By Mark Turley: The Heavyweight division is often regarded as the blue riband championship in boxing and heavyweight world champions of the past have been household names and international celebrities. Yet there is often something about Heavyweight boxing, particularly in the modern era, that can be slightly unreal, even freakish. The sight of two 7-foot, 250 pound monsters exchanging blows has little bearing on reality for the average man.

Similarly, the lighter weight categories, although packed with quick and skilful operators can seem removed from most people’s sphere of experience. For this reason, there has always been something about the Middleweight and Super-Middleweight divisions that capture the imagination of boxing fans like no other. The 160/167 pound limit provides the perfect balance between speed and power, athleticism and punch resistance and it has the added interest of correlating with the average weight of a man in the UK, meaning people see themselves reflected in the ring. “If I were a fighter” they think. “That could be me in there.”

UK boxing has been blessed with some of the most gifted Middleweight and Super-Middleweight boxers of recent decades. With Carl Froch’s defence against Yusuf Mack only two weeks away, many of us are wondering how the ‘Cobra’ would stack up against some of the best from recent years. Here then, in ascending order, are my picks for the Top 5.

5. Alan Minter: WBA & WBC Middleweight Champion 1980

In the days before the Super-Middleweight division was recognized, the Middleweight division filled the void and Alan Minter was an excellent boxer who is little remembered outside the UK. He was unfortunate in that his reign as World Champion was cut short by a true ring legend. In 1980, he took the WBA and WBC Middleweight Titles from Vito Antuofermo, a hard-as-nails Italian who had just defended his belt against a young Marvin Hagler. Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, he stopped Antuofermo in 8 rounds in the rematch 3 months later. His next defence however was against Hagler. It was a tough, brawl of a fight with heads clashing frequently and Minter was stopped on cuts in the third. Hagler went on to retain the belts for 7 years, establishing himself as one of the all-time greats.

4. Carl Froch: WBC Super Middleweight Champion 2008-2010 & 2010-2011, IBF Super Middleweight Champion 2012 – present

The Cobra may consider himself hard-done-by not to be higher on the list, especially since his devastating stoppage of paper champion Lucian Bute has made him a 3-time World Belt holder. His qualities are there for all to see, fighting heart, strength, a granite jaw and tremendous punch power. Any knowledgeable and impartial observer has to place him among the top 2 or 3 Super Middleweights currently in action in the World today. However, his tendencies to hang out his chin and leave his hands low, with a lack of devastating hand or foot speed, mean that for me, he would be unlikely to have beaten any of the guys higher on this list in their prime.

3. Chris Eubank: WBO Middleweight Champion 1990-1991, WBO Super Middleweight Champion 1991 – 1995

The man that everyone loved to hate just kept on banging out the wins. Sure, during his reign as WBO Middleweight and Super Middleweight King, he rolled over a fair number of stiffs, but wins against Nigel Benn, Michael Watson and Lindell Holmes proved his class. His strange, crab-like footwork and looping punches made him a strange fighter to watch, yet the style was effective. Although seemingly hesitant of using his knockout power after permanently injuring Watson in 1991, he always seemed to find a way to win, making 17 defences of his Middleweight and Super Middleweight titles.

2. Nigel Benn: WBO Middleweight Champion 1990, WBC Super Middleweight Champion 1992-1996

Knockout king, ‘The Dark Destroyer’ possessed an electric combination of attributes; single punch knockout power, ferocious aggression and hand and foot speed. He had mixed results domestically, losing early in his career to Michael Watson, then to Eubank in a Middleweight world title defence, as well as two comeback losses to Irishman, Steve Collins, but he was unique among British fighters of this era in that he went and took it to the Yanks. British fight fans were so used to their challengers losing to American champions that his 9 round destruction of Doug Dewitt for the WBO Middleweight Championship came almost as a shock. Who could forget the savage first round in which he beat up Iran ‘The Blade’ Barkley to defend his title, or the tragic night in which he produced a performance from a Rocky film to end the career of Gerald McClellan, after being knocked out of the ring in the first round, defending the WBC Super Middleweight Title? For sheer drama and heart-on-your sleeve, blood-and-guts, you simply could not top Nigel Benn. He was never in a dull fight and for that reason he very nearly made it into top spot.

1. Joe Calzaghe – WBO Super Middleweight Champion 1997-2007, IBF Super Middleweight Champion 2006, WBA & WBC Super Middleweight Champion 2007 (Unified Super Middleweight Champion)

The only way I could be convinced not to put Nigel Benn at number one, would be if Britain had produced a Super-Middleweight champion who never lost a professional fight and during an illustrious career recorded wins over Eubank, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr, capturing all the major World Title belts, while demonstrating knockout power, fighting heart and blurring hand speed. That man came from Newbridge, Wales. Trained by his father, Enzo he put together a perfect record and really turned it on when he needed to. His performance against Jeff Lacy, a unification match in which he was so dominant as to score a three way shut-out from the judges, was probably the best I have ever seen in a British ring.

Honourable mentions go also to Michael Watson, Richie Woodhall and Robin Reid, all of whom held World Championships during this era. Tony Sibson, Mark Kaylor, Errol Christie and later Howard Eastman were also excellent Middleweight competitors, who challenged for World Titles. Herol Graham was probably one of the most gifted fighters Britain has ever produced and boxed Julian Jackson’s ears off for four rounds in 1990, before being caught with a right hook out of nowhere to deny him the WBC Middleweight Title.
The future looks positive too, however Froch fares in his next few fights. The UKs contribution to the Middleweight and Super Middleweight division seems set to continue, with fighters like George Groves and James Degale already on the fringes of World level and others, like the intriguing Chris Eubank Jr, who fights very much like his father, on the up. While the Heavyweight class struggles for strength in depth beyond the Klitschkos, boxing fans need only look a little further down the weight limits for a division that has always been and remains, truly thriving.