BoxRec

Question is in the title. Froch fought Ward when he wasn't with Hearn, and so far hasn't had a rematch. Perhaps you could argue Bellew v Stevenson but I would say Kovalev was number one light heavy even when Bellew fought Stevenson.

Anyone think of any?

The boy Eddie is not averse to throwing his lads in away from home and against the odds - and I can't think of one example where this ended with his boxer winning. The likes of Rose, Purdy, Bellew, Barker (apologies if I have got any wrong- this is just off the top of my head).

He reconciles this by saying the boxer earned "life changing money" or "best ever purse".

Barker vs Martinez.

Happy Slapper wrote:Question is in the title. Froch fought Ward when he wasn't with Hearn, and so far hasn't had a rematch. Perhaps you could argue Bellew v Stevenson but I would say Kovalev was number one light heavy even when Bellew fought Stevenson.

Anyone think of any?

He was with Hearn. If I am not mistaken it was his first fight with Matchroom.

Post fight presser here he walks in with Eddie 18 minutes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_Nd_yshhRE

Whilst he was not proven at the time many posters felt Crawford was the best at lightweight when he fought Burns. I personally felt he was the best after the Beltran fight.

I certainly feel Broner was the best lightweight when Gavin Rees fought him.

Bellew fought Adonis Stevenson who is Lineal Light Heavyweight Champion.

Darren Barker fought Sergio Martinez lineal Middleweight Champion when he was promoted by Hearn.

Naandrew wrote:Whilst he was not proven at the time many posters felt Crawford was the best at lightweight when he fought Burns. I personally felt he was the best after the Beltran fight.

I certainly feel Broner was the best lightweight when Gavin Rees fought him.

Bellew fought Adonis Stevenson who is Lineal Light Heavyweight Champion.

Darren Barker fought Sergio Martinez lineal Middleweight Champion when he was promoted by Hearn.

Yep, and whilst Eddie has his critics he doesn't put a gun to his fighter's head and say "take this huge pile of cash in America".

bripez wrote:The boy Eddie is not averse to throwing his lads in away from home and against the odds - and I can't think of one example where this ended with his boxer winning. The likes of Rose, Purdy, Bellew, Barker (apologies if I have got any wrong- this is just off the top of my head).

He reconciles this by saying the boxer earned "life changing money" or "best ever purse".

What odds were kell brook vs shawn porter? Sure he was the first British underdog to win in the US for a long time.

Naandrew wrote:
He was with Hearn. If I am not mistaken it was his first fight with Matchroom.

Post fight presser here he walks in with Eddie 18 minutes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_Nd_yshhRE

I think he was with Hearn for the fight before, Glen Johnson, but he was already in the super six and on a path to the Ward fight before he signed. Hearn certainly didn't make the fight.

This is a really positive time for British wins away from home, in hard fights. Brook-porter, McDonnell-kameda, degale-dirrell. I can't think of this level of hard victories, in such a short period. Okay, none of them beat "the man" but all can advance to intriguing and profitable fights. If people aren't happy enough with this, fair enough. Beating international opposition on away promotions.

If it's ever going to happen (the Hatton-tszyu or haye-mormeck or calzaghe-hopkins calibre of victory) you'd think beating the #1 at the weight would progress from the level of success exhibited by brook, McDonnell and degale. Because they're doing things, responding to extra pressures and challenges, they perhaps weren't certain they could do.

Barker v martinez
Rees v broner
Burns v Crawford......although Crawford was mandatory so Hearn had no choice. As mention earlier froch v ward was the super 6 final so Hearn had nothing to do with that.

It should be taken into consideration Hearn only took up the reigns at Matchroom a few years back, he has proven in his short time as a promoter he is more than willing to put his fighters in against the odds, much more willing the our Fwank ever hss been. I might not like everything Hearn does, but there is no arguing he has been good for British boxing.

ALI wrote:It should be taken into consideration Hearn only took up the reigns at Matchroom a few years back, he has proven in his short time as a promoter he is more than willing to put his fighters in against the odds, much more willing the our Fwank ever hss been. I might not like everything Hearn does, but there is no arguing he has been good for British boxing.

Yes there is

rossij8 wrote:

ALI wrote:It should be taken into consideration Hearn only took up the reigns at Matchroom a few years back, he has proven in his short time as a promoter he is more than willing to put his fighters in against the odds, much more willing the our Fwank ever hss been. I might not like everything Hearn does, but there is no arguing he has been good for British boxing.

Yes there is

Go on then, what you got, too many under par PPV shows?

Smith in a couple of weeks also.

I think ward is bound for light heavyweight, always have felt that way, so he won't be the division #1 at 168 anymore. He's very big and strong holding, hitting and headbutting inside - something a referee has yet to penalise.

Weird fight to match him with Smith a few pounds inside light heavyweight.

So it's possible degale challenging froch could fit the "vs #1" criteria, in time.

Autobarn wrote:I think ward is bound for light heavyweight, always have felt that way, so he won't be the division #1 at 168 anymore. He's very big and strong holding, hitting and headbutting inside - something a referee has yet to penalise.

Weird fight to match him with Smith a few pounds inside light heavyweight.

So it's possible degale challenging froch could fit the "vs #1" criteria, in time.

You don't post enough 'barn. Agree re; ward. Beating Kovalev will convince me he is a great fighter right now I'm not so sure. Smith fight just strange.
Bellew v Hernandez is that the best guy in the division?

When smith was doing his best work and going into degale and groves fights, following superb fight with Dodson, an excellent trainer and very savvy guy said he'd put smith in with anyone - apart from ward!

Full credit he put in a fine showing almost beating Abraham to almost win a world crown.

I wish them all the best to his time, taking every chance, but it is one strange matchup, from both sides.

Ward not done too much after super 6 and due to size of him his true rivals should be Stevenson and kovalev.

Ward has the size and athletic advantages at 168 like rjj had at 160 in the early 90s. When the refs allow him to smother, hug and butt, he's taking liberties and gaining advantages. but, When you're that big you can't make that weight forever. You have to move up before getting sluggish at the weight.

Linares is surely No 1 lightweight. Better than Abril and Bey, who is a drugs cheat anyway

dbf wrote:

Autobarn wrote:I think ward is bound for light heavyweight, always have felt that way, so he won't be the division #1 at 168 anymore. He's very big and strong holding, hitting and headbutting inside - something a referee has yet to penalise.

Weird fight to match him with Smith a few pounds inside light heavyweight.

So it's possible degale challenging froch could fit the "vs #1" criteria, in time.

You don't post enough 'barn. Agree re; ward. Beating Kovalev will convince me he is a great fighter right now I'm not so sure. Smith fight just strange.
Bellew v Hernandez is that the best guy in the division?

I believe that Hernandez is the lineal champ, so many people will default 'top fighter in the division' to him because for some reason they believe that it's an unassailable rule that the lineal champ is the #1 while no other factors are relevant, but I don't think he's the best, he's clearly vulnerable, and I suspect that he'll lose within his next few fights, at least if he's facing good opponents.

That said, it's not clear-cut at CW and he's at least among the best.

crusader wrote:

dbf wrote:

Autobarn wrote:I think ward is bound for light heavyweight, always have felt that way, so he won't be the division #1 at 168 anymore. He's very big and strong holding, hitting and headbutting inside - something a referee has yet to penalise.

Weird fight to match him with Smith a few pounds inside light heavyweight.

So it's possible degale challenging froch could fit the "vs #1" criteria, in time.

You don't post enough 'barn. Agree re; ward. Beating Kovalev will convince me he is a great fighter right now I'm not so sure. Smith fight just strange.
Bellew v Hernandez is that the best guy in the division?

I believe that Hernandez is the lineal champ, so many people will default 'top fighter in the division' to him because for some reason they believe that it's an unassailable rule that the lineal champ is the #1 while no other factors are relevant, but I don't think he's the best, he's clearly vulnerable, and I suspect that he'll lose within his next few fights, at least if he's facing good opponents.

That said, it's not clear-cut at CW and he's at least among the best.

Hernandez has to fight Victor Ramirez before Bellew. He is not sure to win that one IMO.

I agree.

gobbles wrote:Linares is surely No 1 lightweight. Better than Abril and Bey, who is a drugs cheat anyway

Yep. I love that video where a reporter asks Floyd about the two positive tests of his fighters (Bey & J'Leon Love) in a couple of months & he spends two minutes spinning about "They didn't know what they were given/they were ill/it was a cabal of Space Vampires" & then Ellerbe has to step in & limit the damage by making noises about random drug testing & how failing any test is unacceptable. Hilarity.

But yeah, on-point, off that showing the other week I'd take Linares over anyone at lightweight atm. It was a poor division before Crawford moved up & since Beltran took too many roids to make weight for the vacant belt (http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/12 ... t-canceled) it looks positively empty.

On or off the gear, Bey is a desperately underwhelming fighter & no better than Vazquez imo, who though he holds the "Gangly Awkward Mexican Grudging Respect Raul "Jibaro" Perez Memorial Title", I'd rather eat my own sick than watch him fight.

Shame innit that such an historic division is almost a wasteland at the mo'. O tempora, O mores or something.

Is bellow going to challenge Hernandez, not heard much since the bloated (in hype and surplus weight) revenge win over a subdued cleverly?

Hernandez and huck are about the same to me , both look knackered from gritty fights and getting their frames down to cruiserweight.

Happy Slapper wrote:Question is in the title. Froch fought Ward when he wasn't with Hearn, and so far hasn't had a rematch. Perhaps you could argue Bellew v Stevenson but I would say Kovalev was number one light heavy even when Bellew fought Stevenson.

Anyone think of any?

I think froch was with hearn but the question is would he have fought ward if he wasnt contracted to the super6? I think the records show that stevenson was the lhw no.1 at the time of the bellew fight.

Linares is not better than Abril, he is more exciting and that is it. Abril (although inactive) schooled a prime Brandon Rios.

Linares would be 50/50 against Vasquez.