Rankings Update: Minor Movement in Many Classes
by Scott Christ on Dec 6, 2009 11:33 AM EST
in Boxing Rankings
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Big update on the surface, but it's mostly a lot of divisions getting minor adjustments.
Pound-for-Pound: Sergio Martinez is in at No. 15, which means Wladimir Klitschko loses his spot. I've had Wladimir in and out on the whims of other fighters and myself for about three years now. Some argue he should be much higher. I just don't see it that way is all. He's dominant, but no matter how you want to frame it, the guys he's beating just aren't very good. I was far more impressed with Martinez in a tight losing effort to Paul Williams than I have been by Klitschko stomping Ruslan Chagaev, Sultan Ibragimov, Hasim Rahman, etc.
It's not that Klitschko doesn't deserve to be here, it's just that so do a lot of other guys.
Heavyweight: I was going to keep Cristobal Arreola ranked fifth, but then I got hungry and wanted a burrito or a burger and some beer. Amiright, folks?! Haha! So, you know, f**k it, motherf**ker, he's No. 7 now because I think David Haye and Alexander Povetkin would probably kick his ass. F**k! F**k!
Cruiserweight: I see no reason to drop Ola Afolabi from No. 3 after a close loss to No. 2 Marco Huck. Overall there's a real lack of intriguing possible fights with Adamek out of the division. Danny Green enters at No. 7, which some people (like Legend Danny Green) might see as too low, but honestly he's not a cruiserweight. Fighting at just over the light heavyweight limit against non-cruisers doesn't make me think he can surely handle a genuine cruiserweight. Could he put on another 10-15 pounds, fight at 190-195, and be the same? I don't know. I ranked him because he should be ranked somewhere, and I feel more comfortable with this than 175 for the time being. If these last two fights had been at 175, I'd have him at 6 or 7 in that division.
Light Heavyweight: Bernard Hopkins stays in the top spot, but Roy Jones Jr. (7) is out. He's so out. Hugo Garay comes in at No. 10 in his place.
Middleweight: No change, just a refresh. Paul Williams stays here as 3 of his last 4 fights have been at the 160-pound limit.
Junior MIddleweight: No change, just a refresh. Sergio Martinez strengthens his hold on the No. 1 spot. It is criminal that BoxRec has Martinez ranked behind Ryan Rhodes. Martinez would eat Rhodes for lunch.
Welterweight: No change, just a refresh. Carlos Quintana (8) got back into action with a win over Jesse Feliciano.
Junior Welterweight: No change, just a refresh. I gave consideration to knocking Amir Khan (7) up a spot, maybe even two. Nate Campbell and Kendall Holt are currently ranked just ahead of him. I think if Khan-Campbell happened, I pick Khan, but with the constant threat of a Campbell knockout. A younger Campbell I would have stopping Khan just about every time. Khan-Holt could be a lot of fun, a couple of chinny guys with speed who can both punch. Right now, I just can't give enough credit to a win over Dmitriy Salita, who was nowhere near the top ten and didn't belong in the ring with Khan.
Junior Lightweight: Vitali Tajbert replaces Humberto Gutierrez, whom he beat recently, at No. 9, and Mario Santiago enters at No. 10. Kevin Mitchell leaves the rankings as he's moved up to lightweight, but doesn't yet crack the top 10 at 135. Soon, Humberto Soto will be out of the top spot.
Featherweight: Santiago moves up to 130, and Rogers Mtagwa enters the featherweight rankings at No. 10. Mtagwa is really a featherweight anyway, which means he was fighting perhaps the slightest bit drained when he almost shocked Juanma Lopez in October.
Junior Featherweight: With Mtagwa moving up, Rendall Munroe enters at No. 10. Munroe recently won a pretty entertaining fight with Simone Maludrottu. Munroe has skills, but he's partly ranked because the division has gotten shallow. It's about to get worse as Lopez and apparently Celestino Caballero will both be going to 126.
Bantamweight: Just a refresh. Anselmo Moreno (3) won again this weekend.
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So no Tony Thompson love? I think his resume is as strong as Arreola’s, and I think I’d narrowly favor him if they fought today:
Thompson’s best wins: T. Ibrigamov, L. Krasniqi, V. Bean, C. Witherspoon, D. Guinn
Arreola’s best wins: C. Witherspoon, T. Walker, J. McCline, M. Tann, B. Minto.
And I think Thompson’s Klitschko outing clearly went better than Arreola’s.
I've got love for Tony Thompson
The thing is, I don’t see those wins for Thompson as being much better (if any) than those wins for Arreola. I think Thompson is good; I also think he fared better (marginally so) against Wladimir than Arreola did against Vitali because Thompson fought smarter and Wladimir is always willing to let a guy just stand there. Wladimir still dominated that fight; Thompson won no more than two rounds before getting stopped late. Yes, he was slightly better, but it’s like choosing between losing 35-13 or 42-10 in football.
I’ve got love for Kevin Johnson, too, and for Denis Boytsov and even Sam Peter. They’re all just outside the top ten, and could be switched in for someone else. It’s actually a bit better a division than it usually gets credit for, the perception that it isn’t coming from the fact that nobody’s good enough to touch the Klitschkos so far.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
Those Boxrec Jnr Middleweight rankings are insane.
Yuri Foreman is at number 2. I’ll leave it to you to decide if that’s too high or too low, but there is no way that he is number 2.
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