168lb Division, Who Beats Who?

[Eff Pandas]

Too much death & drama going on this week.

Lets get to some more basic boxing sh^t.

Who's beating who at 168 among the major players (not counting Canelo since he's a novelty title holder currently & has seemingly made no decision to official move up or contend serious at 168 yet).

Top 4 at 168 to me right now are with little argument:

David Benavidez, Phoenix, AZ, 22yrs, 21-0 (18), 6'1, 77in
vs Plant (W-KO) Benavidez wears down Plant late
vs Ramirez (W-Dec) Benavidez bullys Ramirez all night
vs Smith (W-KO) Smith's show's some toughness to last

Caleb Plant, Nashville, TN, 27yrs, 19-0 (11), 6'1, 74in
vs Benavidez (L-KO) Plant has some early success, but falls late
vs Ramirez (W-Dec) Plant wins on more effective aggression
vs Smith (W-Dec) Plant edges out a 8-4, 9-3 decision

Gilberto Ramirez, Mazatlan, Mex, 28yrs, 40-0 (26), 6'2, 75in
vs Benavidez (L-Dec) Unable to mount an effective offense
vs Plant (L-Dec) Close, but Plant is more successful more often
vs Smith (L-Dec) Unable to get much going on

Callum Smith, Liverpool UK, 29yrs, 26-0 (19), 6'3, 78in
vs Benavidez (L-KO) Competitive for periods, but comes up short
vs Plant (L-Dec) Has moments, but not enough to eek out the W
vs Ramirez (W-Dec) Smith's reach negates Gil's attacks

[M Bison]

Too much death & drama going on this week.

Lets get to some more basic boxing sh^t.

Who's beating who at 168 among the major players (not counting Canelo since he's a novelty title holder currently & has seemingly made no decision to official move up or contend serious at 168 yet).

Top 4 at 168 to me right now are with little argument:

David Benavidez, Phoenix, AZ, 22yrs, 21-0 (18), 6'1, 77in
vs Plant (W-KO) Benavidez wears down Plant late
vs Ramirez (W-Dec) Benavidez bullys Ramirez all night
vs Smith (W-KO) Smith's show's some toughness to last

Caleb Plant, Nashville, TN, 27yrs, 19-0 (11), 6'1, 74in
vs Benavidez (L-KO) Plant has some early success, but falls late
vs Ramirez (W-Dec) Plant wins on more effective aggression
vs Smith (W-Dec) Plant edges out a 8-4, 9-3 decision

Gilberto Ramirez, Mazatlan, Mex, 28yrs, 40-0 (26), 6'2, 75in
vs Benavidez (L-Dec) Unable to mount an effective offense
vs Plant (L-Dec) Close, but Plant is more successful more often
vs Smith (L-Dec) Unable to get much going on

Callum Smith, Liverpool UK, 29yrs, 26-0 (19), 6'3, 78in
vs Benavidez (L-KO) Competitive for periods, but comes up short
vs Plant (L-Dec) Has moments, but not enough to eek out the W
vs Ramirez (W-Dec) Smith's reach negates Gil's attacks

Good top four, I think the weak link out of those four is David Benavidez. The lack of activity and proper good fights that Ramirez has been involved in makes me doubt him a little bit.

It's hard to outright say who is the best atm, but I do find myself gravitating more towards Callum Smith, I think that guy has proven himself more than the rest. Caleb is a dark horse in that mix, I need to see more from him.

So in this order
C.Smith
Ramirez
Plant
Benavidez

[ShaneMosleySr]

Since Ramirez moved up and Saunders has his title now, I would put Saunders in that top 4. I think Eubank is probably coming up close to that top 4 as well.

I like Callum Smith over everybody, Saunders next, Plant and then Benavidez.

I think Smith wins all those fights by 12 round close decisions and I think everyone else beats the guys behind them in line by close unanimous decisions as well.

If Ramirez is in there instead of Saunders, I feel the exact same way and would place him below Plant and above Benavidez.

[boliodogs]

To me Smith is the best. That guy can really fight and punch. Benavidez is the next best. He has very fast hands and good power and stamina. Plant has good skills and decent power but he lacks stamina. His last fight was a cherrypick not a real contender. I put him third. Ramirez I put 4th. He is sort of slow and not as skillful as the others. He is ok I guess but his opposition is not that good and he has almost lost before. He is tough and game but not very talented.

[boliodogs]

I think all 4 of them beat Saunders who seems on the down hill slide.

[techliam]

Plant isn’t really in the same
bracket yet

Dirrell... well, yeah.

The top 2 are Smith and Benevidez, with Saunders creeping up

[sicko]

Only David Benavidez can stop David Benavidez IMO and still only 22 years old

Lets hope all these fights get made when it is time to make them and we get to find out who is truly the best

[Eff Pandas]

Plant isn’t really in the same
bracket yet

Dirrell... well, yeah.

The top 2 are Smith and Benevidez, with Saunders creeping up

Do we know BJS is seriously competing at 168? I'm still unsure if he's moved to 168 for good or if he just lifted a weak belt to add to his resume & will move back down to 160 any day now.

160 is one of the money divisions in boxing. Don't make a whole lot of sense to me to move up when you haven't cashed out yet. I'm still of the opinion Jacobs should get more serious about losing some weight to stay at 160 vs moving up to 168. Losing money moving to 168.

[techliam]

Do we know BJS is seriously competing at 168? I'm still unsure if he's moved to 168 for good or if he just lifted a weak belt to add to his resume & will move back down to 160 any day now.

160 is one of the money divisions in boxing. Don't make a whole lot of sense to me to move up when you haven't cashed out yet. I'm still of the opinion Jacobs should get more serious about losing some weight to stay at 160 vs moving up to 168. Losing money moving to 168.

I’m not sure honestly. It’s almost British tradition to campaign at both weights if you’re at that kinda size

I’d hazard a guess that it’s middleweight for the money fights, and stay and feast on WBO journeymen until it happens

[Eff Pandas]

Only David Benavidez can stop David Benavidez IMO and still only 22 years old

My feelings exactly.

If he loses to any of these 168 guys I suspect it'll be attributed to some unusual situation or him lacking focus.

His coke thing kinda pissed me off cuz too many of these talented cats almost seem like they search out things that could f#ck sh^t up for them & I'm rooting on him not doing that.