Originally posted by Sugar Adam Ali
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minimumweight is a very different animal. there just aren't many great fighters who have been that small. most athletic men are much larger than that. lopez is probably the very best fighter of his size.
SMW is a relatively yuoung weight class, but there have been tons of men of similar size in history. they just split middleweight and light heavyweight down the middle. froch doesn't compare with the guys of his size. he's a tough guy who has made the best of his experience to become a pretty decent fighter. he's got quite a few good wins, but that shouldn't make you a hall of famer. he lost to the best fighters he faced, in a closer to prime kessler and ward.
kessler looked very old in the second fight.
abraham? middleweight, and not a great one. a limited nobody in a historic context.
taylor? another not so great middlweight, though he was lineal champion and beat an old hopkins. clearly all but shot when he fought froch
dirrell? i thought dirrell landed the more effective punches and won the fight, but he didn't behave like a pro. dirrell is another guy who looked much better when froch fought him, and he's done nothing.
bute? very hard puncher, but a bit of a mirage. he should have a stoppage loss to liberado andrade on his record to boot.
pascal later went on to success at 175 by winning the lineal title, but he's nobody to write home about himself.
we could obviously go back and fourth for quite a while. i don't think it's appropriate that the hall of fame be diluted based on the accomplishments of it's lowest tier of fighters. arturo gatti is an example of that. i don't want to see the quality of the fighters go down each year.
froch has a lengthy resume with good/very good wins. he was a good fighter. maybe a very good fighter at his best. he was certainly never great. let's not get crazy.
he gets a ton of credit for fighting everybody, and i think his wins get overrated because of that.
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