Would a ”Super Six type” tournament at light welterweight be good for boxing?

By Liam Santiago: The light welterweight division is arguably the hottest division in boxing right now. With names such as Amir Khan and Nate Campbell moving up from lightweight and young talent bursting onto the scene such as Devon Alexander, the division is jam packed with talent. Yet, how many of these big names are about to fight each other? A competition, similar to the ‘Super Six’, of the super middleweight division, would surely benefit boxing fans in a massive way.

You don’t have to look very far to find six top class names at 140 pounds. Ricky Hatton, Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan, Devon Alexander, Marcos Maidana, Lamont Peterson, Paul Malignaggi, Nate Campbell and Juan Marquez are just a few of the top names. Even if the six or eight of the best were picked out of the light welterweight class, there would still be plenty of top fighters left outside the tournament.

Of course, setting such a tournament up would provide many difficulties, between promoters who can’t agree on money issues. Another issue which would hinder the idea is certain fighters who would never go near a tournament with such a competitive string of bouts. For example, the presence of Kelly Pavlik in the Super Six would brighten the tournament up a great deal. Not that it is dull in any way, but Pavlik is a great super middleweight who should be in that tournament. With the likes of Hatton and Marquez nearing the end of their careers (or already at the end), it is hard to see them playing any part in such a tournament.

There is so much talent currently in the light welterweight division but we are not seeing these great fighters matched together. Many of the light welterweight contenders are at a stand still. Hatton is pondering what to do next whilst piling the pounds on like there’s no tomorrow. Juan Marquez (who has spoke about campaigning at 140 pounds) is waiting for an offer. Nate Campbell, Devon Alexander, Junior Witter, Paul Malignaggi and Juan Diaz also have no bouts planned yet. Timothy Bradley is due to fight Lamont Peterson in what should be a great fight, Amir Khan is preparing to fight Dmitriy Salita and Marcos Maidana is ready for a bout with William Gonzalez.

So, currently there is not a single bout planned at 140 pounds which involves two fighters in the top ten. Don’t boxing fans deserve more than this? The day when you could fight C and D class fighters at world level is gone. You can not get away with it, especially in these harsh economic times.

My idea of such a tournament at light welterweight would involve eight fighters. Eight rather than six because there is so many talented fighters in the division. My choice would be Ricky Hatton, Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan, Devon Alexander, Nate Campbell, Marcos Maidana, Junior Witter and Juan Manuel Marquez. The great thing about a tournament like this is you can not pick a winner. The competition would be so tight it is near impossible to pick out a favourite. Personally, I would go with Bradley, but who knows. How would Bradley deal with Hatton’s pressure.

It is easy to come up with the idea, but putting the competition into place would be a much harder process. However, nothing is impossible. In these harsh times, especially in Britain, where very few bouts are screened, promoters should work together and come up with an idea such as this, which would give the fans something to get very exited about. The fact that there is not a fight on the horizon between any of the top ten light welter’s just proves why a tournament such as this would be so great for boxing.

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