By Brent Matteo Alderson
A lot of boxing insiders always belittle the different weight classes and although I am vehemently opposed to more than one champion per division I support the existence of the numerous weight categories. Even though the 168-pound division was founded in the early 80’s, since that time its historical importance has increased substantially and the division has gone from being a wasteland for non-talented and used-up Middleweights to being one of boxing’s most exciting and intriguing divisions.
This metamorphosis was partly sparked by James Toney’s foray into the division in 1993 as well as by the influx of talented fighters from the United Kingdom and Germany.
This Saturday on HBO, Joe Calzaghe and Mikkell Kessler will fight for the undisputed Super-Middleweight championship and even though titles from all four major organizations will not be at stake, they should be since both men have each won two of the major organizational titles and neither one of them has lost those titles in the ring. Regardless of who wins this Saturday, the outcome of the bout will have overwhelming implications on each fighters place in history and on Super-Middleweight history in general.
So in anticipation for Saturday’s historic fight, here is a list of the greatest Super-Middleweights in history.
1. Roy Jones Jr. - Roy Jones’ reign as the IBF-168 pound champ wasn’t very lengthy and he never unified the title, but his performances at the weight were exhilarating and his title winning fight against James Toney secures his spot as the greatest 168-pounder in history. People forget that Toney was 44-0-2 coming into their bout and was almost unanimously recognized as the second best pound-for-pound fighter in the world right after Pernell Whitaker.
Although a lot of critics like to point out that James had troubling making the weight I don’t think we should penalize Roy Jones because Toney knew about the fight way in advance since it had been sealed with his July victory over Prince Charles Williams. It wasn’t the weight that beat Toney; it was a Roy Jones who was undeniably at his best. Just look at his title bouts as IBF 168 pound champ.
He completely obliterated Vinny Pazienza and even won a round in which the Pazmanian Devil never landed a punch which at the time was a first for the punch stat people. Then his finishes in fights with Bryant Brannon and Tony Thorton were incredible. In his fight with Thorton he threw over 50 consecutive unanswered punches within the span of seconds and in his defense against the then undefeated Brannon had the New Jersey ex-con hurt against the ropes and employed the referee to stop it. When the referee refused to stop the fight and motioned Roy to finish Brannon in a Mortal Kombatesque way, Jones anespitized the Blue Horizon slugger as if he could have done it any time he wanted to.
Now Jones’s twelfth round stoppage of Lucas was boring and uninspiring, but that was the bout when Roy played in a professional basketball game the day of the fight and people forget that Lucas ended up being a fixture in the Super-Middleweight division for almost a decade. At the end of the day, five defenses that all ended by knockout and a dominating 12 round decision over a prime James Toney earn Roy Jones the spot as the greatest 168-pounder in history.
2. Joe Calzaghe - Joe won the WBO title that Steve Collins had vacated with a title winning performance against the tough Chris Eubank then proceeded to make 20 defenses of his title over the course of the next ten years. The numbers are impressive and would earn him a place in the hall of fame any day of the week except for the fact that his opposition was marginal at best.
Besides legitimate defenses against Richie Woodhall, Byron Mitchell, Charles Brewer, and Robin Reid, the rest of his challengers were no-hopers. Come on Tucker Pudwill is the guy that lost to a 41 year old Vinny Paz in the Rhode Islander's last fight. And the group of challengers that can be deemed as legit weren’t even that tough. Woodhall and Reid were good English fighters, but they weren’t ranked in the top five by Ring Magazine and Brewer and Mitchell were legitimate, but flawed contenders.
Still Calzaghe erased any doubt about his ability as a champion with his emphatically dominating victory over Jeff Lacy that garnered him the IBF title as well the Ring Magazine championship. He proved that he wasn’t a paper titlist who was just taking advantage of the current pugilistic landscape that enables fighters to stack up defenses against under-qualified challengers in their own backyard. Joe proved beyond a doubt that he is the World Super-Middle Weight Champion and that his lengthy reign should be praised for its longevity and accomplishment and not dismissed for its quality. A victory over Mikkel Kessler this Saturday would definitely push the Welshman to the top of this list and emphatically stake his place as the greatest Super-Middleweight in history.
3. Sven Ottke - Sven was never embraced by the American boxing establishment mostly because his bouts were never televised in the States and because he lacked power, only scoring six knockouts in over 30 fights. Still if you look at the numbers, the names, and the fact that he partially unified the Super-Middleweight title, the first to successfully do so, you have to recognize Ottke as the third greatest 168-pounder in history.
He made 18 defenses over a 5 year span, unified the title against the hard hitting Byron Mitchell, notched defenses against Charles Brewer, Thomas Tate, Anthony Mundine, Glen Johnson, and retired undefeated. An argument could be made that Ottke should be considered the greatest 168-pounder in history, but there are some negatives.
First, he never once defended his title outside of his native Germany and second he won more than a couple of razor thin decisions, which means that if he had fought those bouts anywhere else that he probably would have lost at least one of those. Thus consistency as a solid champion has earned him his spot as the third greatest Super-Middleweight in history just a rung below Calzaghe due to the fact that Joe unified against a young undefeated hard hitting Olympian while Ottke unified against Byron Mitchell, a hard hitting yet limited alphabet titlist.
4. Nigel Benn - Benn reigned as WBC Super-Middleweight champion from 92 to 96, during which time he made 10 successful defenses of the title. A case could be made that Eubank should be ranked ahead of Nigel based on his knock out victory over the erratic Benn, but that fight took place at 160 and by the time Benn became a 168 pound champ he had become a more polished professional, a seasoned veteran who was more familiar with the nuances of the sweet science. His development as a fighter was evident in his fights at 168, specifically when he improved on his original performance against Eubank and earned a draw in their rematch.
The bout that clearly defines Benn’s career at 168 pounds and elevates him past Eubank is his war with Gerald McClellan. Gerald was the WBC Middleweight champion and had scored three consecutive first round knock outs in three defenses of the title he had won from Julian Jackson. Also Gerald was a huge Middleweight and it seemed like he was more suited for 168. So the Benn-McClellan fight was supposed to be a war and it was. After getting knocked out of the ring in the first round and being pummeled early on, Benn fought his way back and stopped Gerald in the tenth in one of the greatest fights in history. The fight was historic and the victory, albeit a sad one, cements Benn’s legacy as one of the greatest Super- Middleweights in history.
5. Chris Eubank - From 1991 until 1995 Eubank made fourteen defenses of the WBO 168 pound title, which at the time was a newly formed organization and had about as much prestige as the IBA has today. Still Eubank engaged in some important title fights, coming off the floor to win the title in a tragic thriller with his country man Michael Watson.
Eubank also engaged in what I believe to be the first unification bout at the weight when he fought WBC Champion Nigel Benn to a draw in their 1993 rematch. Even though Eubank made fourteen defenses of the WBO title, most of the challengers were weak and a number of the decisions were controversial, specifically those in his fights with Ray Close.
Another negative thing about his reign is that he never really beat a top ranked American fighter like Ottke did in his unification win over Mitchell and Calzaghe did with his win over Lacy and Benn did in his win over McClellan. The thing that makes Eubank special was his persona and demeanor. He really was an odd duck who felt and acted as if he was aristocratic.
He was just a peculiar individual and controversy surrounded him like it did in incidences when he hit a pedestrian with his Range Rover or when he was psyched out by the fact that Steve Collins had supposedly hired a hypnotist. Based on his longevity at the weight and his solid wins over the undefeated Graciano Rocchigiano and the draw with Benn, Eubank has to be ranked with the greatest Super-Middleweights of all time.
6. James Toney - I really don’t know where to place James Toney on this list because he was the IBF 168 pound champ for less than two years and he only made three defenses of the title, but there are a few more things about his reign that add to his accomplishments. First he won the title from Iran the Blade Barkley, a tough fighter from the Bronx who had beaten Tommy Hearns for the second time less than a year before his bout with Toney. And James just didn’t beat him; he obliterated him and made him look like a novice on his way to a 10th round stoppage.
Then he defended his title against Tony Thornton, Tim Littles, and the underrated Prince Charles Williams, which set up his super fight with Roy Jones Jr. Yes Toney was completely outclassed and thoroughly dominated, but prior to that fight he was considered the second best fighter in the world and the same defensive dominance and relaxation that he showed at heavyweight were displayed during his stint as Super Middleweight champ.
Even though Eubank and Benn were also champs during the time of Toney’s reign, very few experts would have picked them against James. In fact Vegas would have made Toney a prohibitive favorite. So Toney isn’t ranked here because of his accomplishment at the weight, but more because of the brilliance he displayed. Regardless of the Jones bout, Toney’s prime was at 168 pounds.
7. Frank Liles - I always felt like Liles never got the credit he deserved. Franky was a legitimate World class fighter with a strong amateur background and was big for 168 pounds at 6’3 and was a southpaw to boot. During the course of his reign that started when he beat the late Steve Little in 94 to the time he lost the title in 99 Liles made seven successful defenses of his WBA title.
Above all, two of those defenses standout and cement his spot as one of the greatest Super-Middleweights in history and those are his wins over Michael Nunn and Tim Littles. The bout versus Nunn was his first defense of the title on the undercard of Hopkins-Mercado and Fabulous Frank outfought an in-shape Nunn in a hard-fought 12 rounder in Ecuador.
Then a couple of years later on the undercard of Prince Naseem Hamed’s first American televised fight, he avenged what up to that was his only loss as a professional with a 3rd round knock out of Tim Littles in a no holds barred brawl that saw both men hit the deck. Those two defenses along with a 5 year reign make Liles one of the top Super-Middleweights.
8. Steve Collins - Some people rank Collins a lot higher than he is here and there is some validity to that perspective. He beat Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank both on two different occasions and he retired as champion. His reign lasted three years and he made seven successful defenses of the title, but his wins over Eubank and Benn are what really validate his place in history. The problem is that Benn was past his prime and was never the same after his bout with McClellan and Eubank was also a little used up and had been struggling to hold on to his title.
Another thing going against Collins is that he never unified the title and never really beat a top notch American fighter. Still a granite chin and wins over his contemporaries are more than enough to cement his spot as one of the greatest 168-pounders in history.
9. Mikkel Kessler - He’s 39-0, just 28 years old, which is young in today’s boxing landscape and he’s made four defense of his WBA Super Middleweight title and successfully annexed the WBC 168 pound title with a third round knock-out over Markus Beyer. He’s also tall at 6’1, had an extended amateur career, and has wins over six former Alphabet champions. And a victory this Saturday would catapult the young Dane to the first half of the list.
10. Markus Beyer - Beyer is to the Super Middleweights of the twenty-first century what Carlos De Leon was to the Cruiserweights in the 80s. He just wouldn’t go away and continuously surprised people with victories over top fighters.
In his first reign he made one defense of the WBC 168 pound title before losing to the ordinary Glenn Catley and then in his second reign he made two defenses before losing the title to the unheralded Cristian Sanavia. After winning the title back from Sanavia he made five defenses that included victories over Danny Green and Omar Sheika before losing it to Kessler. At this point, that’s enough to get Markus on the list as the tenth greatest fighter in Super-Middleweight history.
Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004 and teaches Spanish at the High School level in Southern California. He has published articles in Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2006, and Latin Boxing Magazine. He has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?” Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com
