Swap Eubank and Benn and it's probably good as it stands. But where is Herol Graham? You could probably stick Ray Close on that list too. I think he beat Eubank.
Ahhh, this old chestnut. Hard to rank them, to be honest. In terms of ability (whatever that means), I'd have it something like: Calzaghe Eubanks Benn Froch Collins In terms of achievment at 168, I'd go with Froch Calzaghe Benn Eubanks Collins I never really rated Collins that highly TBH. He was as tough as teak, unquestionably, but also limited as hell and he managed to beat the remnants of Benn more by dint of Benn being finished post-McClellan and Eubank not being the same post-Watson. In the first Collins fight Eubank had Collins in all kinds of trouble in the ninth but he simply withdrew, fearful of what happened to Watson. Benn is a strange one to rank IMHO. He was esentially a slugger with tremendous power and he lost comprehensively to both Eubank and Watson pretty much in his prime. But he holds the best win of any of that lot (McClellan) and I thought he won the Eubanks rematch (which was at 168 instead of 160) I haven't included Watson because he only had one fight at 168 and everyone knows how that one turned out. MTF :dunno:
Herol Graham beat Vinny Paz and had a great slugfest with Brewer and was winning on one card at the end of the fight. I think the fact that he missed out on all that action with Benn and Eubank, Watson and Collins should not count against him.....arguably he could have scored a win against any of that gang of 4. He did after all have remarkably similar "success" with common opponents like Sumbu Kalamby and Mike McCallum. Eubank by contrast/comparison to Graham was a guy who built his reputation in fights with "domestic" opposition, the one notable exception being Rocchigaini in Germany.
Benn states categorically in his autobiography that the reason he didn't fight Herol was that Herol refused every offer Benn made him. Also, Herol did well against Kalabay and McCallum because his style suited those guys perfectly. Benn especially would have snapped him in half. Anyway, most of Herol's career was an 160, and this thread asks us to compare super-middles... Don't get me wrong; I'm a big Herol fan myself and he was extremely unlucky never to win a world title, but luck alone isn't the only reason why he isn't in this company. He never quite had that intangible which marks out the elite IMHO. MTF
Come on. Where did Eubank, Collins and Benn start off? 160!! Eubank vs Benn I was at 160! And the way Graham told it, Benn refused every offer he ever made. Porkies abound.
Almost all 168lb-ers start at 160. Including Abraham and Taylor, who you were trying to use as weapons against Froch last ngiht... :nono: Anyway, the OP asks us to compare these super-middleweights. That is why I didn't include Watson, even though I rate him higher than Benn and possibly Eubanks as a middle and why I would rank Benn above Eubanks despite Eubank holding a clear win over Benn at 160. MTF
