Mexi-Box wrote: ↑12 Feb 2018, 21:27
Enlightened-One wrote: ↑12 Feb 2018, 21:16
Mexi-Box wrote: ↑12 Feb 2018, 20:28
Just saying that SMW is horrific at the moment.
I think you're embellishing the severity of the situation somewhat.
post-Cobra'd Groves is currently either #1 or #2, depending on your ranking, best SMW at the moment. Do you think he'd be there when Kessler, Ward, and Froch were at the top?
I’m not claiming the super-middleweight division is currently in the midst of its finest era, but it shouldn’t be deemed to be in a “horrific” state either, because it isn’t.
To be fair, just before George Groves engaged in his rematch against Carl Froch (as of the 31st May, 2014), many people would have considered the Brit as being (at least) a top-three 168lb-er, for the following reasons:
• Mikkel Kessler – hadn’t fought for a year, lost his previous fight against Froch by a comfortable margin & never fought again
• Arthur Abraham – got absolutely dominated by Froch five years prior & around the same time had monumental struggles against lesser opponents, like Paul Smith
• Robert Stieglitz – lost to Abraham three times
We also need to remember that the following fighters, who at this time were rated above Groves, also never again competed in a 168lbs contest:
• Carl Froch – Never stepped foot inside the ring after his rematch against Groves
• Andre Ward – Was in the midst of a prolonged period of inactivity & had already participated in his final bout against a 168lbs opponent 20th months prior
So George Groves has always been considered as one of the top-dogs at 168lbs during recent years, since there’s no disgrace in him having only dropped a split-decision loss against a fine fighter like Badou Jack since his epic stoppage defeats to Carl Froch.
For the record, 2008 was a truly “horrific” year for the super-middleweight division, because two of the main titles were held by the likes of Denis Inkin (WBO) and Alejandro Berrio (IBF), with both the WBA & WBC versions being vacant for much of that timeframe.
To be fair, it disappoints me to see people ridicule the 168lbs division, which has historically been one of the very few where the best consistently competes against each other, inevitably resulting in the top dogs suffering one or two losses along the way.
It’s an unwinnable situation, because the alternative is for fighters “ducking” their big name rivals and cherry-picking certain opponents in order protect their unbeaten records and also “marinate” particular contests against their biggest rivals for purely commercial gain.
Like I said before though, I’m not claiming that the 168lbs division is one of the very best the sport currently has to offer, but it shouldn’t be deemed as “horrific” either.
