Super Middleweights.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 15 Apr 2004, 18:39

I know there have been some questions about the current situation with the IBF Super Middleweight championship. I personally assumed that Robin Reid would have got certainly an opportunity given his problems with his match with Ottke.

I don't know if this is old news but reading the William Hill website Tito Mendoza and Syd Vanderpool are squaring it off for the vacant belt. So looks like Reid and Magee will have to wait a little longer.

Incidently, I don't know if it was a mistake but in the commentary for Ottke vs Kranjc, Steve Holdsworth mentioned David Starie's name alongside the likes of Reid, Mitchell and Larsen who would probably like to have the opportunity to fight Ottke again. Surely he knows about Starie's retirement.

Is David thinking about a return? I hope so, the devision is wide open for him now.

adamiw · Post by **adamiw** » 15 Apr 2004, 18:41

last i knew...Starie was retired.

Tis old news about the IBF Vanderpool-Mendoza fight..Mads Larsen is being lined up for the winner as well apparently.

Magee and Reid may fight an eliminator for the IBF, or maybe the WBA title.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 15 Apr 2004, 18:44

adamiw wrote:last i knew...Starie was retired.

Tis old news about the IBF Vanderpool-Mendoza fight..Mads Larsen is being lined up for the winner as well apparently.

Magee and Reid may fight an eliminator for the IBF, or maybe the WBA title.

That would be a WBA elimintator - remember Ottke was only the Super Champion. Mundine is now the only WBA champion.

adamiw · Post by **adamiw** » 15 Apr 2004, 18:46

stujones wrote:
adamiw wrote:last i knew...Starie was retired.

Tis old news about the IBF Vanderpool-Mendoza fight..Mads Larsen is being lined up for the winner as well apparently.

Magee and Reid may fight an eliminator for the IBF, or maybe the WBA title.
That would be a WBA elimintator - remember Ottke was only the Super Champion. Mundine is now the only WBA champion.

yeah thats what i meant, and eliminator for the IBF or the WBA title. soz, didn't make it clear.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 16 Apr 2004, 05:55

What a fornicating mess the Super Middleweight division is.

It's never been unified in it's history, and despite having had some very talented fighters pass through it, has never really produced the goods.

Look at the names which have passed through the division.....quite incredible really that we have never had all the titles unified.

Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Michael Watson, Steve Collins.
Michael Nunn, James Toney, Roy Jones Jr, Iran Barkley
Calzaghe, Ottke, Lucas. Brewer, Tate, Echols....

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 16 Apr 2004, 08:36

Well, if they started off with fractured titles, all those guys could be good enough to beat one another, with obviously a few differentials. You get cleaned up divisions when one guys is noticeably better than the rest - evidence Hopkins. Jones could have done it but he skipped on through.

What puzzles me is why so few Americans go to the division. To compare Lacy and Taylor, OK Taylor got his bronze medal after having been waxed in the semis, but all the focus is on Taylor and Lacy just seems to be a side issue, when I think he could be just as good. I know there's been a historical European focus on the division, I just don't know why or what came first.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 16 Apr 2004, 09:22

Well the title was actually created so Sugar Ray Leonard could weight Drain Donny LaLonde and beat his ass...not the most auspicious of starts, if Jones Jr had unified the titles, we would have had a much better division, at least for a while.

The problem with the Super middles is that for most of the time you had two strands of champions on two sides of the Atlantic, and only when Benn briefly held the title after beating McClellan did this come close to being resolved. Sadly that was near the end of Benn's career, and it soon descended back into Chaos.

I would have loved to have seen Benn, Eubank, Watson, Collins, against Jones Jr, Toney, Barkley, Hearns, Liles, etc.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 16 Apr 2004, 10:44

It is a division of fractured titles and broken promises, although on the whole there is some reasonable talent knocking about but it's all about making the matchups, Magee V Reid is an interesting clash i would look forward to that one. Mads Larsen is a cagey fighter who could prove to be the darkhorse of the division, i enjoyed his beating of Danilo Haussler.

glittermonkey · Post by **glittermonkey** » 16 Apr 2004, 12:14

This division has long been a source of intense disappointment for me. As previous posters have said, so many decent fighters, so few decent fights.
My only wish is that Reid could have held on to his title a little longer, because unlike Ottke and Calzaghe, Robin has always appeared more than happy to fight anyone.
I think that the Magee/Reid fight if and when it happens could potentially be a very good fight, although i have yet to be convinced that Magee is good enough to win fights against guys like Reid.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 16 Apr 2004, 14:00

Yeah that's right, Reid has never ducked anyone and has always shown a willing to travel and take on the best available. I would not be surprised if he travelled to Belfast to fight Magee if the money was right.

glittermonkey · Post by **glittermonkey** » 16 Apr 2004, 14:16

Yeah, i don't think fighting on Magee's turf would worry him in the slightest.
If everyone was willing to show the guts Reid showed in winning his title abroad then the division would be in a much better state.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 16 Apr 2004, 14:42

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Well the title was actually created so Sugar Ray Leonard could weight Drain Donny LaLonde and beat his ass...not the most auspicious of starts, if Jones Jr had unified the titles, we would have had a much better division, at least for a while.

Yes, this did happen but I don't know was this the reason it was created. Hearns won a version of the title a few weeks (or maybe even days) before Leonard did.