Pound for Pound: Best Boxers in the World right now

SamFisher · Mar 22, 2005

Originally posted by Mummywrap
Nice recap of the fight.

Don't forget about Marquez, who from what I have heard, will be Morales's next opponent.

In Marquez's fight with Manny Pac, Marquez got dropped 3 times in the first round, but after the first he might have done a better job against Manny than Morales.
Click to expand...

JMM v. Morales will be interesting to see whether Morales can discipline himself or if he will go back to the slugfest days.

JMM was masterful against MP from mid round 2- through about round 9 or 10. Maybe not quite masterful enough to take the draw, IMO, but still very impressive.

vwiggin · Mar 22, 2005

Christopher · Mar 23, 2005

I'd understand if Kostya had done a Roy Jones.....gone through his whole career and then got beaten by a guy that wasnt great.

But he was a dominant fighter before that fight....he lost against an at best average fighter.....but he came back and dominated everyone put infront of him in his division.

I dont think you can put a mark against a boxer because he sticks with his division. You look through this thread alot, how many fighters have moved up or down a division and thats been seen as the major reason their performances fell away.

Ontop of that, you could say just as easily that these top fighters above his division are not all that keepn to drop back down to face Kostya.

On his last few performances....you can not argue against the fact that Kostya has dominated his opponents....and not just looking at the result, but looking at the way he fights, the power of his punches, the way he stalks his opponents and the way he has knocked out all the fancied opponents he has taken on.

SamFisher · Mar 23, 2005

You can't argue that Kostya didn't dominate his last few opponents, but for a guy who has fought once a year for the past 3 (soon to be 4) years, you'd expect him to fight some bigger names. Tackie, Leija, & Mitchell aren't exactly Duran, Hearns & Leonard.

Mitchell is probably the best of the bunch but he's your classic good not great type.

I give him props for fighting Hatton in England though that takes some guts. He's not taking a close decision there, that's for sure.

Christopher · Mar 23, 2005

I expect him to dominate Hatton....it should be a good fight.

After Hatton there is talk he will line up for three super fights against big name boxers above his division.

Christopher · Mar 24, 2005

Good article on this very subject on ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2019346

Hopkins headlines for now
By Doug Fischer, MaxBoxing.com

The first quarter of '05 has sparked some significant changes to MaxBoxing's list of the best 25 fighters on the planet.

Entering the list, which had not been updated since December, are new undisputed welterweight champ Zab Judah, 115-pound titlist Martin Castillo and flyweight brawler Jorge Arce.

Climbing from their previous rankings are Castillo and Arce's Mexican compatriots Jose Luis Castillo and Erik Morales. The lightweight king finally breaks the top 10 and El Terrible is "sitting pretty." Viva La Raza!

The Top 10

Hopkins

1. Bernard Hopkins, Record: 45-2-1 (32 KOs) 1 NC
The Skinny: The stubborn old man of boxing holds his No. 1 spot (barely) by making his record 20th middleweight title defense over strong but limited No. 1 challenger Howard Eastman. While B-Hop's ring mastery at his advanced age (40) is impressive (though not always exciting to watch), he needs to make a real statement before his spot is taken by one of many lighter-weight fighters who are taking on only the best in the game. A showdown with Jermain Taylor, which ESPN.com's Dan Rafael reports is set for either Memphis or Las Vegas on July 16, is just what the doctor ordered.

2. Erik Morales 48-2 (34)
The Skinny: Never, ever count out a born warrior like Morales (No. 5 on this list after the last update). Whenever it looks like this three-division champ has finally taxed his body to the max, he digs down to deliver another 12-round classic against a top-notch opponent. Although he's down 1-2 in his trilogy with Marco Antonio Barrera, his decision win over Manny Pacquiao allows him to one-up his arch rival on this list. Recent activity and a high level of opposition (Jesus Chavez, Carlos Hernandez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao since the start of '04) also allow the best pure warrior in the game to jump ahead of the sport's best pure boxer.

3. Floyd Mayweather Jr. 33-0 (22)
The Skinny: The only undefeated fighter on this list is dropped a notch because of his recent inactivity (has only fought twice in the past year and a half) and poor opposition (by his standards). An impressive performance in his June 25 showdown with Arturo Gatti could bump him back to his runner-up position.

4. Kostya Tszyu 31-1 (25)
The Skinny: Anyone who doubts the undisputed junior welterweight champ's worthiness of being placed this high should pay attention to Tszyu's impressive statistics and the number 13. Tszyu has defeated 13 current or former world title holders since turning pro in '92, has made 13 title defenses over two reigns and is on a 13-fight win streak. His scheduled June 5 defense against tough undefeated youngster Ricky Hatton should extend Tszyu's streak to 14 before he considers jumping to the welterweight division.

5. Marco Antonio Barrera 59-4 (41)
The Skinny: The 30-year-old veteran might have become complacent after easy victories against Johnny Tapia (in '02) and Kevin Kelley (at the start of '03), but the brutal beat-down he caught from Manny Pacquiao in November of '03 might have been the wakeup call he needed. Barrera, who won his first world title almost 10 years ago, revamped his long career with a dominating KO of Paulie Ayala and a fight-of-the-year performance against his rival Erik Morales last year. The three-division champ will stay busy with a WBC 130-pound title defense against unheralded Mzone Fana next month before he has to decide whom to continue his rivalry against, El Terrible or PacMan.

6. Manny Pacquiao 39-3-2 (30)
The Skinny: After putting up a courageous but losing effort against No. 2 on this list in a great fight, PacMan might hear a significant number of fans claim he is overrated. Such thinking is wrong. While Pacquiao's overall game is somewhat limited, he has competed on the world-championship level in four weight classes (flyweight, junior featherweight, featherweight and junior lightweight). In the past 1 ½ years, he has gone 1-1-1 against the three best Mexican featherweights of this era. Pacquiao has dared to be great and that's why he's in the top 10.

7. Winky Wright 48-3 (25)
The Skinny: It took the Winkster 14 years and 50 pro fights to get the shot at Shane Mosley last year that proved that he belonged on this list. With one fight, his standoff with Felix Trinidad on May 14, Wright can prove that he belongs in the elite top-five area of this list.

8. Jose Luis Castillo 52-6-1 (46)
The Skinny: The reigning lightweight king proved that he was the best 135-pounder in the world five years ago when he went 1-0-1 in two close bouts with Stevie Johnston. Two years later, Castillo showed that he belonged among the best fighters in the world, pound for pound, when he gave Floyd Mayweather his toughest fight (and some believe the Pretty Boy's only loss). But a year of over-the-weight bouts against journeymen fighters following his lackluster rematch loss to PBF dropped Castillo out of sight. Then he returned to the scene with an impressive decision over Juan Lazcano last June. In the last year, Castillo (who was ranked No. 12 after the last update) has defeated Lazcano, Joel Casamayor and Julio Diaz in consecutive bouts to get back into P4P territory. A win over Diego Corrales on May 7 will place the relentless Mexican among the top 5 of this list.

Tarver

9. Antonio Tarver 22-3 (18)
The Skinny: As soon as Glen Johnson was announced the winner over Antonio Tarver by split decision in December, a small-but-vocal coalition of Magic Man haters began their e-mail petition to gather support for a "Tarver-Was-Overrated" initiative. Who were they? Broken-hearted Roy Jones fans? Old-school fans who detest big-mouth braggarts? Who knows? But they thought Tarver should not be (and should never have been) listed among the top-10 fighters in the world. They "musta forgot" that Tarver earned his first shot at Jones (viewed as, hands down, the best boxer on the planet at the time) by defeating five ranked contenders. Tarver then gave Jones the toughest fight of his career before coldcocking the four-division champ in two rounds last May. Tarver remains in the top 10 on the strength of his KO of RJ and the hard road he took to get the opportunity to dethrone the former P4P king, but inactivity will see him drop significantly on this list unless a rematch with the Road Warrior can be made by this summer.

10. Juan Manuel Marquez 43-2-1 (33)
The Skinny: The near-flawless featherweight counter puncher is a better technician than his countrymen who occupy the No. 2 and No. 5 spots on this list. You better believe that as great as both Morales and Barrera are, their camps have never been eager to put them in with JMM and probably never will be. However, the WBA/IBF featherweight title holder is in danger of dying on the vine while his counterparts continue to add to their legacies by fighting each other. It was not a good move to pull out of the Pacquiao rematch because of money demands. A win over PacMan would have advanced Marquez into the top half of this list – and his asking price would have also skyrocketed. Instead, he's now scheduled to face perennial spoiler Victor Polo in the co-feature to Castillo-Corrales.

The Next 10

11. Diego Corrales 39-2-0 (32)
The Skinny: His inactivity has bumped Chico from his hard-earned position inside the top 10, but a win over Castillo will erase many months of frustration he's gone through.

12. Glen Johnson 42-9-2 (28)
The Skinny: The Fighter of the Year for 2004 looks to continue his winning ways with a repeat victory over Tarver this year.

13. Felix Trinidad 42-1-0 (35)
The Skinny: Tito's unmerciful beatdown of Ricardo Mayorga put him back inside the top 15 after a two-year retirement; a win over Winky will shoot him all the way back inside the top five.

14. Zab Judah 33-2-0 (24)
The Skinny: The Super Brooklynite took short money to get another chance to take Cory Spinks' belts and he made the most of it; if he can stay focused in his mandatory defense against Cosme Rivera on the Trinidad-Wright undercard, he'll get the chance to prove he belongs in the top 10.

15. Rafael Marquez 33-3-0 (30)
The Skinny: The best bantamweight in the world proved to be the best puncher, pound-for-pound, last year with his chilling KO of Heriberto Ruiz and his stoppage of the iron-chinned Mauricio Pastrana; Rafa as another tough title defense against Ricardo Vargas on May 28.

16. Martin Castillo 28-1-0 (16)
The Skinny: The classy 115-pound titlist is a skilled technician with ring generalship that is on par with Bernard Hopkins or Floyd Mayweather. All the Mexican lacks are the major fights to put him in the top 10. However, victories over power puncher Alex Munoz and veteran boxer Eric Morel are more than enough to get him inside the top 20.

17. James Toney 68-4-2 (43)
The Skinny: Lights Out has a chance to get back into the top 10 with an April 30 title shot against John Ruiz. We hope he can stay healthy until then.

18. Oscar De La Hoya 37-4-0 (29)
The Skinny: How can a guy who was 1-1 last year – many say 0-2 – be among the top 20? Three words: quality of opposition.

19. Shane Mosley 39-4-0 (35)
The Skinny: The Sugar Man was 0-2 against Winky last year, but it's not like he lost to someone who can't fight. He has a crossroads match with David Estrada on April 23 that will show if Mosley was just outsized vs. Winky or if he's getting old.

20. Joel Casamayor 31-3-0 (19)
The Skinny: Here's another guy who went 0-2 last year, but hey, "El Cepillo" gave Nos. 8 and 11 on this list all they could handle.

The Furious Five

21. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam 55-2-0 (30)

22. Jorge Arce 39-3-1 (29)

23. Veerapol Sahaprom 47-1-2 (33)

24. Rosendo Alvarez 34-2-2 (22)

25. Kassim Ouma 21-1-1 (13)
Click to expand...

SamFisher · May 24, 2005

Time for a new list (actually I should wait another week for Tzyu vs. Hatton, but ehhh)

1. Floyd Maywether
2. Bernard Hopkins
3. Eric Morales
4. Winky Wright
5. Diego Corrales
6(tie). Marco Antonio Barrera/Manny Pacquiao
8. Kostya Tzu
9. Juan Manuel Marquez
10. Kassim Ouma (this guy needs to get some big fights, nobody knows who he is but he is impressive)

Honorable mention/waiting list

Jean Marc Mormeck, Glen Johnson, Jeff Lacy, Joe Calzaghe, Jorge Arce, Jose Luis Castillo, Kingsley Ikeke, Zab Judah, Oscar Larios, Jermaine Taylor

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