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At super middleweight, the belt holder had leverage that no champion of the modern era benefits from. Four titles. Guaranteed events. No pressure to take risks. This leverage could have been used to introduce young contenders and add depth to the division. Instead, it was spent on controlled defenses that protected brand value while leaving the broader field intact.
The names tell the story. Edgar Berlanga was given a title opportunity without proving himself against elite competition. Jaime Munguia arrived with enthusiasm but left without clarity. William Scull entered as a low-risk obligatory. Jermell Charlo, a 154-pounder, was bred for commercial reasons rather than divisional logic. John Ryder was durable, available and non-threatening.
None of these fights were scandalous in themselves. That’s the problem. Taken individually, each defense could be justified. Taken together, they reveal a pattern: containment instead of culture.
How the Challenger Pipeline Was Shut Down
The young contenders at 168 have never received the oxygen that only a marquee fight can provide. Without this exposure, they could not create leverage. Without leverage, they couldn’t force opportunities. The division didn’t move forward, it just went around in circles.
The middleweights suffered the same fate, but in a more discreet manner.
For years, 160 have existed in waiting. The champions were waiting. The competitors were waiting. The potential unifications never aligned. Fighters bounced between weight classes, looking for opportunity rather than dominance. Without a clear center of gravity, the division lost its urgency.
What should have been a fertile talent pool between 160 and 168 became a dead zone. The fighters went up too early, came down too late, or stayed put without aiming at anything.
It’s not about blaming one fighter for everything. It’s about recognizing how power shapes ecosystems. When a dominant champion repeatedly chooses safety, the cost is not just competitive enthusiasm, but developmental stagnation.
In healthy divisions, champions create friction. They force competitors to rise or fall. They establish benchmarks. At super middleweight, this friction has disappeared. The belts remained active, but the division did not evolve.
This stagnation now has consequences. There are talented fighters at 168, but few with recognizable profiles. At 160, there are competent operators, but no clear hierarchy. Fans feel the drift even if they don’t express it. The divisions feel on pause rather than competitive.
When the obligatory becomes the only movement
This is why mandatory challengers are starting to have more importance in boxing. When voluntary ambition disappears, obligation becomes the only remaining source of movement. Sanctioning bodies force fights not because they want to, but because without pressure, nothing happens.
The irony is that the damage is not permanent. One or two truly risky clashes would immediately change the temperature. But that requires a move away from risk management and toward creating divisions – something modern boxing has largely abandoned.
Middleweight and super middleweight are not dead divisions. They are dormant. And dormancy is not caused by a lack of talent. This is due to the lack of opportunities.
Until that changes, both weight classes will remain exactly where they are now: active on paper, stuck in reality.
