Top 10 Middleweights 21st Century

[Nay_Sayer]

The late 80's to mid 90's is arguably one of the strongest periods in middleweight history. Here is Ring's top ten in 1990 and it does'nt even include McClellan, RJJ, Bhop, or Toney.

Michael Nunn
Julian Jackson
Sumbu Kalambay
Mike McCallum
Steve Collins
Chris Eubank
Roberto Duran
Michael Watson
Nigel Benn
Reggie Johnson

That list reads like a Murderer's Row...

[bojangles1987]

The late 80's to mid 90's is arguably one of the strongest periods in middleweight history. Here is Ring's top ten in 1990 and it does'nt even include McClellan, RJJ, Bhop, or Toney.

Michael Nunn
Julian Jackson
Sumbu Kalambay
Mike McCallum
Steve Collins
Chris Eubank
Roberto Duran
Michael Watson
Nigel Benn
Reggie Johnson

But then it got gradually weaker over the course of the 90s, and gradually weaker over the course of the 2000s, and has gotten gradually weaker over the course of the 2010s.

[kiaba360]

Sadly, I almost agree with this. I won't use the word pathetic because we have still had the smarts of Hopkins and the brilliance of Martinez pass through the division, as well as cameos from Tito, Oscar, Winky, Williams and a handful of others. Pavlik and Taylor weren't bad and Golovkin has the tools to be a very, very good fight but just lacks the opponents.

I wonder what a welterweight or lightweight or featherweight top 10 would look like? Would they be similarly top heavy and weak in depth?

What bothers me is that Tito and Oscar were just visitors. They helped bring a spotlight on the division, but they didn't really accomplish much. When I think of top 10, I assume that the fighters on the list will have a lengthy campaign at the weight in question. The other thing is that GGG only has a connection to one other name on that list (Geale). Three of those names could've fought him and didn't. What works in GGG's favor is that Macklin/Murray acted as bridges between himself and Sergio/Sturm. Still, I would've liked to watch GGG beat Sturm's face in.

It's messed up. MW is one of the best historical divisions, but it gets worse by the decade. I hope Canelo sticks around a while, because MW needs his starpower.

It's crazy how the new millennium began with Tito/Oscar/B-Hop, and now we have Cotto/Canelo/Golovkin. There are many differences, but who knew we'd be witnessing history repeat itself so soon? I don't see GGG being as lucky as B-Hop was.

[deanrw]

All divisions above lightweight are comparatively weak compared to how they used to be.

[soul_survivor]

Better fighter? Certainly.

Better middleweight? No and it is'nt even close. 95% of Winky's best work was done at 154.

Pretty much how I see it. Winky was a tremendous fighter, just not a top 10 MW.

Good list but I would put William Joppy over Oscar.

Oscar lost to B-Hop and the Sturm fight was a robbery.

I wouldn't have a problem with Joppy being in there but I've always been impressed with Oscar starting his career at feather/superfeather and yet still competing at MW.

He may have burned out quick, but I think Taylor was a better middleweight than Martinez at his best. Pavlik was at his best as well. The drunk, fading version of Pavlik put Sergio on his ass and won 4 rounds.

Taylor was not better, prime for prime than Martinez. Martinez hit harder, was faster, had better reflexes and held the title longer. In terms of Pavlik, there's always an excuse as to why he lost, against old man Bhop it was bronchitis and weight issues, against a far superior Martinez (who in relaity was a natural light middle) it was apparently alcohol. I don't by much of that crap.

The late 80's to mid 90's is arguably one of the strongest periods in middleweight history. Here is Ring's top ten in 1990 and it does'nt even include McClellan, RJJ, Bhop, or Toney.

Michael Nunn
Julian Jackson
Sumbu Kalambay
Mike McCallum
Steve Collins
Chris Eubank
Roberto Duran
Michael Watson
Nigel Benn
Reggie Johnson

Pretty decent list in 1990 but not a single truly great fighter in there...an argument can be made for Nunn and Eubank but guys like Kalambay, Jackson....good fighter but not spectacular. The fact that Duran is in there damn near 40 years old tells us something too lol But it's better than what we see now , no doubt.

[soul_survivor]

All divisions above lightweight are comparatively weak compared to how they used to be.

I dunno about that, the last few years has seen some very good fighters at welter, light welter, light mdidle and now a bit of a rebirth at light heavy too. In all honesty, I think lightweight has suffered more compared to those divisions.

What bothers me is that Tito and Oscar were just visitors. They helped bring a spotlight on the division, but they didn't really accomplish much. When I think of top 10, I assume that the fighters on the list will have a lengthy campaign at the weight in question. The other thing is that GGG only has a connection to one other name on that list (Geale). Three of those names could've fought him and didn't. What works in GGG's favor is that Macklin/Murray acted as bridges between himself and Sergio/Sturm. Still, I would've liked to watch GGG beat Sturm's face in.

Tito and Oscar were visitors but they still made an impact in the division and there's few middleweights over the last 15 years that have a convincing argument for being above them or even in the top 10.

I too would have preferred GGG v Sturm at some stage but Geale and Macklin and Murray haven't been bad opponents for him. The likes of Stevens and Rosado and so on are quite abysmal but when GGG has gone in against good middleweights (comparatively speaking of course), he has delat with them convincingly.

[soul_survivor]

Just a thought:

The lack of recent quality at MW may be due to the increase in guys at both lmw and smw, which is obviously helped by the 24 hour rehydration/weigh in limit. Guys that once could have made mw are happy a few pounds higher or lower, without the added intensity of making 160.

Just look at those two divisions and the guys that have fought there over the last 15 years or so: Calzaghe, Froch, Ward, Mayweather, Cotto, Canelo, Oscar, Winky, Martinez, Williams...these are all either exceptional fighters or super stars and yet only a handful of them have had the time to go to middleweight.

Before the likes of Eubank, Benn, Oscar, Mosley, Tito, Vargas and so on made smw and lmw lucrative divisions, guys fought at middleweight to make their money, guys that couldnt make 147 or 165, that money and starpower has now shifted to 154 and 168.

Just at thought.

[King Man]

This list shows how pathetic MW has been.



6 fights @MW, with a record of 3-2-1. His only notable victory @MW is Tito, a guy who only had 5 bouts @MW.

^^^^ This exactly

[DreamerUSA]

Pretty decent list in 1990 but not a single truly great fighter in there...an argument can be made for Nunn and Eubank but guys like Kalambay, Jackson....good fighter but not spectacular. The fact that Duran is in there damn near 40 years old tells us something too lol But it's better than what we see now , no doubt.

I'm not claiming they were all ATG's, just saying as far as a competitive division that list is pretty insane. To add to Nunn and Eubank. I think Mcacallum is an absolute beast and I believe he would of given any middleweight from any era a run for their money. A truly underrated fighter imo.

[soul_survivor]

I'm not claiming they were all ATG's, just saying as far as a competitive division that list is pretty insane. To add to Nunn and Eubank. I think Mcacallum is an absolute beast and I believe he would of given any middleweight from any era a run for their money. A truly underrated fighter imo.

I'd agree, it was very competitive, Britain had a lot of fun back then with Eubank, Benn and Watson. I just think the division is limited now with the rise of lmw and smw and like some other traditional weight divisions (lw and hw) is falling by the wayside.