SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT LANDMARKS
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tragedy, however, as opponent Michael Watson came out of the bout with career-ending, near-fatal injuries. Still, even those who dismissed the WBO had to admire Eubank’s busy schedule. He successfully defended his super middleweight title 14 times during a three-year span. Steve Collins ended Eubank’s WBO reign and had a respectable run of seven defenses, including two wins over Benn. When Collins retired, Eubank competed for the vacant WBO title against Joe Calzaghe, the “Welsh Dragon.” Calzaghe won a spirited 12-rounder, giving the division a new star and a new chapter.
and Ottke never fought each other is a sore spot in the division’s history, but for many reasons, it never happened. Like Ottke, Calzaghe retired undefeated. Unlike Ottke, his quick-handed style was entertaining. Calzaghe’s greatest performance may have been his utter domination of power-punching Jeff Lacy in 2006, a 12-round decision that earned Calzaghe the IBF title and the inaugural Ring 168-pound championship. But when he decided to venture into the light heavyweight class, Calzaghe’s absence threatened to leave the super middles in another dark period. Then television stepped in.
than one weight class, the 168-pound division was featured again. This time, Britain’s Callum Smith earned the laurels – and the vacant Ring belt – with a seventh-round KO of George Groves in 2018. A well-seasoned fighter who had already won several minor belts as a super middleweight, Smith remained the division’s top man until Alvarez defeated him in 2020. The question at the time was whether Alvarez, already known for hopping weight classes, would stay in the neighborhood or simply seek better paydays elsewhere. Somewhat surprisingly, aside from a failed trip
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, June 12, 1989 Sugar Ray Leonard D 12 Thomas Hearns
had already been a long-reigning middleweight titlist and had held the IBF super middleweight belt for more than a year. Yet Jones played with Toney, convincing people they were seeing the latest “greatest of all time,” boxing’s version of Michael Jordan. The three scorecards favored Jones with scores as wide as the Grand Canyon.
While the U.K. had a good thing going with the Benn-Eubank- Collins-Calzaghe era, American fans had a prime James Toney to watch. After winning the IBF title from Iran Barkley in 1993, Toney made three successful defenses, highlighted by a bruising battle with Prince Charles Williams, won by Toney via 12th-round
to 175, where he lost to Dmitry Bivol in 2022, Alvarez has made the 168-pound class his base of operations. Since beating Smith, he’s 9-0 at 168 and has become the first undisputed super middleweight champion. The only blip came last year when the IBF stripped him for not fighting the group’s mandatory contender,
Eight years had passed since their first bout, and word on “The Hitman” was that he was shot. But once the fight started, Hearns fought like a new man. He dropped Leonard twice during the bout and bravely withstood Leonard’s final-round rally. The draw verdict inspired boos from the crowd of 15,336 and debates along press row. Even Leonard, in his 2011 memoir, referred to the bout as “a loss to Tommy Hearns, no matter what the judges said.” The 168-pound class, however, had enjoyed its first major event, an inadvertent christening from two aging superstars.
From paper crown to pay-per-view, the story of the super middleweights has been unique.
Millenium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, Nov. 3, 2007 Joe Calzaghe UD 12 Mikkel Kessler
Calzaghe, the Ring/WBO champion, was a 35-year-old veteran who had dominated the super middleweights for a decade, while Kessler was the undefeated WBA and WBC titleholder. This was a dream bout, with two great super middleweights coming together to unify all but
Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Oct. 9, 1993 Nigel Benn D 12 Chris Eubank More than 42,000 turned out to see Benn-Eubank II. With Benn putting his WBC belt on the line against Eubank’s WBO title, along with their intense personal rivalry – Eubank had KO’d Benn in a previous bout – the contest was bound to draw attention. And it did, not just among British fans but worldwide. The atmosphere was charged, the fighting was intense, and the final round was a scorcher
KO. When Roy Jones Jr. easily defeated Toney, it appeared the division’s first true superstar had arrived. He had a strong run as IBF titlist from 1994 to 1996, but the restless Jones moved on to the 175-pound class after making only five defenses at 168. Possessing none of Jones’ wanderlust, Germany’s Sven Ottke made a whopping 21 title defenses at super middleweight, and he accomplished it against some solid challengers, including Charles Brewer, from whom he won the IBF belt in 1998 and defeated in a rematch in 2000, plus Thomas Tate (twice), Anthony Mundine, Glen Johnson, Byron Mitchell, Mads Larsen and Robin Reid. He even snagged the WBA belt along the way and retired as an undefeated double beltholder. Unfortunately, Ottke’s defensive style made for some dull times. Critics derided him as a protected fighter who never strayed from Germany and relied on hometown scoring. While Ottke was sequestered in Deutschland, Calzaghe also made 21 title defenses, against many of the same names on Ottke’s resume. That Calzaghe
In 2009, the Showtime network teamed up with several boxing promoters to create the Super Six World Boxing Classic, an unprecedented tournament to crown a unified champion at 168. Two of the best super middleweights in the world would take part – WBA titlist Mikkel Kessler and WBC beltholder Carl Froch – as well as 2004 Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward and former middleweight titleholders Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor. In 2011, Ward emerged as the tournament winner, defeating Froch in the final. The unanimous decision victory unified WBA and WBC belts and earned Ward the vacant Ring title as well as the Fighter of the Year award. The Super Six was a great boost for the weight division, but fans were split by Ward. Some appreciated him. Others found him dull. After a short stint as the light heavyweight champion, Ward retired without a loss. Another tournament, the World Boxing Super Series, began in 2017. Though the WBSS focused on more
William Scull. Scull claimed the vacated belt in a match with Vladimir Shishkin, but in May 2025, Alvarez defeated Scull and regained the title, making Canelo a two-time undisputed champion at 168. It may have started with Sutherland winning a snoozefest at Harrah’s, but the story had to start somewhere. In an interview last year with BoxingScene. com, Sutherland looked back at winning the IBF belt with humor: “None of us knew whether it would be a paper crown or a long-standing, well-respected title.” He added, “I wouldn’t even realize I’d become a proper world champion until years later.” An impressive lineage of super middleweights followed Sutherland, with too many quality fighters to mention in a brief recap. From paper crown to pay-per-view, the story of the super middleweights has been unique. Alvarez’s upcoming bout with Terence Crawford in Las Vegas will be the richest super middleweight fight of all time, and probably the most watched. It’s another milestone for a division that started as a big farce but is now big money.
one piece of the championship. Though Kessler was strong in the early rounds, Calzaghe settled down and fought like a master. The scorecards favored the Welshman by 117-111 and 116-112 (twice). “It was the fight of my life,” Calzaghe told ESPN 10 years later. The victory would have unified all four belts, had Calzaghe not recently relinquished the IBF title. But in the eyes of 50,000 fight fans in Cardiff, he was undoubtedly the king at 168 pounds.
Wembley Stadium, London, May 31, 2014 Carl Froch KO 8 George Groves
that brought the audience to its feet. Judges scored the bout a draw. It was said that Benn-Eubank II generated more interest than the Lennox Lewis-Frank Bruno world title bout eight days earlier. That meant if the right names were on the marquee, the super middleweights could steal the spotlight from the heavyweights, an idea that would’ve been laughable a decade earlier. MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nov. 18, 1994 Roy Jones Jr. UD 12 James Toney Toney was such a reliable ring technician that oddsmakers made him a slight favorite over Jones. Enthusiasm for Toney was understandable, for the man known as “Lights Out” was undefeated,
Froch’s rematch with Groves deserves a special mention for drawing 80,000 to Wembley, making it Britain’s biggest fight attendance since World War II. Other bouts have since surpassed it, but Froch-Groves II remains among the most widely attended bouts in history, which is highly impressive for a super middleweight contest. Froch, the IBF and WBA titlist, had stopped Groves in their first bout, but due to the public outcry about the referee’s decision to stop the fight, a rematch was made. In The Ring’s 2014 Knockout of the Year (and Event of the Year), Froch stopped Groves at 2:34 of the eighth. There was no controversy this time.
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