Rankings Update: Shake-Ups at 108 and 168
by Scott Christ on Nov 22, 2009 11:42 AM EST
in Boxing Rankings
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Another week, another update.
Divisions Affected: P4P, Cruiserweight, Light Heavyweight, Super Middleweight, Junior Bantamweight, Junior Flyweight
Pound-for-Pound: Mikkel Kessler (14) and Edgar Sosa (20) are both out. In their place at Nos. 19 and 20 are Tomasz Adamek and Wladimir Klitschko. Both had been banging on the door, and now they're in.
Cruiserweight: With his title win over Giacobbe Fragomeni, longtime light heavyweight titlist and lineal champ Zsolt Erdei moves from 175 to cruiserweight, into the same No. 4 spot he held there. Fragomeni, previously at four, falls to No. 7. The victim of the movement is Matt Godfrey, who slides from No. 10 to the unlisted No. 11.
Light Heavyweight: Erdei is out, obviously. Everyone from five through ten last time moves up one, and his title replacement, Juergen Braehmer, comes in at No. 10. There are several others who were considered: Beibut Shumenov, Nathan Cleverly, Hugo Garay, Yusaf Mack.
Super Middleweight: New top dog is Lucian Bute, who goes from No. 2 to No. 1 with Kessler's loss. Arthur Abraham moves up from three to the second position, but the big mover is Andre Ward who rises all the way from No. 7 up to No. 3. Mikkel Kessler tumbles from No. 1 down to No. 5, behind Carl Froch and just ahead of Sakio Bika.
Junior Bantamweight: Marvin Sonsona drew and is moving up to 122 pounds, so he's gone. Z Gorres, sadly, is out of the rankings. It's highly unlikely he's ever going to fight again. They were Nos. 6 and 7. Moving in at nine and ten are Tomas Rojas and Raul Martinez. Rojas' win over Evans Mbamba was no joke, and No. 2 Vic Darchinyan may be in for much more of a fight on December 12 that he might plan.
Junior Flyweight: Brian Viloria and Ulises Solis move up a spot to two and three, respectively. Giovanni Segura moves up one to the fourth spot. Rodel Mayol jumps from seven to five, which may seem slight given the upset over No. 2 Edgar Sosa, but there is some controversy to consider there, as Mayol had been docked a point before scoring the TKO, and the headbutt that led to that point being taken may have played a part. There's also just the fact that this is a VERY strong division. Sosa drops to No. 7, but likely will be moving up to 112 pounds in his next fight.
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Klitschko
Glad to see that Wladimir has made your top-20 P4P (although I think he could be rated higher, around 9-13 range). Truly a dominant fighter in his weight class, while continuing to show that he’s more than just the best of a bad era.
"Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view." - William F. Buckley, Jr.
Believe me, I wouldn’t argue with having Wladimir a LOT higher. I’m simply of the opinion — perhaps quite wrong — that while he is in fact a dominant force, the guys he’s fighting just are not that good. I’m not sold that he’s shown that he is more than the best of a poor era. But folks who think otherwise certainly have their case, and Wladimir has become a master of what he does. Few guys take what they do well and hide their weaknesses more effectively than Wladimir has in recent years.
Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes
by Scott Christ on Nov 22, 2009 11:53 PM EST up reply actions
Not to carp, but Hozumi Hasegawa at seven P4P seems inexplicable to me. Yes, he has looked good against mostly limited opposition (all in Japan), but he hasn’t fought a single fighter in your own top 10 in his division—yet he is number seven overall P4P? I don’t get it. Also, I’m curious about your attitude toward retirements (i.e. Hatton being still in the list at 140).
Understand that I generally agree with your lists and while I have some smallish disagreements, the Hozumi Hasegawa thing genuinely puzzles me. And I’m not a hater. I have him just edging in to the bottom of my top 20 P4P. But seven?
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
Four of the guys he fought were top 10 at the time he beat them
But they dropped out due to their losses to him. I agree though, he seems a bit high.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Hatton has never stated he’s retired, and most indications now are that he’ll fight again next year. Usually I’d take someone out after a year of inactivity, with some exclusions. For instance, Bernard Hopkins hasn’t fought in over a year, but he’s scheduled to fight on December 2, so why bother taking him out for a few weeks just to put him right back in?
I’m a Hozumi fanboy, probably. I think he’s a fantastic fighter and he’s knocked guys out of the top 10 at 118, as Brick said. That’s really the best I can explain my stance — I think he’s outstanding. I can 100% understand thinking I have him too high. In fact, I felt the same when people had Cristian Mijares in the same range.
Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes
by Scott Christ on Nov 22, 2009 11:50 PM EST up reply actions
Froch Kessler
I still put Kessler on top of Froch. Although they do fight each other in the next round, so its kind of a moot point, I still don’t want to give Froc too much credit for his “win” over Andre Dirrell.
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