Super Middleweights (Who's the Best of the Best)

Foggy · Post by **Foggy** » 26 May 2004, 08:30

The Super Middleweight division has produced some talent in the UK along the years, i make it 7 world champs:-

Chris Eubank - Solid, Give this man respect
Nigel Benn - Absolute Warrior
Robin Reid - Never really seem Him fight (apart from Ottke)
Richie Woodhall - Never seen him fight
Glenn Catley - Never seen him fight
Steve Collins - Nut Case (Absolute crazy man in them Eubank fights)
Joe Calzaghe - Reigned for years at this weight

But who would you choose as the best, i know i have not seen all these guys in the ring (due to me living me teen days - drinking cider on the streets, but i've just got back into watching the sport at the age of 21), but my choice would be Benn (i'll never forget them battles with Eubank and that blistering display againt Gerald Mac (the guy who he seriously hurt).

Who's the Daddy of the All ???

buzz · Post by **buzz** » 26 May 2004, 08:41

Michael Watson should bo on the list too.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 26 May 2004, 08:52

Where's my man Sven!

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 26 May 2004, 08:54

Tentatively, I would go with Calzaghe. He's beaten Catley, Reid, Woodhall and Eubank.
If he beats Glen Johnson next month, I would defintely go for him.

bugs · Post by **bugs** » 26 May 2004, 09:03

Sven is not on the list on account of him being German.

Oh yeah and he is and was and always will be a crap dodgy fight stealing dishonest coward.

J · Post by J » 26 May 2004, 09:05

bugs wrote:Sven is not on the list on account of him being German.

Oh yeah and he is and was and always will be a crap dodgy fight stealing dishonest coward.

benn for me, not cos he was the best boxer but cos of all the pleasure Ive had watching him over the years, the vulnerability and excitment, the heart and passion.

Blokes a legend,

REAL_DEAL · Post by **REAL_DEAL** » 26 May 2004, 09:08

bennie wrote:Where's my man Sven!

Roy Jones Jr 8)

bugs · Post by **bugs** » 26 May 2004, 09:09

Calzaghe or Watson would be the best boxers, but Benn had fire and Eubank had a sort of twisted charisma. All were good boxers.

I met Eubank and he was perfectly gracious and funny despite it being 3am and me being pissed.

J · Post by J » 26 May 2004, 09:14

aye a golden age it twas....

glittermonkey · Post by **glittermonkey** » 26 May 2004, 09:49

Good point about Watson. Eubank and Benn have both said that he was a superior fighter to them.

If i had to pick the best fighter out of that lot it would have to be between Watson (presuming he was put on the list) and Eubank, with Benn next followed by Collins. IMO, Reid, Woodhall and Catley are decent fighters, but they aren't the same level as the others. Calzaghe would not have beaten Eubank in his prime, and i have my doubts on how he'd do against the others, he'd be a definite no5 on that list though.

As for my favourite, it's Eubank. I loved the guy's posturing and showmanship. He wasn't just a great fighter, he was an entertainer aswell. He was also one of the bravest and most courageous fighters i've ever seen, the guy had the heart of a lion.

One last thing, Henry Wharton was a better fighter than Woodhall, i'd put him in the top ten supermiddles from the British isles.

J · Post by J » 26 May 2004, 09:51

no way that secoind fight with benn was a draw tho robbed was our nige......honest im not biased haha

glittermonkey · Post by **glittermonkey** » 26 May 2004, 10:02

I watched that fight on Bravo a few weeks back. It was so close, i still don't know who really won it. I couldn't argue one way or the other. It was very much like the Marquez/Pacquaio fight, it was too good a fight to really be bothered about the decision.

What would either fighter do in todays supermiddle division?

J · Post by J » 26 May 2004, 10:08

nige won end of hahaha it was a close fight, either of them would clean up and politics aside be undisputed and unified champs.

mickeybeard · Post by **mickeybeard** » 26 May 2004, 10:09

glittermonkey wrote: What would either fighter do in todays supermiddle division?

Is there a super-middleweight division at it moment?

Honestly though, there are some solid fighters and some interesting prospects, but supermiddles has never exactly been talent rich that I can remember, other than the Jones Jr/Benn/Watson/Eubank era. And even then, Jones was probably on a different level to the others (not that it wouldn't have been nice to see them in the ring together and find out).

J · Post by J » 26 May 2004, 10:10

as I recall Mclellan was universally proclaimed as the out and out p4p numero uno in the the run up to the benn fight, Jones came just after to real prominence? could be my memory / the fight hype tho.

I do remember no one gave nige a chance, its such a shame it all ended in tragedy as it was one of the best fights Ive ever seen.

mickeybeard · Post by **mickeybeard** » 26 May 2004, 10:18

J wrote:as I recall Mclellan was universally proclaimed as the out and out p4p numero uno in the the run up to the benn fight, Jones came just after to real prominence? could be my memory / the fight hype tho.

Well, by the time the Benn/McClellan fight took place, Jones had already knocked off Toney and Hopkins as well as Tate, Malinga and a couple of others, so I'd say he was pretty much there or there abouts.

J · Post by J » 26 May 2004, 10:19

fair enough mate.

mickeybeard · Post by **mickeybeard** » 26 May 2004, 10:22

It is probably fair to say that the absolute peaks of Eubank Benn and Watson came and went before Jones was at his peak though. Probably. I'm sure someone will correct me.

Kilburn · Post by **Kilburn** » 26 May 2004, 10:27

J wrote:no way that secoind fight with benn was a draw tho robbed was our nige......honest im not biased haha

I last watched and scored the fight a couple of years ago and had no problem with the draw. Benn appeared to win his rounds clearer than Eubank but on individual rounds won + the point deduction it was a fair decision IMO.

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 26 May 2004, 10:31

The best British supermiddle has got to be Benn.
And on the world stage Jones Jr.

mickeybeard · Post by **mickeybeard** » 26 May 2004, 10:31

I thought Benn nicked a close one, and I'm a big Eubank fan. Haven't watched it in years, mind you.

Loynesy · Post by **Loynesy** » 26 May 2004, 10:49

I wonder whether we are not looking back on that era with an excess of nostalgia. Although good fighters, they all struggled against each other and occasional mediocre foreign opposition. Toney and Jones were streets ahead.

Perhaps a combination of great fights, an ITV audience of 18 million which meant the whole country was talking about it has elevated our memories of these occasions?

Incidentally, Calzaghe the best of them IMO.

TheRiverCityHippy · Post by **TheRiverCityHippy** » 26 May 2004, 18:15

steve collins.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 27 May 2004, 06:55

headhunter wrote:steve collins.

Agreed, as a Super Middle he was brilliant, he was a monster for the weight (quite how he campaigned at Middle for so long was beyond me).

The man who would have been the best of the lot is Dean Francis though.

Bennie, can't remember Calzaghe vs Cateley.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 27 May 2004, 07:07

You have to wonder how Collins would have fared against Benn and Eubank at their peaks, he caught them on the wane, I'm not saying he couldn't have won, but he would have had a much harder time. Benn's balance was shot by the time he got to Collins, and with it went his punch power.

Michael Watson for my money was a superstar in waiting, he blatantly beat Eubank first time, and gave Nigel Benn a painful schooling. His performance as a green middleweight against hall-of-famer McCallum showed how good he had the potentitial to be, but that night was trying to fight a style alien to him, against a modern great. McCallum showed why Hearns, Leonard and Hagler all avoided him like the taxman.