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A lot of boxing insiders always belittle the different weight classes and although I am vehemently opposed to more than one champion per division I completely support the existence of numerous weight classes. Even though the 168-pound division was founded in the early 80’s, during the course of the last decade its historical importance has increased substantially and the division has gone from being a wasteland for non-talented and used-up Middleweights to being one of boxing’s most exciting and intriguing divisions.
This metamorphosis was partly sparked by James Toney’s foray into the division in 1993 as well as by the influx of talented fighters from the United Kingdom and Germany. So here it is, a list of the greatest Super-Middleweights in history.
1. Roy Jones Jr. - Roy Jones’s reign as the IBF-168 pound champ wasn’t very lengthy and he never unified the title, but his performances at the weight were exhilarating and his title winning fight against James Toney secures his spot as the greatest 168-pounder in history. People forget that Toney was 44-0-2 coming into their bout and was almost unanimously recognized as the second best pound for pound fighter in the world right after Pernell Whitaker.
Although a lot of critics like to point out that James had troubling making the weight I don’t think we should penalize Roy Jones because Toney knew about the fight way in advance since it had been sealed with his July victory over Prince Charles Williams. It wasn’t the weight that beat Toney; it was a Roy Jones who was undeniably at his best. Just look at his title bouts as IBF 168 pound champ.
He completely obliterated Vinny Pazienza and even won a round in which the Pazmanian Devil never landed a punch which at the time was a first for the punch stat people. Then his finishes in his fights with Bryant Brannon and Tony Thorton were incredible. In his fight with Thorton he threw over 50 consecutive unanswered punches with in the span of seconds and in his defense against the then undefeated Brannon he had the ex-convict strong man hurt against the ropes and employed the referee to stop it and when the Referee motioned Roy to finish Brannon in a Mortal Kombatesque way, Jones anespitized the Blue Horizon slugger as if he could have done it any time he wanted to. [details]
This metamorphosis was partly sparked by James Toney’s foray into the division in 1993 as well as by the influx of talented fighters from the United Kingdom and Germany. So here it is, a list of the greatest Super-Middleweights in history.
1. Roy Jones Jr. - Roy Jones’s reign as the IBF-168 pound champ wasn’t very lengthy and he never unified the title, but his performances at the weight were exhilarating and his title winning fight against James Toney secures his spot as the greatest 168-pounder in history. People forget that Toney was 44-0-2 coming into their bout and was almost unanimously recognized as the second best pound for pound fighter in the world right after Pernell Whitaker.
Although a lot of critics like to point out that James had troubling making the weight I don’t think we should penalize Roy Jones because Toney knew about the fight way in advance since it had been sealed with his July victory over Prince Charles Williams. It wasn’t the weight that beat Toney; it was a Roy Jones who was undeniably at his best. Just look at his title bouts as IBF 168 pound champ.
He completely obliterated Vinny Pazienza and even won a round in which the Pazmanian Devil never landed a punch which at the time was a first for the punch stat people. Then his finishes in his fights with Bryant Brannon and Tony Thorton were incredible. In his fight with Thorton he threw over 50 consecutive unanswered punches with in the span of seconds and in his defense against the then undefeated Brannon he had the ex-convict strong man hurt against the ropes and employed the referee to stop it and when the Referee motioned Roy to finish Brannon in a Mortal Kombatesque way, Jones anespitized the Blue Horizon slugger as if he could have done it any time he wanted to. [details]
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