Cotto No. 1 at Junior Middle, Moreno Moves Up at 118: Bad Left Hook Boxing Rankings for Dec. 5

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 3:46 PM EST in Boxing Rankings

Miguel Cotto is Bad Left Hook's No. 1-ranked junior middleweight. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Plenty of movement after a super busy and eventful weekend in boxing, so let's get to it.

Heavyweight

Dereck Chisora is in at No. 10, with former No. 7 Robert Helenius dropping out. I know, I know. Helenius "won." But I felt this was no less a robbery than Paul Williams "beating" Erislandy Lara, and the decision was made then to give Williams zero credit just for getting a bogus +1 in his W column. Helenius gets the same. If you didn't think that fight was a robbery, that's cool -- for one thing, it's just web site rankings, and for another thing, I guess I don't much mind people who are OK with watching rubbish and shrugging their shoulders. Chisora clearly won. It's not even kind of a question.

[ Related: Chisora Robbed in Finland ]

Alexander Povetkin makes no move from No. 5. It's not that he looked bad on Saturday or anything, but end of the day, it was still just Cedric Boswell, and while he may indeed be better than Chris Arreola, and may indeed win that fight, I'm still not sold on the amateur star whose pro career has basically been in one gear forever.

[ Related: Povetkin Knocks Out Boswell ]

Cruiserweight

Two guys dropped out this week: Danny Green fell out due to losing, and I'd had Troy Ross in past his one-year inactivity expiration date. The latter is just my mistake, but when you get Lateef Kayode in at No. 10, big deal. Oh well.

Replacing Green is Alexander Alexeev at No. 9.

WBC titlist Krzysztof Wlodarczyk moves up two spots from No. 6 to take Ross' old place at No. 4, too. He looked better beating Green on Wednesday in Australia than he's looked in a long time, largely dominating the fight, outboxing Green, and knocking him out.

[ Related: Wlodarczyk Stops Green in Australia ]

Middleweight

This is quickly turning into a tough division to rank. There's Sergio Martinez and then everyone else all bunched together. I'd like to drop Felix Sturm a little for being so vulnerable, but where? Behind Dmitry Pirog? Maybe Pirog beats him, but maybe not. The division is The Sergio Show.

[ Related: Sturm Draws With Martin Murray ]

Junior Middleweight

I've done some shuffling here, and this is the new top five:

Miguel Cotto
Canelo Alvarez
Austin Trout
Carlos Molina
Erislandy Lara

Antonio Margarito is out, and so is Pawel Wolak. Delvin Rodriguez and Cornelius Bundrage are in at Nos. 8 and 9, with Vanes Martirosyan slipping to No. 10. This remains, as it has been for a good while now, a division where nobody is too far ahead of anyone else.

[ Related: Cotto Stops Margarito / Rodriguez Beats Wolak ]

Welterweight

Mike Jones moves from No. 9 to No. 7 after his easy win against Sebastian Lujan on Saturday. It's not that Mike Jones is incredibly impressive or anything, but this division is just starting to barely become truly strong again. The incoming influx of talent from 140 should make the division legit exciting in 2012.

[ Related: Jones Cruises Past Lujan ]

Bantamweight

Abner Mares solidifies his position at No. 2, which is really No. 1 as Nonito Donaire will be going to 122 in early 2012. Anselmo Moreno and Joseph Agbeko switch places, with Moreno up to No. 3. Vic Darchinyan stays at No. 5 after Saturday, despite a wide loss to Moreno.

[ Related: Mares, Moreno Win in Anaheim ]

Extra Note: I'm leaving Brandon Rios at No. 2 in the lightweight division, but he'll be moving up with his next fight. With Marquez saying it's Pacquiao or retirement, and Rios on his way out, the functional No. 1 lightweight in the world is either Miguel Vazquez or Antonio DeMarco.

Ranked Fighters in Action This Week

Junior Welterweight: No. 2 Amir Khan (26-1, 18 KO) vs No. 5 Lamont Peterson (29-1-1, 15 KO)

Super Featherweight: No. 8 Juan Carlos Salgado (24-1-1, 16 KO) vs Miguel Beltran Jr (26-1, 17 KO)

Bantamweight: No. 7 Koki Kameda (26-1, 16 KO) vs Mario Macias (23-7, 11 KO)

Flyweight: No. 4 Giovani Segura (28-1-1, 24 KO) vs No. 6 Brian Viloria (29-3, 16 KO)

Flyweight: No. 7 Rocky Fuentes (29-6-2, 17 KO) vs Lookdiaw Tor Buamas (7-2, 4 KO)

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Comments

If Khan handles Peterson will he leap frog Bradley?

by glatin1982 on Dec 5, 2011 4:02 PM EST reply actions

Depends, since Bradley also has beaten Peterson, and convincingly. I plan to weigh it next Monday based on what happens Saturday.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 4:48 PM EST up reply actions

No PWill?

by gunranger on Dec 5, 2011 4:11 PM EST reply actions

P Will

by gunranger on Dec 5, 2011 4:11 PM EST up reply actions

Paul Williams hasn’t looked good in two years and he was IMO not even close with Lara. If Paul gets a good win in January, he’ll be back.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 4:49 PM EST up reply actions

Chisora above Helenius

Great decision. Fighters get rewarded enough with bogus wins without independent rankings rewarding them too. Boxing is pretty subjective and The Ring should follow your lead and also rank people on the basis of their own opinion of the fight.

by TheD0n on Dec 5, 2011 4:33 PM EST reply actions

They did so with Lara vs Williams.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

No P. Will at 154?

How does Cotto get to be #1 and he hasn’t beaten anyone, I would have Lara at #1 over him, he “beat” Williams who would kill Cotto, Also no Kirkland in the the top 5? Come on man what have you been hanging out with Top Rank. Williams is a top 5 @154 even after that lost, and he would be in my top 5 at 147 but no one wants to fight him at 147. Cotto has beaten not one top name at 154. I need to see Cotto in vs Kirkland, Williams . Alvarez same thing, would love to see him vs some real comp but I do understand that he is a young kid and a cash cow so they want to bring him along slow.

by DL3 on Dec 5, 2011 4:36 PM EST reply actions

P Will lost by devasting knockout two fights ago and got his ass kicked in his last fight. What basis do you gave for this criticism? Top 5, seriously?

by Sammlung on Dec 5, 2011 4:45 PM EST up reply actions

KO at MW

Not JMW. And he still won the last fight. If Pac gets his ranking still, P Will should get his.

by gunranger on Dec 5, 2011 4:56 PM EST up reply actions

And he still won the last fight

yeah technicallyBUT everyone has chosen to exercise common sense and say he did NOT win that fight.

KO at MW

To be blunt, so what? It happened in his second to last fight. Do we only count fights at 154? If so he hasn’t done shit there in a longgg time.

by Sammlung on Dec 5, 2011 4:59 PM EST up reply actions

Three judges were suspended after Williams vs Lara.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 5:12 PM EST up reply actions

Cotto has beaten not one top name at 154.

Neither has Paul Williams.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

+1

"After this, I'm gonna kick Bob Arum's ass."
-George Lopez

by Eddie Gonzalez on Dec 5, 2011 8:45 PM EST up reply actions

Nobody else has beaten anyone either, really

Here are the relevant recent 154 pound scalps of the top 5 or so guys in my book (the fighters’ scalps are listed in order of my view of impressiveness of wins, and I’m going by who I thought won, not the actual records):

- A. Margarito, Y. Foreman, R. Mayorga
- D. Lopez, R. Alvarez, N. Tapia
- R. Rhodes, K. Cintron, L. N’Dou, M. Hatton, C. Baldomir, A. Gomez
- E. Lara, K. Cintron, E. Paredes, D. Perez
- P. Williams, G. Brewer, D. Perez (but an effective loss to the fourth guy listed)
- A. Angulo and…uhhhh….nobody else really
- C. Spinks and S. Powell

And while Dzinziruk hasn’t fought in over a year now and thus isn’t eligible, he also hasn’t fought anyone decent at 154 in almost three.

I mean, none of those are that spectacular. I guess Canelo and Molina each have solid arguments for being #1 over Cotto, but at the end of the day, right now I’d pick Cotto to beat either of those guys. And while I’d pick Trout to beat anyone in the weight class other than Lara and possibly Kirkland (styles make fights), he hasn’t beaten anyone significant enough to be ahead of those guys really. Hopefully all these guys start actually fighting each other soon, but as long as there’s the spectre that the best guys might get a huge money fight, it probably won’t happen because most guys are in protection mode.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Dec 5, 2011 7:05 PM EST up reply actions

Where would you rank Bryan Vera and Mora? Thanks!

"According to all the laws of aerodynamics the bumble-bee should not fly, but the bumble-bee does not know this and so flies anyway."

by cylee1180 on Dec 5, 2011 4:52 PM EST reply actions

Fairly well outside of the top ten at 160. Vera’s a great guy, but a pure gatekeeper with one good win. Mora’s done nothing since he beat Vernon Forrest.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 4:54 PM EST up reply actions

Mora DID draw with Mosley

How much that matters is up for debate. But it’s something.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Dec 5, 2011 7:05 PM EST up reply actions

Mora missed weight though!!!!! I’m outraged!!!!!!

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 7:06 PM EST up reply actions

I like you common sense approach, much better that The Ring. But I don’t really agree with the rankings of Helenius and Povetkin. Helenius’ record is better than at least half the top 10, he should stay at Dimitrenko’s expense (why is this guy ranked anyway?). And there’s no doubt that Povetkin overall is the 3rd most accomplished heavy. Granted, his comp as of late has mostly stunk, but you could say the same for most guys on that list. Just Chagaev is better than any of the other guys’ best win, minus the Klitschkos. Even Boswell might be better than anyone Arreola has ever beat.

by HamzaWanderaWRSCO on Dec 5, 2011 6:35 PM EST reply actions

Povetkin could be as high as No. 3 easily, and Helenius could definitely still be top ten. I’m not personally high on Povetkin and his struggles with a past-it Chagaev didn’t impress me a ton; and while I like Helenius very much, I feel as though he clearly lost to Chisora, and he didn’t dominate Liakhovich and Peter, either. Peter is more troublesome since he stinks now, at least Liakhovich was really good that night.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 6:42 PM EST up reply actions

Heavyweight Tourney

Arreola, Adamek, Huck, Chisora, Fury, Povetkin or Haye.

I would actually be excited to see this tournament which is more than i can say for most HW matchups.

"The bell that tolls for all in boxing belongs to a cash register."
-Bob Verdi

by Waldo Rastel on Dec 5, 2011 6:48 PM EST up reply actions

Heavyweight is another one of those divisions, like middleweight, where “the bunch” behind the leader(s) are really close to each other and almost any combination would make for a close, competiive fight. Yet nobody is fighting one another in hopes of landing the big money fight with the top dog.

by Radu on Dec 5, 2011 7:06 PM EST up reply actions

Would never happen unfortunately

I just want to see some top 20ish HWs finally start taking some risks. At least Chisora has done so. Arreola and Povetkin did once upon a time, but stopped a while ago. It’s a prisoner’s dilemma. If nobody fights anybody, then Klit’s next fights are a crapshoot. Nobody wants to risk that based on a loss. And the smaller German-based guys (Povetkin, Boytsov, Pulev) all have management where it seems they’re clearly trying to wait out the reign of the Klitschkos before making a real move.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Dec 5, 2011 7:10 PM EST up reply actions

Is Boytsov even fighting anymore?

by Radu on Dec 5, 2011 7:22 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, he fought in September.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Dec 5, 2011 7:36 PM EST up reply actions

I ‘m guessing you’re penalizing Pov for ducking Wlad shamelessly. That’s fine, I’m not even a fan, no need to stick up for him. I do think his resume is head and shoulders above the other contenders’.

Speaking of duckers… any consideration for the guy that fought Sturm, Martin Murray? A similar effort put Macklin into most experts’ top 5 at MW and landed him a Martinez shot on HBO. Sturm is a veritable contender factory.

by HamzaWanderaWRSCO on Dec 5, 2011 9:32 PM EST up reply actions

Man, 112 has seen some solid fights in the last year or two. Wonjongkam/Sosa and Kameda, Marquez/Concepcion 1, and now Viloria fights maybe the biggest puncher the little guys have seen since Carbajal in Segura. That should be a wild brawl. No idea how or when I’ll see it, but I sure want to.

by VirtualBalboa on Dec 5, 2011 8:03 PM EST reply actions

Also, I would like to note that in the course of a few months, 135 has apparently turned to suck. Again, promotional loggerheads prevent us from seeing Robert Guerrero beat the wheels off Vazquez, which means more Vazquez headlining really bad Top Rank Live shows.

by VirtualBalboa on Dec 5, 2011 9:13 PM EST up reply actions