged that loss in a three-round lost classic where both came off the floor…faced three titlists in all (Steve Little, Nunn, Byron Mitchell) suffering a knockout loss to Mitchell in his final title fight…edges ahead of Woodhall on strength of having held a claim to the lineal crown.

12) Victor Cordoba – 6 Points: Panamanian had a brief run at 168 but packed in some quality rounds…career mark of 22-6-3, 16 KO…WBA and lineal titlist 1991-92…made one successful title defense and faced three titlists (Christophe Tiozzo, Nardiello, Nunn), stopping both Tiozzo and Nardiello…First Nunn loss probably shouldn’t have been.

11) In-Chul Baek – 6 Points: South Korean was a devastating puncher who spent the bulk of his career at Jr. Middleweight, even challenging Julian Jackson for a title and suffering the fate of many a Jackson foe, stopped in two rounds…career mark of 47-3, 43 KO…WBA and lineal titlist 1989-90…faced three titlists (Park, Fulgencio Obelmejias, Tiozzo) stopping the first two and being stopped by the last…edges ahead of Cordoba based on less losses in the division.

10) Byron Mitchell – 6.25 Points

Titlists/Champions Faced – 5: (Liles, Bruno Girard, Manny Siaca, Sven Ottke, Calzaghe)

Watching Alabama’s Mitchell could often be a frustrating experience.  Possessing scintillating one-punch power, Mitchell’s belief in it often found him waiting through long stretches of inactivity in search of a thunderbolt.  There was a reason for that because, when it landed, Mitchell’s right hand unhinged senses.  He captured his first title with a miracle shot in the eleventh against Liles, blasted out Siaca in their first of two bouts, and scored the first career knockdown against Calzaghe before being stopped for the first time.  Mitchell competed in one the division’s few unification bouts as well, coming as close as anyone to upsetting the ultimately undefeated Ottke.  Mitchell couldn’t quite get past the slick Girard, losing and drawing in two competitive affairs, but his volume of competition and the wins he garnered serve him well in this comparison. 

9) James Toney - 6.5 Points*

Titlists/Champions Faced – 2: (Iran Barkley, Roy Jones)

Still active in the Heavyweight division, Michigan’s Toney, a certain future Hall of Famer, may well have been at his best inside 168 lbs.  For one night, he may also have been at his worst.  Toney would have been favored to defeat many of the men ahead of him here but a short body of work limits his scoring.  Toney entered the division with a foot wetting win over the rugged Doug DeWitt before challenging Iran Barley for the IBF crown in early 1993.  A highly anticipated bout, Barkley was carved up through nine rounds for one of Toney’s best victories, again finding defeat against top opposition not named Tommy Hearns.  Toney would win five straight non-title affairs before making his first defense against journeyman Tony Thornton.  His next two defenses both provided indelible memories for fans, finishing Tim Littles in rapid fashion after suffering a dangerous cut and dissecting the excellent former IBF Light Heavyweight titlist Charles Williams.  Williams previous title status allows him to count as a quality win here.  In his final outing in the division, Toney burned another indelible image into the collective conscious: the image of the occasional underachiever.  With millions on the line, Toney showed up listless and in less than peak shape for the biggest fight of his career against Jones, losing nearly every round and throwing his career off track for years afterwards.

8) Chris Eubank – 9 Points

Titlists/Champions Faced – 6 (Malinga, Holmes, Benn, Rocchigiani, Steve Collins, Calzaghe)

One of the famed British class of Super Middleweights in the 1990s, Eubank posted one of the better title reigns the division has seen to date and he started in style.  Off the floor late, he stopped local rival Michael Watson in the final round of a brutal affair which nearly ended Watson’s life.  The tragic end often obscures the fight’s place as one of the best ever waged at 168.  It would not be the only outstanding affair for Eubank whose narrow rematch unification draw against Benn and two fights with Collins were also repeat viewing worthy wars.  Eubank could also be prone to dull affairs, his awkward fighting style and demeanor sometimes seeing him fight at less than full speed when he didn’t have to.  Still, his many admirable qualities outweigh, including exhibiting deep reserves of courage and a concrete chin when tested.  Eubank has been retired since 1998 and remains errantly off of the Hall of Fame ballot.

7) Nigel Benn – 10 Points

Titlists/Champions Faced – 5: (Malinga, Mauro Galvano, Eubank, Nardiello, Collins)

Perhaps best compared to American Arturo Gatti, with more success against better fighters, there was rarely a dull moment when Benn hit the squared circle.  After success at the Middleweight division, Benn moved up and scored a fourth round cut stoppage over Galvano to begin a lengthy title tenure one fight after a close ten-round decision win over Malinga.  Galvano would last the distance in their rematch but again suffer defeat and one fight later Benn would face Eubank for the second time.  In their first classic encounter for the WBO Middleweight belt, Eubank stopped Benn in the ninth.  In return, with 42,000 in attendance in Manchester, Benn appeared to most to get the better of the action but a penalty point deduction was the difference between victory and a draw.  Two more defenses followed before what would be Benn’s defining moment.  Counted as a quality win here, Benn would survive being knocked out of the ring in the first and being dropped in the eighth to score a dramatic tenth-round stoppage of Gerald McClellan in what is regarded by many as the greatest battle ever contested at 168.  McClellan suffered brain injuries and never fought again; Benn was never the same in the ring.  Two fights later, he was upset by Malinga and then stopped twice straight against Collins to finish a dramatic and memorable career in 1996.  Benn, like Eubank, is overdue for Hall of Fame consideration.

6) Steve Collins

Titlists/Champions Faced – 2: (Eubank, Benn)

Twice failed in attempts to capture the WBA Middleweight title, the Irish Collins found greater success one division higher, ending the reign of Eubank and career of Benn in the process.  Collins didn’t do any one thing in spectacular fashion but was a solid all around boxer with a willingness to brawl and a great chin to back his play.  Collins suffered few knockdowns in his career and survived the worst of them late in the first Eubank fight.  Efforts to attain a showdown with Roy Jones never bore fruit and Collins saw his career cut short by various injuries, the most serious represented in a doctor’s recommendation that further shots to the head could be lethal.  Upon his leaving the ring, Collins WBO mandatory was a young Calzaghe and it’s a fight worth pondering, an opportunity lost.

5) Roy Jones Jr. – 10.25 Points*

Titlists/Champions Faced – 3: (Malinga, Toney, Lucas)

As was the case earlier with Toney, hypothetical conjectures and mythical match making would rate Jones no lower than two and, given his prodigious talents, a strong case for the top spot would be in order.  It’s not a stretch to say he may never have lost a single round contested in the class and he stands as arguably the finest prizefighter of his time.  However, like many a fighter who competed in multiple divisions, Jones score is limited here by how little of his career was contested seriously in the division.  To his credit, the business he got done was of the most serious variety.  Before challenging Toney for the IBF belt at 168, Jones faced off with the same tough Malinga so many other notable Super Middleweights of the time met.  While most defeated him, for the first seventeen of a nineteen year run no one could keep Malinga from the final bell…except Jones.  Jones, in style and with prejudice, devastated the iron-chinned Malinga with ease inside of six rounds.  His win over Toney has been well covered over the years, a star making turn against a man most regarded as an heir apparent to then Pound-for-Pound king Pernell Whitaker.  Add in Lucas as well, not a great fighter but a tough out for years at 168; Jones dominated him as the second half of a stunt twin bill which included playing in a minor league professional basketball game.  Jones would years later face another name on this list in Calzaghe, at Light Heavyweight, but that doesn’t count in this division and that wasn’t the Jones Calzaghe would have faced at 168.  It’s a great what if worthy of the arguments it generates.   

4) Sven Ottke – 14.75 Points

Titlists/Champions Faced – 4: (Charles Brewer, Anthony Mundine, Reid, Mitchell)

No, Ottke was not a better fighter than Jones or some of the other fighters on this list.  He was not a bad fighter either.  Ottke, whose career was contested almost entirely in Germany, garnered a reputation over the years for home cooking from both judges and officials.  Some of it was earned, particularly in reviewing the fight with Reid.  However, put the cloudiest incidents aside and the good outweighs.  The wins against Brewer, James Butler, and Thomas Tate were all earned; so too was a decision over a then metamorphasizing Glen Johnson and the decision over Mitchell which unified two titles.  He was often as boring as watching paint dry (minus a shocking, come from behind one-punch knockout of Mundine), and his gaudy defense statistics are probably inflated by way of his never facing Calzaghe.  Still, 21 defenses against a range of legitimate contenders in the class which also included decent pugs like David Starie and Mads Larsen isn’t easy to come by and generated a body of work impossible to ignore.

3) Chong-Pal Park – 14.75 Points

Titlists/Champions Faced – 4: (Sutherland, Holmes, Obelmejias, Baek)

All divisions begin somewhere and Super Middleweight pretty much begins with South Korea’s Park.  From July 1984, when Park knocked off the initial IBF champion Sutherland in Sutherland’s first attempted defense, until March 1988 when Rocchigiani captured an IBF belt vacated by Park, no other man claimed to be the Super Middleweight champion of the world.  Over that length of time, including his switch of allegiance from IBF to WBA, he would defend his claim to the throne a total of ten times.  Including the Sutherland win, seven of his total title fight wins would end inside the distance.  Of the men that went the distance, he faced Lindell Holmes twice, the first a no decision off an accidental cut and the second a narrow and debatable decision on Park’s home turf.  There was no debate in his same native land when he went for defense number eleven, decisively defeated in twelve by Obelmejias and any hope for a return to the circle of champions would die with a showdown against fellow Korean Baek, Park treated to an eighth round knockout ending for his career.  It surely wasn’t the end he wanted, but it was the way most are shown the door.  Park could walk away knowing he’d laid a foundation which would only get better with time.

2) Mikkel Kessler – 16.5 Points*

Titlists/Champions Faced – 6: (Thobela, Siaca, Mundine, Lucas, Beyer, Calzaghe)

As an active fighter, one who lost the biggest fight to date of his career, Kessler may seem out of place so high.  Time may bear that out and he certainly has more room to fall as anyone in class.  At 29, with a strong current field at 168 including young titlists Lucian Bute and Carl Froch, he also has room to grow.  Whatever will come, if the world ended tomorrow this would be the spot Denmark’s Kessler had earned.  Only two men, Calzaghe and Malinga (8), have faced more men who held titles at 168 lbs. and unlike the other Calzaghe contemporary who unified two titles, Kessler has never left the impression of needing any help in victory.  Kessler first showed promise in consecutive stoppage wins over Craig Cummings (one of the rare fighters to score a knockdown of Steve Collins) and former titlist Thobela.  Stepping into a shot at WBA titlist Manny Siaca intended for fellow Dane Mads Larsen, Kessler ended matters in seven and added two more stoppages over former titlists Lucas and Beyer, the latter to unify his WBA title with the WBC’s.  Sandwiched around those wins, former titlist Anthony Mundine lasted the distance as did rugged contender Librado Andrade but both were lapped on the scorecards.  The lone man Kessler couldn’t get by, well, no one else got by him either leading to number one.

1) Joe Calzaghe – 26.5 Points

Titlists/Champions Faced – 7: (Eubank, Reid, Woodhall, Brewer, Mitchell, Lacy Kessler)

It was a matter of coincidence timing the authoring of this Super Middleweight review.  Just days ago, Calzaghe announced he was retiring from the sport.  History tells us, even leaving at the advanced fighting age of 35, the Welsh star is likely to return.  The calendar will tell that tale. 

It’s unlikely to have much impact on his Super Middleweight resume.

Calzaghe’s career was analyzed in great detail previously at this site (https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=16920) but some of the key points there bear repeating here.  Calzaghe, like Ottke, would post 21 successful title defenses of their original diadem in the division.  Each had a long night with Robin Reid and it is blight on both men’s careers that they never squared off.  The stain is bigger for Ottke.

That’s because Calzaghe made up for it in other areas.  Calzaghe is the only man to have held all of the major sanctioning bodies in class, fought the second most fellow titlists, and he stopped or posted a commanding unanimous decision over six of them.  He ended the Super Middleweight run of Eubank to capture his first title and halted the rise of his heir apparent in Kessler before a crowd of over 50,000 in his native Wales. 

Should he remain retired, the undefeated ledger of Calzaghe will remain a source of debate.  His resume would have been bolstered with fights against the likes of Ottke and Liles and how he would have fared in earlier years against eventual Light Heavyweight foes Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones is the fodder of the best of barbershop debates.  Regardless, with twenty five years of history invested, a championship standard is established at Super Middleweight.

The standard is Joe Calzaghe.

Semantics

The results here are based on a numerical comparison, adjusted slightly from the previous week, which assigns points based on:

1. Number of fellow champions faced (1 Point each)

2. Lineal World Titles (Noted)

3. Sanctioning Body Titles (Points Assigned based on  number of bodies; i.e. .5 pre-IBF; .25 post-WBO)

4. Title Defenses (Points assigned in correlation to title points)

5. 2 Points per KO; -2 per KOBY; 1 per UD against fellow titlists

6. Quality Wins (Points Assigned based on opponent accomplishments; i.e. lineal champions count for 1, a single sanctioning body champion based on their sanctioning body total, discretionary points for established champions from other weight classes)

7. Divisional Losses (all losses in division -1 point)

8. Draws (.5 points)

*Still an active professional

Coming Soon: “The Other Nine, Pt. 3: The Junior Middleweights”

Pt. 1 – Cruiserweight: https://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=18179

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com