My personal opinion (and i might be a bit biased, but i call it havin faith faith ((see usertitle)) is:
Pre Tournament
#1 Mikkel Kessler
#2 Carl Froch
#3 Jermain Taylor
#4 Andre Ward
#5 Arthur Abraham
#6 Andre Dirrell
Post Tournament
#1 Carl Froch
#2 Mikkel Kessler
#3 Arthur Abraham
#4 Andre Dirrell
#5 Andre Ward
#6 Jermain Taylor
kess is the main guy after that its a bit muddled.
froch should be no.2 but his overconfident style and glaringly obvious flaws mean that he has a loss coming his way and soon. he might have a good resume but i believe that pascal was too drained and jermain was taylor made (pun intended) for froch. AA imo should be the next in rank because of pavlik ducking him (which shows how dangerous he is) and the fact that JT is at a career low right now and the other two have yet to really win/defend a world a title.
pre tourney:
1) kess - stand out no.1, has the best resume of any active SMW right now
2) AA - close but he makes it into second, he may not have fought at SMW but i expect this guy to be like a wrecking ball at SMW and he has experience at the top level but its his better fundamentals that get him ahead of froch
3) froch - maybe im underestimating him.
4) JT - gets ahead of the two wards but not by alot, faces a tough test in AA
5/6)ward/dirrell - not much to seperate them, maybe ward deserves the rank because of his win over miranda but then again i just see more in dirrell
post tourney:
1 kess
2 AA
3 direll
4 froch
5 ward
6 taylor
top 10 current SMW's:
1 - kess
2 - bute
3 - froch
4 - andrade
5 - green
6 - AA*
7 - bika
8 - taylor
9 - inkin
10 - ward
11 - dirrell
* i know AA hasn't fought at SMW yet but just play along. i suppose if you want to nitpick then you could remove him from the rankings.
Pre Tournament:
1. Kessler
2. Froch
3. Taylor
4. Abraham
5. Ward
6. Dirrell
Post Tournament
1. Kessler
2. Abraham
3. Ward
4. Taylor
5. Dirrell
6. Froch
1. Mikkel Kessler
2. Carl Froch
3. Andre Ward
4. Andre Dirrell
5. Jermain Taylor
6. Arthur Abraham
1. Mikkel Kessler
2. Andre Dirrell
3. Arthur Abraham
4. Andre Ward
5. Carl Froch
6. Jermain Taylor
It's a tough one to call.
I don't know Ward and Dirrell besides from what I could find on youtube.
Besides that, I can find possible weakness in everyone off them.
1: Kessler. (But I'm waiting to see what 2 years without strong opposition has done to him. Good fighters have faded in less time)
2: Abraham. (Tight defense, Damn good counter boxer, but he does slow down, and his style depends upon a power advantage he might leave behind in mw)
3: Froch. (You have to rate him high, he has proven to be tough to beat, even if he is likely to loose a lot of rounds, he a major hazard especially to the newcomers - But he's only ahead of Taylor by some 14 seconds)
4: Taylor (Came close to beating Froch the last time, has a fair chance against Abraham and i question Ward and Dirrells 12 stamina just a much as Taylors)
5: Ward (Based on the limited info I've got. He had some preperation for the tourney in the 12 round Miranda fight, but looked tired towards the end. I think the step up will be to fast for him. Like his style, and I wouldn’t mind eating my words)
6: Dirrell (Same as for Ward, except he hasn't been in a hard 12 rounder.)
I would put Abraham fifth. He'd KO Taylor, and he could KO Froch and Ward, but do you guys really think he could beat anyone else with the style? Dirrell may win a really wide decision. Abraham is never going to hit him with his five punches a round. Dirrell will throw at his guard and then pretty much turn his back, sprint away, and take the round because he came closer to landing something. With Abraham's style Dirrell might not get hit all night.
Kessler will outwork him and honestly I think Froch and Ward would too, though they are hittable and he could knock them out since his pop is real. Abraham's flaws are stylistic, not physical, but if he doesn't increase his punch out put and stop giving away rounds then he is going to lose multiple decisions in this tournament. Even the random bums he fights now win a bunch of rounds against him.
#1 Mikkel Kessler
#2 Andre Ward
#3 Andre Dirrell
#4 Arthur Abraham
#5 Jermain Taylor
#6 Carl Froch
Kessler wins and Ward comes in second
I jus have a feeling this is Carls time now. But the Ward and Dirrell will be at their primes in a year or so.
My personal opinion (and i might be a bit biased, but i call it havin faith faith ((see usertitle)) is:
Pre Tournament
#1 Mikkel Kessler
#2 Carl Froch
#3 Jermain Taylor
#4 Andre Ward
#5 Arthur Abraham
#6 Andre Dirrell
Post Tournament
#1 Carl Froch
#2 Mikkel Kessler
#3 Arthur Abraham
#4 Andre Dirrell
#5 Andre Ward
#6 Jermain Taylor
#1 Mikkel Kessler
#2 Andre Ward
#3 Andre Dirrell
#4 Arthur Abraham
#5 Jermain Taylor
#6 Carl Froch
Kessler wins and Ward comes in second
Im goin to be putting my money on Kessler without a doubt, William Hill betting has Froch as the favourite to win though. Although you cant fault Frochs heart and determination I dont think he has the skills to win
After struggling badly to make weight the last couple of years, I'm expecting Abraham to improve at 168.
He needs to improve an incredible amount to compete with the likes of Kessler and Froch. To be honest, I don't think he is one their level.