This is the ultimate SMW era

[Xpert]

Super Middle Weight has never been this great and an argument could be made that this is the ultimate era of boxing ever.

We got Kessler, who defeated Carl Froch and beat the undefeated young boxers Librado Andrade and Dimitri Sartison, who only lost to Carl Froch (making it 1-1) and Ward and Calzaghe.

We got Froch, who has one of the best resumes ever with victories against Kessler, Pascal, Bute, Taylor, Abraham... This guy has given us many unforgetable nights of boxing.

We got Abraham, always underrated, but just came out victorious after a brutal trilogy against Robert Stieglitz. Anyone who defeats a game Abraham deserves huge credit for doing so.

Lucian Bute, despite his critics, actually had some good wins before Froch broke him. Andrade, Bika, etc. Bute was undefeated and huge favourite against Froch, even though many dismiss him now.

Let's not forget Andre Ward, P4P#2 (should be P4P#1), with ATG victories over Kessler, Froch, Abraham, Bika, ANYONE worth beating!

I could go on and on, it's not too long ago that Calzaghe retired, we still got Bika (who is not great but still so good that he proves the quality of the guys beating him), we maybe got a rising star in Groves, etc.

Let's be fair, many won't accept this, but looking at pure facts, this is indeed the best boxing era ever. Not in HW, of course, but definetely in SMW.

[M0NZ0N]

Yet Ward cant find anyone to fight.

[Holywarrior]

Safe to say that era has bypassed us though.

[Black Barty]

Safe to say that era has bypassed us though.

Agree.

Of the fighters TS mentioned:

- Froch is still capable but well past his prime, as evidenced by the Groves fight. It's probably the same with Kessler, we will see how he looks in his next fight.

- Abraham and Stieglitz are solid world title level guys, but both are clearly below elite level.

- Bute is now a LHW, and has recently lost to Pasqual. I hate the word "exposed", so let's just say he has hit his ceiling, and it is lower than most thought.

- Bika has never been more than a high level gatekeeper.

This leaves us with Ward, who is heads and shoulders above the rest of the division, British hopefuls Groves and DeGale, Rodriguez, Anthony Dirrell and the latest addition, Chavez jr. Not a weak division by any means, has some potentially exciting fights to be made, but it's safe to say that the great SMW era TS is talking about has already fizzled out.

[daggum]

i'm pretty sure the calzaghe ottke era was better. 2 guys with 21 title defenses at the same time. you will never see so much greatness in front of your little eyes again.

[Xpert]

i'm pretty sure the calzaghe ottke era was better. 2 guys with 21 title defenses at the same time. you will never see so much greatness in front of your little eyes again.

Calzaghe is an obvious ATG with victories against prime undefeated Kessler, old-but-still-very-game Hopkins and prime undefeated Jeff Lacy. He also got a win against Bika.

Ottke, though, he lost quite a few fights to lesser opposition, even if he got the decisions.