Super 6: Success or Failure?
February 5th, 2014 | Post Comment - 3 Comments
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mikkel kessler carl froch arthur abraham andre ward andre dirrell By Jamie Eskdale: The Showtime Super Middleweight Super 6 Boxing Classic may have ended over 2 years ago. However after reviewing the tournament this past week it got me thinking. Was the tournament successful and could it be repeated in different weight classes?
The Super 6 tournament started out with eventual winner Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch, Jermaine Taylor, Arthur Abraham and Mikkel Kessler. Though during the tournament Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler both withdrew, Kessler with an eye injury and Dirrell for alleged neurological reasons, though some claimed at the time it was because he was scheduled to fight Ward and didn’t fancy it.
Allan Green and Glen Johnson replaced both fighters, so in essence we actually had a super 8.
The tournament set out to pit the best of the division against each other so at the end we could have an undisputed Super Middleweight champion. Obviously Andre Ward eventually triumphed. While no one would argue that he deserved to win and was a level above the other competitors it must be stated that the tournament wasn’t without some controversy.
Due to Dirrell’s withdrawal Ward only had 2 group stage bouts instead of three.
In place of his 3rd fight he defended the WBC belt he won off Kessler against Sakio Bika, although Ward won, had he lost it would have taken the WBC title out of the tournament, which could have devalued the competition.
Also each fighter was supposed to have a balance of home and away bouts.
Every fighter in the tournament traveled away except Andre Ward. Indeed 3 of his 4 fights were in his home state of California, with his fourth in New Jersey.
Runner up Carl Froch had 1 bout at home and 4 away.
To be honest I don’t think it would have made much of a difference to the overall result had Ward been forced to travel, but in the interest of fairness the bouts should have been more balanced.
The tournament did also seem to drag on a little, lasting 2 years and 2 months and probably should have been a bit shorter to make it more interesting.
The positives to be garnered from the tournament were that we now knew who was the main man at the weight. With boxing politics being what they are, who knows if we would have seen all these matchups.
There were a good blend of styles represented in the tournament and initial 6 were a good pick.
Now comes the problem. Andre Ward has cleaned out the division and while he had been established as the king of the weight, he has also put himself out of contention for big fights.
Obviously being at the top of the pile is a great accolade however one would think if Ward were presented with these facts before the tournament he may have thought twice about taking part.
It seems nobody wants any part of him and he finds himself in an awkward position.
So could the super 6 be repeated in different weight classes.
Well I think now more than ever that with Showtime having Golden Boy fighters exclusively on their network that particularly the junior welterweight and welterweight divisions could produce excellent variations on it.
At junior welter we could have Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, Lamont Peterson, Ruslan Provodnikov (depending on his contractual situation), Adrien Broner if he chose to compete at the weight, same for Amir Khan. Robert Guerrero would also fall into this category.
At Welterweight we could have Marcos Maidana, Keith Thurman, Kell Brook, Paulie Malignaggi, Shawn Porter, and Broner, Khan or Guerrero could be considered again.
While the winner could get a bout against Floyd Mayweather.
I have deliberately left Top Rank fighters out of the lists. Though the possibilities would be enormous if they were added in.
In conclusion I would have to say it was a success and an innovative move by Showtime. Logistics and injuries at times threatened to derail the whole but on the whole it worked.
What do the readers think?
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Super 6: Success or Failure
