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Ring Magazine Champions

Accept nothing less! These are boxing's true CHAMPIONS -- anyone not listed here that claims to be a champion of a division is a titleholder.

Heavyweight
Wladimir Klitschko

Cruiserweight (200)
Tomasz Adamek

Light Heavyweight (175)
Vacant

Super Middleweight (168)
Vacant

Middleweight (160)
Kelly Pavlik

Junior Middleweight (154)
Vacant

Welterweight (147)
Vacant

Junior Welterweight (140)
Manny Pacquiao

Lightweight (135)
Juan Manuel Marquez

Junior Lightweight (130)
Vacant

Featherweight (126)
Vacant

Junior Featherweight (122)
Vacant

Bantamweight (118)
Vacant

Junior Bantamweight (115)
Vacant

Flyweight (112)
Vacant

Junior Flyweight (108)
Ivan Calderon

Strawweight (105)
Vacant

Calzaghe and Ward draw up the blueprint for Mikkel Kessler

by SC on Nov 23, 2009 1:07 PM EST in Post-Fight Analysis Comment 10 comments

Mikkel Kessler was blown out on Saturday by Andre Ward. Is the blueprint to beat him now finalized? (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)

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Mikkel Kessler came into Saturday's fight with Andre Ward the favorite in the fight and in the Super Six World Boxing Classic, and in the minds of many, he was still the world's best super middleweight.

I was one of those that regarded the Dane as the best at 168, and felt he'd rightfully held that spot since Joe Calzaghe moved to 175 pounds in 2008. He simply moved up from No. 2; after all, his only loss had come to Calzaghe, and he gave Joe Cool as tough a fight as just about anyone ever did.

Competitive though it was, that fight was a clear Calzaghe win. On Saturday, it was a clear Ward victory.

Kessler (42-2, 32 KO) is one of the world's best basic fighters still. As we discussed before the fight with Ward, there is nothing tricky at all about Mikkel Kessler. He's straight ahead, lives off of a powerful jab, and has a good right hand that can come behind it.

Calzaghe and Ward took major advantage of the simple rhythm of Kessler's style. For Calzaghe, it came when he started clearly outpacing him in the second half of the fight. Early, Kessler was right there with Joe. As the fight wore on, Calzaghe simply took over, using his superior mobility and faster hands to snatch every bit of the momentum. He frustrated Kessler, who never made an adjustment. You could watch Kessler's facial expressions and body language change the more in control Calzaghe became.

The same thing happened again on Saturday, only it happened right away. After the Calzaghe fight, Kessler remarked that Calzaghe "ruins your boxing" with his style.

In a press release, Kessler this time said, "He was very fast and very good. He ruined my style."

"It was not my day. Now I will go home, watch the tape and then bounce back stronger than ever," he added.

Apparently, speed, quick hands, and maybe a little rough-housing ruins Mikkel Kessler. Kessler is apparently so basic that he simply cannot adjust. Maybe that's a training or corner issue as much as it is a boxing issue for Kessler. Whatever it is, a few things are now clear about Mikkel Kessler.

Speed kills. Specifically, it kills him.
He doesn't deal well with being disrupted. Ward used some holding and got his head and elbows involved. It is what it is -- it's a part of the game, legal or not, and if a referee isn't calling it, you have to find a way to neutralize it. That may not seem fair, but what is?
Again: He can't adjust. He's just shown no ability to change and turn the tide of a fight that isn't going his way.
He doesn't like fighting inside. He's not good at it, isn't comfortable in close, and gets beaten up.

It's also possible that Kessler's history of hand, back and elbow injuries are getting to him. I'd buy that more now than I ever have before. It's been something speculated about, but there never seemed to be any real evidence that the injuries were giving him overwhelming trouble on fight night.

And it's not that the injuries would necessarily be giving him great grief so much as just slowing him down, giving him trouble against faster men. As great as Calzaghe was, Joe didn't lay waste to Kessler the way Ward did. Ward made Kessler look incredibly slow, tentative and trigger-shy. He may be slowing down drastically early in his career after the many nagging injuries.

Last Saturday, Mikkel seemed to alternate between two mental states against Ward. One that was vacant, a bit bewildered, and knowingly outclassed on this night. The other, you could almost see his gears turning, trying to figure out a way into the fight, and coming up with no good answers.

Mikkel Kessler remains a very good fighter, but with a lot more questions than he had on Saturday. Has he been exposed? Maybe. The Froch fight will tell us a few things. Froch isn't nearly as mobile or fast as Calzaghe or Ward, nor is he as crafty. Froch is rather slow-handed, but he's powerful and has a ton of heart. Kessler may be able to win a straight-up boxing contest with Froch. He's probably the quicker man, uses his jab very well, and is more technically sound than Froch.

But Froch will adjust if or when he's struggling. What if he begins to take the upper hand? Will we again see Kessler baffled, left entirely without a Plan B for the evening?

It's hard to ever count out a top-ranked fighter, especially one whose only losses are against the greatest fighter in a division's history and an Olympic gold medalist who may simply be breaking out big. And Kessler should not be counted out at all. A win over Froch, and he's got another world title and is right back in the mix for the tournament.

But if there is a blueprint on beating Mikkel Kessler, it's been drawn up by the draftsmen Calzaghe and Ward. Coming back stronger and better will require something more of Kessler, and we can't be certain he's really up for that. Better fighters than Mikkel Kessler have seen it come apart at what seemed a young age.

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Roy Jones Jr. sparring partners can't get into Australia

by SC on Nov 23, 2009 11:42 AM EST in News Comment 3 comments

Roy Jones Jr. is having trouble down under. The boxer's sparring partners have been denied entry into Australia, where Jones fights on December 2. (Photo by Al Bello / Getty Images)

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There's trouble brewing in Australia, and it would not shock me if the Danny Green-Roy Jones Jr. fight on December 2 is close to being called off. Jones' sparring partners were denied entry into the country, and the Daily Telegraph says the situation isn't pretty:

Several of Jones's sparring partners flew into Australia yesterday ahead of next Wednesday's blockbuster at Acer Arena, but were denied entry when Australian immigration officials discovered they had not disclosed their full criminal histories.

Shortly after, Green's manager Justin Manolikos received a frantic call from Jones' camp to "sort it out".

Manolikos had a simple message for the Americans: "It's not my problem."

Instead, he called the Jones camp a "bunch of cowboys". "What do they want us to do?" Manolikos asked.

"Call the Prime Minister and say 'Let these nice guys in'? Surely they should have done it the proper way."

Every time Green has talked about Jones being such a professional in the lead-up to this fight, I don't know, it seemed like he was biting his tongue a bit. This is a massive money fight for him, and a win would do big things for his career. But with this latest incident, Green is speaking out:

"Justin is a boxing promoter, he's not a foreign affairs minister, and his hands are tied up dealing with enough of their bulls**t without having to wipe their backside," Green said.

Jones has hinted that he would have preferred to not have this fight prior to a 2010 rematch with Bernard Hopkins, and if Jones decides to pull out late, just don't be surprised. Roy has been better in recent years about promoting his fights and being a pro, but don't forget that there was a large portion of his career where he was considered a pain to deal with by other fighters, promoters, TV networks, etc., and it was no secret then. This is to be Jones' first fight off of US soil.

Still, if he can't get sparring, why would he risk a potential big money fight with Hopkins on fighting a perfectly dangerous Green when not properly prepared? Yes, Jones and his camp should have taken the proper steps to get these guys into Australia (or arranged for sparring partners that could get in), but they didn't, and now Jones is in a tough spot. It's his team's fault, and it'd be a move worth criticizing, but he's got to be considering canceling.

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Evander Holyfield and Francois Botha schedule fight to cancel

by SC on Nov 23, 2009 11:10 AM EST in News Comment 3 comments

Evander Holyfield is scheduled to face Francois Botha in January. Don't expect the fight will actually happen.

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Francois Botha, who holds the "WBF heavyweight title," will fight Evander Holyfield in Uganda on January 16. (Wink, wink.)

Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KO) turned 47 in October and hasn't fought since his mind-numbingly boring and fairly controversial decision loss to Nikolai Valuev in December 2008. Botha (47-4-3, 28 KO) is a spry 41, and is 3-0-1 since his 2007 comeback. The draw came in his last fight, an eight-rounder against 39-year-old Cuban Pedro Carrion (8-1-1, 6 KO). Botha has called that the worst performance of his career.

Chances are this fight never happens. You can almost set your watch to Evander scheduling a fight in a foreign country and then it never happening, so don't expect this one to actually take place either.

And if it does, that's 88 years of heavyweight in the ring. I suppose if it does happen, and Holyfield were to get the W, he'd start calling himself heavyweight champion of the world and demanding fights with the Klitschkos.

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Francisco Rodriguez dies after fight in Philadelphia

by SC on Nov 23, 2009 10:02 AM EST in News Comment 2 comments

A rough, rough year (to say the least) for deaths in boxing has continued into the autumn and winter of the year. Chicago-based bantamweight Francisco "El Niño Azteca" Rodriguez died after collapsing in a Philadelphia ring last night. He was just 25 years old.

Rodriguez was born on June 15, 1984, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Bernard Fernandez of the Philadelphia Daily News has more on his background:

His father was a boxer in Mexico and in Chicago, and trained all three of his sons. Tito won a national Golden Gloves championship as a 17-year-old and then retired from the ring.

Francisco was the best of the three. He had a 76-6 record as an amateur, won the 2001 national Golden Gloves title and was a five-time Chicago Golden Gloves champion.

I recommend reading Bernard's full article, as it's as in-depth a look as you'll find anywhere. Rodriguez's career ends with a record of 14 wins (8 by knockout) with three losses.

Ring physician Jonathan Levyn checked in on Rodriguez several times to monitor his condition and said that he saw no evidence that the fighter was in particular distress.

"I've replayed it over and over in my mind - the fight itself, the time between rounds," Levyn said. "He was coherent. He answered all my questions - simple questions like, 'Where are you? What's your name?' And his eyes were reactive. It seemed like he was OK.

"A few minutes later, I was being called back into the ring [to attend to Rodriguez]."

[Promoter JJ] Peltz said that Rodriguez, who had been inactive since an eight-round unanimous decision over Torrence Daniels last Dec. 12 in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, Ill., looked to be in peak physical condition. His prefight medicals had raised no warning flags.

Rest in peace, Francisco.

Julia Borcherts of ChicagoBoxing.com penned this profile article before Rodriguez's pro debut back in January 2005. His BoxRec sheet is here.

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Super Six second stage taking form

by SC on Nov 23, 2009 9:50 AM EST in News Comment 7 comments

Stage two of the suddenly even more compelling Super Six World Boxing Classic is starting to take loose form, as dates for the next batch of fights have started to float around.

January 23 is being looked at as the date for Arthur Abraham's fight with Andre Dirrell, for which Abraham will come to the United States. Of all the fighters, Dirrell has the weakest chance at hometown advantage. Being from Michigan gives Dirrell very limited options, and he's got the smallest following of anyone in the tournament. There hasn't been a major fight in the Great Lakes state for a good while now, and I don't see the interest being there out in Flint (Dirrell's hometown) or in Detroit. The closest he might be able to get is Chicago, which is a long drive from Dirrell's side of the state, or maybe Cleveland. Or they could just say, "What the hell? Stick it in New York," which is probably most likely.

But the New York thing would depend on the date. Bob Arum and Top Rank will be running at WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden that night with their HBO double-header (Luevano-Lopez, Gamboa-Mtagwa). If Showtime could move the date up a week to January 16 (their TV graphic this past weekend did have Abraham-Dirrell coming in January, and nothing more), everything could be hunky dory. They also wouldn't face any TV opposition. Going to January 30 is surely out of the question, what with HBO having the Shane Mosley-Andre Berto fight that night. There's splitting audiences, and then there's scheduling two major fights people are interested in on the same night. The latter almost never happens, and there are good reasons for it. Both Mosley-Berto and Abraham-Dirrell are too expensive to lose viewers. Maybe even move it to early February if need be.

It appears likely, too, that the Carl Froch-Mikkel Kessler bout is going to take place on March 6 in Denmark. This fight has such an interesting dynamic, and so many angles. Froch deserved to lose the fight he won over Andre Dirrell, in the opinion of many, but he didn't, so he remains unbeaten and holds the WBC title. Kessler was routed by Andre Ward on Saturday to lose his WBA title, but if Kessler beats Froch, not only is he right back in the tournament, but he's right back in the title mix with the WBC strap. Kessler is still going to be favored by a lot of people in this fight, I expect.

There's nothing rumored yet for Andre Ward-Jermain Taylor, and I'd assume Taylor gets "home field" for that one, which would probably put the bout in Memphis.

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Rodel Mayol's controversial TKO2 victory over Edgar Sosa. Near the beginning of the second round, Mayol knocked down Sosa with a massive semi-intentional headbutt, for which Mayol was docked a point but Sosa was not given a full five minutes to recover. Still wobbly, the action restarted, and Mayol was able to knock down and then overwhelm Sosa for the victory. Don't be surprised if an immediate rematch is mandated.

about 17 hours ago Brickhaus 6 comments 0 recs

Super Six So Far, and What's Ahead

by mason_beer on Nov 22, 2009 8:25 PM EST Comment 19 comments

[FanPosted promoted by Brick. While this does present a good recap, there are some opinions involved, but it seems like this should be a great start to some discussions about what could happen from here on out in the tournament.]

Last night's fight between Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward concluded the first stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic. Here is a quick rundown:

Points:

Arthur Abraham: 3
Carl Froch: 2
Andre Ward: 2
Mikkel Kessler: 0
Andre Dirrell: 0
Jermain Taylor: 0

In addition, we have a title change as Andre Ward won the WBA Super Middleweight title from Mikkel Kessler.

So far, so good. There have been great performances by Ward and Abaraham, and a healthy bit of boxing controversy surrounding the Froch-Dirrell fight and Jermain Taylor. But all three fights have been entertaining, hard fought, and close (even Taylor wasn't doing that bad). But what have we learned? And remember, lets keep this in the context of the tournament rules and standings. Abraham getting those 3 points were key against the weakest fighter in the draw. Kessler's loss also helps him immensely.

1. Arthur Abraham is now the favorite, Andre Dirrell has a very narrow path through. Part of it is the draw - Abraham won't have to fight Kessler or Ward, and instead got Taylor and then gets Dirrell next. Now Dirrell has the kind of athleticism that could give a plodding fighter like Abraham who doesn't transition from offense to defense very well. Dirrell showed how good he can be against Froch. But Dirrell had a hard time dealing with Carl Froch when he got nasty, when he turned the fight into a slugfest. Whether you think Dirrell won or lost, its clear that he wants to keep the fight outside and moving because once Froch made it about clutching and inside fighitng Dirrell had a hard time. Abraham is a destroyer, much moreso than Froch, and Dirrell will have a lot to deal with. I have a bad feeling that Dirrell might be the guy left out of the final four because he, by far, has the hardest draw of the six (Froch, Abraham, Ward). Kessler's lost hurts because he doesn't fight Kessler and won't get a chance to take control of his future and he doesn't fight Taylor to try and get the 2 or 3 points.

2. Andre Ward is the truth, but don't overlook Taylor. Jermain Taylor hung in there with Arthur Abraham, and was arguably winning the fight halfway through. Against Carl Froch last year, he would have won the fight if he hadn't gotten knocked out. This is not to say I am making excuses for Taylor - he gassed against Froch and couldn't handle Abraham's power. But for all the talk about Taylor quitting the tournament, Andre Ward's win is a gift for this veteran warrior from Arkansas. I can't imagine it has ever happened in boxing that a man coming off of two knockout losses did he get to fight for a part of a world championship. But that is the case here. Ward looked fantastic against Kessler, and will be the favorite against Taylor. But Ward doesn't have the power that Froch and Abraham have, and while he's fast Taylor won't have to worry about the raw power like he did before. Ward got away with a lot of reckless tendencies against a Kessler who clearly wasn't ready for Ward or his southpaw stance. Taylor is a crafty veteran who's fought the best, and just as people talked about his career being over, a title shot drops into his lap. Ward now has to deal with the pressure of defending his title under the bright lights of this tournament. But clearly of all the fighters, Ward has now leaped ahead to co-favorite with Abraham. He should get past Taylor, but he better not overlook him.

3. Carl Froch, everything to lose. Mikkel Kessler, everything to gain. Of all the fights going into this tournament, this is the one I've most been looking forward too, even though its not a a title unifier anymore. Both have a lot to prove. Froch won a dirty war against Dirrell, but still has to answer some questions. He's tough, but he was arguably losing to both Taylor and Dirrell and his hold on the title is not tight right now. Kessler is a better fighter than the fighter that fought Ward. But he needs to figure out how to keep the fight on the outside or how to fight on the inside because if he has problems with Ward's inside punches and clutching, Froch is a dog at that. Froch also has more power than Ward. But Kessler has time still . . . he gets Taylor in the last fight of stage one so he ends easier than the other fighters, and this fight will be in Copenhagen. For a title. It will be a chance at immediate redemption for the Viking Warrior. Froch relishes the bad guy role, but if he had problems with Dirrell, an on-his-game Kessler will be a lot to ask for. Froch needs to make this fight dirty, like he did against Dirrell, because I think Kessler is just a better fighter right now than Froch. If Froch loses, its bad for the tournament too because he gets Abraham in round 3.

Predictions come after the jump.

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Bad Left Hook Best of the Decade - Super Middleweight

by Brickhaus on Nov 22, 2009 1:03 PM EST in Best of the Decade Comment 19 comments

Calzaghe's victory over Kessler left no room to question who was actually the best super middleweight at the time. via life.com

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Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over. Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade. I'm not going in any particular order here, but we'll get through all 17 weight classes.

When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade. Also, I'm not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.

Super middleweight, much like light welterweight, was one of the few weight classes that was for the most part cleared out in the 2000's. Early in the decade, Ottke defeated many of the top guys and retired undefeated. Then, mid-decade, Calzaghe and Kessler cleaned out every name worth mentioning before fighting each other to create a true undisputed champion in the weight class. And now, the cycle begins anew, as the Super Six tournament includes the majority of the names really worth mentioning, and likely will create a new champ in the weight class in early 2011. That said, there's really only two names that deserve any votes.

Lucian Bute - Bute has gone 14-0 in the weight class, including 4-0 in title fights. Key wins include victories over Librado Andrade, Sakio Bika, Fulgencio Zuniga, Alejandro Berrio, William Joppy, and a number of Calzaghe rejects. He has a rematch coming up next month against Andrade. If he does make a big name for himself, it's a lot more likely he'll be near the top of this kind of poll for next decade than for this one.

Joe Calzaghe - Calzaghe went 17-0 in the weight classes, all of which were title defenses, including two unification victories over Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler, the latter of which probably created the first true super middleweight champion in the history of the weight class. In the decade, the best wins were over Kessler, Lacy, Sakio Bika, Byron Mitchell, Charles Brewer, Richie Woodhall, Omar Sheika and David Starie. One thing that hurts him is that for about half the decade, he really focused on taking mandatories and the weakest defenses possible, leading to a pretty underwhelming collection of title defenses from 2000 through 2005. In addition, he only left England and Wales twice during the reign, and one of those times was on the Tyson-Nielsen undercard where he was facing an unknown American. On the other hand, his last four defenses were fairly strong (the wins over Bika and Manfredo look better now than they did at the time), and he did manage to make himself the lineal, undisputed, unified super middleweight champion of the world.

Carl Froch - Froch has gone 17-0 in the division, including 3-0 in title fights. His important victories are over Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Jean Pascal and Robin Reid. Like Bute, he's on this list because he's undefeated and has a number of legitimate wins, but he's more likely to make a bigger name for himself in the future than he is to win this poll now.

Mikkel Kessler - Kessler has gone 23-2 in the weight class this decade, including seven title defenses and unification of belts with Markus Beyer. Kessler has beaten seven former and future beltholders - Beyer, Eric Lucas, Anthony Mundine, Manny Siaca, Julio Cesar Green, Dingaan Thobela and Dmitri Sartison, and one more who still could become a beltholder before the decade is over (Librado Andrade). The two losses came to Joe Calzaghe and in last night's destruction by Andre Ward.

Jeff Lacy - Lacy started off the decade making a lot of noise, and sort of left it with a whimper. Lacy went 22-2 in the weight class, including four title defenses. His best wins include Robin Reid, Omar Sheika, Syd Vanderpool, Epifanio Mendoza and Peter Manfredo. His losses came to Joe Calzaghe (a fight in which he was so thoroughly beaten, that he was never the same fighter again afterwards) and Jermain Taylor. It's pretty easy to look back at his resume now and say that he was probably always overhyped, but for a while, people thought he was going to be the next great thing.

Anthony Mundine - Mundine has gone 33-3 in the weight class, including twice winning belts. The former professional rugby player was a novice to boxing when he vowed to win a title within his first 10 fights, and while he didn't win the title, he did manage to get a title shot against Ottke very quickly. He also lost to Mikkel Kessler and Danny Green. His best wins were over Danny Green, Antwun Echols, RIck Thornberry and Sam Soliman (thrice). More recently, Mundine is campaigning at middleweight, having blatantly ducked out of a potential Sakio Bika fight that would have been big in Australia to go after some easier foes.

Sven Ottke - Ottke also went 17-0 in the weight class, all of which were title defenses, including a unification fight with Byron Mitchell. Key wins include Mitchell, Charles Brewer, Silvio Branco, James Crawford, Anthony Mundine, Rick Thornberry, David Staris, Mads Larsen and Robin Reid (albeit in a fight that nobody other than the judges and Ottke's mum thought Ottke won). Other than the one name that's blatantly missing from his resume (Calzaghe), Ottke actually did fight the best out there, which is commendable. On the other hand, he never once left Germany and was on the right end of several gift or questionable decisions, which is not.

Poll