suoer mid tournament froch,kessler, abraham

[15829]

just on boxing scene and seen this would b great if it come off and could pave the way for other weight classes to do something similar would be amazed if everything comes off heres wat the shecdule will look like if it happens

Arthur Abraham vs. Jermain Taylor in October in Germany
Carl Froch vs. Andre Dirrell in October in the UK.
Mikkel Kessler vs. Andre Ward in November.
Arthur Abraham vs. Andre Dirrell in America in January 2010
Mikkel Kessler vs. Carl Froch in Europe in March 2010
Andre Ward vs. Jermain Taylor in America in April/May 2010
Andre Dirrell vs. Andre Ward in America in September 2010
Arthur Abraham vs. Carl Froch in November 2010, with Mikkel Kessler vs. Jermain Taylor taking place around the same time.


then the four with the most points will face in a semi final then a final

[Counter-puncher]

good luck getting all those fights to come off in sequence, without injuries, promotional hassles, getting TV money in, cancellation of TV money due to recessions, injuries, promotional hassles, mandatories, injuries, retirements, voluntaries, injuries, and promotional hassles getting in the way. not to mention the odd injury. some promotional hassles. and hassles with TV money.

[15829]

apparently its showtime that will be organising it heres a like with all the info

http://www.BS.com/?m=show&id=20831

[Asterix]

I can't see it happening, but you're right, it would be fantastic.

[Finn]

it will never happen!

[Poncey]

It's by Reeno, so take it with a pinch of salt along with his Dimitrenko is fighting Klitschko on June 20th and Mosley v Pacman stories.

[Chambers2]

It's a lovely pipe dream

[caffrey]

yeah sorry to sound negative aswell but its never going to happen.Although there are some great matchups in and around the super middle division

id have to say kessler is the best out of the lot

[Autobarn]

doesn't seem to treat the champions as champions. champs don't fight in tournaments. the tournament should be to determine who the contender is.

i mean froch has wins over pascal and taylor, and he has to fight dirrell?

ok the fights are all very solid but this continent spanning stuff sounds way too ambitious and a bit wishy washy.

the sanctioning bodies would fucck this over at the first opportunity. froch and kessler are injury prone. looks like an attempt to get the titles to america for ward, dirrell and taylor. every promoter has a career plan for his fighter and to take calculated gambles at the right time. showtime are to be commended for wanting great fights - all at once - but this seems a bit odd.

why the eff would abraham fight jermain taylor in his 2nd serious fight at super middle?

[mickey1975]

because he's a lot better than taylor?i think froch flattered him.abraham would do what pavlik did first time round.without the knockdown

[Autobarn]

yeah but what is the reward?

i'm sure he'd do it for a title, but to fight a name, who has lost his last 3 major fights...

showtime seem to want all the good fights all at once. obviously it's better than the other way round. i think they should simmer down, and just try to make the single best fight, every now and again.

[alexpaterson]

That would be great i think AA would win it or maybe Kessler but it wont happen

[Rocky Balboa]

just on boxing scene and seen this would b great if it come off and could pave the way for other weight classes to do something similar would be amazed if everything comes off heres wat the shecdule will look like if it happens

Arthur Abraham vs. Jermain Taylor in October in Germany
Carl Froch vs. Andre Dirrell in October in the UK.
Mikkel Kessler vs. Andre Ward in November.
Arthur Abraham vs. Andre Dirrell in America in January 2010
Mikkel Kessler vs. Carl Froch in Europe in March 2010
Andre Ward vs. Jermain Taylor in America in April/May 2010
Andre Dirrell vs. Andre Ward in America in September 2010
Arthur Abraham vs. Carl Froch in November 2010, with Mikkel Kessler vs. Jermain Taylor taking place around the same time.


then the four with the most points will face in a semi final then a final

Please, please let everything go to plan & let all the above fights happen! That's some line-up indeed!

Why not throw Pavlik in there aswell as he will be moving up soon surely?

[lefthook82]

Does anyone remember the time when we had all those decent domestic Light Middleweights and all the fights that were made between them at the time

oh wait....

[whiskey]

Funny how Bute & his team want NO PART of this extravaganza.

[Autobarn]

what has me thinking, is what showtime really want out of this. it's an ambitious, expensive plan, and a lot can go wrong.

[15829]

i no everyone me included think this wont happen but here more on it http://www.BS.com/?m=show&id=20858

[gobbles]

You would think, as it is claimed to be the hottest story in boxing, there might be one single quote from any of the many big-mouthed promoters mentioned.

Can't see it happening. Too expensive and would tie up nearly Showtime's entire boxing budget, when I would assume there are more than just middlesweights and super-middleweights that Showtime has a responsibility to.

But you are really just looking at money from Showtime, Sauerland's German TV contract and whatever Froch can get in Britain.

[Autobarn]

well boxing needs a cattle prod up the arse and if they can come up with the money between american, british, german and danish TV, then hopefully it happens. something novel, something interesting, something ambitious. it sounds good, it guarantees the top fighters in good fights and promises to be something fresh. boxing needs to do something big, to get ppl interested.

apparently the manager of bute and even pascal are outraged at being overlooked, though it appears that pascal has plenty on his plate and obviously holds a belt up at 175 now.

[charlieb]

When I saw the thread title I thought this was a fan's idea, had no idea it might be a legit tourney being put on by showtime!

Every division in the sport needs this.

[15829]

carl froch is meant to be fighting andre dirrel so am satrting to think this tournament idea might not be so far fetched

[Autobarn]

yes, froch has just talked up a dirrell fight - something like "I want mothing more in life than to defend vs dirrell" - and dismissed the idea of fighting allan green. either man is a good solid title defence but obviously froch v dirrell is supposedly part of the tournament line up.

[chinny]

Greg Leon who represents Allan Green is up on Greentalk.com referring to the tournament so those in the know are starting to talk about it. Steve Kim has an interview with the Showtime sports boss on maxboxing where he talks in guarded terms about the super middles.
This thing might just be real!

[earsjohn]

I think its a fantastic concept, with about a 0.5% chance of it coming off.

What i'd also like to see is for all the fighters involved to drop any belts they hold, thus saving having to pay out sanctioning fees to the alpha-parasites. The winner of the tournament could rightly claim they are the World Champion at Super Middle, with little legitimate argument from belt holders who've not beaten any of the fighters involved to get their belts. If the TV companies involved make no reference to the alphas and the fighters don't talk about the alphas, what power will they have? They'll be able to put forward lesser fights for their belts, but TV companies, with increasingly limited budgets, will surely choose tournament fights over, say, Balszay v Stieglitz. There's the added bonus that the typically less attractive fights (fights not involving Froch for Sky, say) would have an added element of interest that would not be there otherwise. Something like this is right up Sky's street - a fight is not a fight, it has to be an event - Judgement Day, Clash of the Titans, Unbeaten, Grand Slam Sunday and Survival Sunday (in football), the list goes on.

I guess the arguments against this are that in selecting these 6 fighters, you introduce subjectivity and are focused on using the most TV friendly boxers possibly at the expense of more deserving contenders (eg Bute). But surely a tournament involving 6 top 10-15 contenders aiming to find a single victor is better than the current situation where there are 69 recognised World Champions across the 4 main bodies and 17 weight divisions (with a further 8 Vacant titles due to be handed out in the next couple of months), and each of the bodies can pick and choose who they want to challenge for their belt (at the automatic exclusion of the other belt holders).

But just imagine if this does work, a Heavyweight tournament could follow (Vlad and Vitali, Valuev, Chagaev, Haye and Arreola), domestic equivalents run over a shorter time span (UK heavies next year, say, could be Fury, Rogan, Dallas, Chisora, Olabimoawo, Sexton; winner getting a shot at the UK or Euro title).

Am i getting carried away? Almost certainly but, ignoring all of the obstacles that will render this idea dead in the water before it kicks off, how great would it be if it does work out - it really could kick start a new era in Boxing, driven by the largest organisational change since the 1960's and the splitting of the WBA and WBC.

[Autobarn]

let's hope it happns

would it be just brilliant to see Abraham in something like this. I mean, he's had his alphabet title run, and now come the real fights. Abraham has developed some classy skills, accurate punching and it'll be brilliant to see him in competiitve contests.