By Troy Ondrizek
As a man, there are few foods that are dearer to my heart than a sandwich. Simple to make and I can put anything my heart desires in between two hunks of bread, that’s a little slice of culinary heaven for me. There are several parts to a sandwich, but nothing is more important that what’s in the middle.
Just as savory a treat as a good sandwich is, the “middleweights” offer boxing the meatiest portion of the weight-class cuisine. I don’t mean the middleweight division in and of itself - no, the middleweights ranging from 154-pounds to 168-pounds. Not necessarily inundated with a lot of big names, this weight range has a smorgasbord of talent. It’s a decadent goulash of contenders who fight on the fringes of the weight, and the supposed meat of it all is a bit, well, thin.
I’ve already touched on the light middleweights in the past. While not overloaded at the top, young men like Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland, Sechew Powell, and Deandre Latimore present a very bright future for the division. If you also toss in an occasional Paul Williams appearance, this division will be headlining some major cards very soon.
The historical main attraction of this trio of divisions isn’t attracting much positive attention. With it's best fighter often traveling off to other weights to find big fights and boxing lessons, the middleweights can’t attract their own champion let alone many fight fans. Behind Kelly Pavlik, Arthur Abraham, and Felix Sturm, there isn’t anything to talk about at this weight. There is little youth to build upon for a future and there is nothing sustaining the present. For the longest time the light middleweight division is where former welterweights retired, now it’s the future of the middleweight division if all goes well.
The main course of the meal is heavier (literally) than it should be. There is absolutely no doubt where the action is. Although Champion Emeritus (oh yeah this isn’t the WBC) Joe Calzaghe has left these guys high and dry, the star power is growing and the depth is better than one will find at light heavyweight. Mikkel Kessler is the heir apparent to the throne of this glorious 168-pound empire. Someone has to go through him to lay claim as the best, and trying to build themselves to that point is Carl Froch.
England was the home of the last great super middleweight, but there is nothing else in common between Froch and Calzaghe. No one will ever call Froch a slapper nor will he be confused for someone with handspeed. Actually the one fighter he does resemble is Jeff Lacy with a solid and perpetual jab. Carl goes by the nickname of “Cobra”, and though I’m no herpetologist - I doubt many cobras reside in England. He does strike his opponents down, but it’s more of a blunt force trauma instead of a speedy venom induced shot.
No matter how he takes care of business his opponent this weekend, Jean Pascal better be wary of everything Froch has to offer. By no means does that indicate that Pascal has no chance in this fight. Jean has an abundance of speed and some nifty combinations to go along with an inflated amount of bravado and a rather suspect chin. Does that sound familiar to the storyline heading into Lacy/Calzaghe? Jermain Taylor is in line to face the winner of this bout and to be quite honest, that too is a great fight.
Lucian Bute is the talented number two man in this weightclass and a fight between him and Kessler would be entertaining and would give us a unified champion. The division though is much deeper than that. Librado Andrade almost stole Bute’s paper title with a phenomenal 12th round of their recent soiree. Speaking of Andrade, there isn’t a fight he wouldn’t be entertaining or competitive in. Throw him in with Allan Green, Sakio Bika, or Jeff lacy and all those bouts instantly become HBO "Boxing After Dark" material.
We can’t forget “The Matrix” Andre Dirrell. His recent wins over Anthony Hanshaw, Mike Paschal, and Victor Oganov were all televised KOs for the young man. A friend of mine suggested a fight between Dirrel and 2004 Olympic Gold medalist Andre Ward. Now that is a bout the fans can get behind. Then there is the talented but obnoxious Anthony Mundine. He fits in somewhere near the top, but plans to continue his new campaign in the middleweight division.
I just named more than 10 solid fighters right off the top, and that doesn’t really show the true depth of talent here. Adonis Stevenson (a young 31), Carlos DeLeon Jr., and Daniel Jacobs headline a ton of young fringe contenders looking to make their mark. We will have the pleasure of watching young Mr. Jacobs take on Victor Lares on the televised undercard of this weekend’s big pay-per-view between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya. I really don’t have the time or patience to continue talking about all of the guys in the 168-pound realm that can, and will, see airtime soon on ESPN or Versus.
The present and near future of the middleweights seems as bleak as the global economy. It’s nice to know we won’t starve with all the hope that the light and super middleweights bring to the table.