Super Middleweight was/is a safehouse wasteland designed to favor the lacking.

[dde91]

Toney had some of his best wins at that weight. He was inconsistent at 160 and wasn't thought to be a great p4p fighter until he went up to super middleweight. The only reason he didn't stay there was because he couldn't make the weight anymore.

Roy Jones had the biggest win of his career over Toney at 168 and defended his titles in what were arguably his most complete performances.

Eubank and Benn were probably at their best as middleweights.



He still moved up to LHW and beat the recognized champ Bernard Hopkins, no matter how old Hopkins was. You can't take that away from him.

Damn.. So hopkins being 43 yrs old has nothing to do with it?

[TheGreatA]

wouldn't say he beat him more like gave him a nice windmilling demo about 6 inches away from his face.

Hopkins allowed it to happen. He brought all his craftiness, ring smarts and technical skill yet he wasn't able to stop Calzaghe's flurries of punches.

It might not have been pretty but it was the best way to beat old Hopkins. Even Hopkins admitted this.

[TheGreatA]

Damn.. So hopkins being 43 yrs old has nothing to do with it?

Of course it did. But 43-year old Hopkins is still able to dominate younger, stronger but less skilled champions such as Pavlik.

Calzaghe did what he had to do to get the win.

[bsrizpac]

only person there who didn't fight in other weight divisions is mrs. joe calzaghe. everyone else spent their careers divided between various weight divisions looking for the best fights. mrs. calzaghe stayed at supermiddle his whole career and only moved up for 1 fight against hopkins then the jones farce then quit boxing when he ****** enough money out of it.

Very salient point that will get ignored by jockriders.

[KostyaTszyu44]

Hopkins allowed it to happen. He brought all his craftiness, ring smarts and technical skill yet he wasn't able to stop Calzaghe's flurries of slaps

It might not have been pretty but it was the best way to beat old Hopkins. Even Hopkins admitted this.

fixed it for ya

but honestly its the quality of punches that should count, one properly thrown punch with proper weight behind it should be counted more than 10 slaps

[KostyaTszyu44]

Boxing needs 9 divisions imo.

-120 - bantam
130 - feather
140 - light
150 - welter
160 - Middle
170 - Super Middle
180 - light heavy
190 - Cruiser
200+ Heavy

I mean honestly is there really any point in having 4 divisions from 120-140? and 4 from 140-160?

120 and under is bantam??

then you would get guys who are like 112 and below fighting guys who would squeeze down to 120

giving away that much weight means a lot at that size, you would need skills like calderons or power like darchinyans if you were below 115 lbs and wanted to be beat guys who weighed 120

[TheGreatA]

fixed it for ya

but honestly its the quality of punches that should count, one properly thrown punch with proper weight behind it should be counted more than 10 slaps

Hopkins was not doing enough work to be given the decision.

I would say there would be even more controversy if he had been given the nod because he certainly did not look like the winner in the last couple of rounds, he just had nothing left.

I think the fight showed that a prime Hopkins would've had the tools to beat Calzaghe but it was a legitimate win for Calzaghe. Hopkins is still good enough to dominate lesser skilled boxers, as shown against Pavlik.

[KostyaTszyu44]

HAHA the racist black man is making excuses again

If I got a dime for everytime I heard the weak football excuse I would be a millionaire

You Americans have gone soft. American is a soft laid back country, the fighters are spoiled and lazy.

Europeans are stronger, hungrier and more determined than you Americans

wlad owns i actually agree with you

the people who grow up tough (from broken homes, poor countries etc) are usually the best

i have heard stories about places in eastern europe and the people that live in them, and from what i heard its pretty tough

the europeans are dominating the bigger divisions because most of them are naturally big and they have it pretty tough and have hunger

asians and hispanics dominate the lower divisions for the same reason, except a lot of them are pretty small so they fit into those divisions

in america people have become a lot more affulent and opportunities have opened up to ********** besides fighting like going to collegeetc or they choose to play sports like basketball where they dont have to get punched

[The C.E.O.]

168 was special when you had Toney, Roy and McCallum there and that's it. It definitely is a tweener weight class where good --> pretty good fighters can make a career for themselves fighting nobodies like Calzaghe did

Yep....that was The Golden Era of the Super Middleweight division...or should I say....The Golden Couple of Years.....

Good post...

[daggum]

Hopkins was not doing enough work to be given the decision.

I would say there would be even more controversy if he had been given the nod because he certainly did not look like the winner in the last couple of rounds, he just had nothing left.

I think the fight showed that a prime Hopkins would've had the tools to beat Calzaghe but it was a legitimate win for Calzaghe. Hopkins is still good enough to dominate lesser skilled boxers, as shown against Pavlik.

work? stop using code words that don't mean a damn thing. hopkins "work" was landing clean shots throughout the fight. calzaghe's "work" was throwing a bunch but missing virtually everything. who had more substance to their "work"

calzaghe is the type of guy who if he had an office job you would see him hitting the keyboard typing 200 words per minute looking like he's working but at the end of the day his computer isn't even on and no "work" has been accomplished