2008 for the supermiddleweights...

[Tam Seddon]

Is going to be one of the best weight classes in 2008. Joe Calzaghe is looking like he is moving up to fight b hop and going to be staying at 175. Leaving the devison very wide open...

IBF - Lucian Bute: Becoming a bigger name now and I believe he is going to offer a lot to the 168 mix this year. He can get involved in some tough fights and I hope he keeps busy this year. He is also undeafted and this adds to his determination to keep that.

WBA - Anthony Mundine: He has just came back from a horrible eye infection which was a great threat to his career so he said. He won his come back bout and impressed against a tough fighter in Sam Soliman. But ive heard he is taking an easy option out and fighting another not so good fighter. Its a shame for him because he has great potential to be a good champion. He has what is takes to rule the weight class I believe but its a shame if he takes the easy route out and defends the easier fights in his back door. I hope he can see that the 168 needs a leader now that Joe C is likely not to be back, he has potential and could be this leader. He needs a big name and big names are on offer there now.

Number one IMO - Mikkel Kessler: He was the champion until a very good Joe Calzaghe beat him, but none the less Kessler put on an awesome performance. He pushed Joe Calzaghe and this shows that he IMO is the best in the weight class if you dont count Joe himself. I pray that the loss didnt get to him and hes a good man, I believe he is one of championship calibour and he will be able to get over the loss and see it as a true learning curve. He has amazing power, good chin and heart. The right tools to become a champion, he needs to fight a decent name and get a big win on his record again to assert the fight that he is the best now that Joe Calzaghe has left. I hope he targets another title and fights the best in the 168 weight class, it will be good to see Mikkel fight again because he gives every fighter problems. I sense his is the greatest threat in the devison.


Number two IMO - Carl Froch: My favourite fighter, undeafted and has potential to do a lot in the devison. His power is outstanding and a knockdown can come from anything. People hack into his defence, rightly so. Its not the strongest, but if you have that much authority and power come from your punches it can make up for that. He showed his chin in his last fight and has never looked to be in trouble ever. There is a lot out there for Carl Froch this year in 2008, I hope, as a fan he gets off the domestic route because he has cleaned that up well. The names in the 168 devision are undeafted and if Carl wants a shot he needs to get rid of some of these names. Froch-Inkin is up next so ive heard, this will be an awesome fight. A pick them fight, but I believe Froch will stop him. He will get a shot at a title this year and I believe he is going to bring it home. Kessler and Mundine are both mouthwatering fights for Carl and I hope he can get them. Froch-Kessler has a lot of appeal to it IMO, Kessler will be favourite and rightly so, but if Carl catches Kessler it will become intresting...

Number three IMO - Dennis Inkin: He has a outstanding record of 32-0, another undeafted prospect who brings a lot with him. He needs that final push that Bute recived with a title shot. His name is well known but amongst the top men at 168 his is definatly up there, his power is outstanding. His knock out over Veit was good, he really beat him down. Good hooks really wear down a fighter and Inkin can deliver this, being a former Russian amry captian proves he is hard as nails. But his chin has a question mark over it, knocked down in his last fight and by Froch in the amatuers, it could be a downfall for him near the top. The top men all have good power, so it will be a challenge for him. I believe Carl Froch needs him and he needs Froch to push a title shot, it will be a good fight and I hope it happens. I hope we see a lot from Inkin in the future.

I believe those are the top guys at 168 who need to battle it out this year to show whos at the top. But there are more threats to them as well;

Sakio Bika - Doing well in the contender show, he hopes to be back fighting the best this year, good luck to him!

Jeff Lacy - Looked bad in his last couple of outings, the JC loss has got to him I feel, but he could still make it back. Im really not hyped on him now though, but you never know, he could get his motivation back and be a threat but we will have to see.

Juergen Braehmer - Had a sold win in his last fight, looks like he is back on track to fight this year. I dont no much about him so I cant say much. But his record speaks for itself, a threat in the devison I feel.

Jean Pascal - From what ive heard hes a great prospect, undeafted and showing that he will be at the top. But again ive never seen him so I cant say much.

Edison Miranda - Moving up to 168 and winning via knockout. I believe he can offer a lot to the weight class, his name is well known and he has amazing power. He needs a good name at 168 and he should try and fight one of the big men at 168 to do this. He was unlucky fighting a very determined Pavlik, but I hope he can do well in his 168 campaign.


Some other names that might offer a bit at the top ; Peter Manfedo jr, Allan Green, Librado Andrade, Alejandro Berrio and Andre Ward.


The 168 weight class to me looks like its going to be outstanding this year, I hope there is a lot of good fights to be made and good luck to them all ( especially Carl Froch )

[CutMeMick]

CC#298 for a well thought out post...

I think Mikkel will comeback better and stronger. I would love to see him fight Froch.


I think after that I would love to see Inkin vs. Froch (II counting the ams) we all know ams & pros it's a different story. So I would love to see them go at it again. Inkin boxed and moved well while Froch was throwing the harder punches... In the last round Froch dropped Inkin. But Inkin got back up and won on points....

[Tam Seddon]

cc back mick, looks like you were the only one to have any intrest in this thread. I thought it would have great appeal so thats why I took so long to type it

But I agree that Inkin-Froch needs to happen, IMO before a Kessler match up on the simple grounds that Kessler is better than both of them.

[LEGION]

CC and great post.

Haven't myself seen Froch fight or Inkin, but I know Andrade should be considered a bit more of a threat up there then some of those guys. He has some heavy chains around that gate he guards, and Kessler, though a pretty decisive win for him, had alot of trouble keeping that guy at bay. You can get that joke Manfraudo off your list if I may be so bold, and kick Lacy down a couple of pegs. Bika better learn some better defense or he'll get put to sleep. When JT and Pavlik move up{if}, it will get a whole lot more complicated

[Tam Seddon]

cc back

I havent seen too much of Andrande but I believe he showed a great chin against Kessler and proved that he will do something in the devison this year.

As for Lacy I rekon if he could get a big win in there he could do something, before the JC fight he was one of the biggest names going. He just needs a motivation spark but where he can get that from I dont no, in terms of what he has achived in the past I still feel he has done more that most of the men at 168. Although he did get owned by JC you never know he could be up there again, but its doubtful.

Manfraudo haha, I believe he should go down weight, 168 is too much for him, espically with all of these big names there now.

Pavlik would do well at 168 for sure!

[LEGION]

cc back

I havent seen too much of Andrande but I believe he showed a great chin against Kessler and proved that he will do something in the devison this year.

As for Lacy I rekon if he could get a big win in there he could do something, before the JC fight he was one of the biggest names going. He just needs a motivation spark but where he can get that from I dont no, in terms of what he has achived in the past I still feel he has done more that most of the men at 168. Although he did get owned by JC you never know he could be up there again, but its doubtful.

Manfraudo haha, I believe he should go down weight, 168 is too much for him, espically with all of these big names there now.

Pavlik would do well at 168 for sure!

Yeah Lacy can conceivably get stronger, I just wasn't seeing it with Manfredo, though I give him the benfit of the doubt and will wait and see. You would have never known his name was Left Hook Lacy, as he seemed almost pained when he threw it against Peter Piper Pecker Eater. That surgery was massive though, so time will tell.
Good point about Petey moving to 160, as I should think he could make the weight. Is all he has to do is pop some of those pimple minefields on his face and 160 should be easy shmeezy. He might want to wait until Pavlik is gone though.

[Tam Seddon]

cc back

I havent seen too much of Andrande but I believe he showed a great chin against Kessler and proved that he will do something in the devison this year.

As for Lacy I rekon if he could get a big win in there he could do something, before the JC fight he was one of the biggest names going. He just needs a motivation spark but where he can get that from I dont no, in terms of what he has achived in the past I still feel he has done more that most of the men at 168. Although he did get owned by JC you never know he could be up there again, but its doubtful.

Manfraudo haha, I believe he should go down weight, 168 is too much for him, espically with all of these big names there now.

Pavlik would do well at 168 for sure!

Yeah Lacy can conceivably get stronger, I just wasn't seeing it with Manfredo, though I give him the benfit of the doubt and will wait and see. You would have never known his name was Left Hook Lacy, as he seemed almost pained when he threw it against Peter Piper Pecker Eater. That surgery was massive though, so time will tell.
Good point about Petey moving to 160, as I should think he could make the weight. Is all he has to do is pop some of those pimple minefields on his face and 160 should be easy shmeezy. He might want to wait until Pavlik is gone though.

Pavlik would be daft to fight Manfredo, he would knock him out easily. He would also not do much for legacy, he has a very hard fight with Taylor next, the winner should fight Abraham without a doubt but i dont know if that would happen.

Manfredo would have his best chance of glory if he was to go to lightmiddleweight where there is nothing there really.

[WelshDevilRob]

Great Topic and analogy, Tam CC+

Super Middleweight is certainly a hotbed of talented fighters and hard to call fights. Welterweight and Super Featherweight are two hot divisions aswell.

The loser of Jermain Taylor vs Kelly Pavllik is likely to be in the mix aswell.

[Tam Seddon]

cc back, i would to see both of them in the mix really, they would both really bring a lot to it. Im liking this rivalry they both have though!

[ICB]

Kessler----\ Kessler
------------\
Lacy------/ Kessler
---------\
Berrio-------\ Inkin
---------/
Dennis Inkin-/ Kessler
-------------
Mundine----\ Mundine
----------\
Sakio Bika--/ Mundine
--------- /
Lucian Bute-\ Bute
---------/
Carl Froch---/

[Deanrw]

I'm Canadian, and I am not keen on Bute at all. I consider his style "Kessler Lite" meaning he fights similar to Kessler, but Kessler just does everything so much better.

It appears Bute is being protected also. They are not exactly throwing him in with the wolves right now, and having the IBF belt automatically means his mandatories will be against unknown fighters from the Rain Forrest. He may remain a champion through 2008, but nobody will notice due to him not fighting the best competition.

Pascal at least seems willing to get into the mix now, so props to him for that.

[Tam Seddon]

Same for Froch at this momment, but hes not got the belt. Im hoping 2008 will push both of them to be honest, same to Inkin as well.

[superheavyrhun]

Nice post Tam, I agree with you that it is going to be very competitive in the SMW's next year, and with the mandatory forcing both Froch and Inkin to fight real live opposition for the first time in a while, and Kessler and others also looking to get into the title mix too its going to be good I feel.

There's also the option that if the Calzaghe-Hopkins fight falls through we might see Jermain Taylor in the division challenging Calzaghe, or possibly even Pavlik if the money to tempt him up is there. In my mind, whether Taylor wins or loses the rematch with PAvlik, he will continue fighting and it will be amongst the SMW's.

[El Gamo]

Did you write that Tam? CC,very impressive. I want to see guys like Froch and Mundine step it up bigtime. I'm going to be rooting for Andrade all the way,and he'll give anyone that stands and trades a tough fight. Anyone that can box and move,forget about it! :P There are some awesome matches that could be made,I just hope they actually get made though.

[Tam Seddon]

I did write it

I agree that they both need to step up. But as ive said in previous posts, the 168 devision has great potential and I hope they see this. If they do they will step up and we will see a lot of great match ups this year.

I can see that Andrade has got himself a name after the Kessler win, i hope he does well!

Rhun, I agree with you too, Taylor would be a good name in the 168 weight class, his name would bring a lot more to the devision as well and bringing to the appeal of it being the best devison in 20008