Another four months (or close to it), and another P4P top 20 update here at Bad Left Hook.
The voters this time around:
Scott Christ, Bad Left Hook
Matt Miller, Bad Left Hook
Kevin Gonzalez, Bad Left Hook
Tim Starks, Ring Report
jrok, Bad Left Hook user
Thanks to everyone for their time and ballots, and let's not waste any further time. The spring update of the BLH P4P Top 20 is here!
Key: Ranking. Fighter Record, Weight Class First Place Votes (If Any), Total Points, Ranking in Last Top 20
1. Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
39-0, 25 KO, Welterweight
4, 99, 1
SC: I had the idea that if Calzaghe really dominated Bernard Hopkins, I was going to consider bumping him past Mayweather. And I now truly think that Floyd's status as the top pound-for-pound dog in the sport is highly questionable. But I'm going to delay what I think is probably the inevitable with the hope that Floyd is avoiding Cotto for now to get the most possible money out of fighting him in the summer or fall of 2009. Floyd keeps his spot with me -- but it's razor thin. As wide as I felt Calzaghe beat Hopkins, it wasn't quite enough. His resume still falls a hair or two short of Floyd's.
MM: Floyd languishes, inactive, at number one. He is no longer, in my view, the indisputable P4P champ, but he has not been inactive long enough to merit demotion ... yet. Giving Floyd the boot based on what we anticipate he will do--fight meaningless money fights from here on out--is bogus. When he actually does that, we can talk. My P4P list reflects current status only, and Floyd hasn't done enough (or failed to do enough) to lose his perch.
TS: How long do you get to be considered the best fighter on the planet if you don't fight? Talent-wise, Mayweather's a class above the rest. His excellent 2007 and career-long resume has given him some fuel to stay on top, but he's wasting 2008 with a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya and that's it; then in 2009, his only plans are for a rematch with Ricky Hatton. In other words, he's running on fumes as the pound-for-pound best. All it's going to take is one more quality win for my #2, #3 or even my #4 or #5, possibly, to depose Mayweather from his cherished perch.
JK: With all due respect to Ring Magazine, Ricky Hatton, and the vast majority of boxing journalists and pundits worldwide - I don't think Floyd is doing enough to prove he is still the Pound-for-Pound leader. Neither of Floyd's 2007 fights ranked in my top twenty fights of the year. Oscar is still a great fighter, but his best years and weight classes are clearly behind him, and Floyd didn't convincingly beat him. And of all the events he could've come up with, a 147-lb Hatton was both the least dangerous and the most lucrative. It was Floyd's "Apollo Creed" moment, and I don't think he should be rewarded or praised for it.
2. Manny Pacquiao
46-3-2, 35 KO, Super Featherweight
1, 92, 2
SC: I think Marquez beat Pacquiao in an exceedingly competitive fight, but it's one of those times where I'd never argue against Pacquiao more than, "Well, I thought he lost a close one." The official decision matters here, so I put Pacquiao slightly ahead of Marquez. It's also pretty easy to guess that Pacquiao has more time left, more big fights left, and more big wins left than Marquez does.
MM: Pacquiao's win over Juan Manuel Marquez was a disputed split decision and a close one to be sure. But I thought it was the right call, and few fans consider it a robbery. It was just a close fight. And while it's a shame, in a way, that the Marquez brothers keep losing these ultra-tight decisions, there was nothing in Pac's performance to suggest he is losing anything. My top three remain the same.
TS: Pacquiao drops to #3, but only by the slimmest of margins -- much as he defeated Juan Manuel Marquez by the slimmest of margins on the scorecards. I thought he lost, barely. What do you count in a situation like that, when it's for something like a pound-for-pound list? I'll go with what I saw. That said, I think he has the best chance to take my #1 spot. Why? Well, beating David Diaz doesn't get him much, if he does that, as expected, this summer. Maybe, just maybe, it moves him above Calzaghe. From there, the lightweight field is a target-rich environment. If he takes a rematch with Marquez and wins, he's in easy. If he beats Nate Campbell -- who's near the bottom of this list -- he goes to #1, but is vulnerable. If he beats the winner of Juan Diaz/Joel Casamayor -- the winner would almost certainly crack my top 20 -- then it's the same deal.
JK: He boasts no "O" to guard or covet. He has been hurt in fights, even knocked out. At times, his ring management has seemed flawed. As a raw physical specimen, he is fairly average - certainly not possessing the sort of height or wingspan you'd expect from a boxer who's found success across four divisions. But he did. And for weight classes that are largely ignored by casual fans, his events have boasted historic PPV numbers, and have made him an international celebrity and a local god. More importantly, Manny is still scouring the field for new mountains to climb. He is a fighter, pure and simple. And right now, he isn't just talking about being the best - he's climbing into dangerous rings to prove it.
2. Joe Calzaghe
45-0, 32 KO, Light Heavyweight
92, 3-t
SC: Firmly established, in my mind, his place as No. 2. Like Floyd, he's unbeaten. Like Floyd, he's a guy that some people will just never quite take to, because he's not a power puncher, not a particularly exciting fighter in the blood-and-guts manner, and will always have questions about this guy or that that he didn't fight. But Joe Cool is the real deal, something else he and Floyd have in common. He's the greatest super middleweight ever (a 168-pound Roy Jones would have beaten him, but Roy didn't spend much time in the division). Also -- again like Floyd -- he's a hell of a dresser.
MM: I believe I was one of, if not the only one to put Joe at number two last time around, but I bet others will be joining me now. His legitimate and hard-earned win over Hopkins suggests that Joe can hang at Light HW, though Pavlik, I believe, would give him trouble. I hope we find out before Joe really retires. There are few fights I would like to see more than Calzaghe vs. Pavlik.
TS: With his defeat of Bernard Hopkins, Calzaghe ascends to the #2 spot. It's a tough call, though. I did think he beat Hopkins, and so did the judges -- and for that reason, he has the tiniest separation with #3. Beating Roy Jones, Jr. in November might be enough to put him at #1, but beating Kelly Pavlik instead -- or shortly thereafter -- definitely would.
JK: For every question about Joe Calzaghe - about his career, about his power, about his legacy - Calzaghe comes up with approximately eighty answers per round. For me, watching a Joe Calzaghe fight is often like watching a documentary about a strange and mysterious sea creature. Marrying the dyspeptic rhythm of a natural southpaw to an almost cartoonish whirlwind of low-temperature punches, Joe can be unsightly at times, and even downright ugly. But, so what? In his last two fights, Joe Calzaghe has proven the old axom that the best defense is a good offense, and therefore he brings both by the bucketful.
4. Miguel Cotto
32-0, 26 KO, Welterweight
84, 6
SC: Here's what's really scary about Miguel Cotto: I don't think he's as good as he's going to be. I thought he'd beat the crap out of Alfonso Gomez and end that one quick, but that was absurd. Anyone out there want to re-evaluate Gomez v. Urkal now? OK, that's not entirely fair. But like I said, Urkal is a veteran that knows how to hang around and not get creamed. Gomez isn't that type of fighter. He tried to fight Miguel Cotto. Big, big mistake. Cotto bounced around the ring, looked very light on his feet, threw powerful shots, and just dominated -- as he should have. Since Floyd doesn't want anything to do with him right now, he'll fight Tony Margarito. Miguel Cotto is everything you might possibly want out of your pro fighter. He's a modern and throwback fighter at the same time, a champion that fights top guys, comes to mix it up, and is tougher than a two-dollar steak. What is there to dislike here? Is there any boxing fan that doesn't like Cotto?
MM: Cotto's win over Gomez was predictable, but it was a thorough schooling. With both Hopkins and Marquez losing, Cotto continues his steady climb up my P4P lists, ascending two spots from number six last cycle. There is no fight that we all want to see more than Cotto/Mayweather. Will Floyd man-up, or is he now too much of an "entertainer" to fight someone as tough as Miguel?
TS: Strange as the reasoning may seem, Cotto's blowout of Alfonso Gomez helped Cotto move up another slot on this list. Why? Well, because Cotto showed even more wrinkles in his game, looking like he'd improved even more. In addition, Gomez was a dramatic underdog, but ESPN.com had him as a top-10 welterweight, and Cotto demonstrated anew the gulf between himself and Mayweather versus the rest of boxing's best division. If he beats Antonio Margarito this summer, I will give him a long look for #1, pound-for-pound.
JK: For me, Cotto is the 600-ton elephant in the room. He is young and hungry, agile and powerful. A stalker by design, he possesses two or three utterly game-changing punches, which is two or three more than even many excellent fighters have. But, like few other guys on my list, it is Cotto's elasticity that proves to me he is one of the top five P4P boxers in the world. When Cotto surprisingly "hopped on his ten speed" against Shane, he poured textbook jabs and checks on him in what could only be considered a masterpiece of counter-offensive technique. It reminded me of the classic Wild Bill Hickcock quote, when responding to a rival who claimed he could "kill a crow on the wing." "Did the crow have a pistol?" Bill asked. "Was he shootin' back? Because I will be."
5. Juan Manuel Marquez
48-4-1, 35 KO, Super Featherweight
80, 5
SC: Like his brother's rivalry with Israel Vazquez, Juan Manuel's with Manny Pacquiao is the type where neither man is truly better than the other. I think Vazquez will generally beat Rafael Marquez at 122 pounds because of the power making the difference at the end of the day, but if Marquez had never fought Vazquez and stayed at 118 pounds, I'd probably be ranking Rafael higher than Vazquez. Since none of that has very much to do with Juan Manuel Marquez, let's just say this: Juan Manuel is one of the best fighters in the game, and deserves to be placed alongside Morales and Barrera when the curtain closes on his career. Prime v. prime, he goes a hard 12 with either of them at any of the weight classes they've fought.
MM: No shame in his razor-thin loss to Pacquiao and so little downward movement for Juan Manuel Marquez, dropping one spot on my list.
TS: Since Pacquiao edged him ever so slightly on the scorecards, I decided to bump Marquez down one position in my last list. But in the toss-up between himself and Hopkins for this spot, I favored my eyes: In each man's respective last fights, I thought Marquez beat Pacquiao, and I didn't think Hopkins beat Calzaghe. He can get to #1 if he gets his rematch with Pacquiao and wins. Maybe.
JK: Juan's loss to Pacquiao don't sink his ship at all for me. I actually had him losing both fights with Pac, but just by a hair, and his comeback in the first battle was superhuman. I'd rate him even higher on this list it weren't for the other uber-talents crowding the room.
6. Israel Vazquez
43-4, 31 KO, Super Bantamweight
77, 7
SC: Vazquez is Mighty Mouse. I don't think I need to go too much further into my man-crush on Vazquez anymore. His promoters giving him a bonus and a dedication ceremony for his series with Rafael Marquez was a class move. I'm thrilled that the trilogy has been given such loving loyalty by Showtime, because the two of them earned it in blood.
MM: Vazquez is a big mover and shaker this cycle, moving up three spots to crack my top five. It's great for the sport of boxing that three of our five best warriors--Vasquez, Cotto, and Pac--are also three of our most entertaining. And although entertainment value doesn't affect my p4p list, Vazquez is at the head of that list.
TS: I wager Vazquez has a solid chance to surpass Hopkins soon, because Vazquez is more likely than Hopkins to take on a meaningful challenger. Even though I picked him for #7, it's still weird to see him there. He's not a traditional pound-for-pound fighter, at least the way I conceive of them. But he's done a lot with what his body and guts have given him.
JK: After his last outing against the marvelously competitive Rafael Marquez, I got the feeling we may have to come up with whole new lists or designations to rival the whole "Pound-for-Pound" title. How about "Dollar-for-Dollar," or "Round-for-Round?" Or even "Second-for-Second, the Best Boxer in the World?" And if we did, I'd give all three to the same guy. I don't think there's a more soulful expression of what boxing is all about than the type of performances we have seen out of this man lately. The level of boxing he showed us was consistently world class, and offered a hundred reasons why nobody in his weight class or anywhere nearby would want anything to do with Israel Vazquez.
7. Rafael Marquez
37-5, 33 KO, Super Bantamweight
68, 8
SC: Where does Rafael go from here? Say a fourth fight with Vazquez doesn't happen, although I do think it's going to. He could fight Caballero, whose height might trouble him. He could fight Ponce de Leon, who is a good finisher and a strong puncher but would get creamed by Marquez, I think. He could fight Steve Molitor, a tough, competitive guy, and I think that'd be a hell of a fight. He could step back down to 118, maybe, and re-claim his throne there. There are plenty of possibilities, but two things are certain. 1) He deserves the rest, and 2) He's a great, great fighter.
MM: Rafael Marquez's loss to Vasquez was far more impressive than Hopkins' loss to Calzaghe. In many ways, Rafael Marquez is the polar opposite fighter of Hopkins, too, now that I think of it. Another reason I put him over Hopkins: Marquez has a lot more left in the tank. None will forget his gift to us in his classic trilogy with Vasquez. It's almost enough to ignore his camp's incessant whining about supposed bad calls. "Incessant whining"? Hmmm ... maybe he does have something in common with Hopkins after all.
TS: It's hard to get a sense of Marquez' prospects for moving up, because he and dance partner Vazquez are still licking their wounds, rightly, from what I consider the third best fight since 1990. But I almost feel bad for having him at #9. I had him at about #5 pre-trilogy, and he only lost the third fight by one point on my card.
JK: Despite coming off so obnoxious after his last fight, there's no absolutely flies on this guy. Probably the fiercest competitor on this list, and that's saying something.
8. Bernard Hopkins
48-5-1, 32 KO, Light Heavyweight
64, 3-t
SC: Hopkins takes a significant tumble for me (from No. 3 to No. 10) just because the sport really is quite healthy as far as great fighters goes. And he's 43. And I think he's finally started looking like it. And that might have been his final fight. If Bernard announces his retirement, there'll be plenty more to say. But as much as I sometimes can't count myself as a fan of Hopkins', I'd like to thank Bernard for being Bernard Hopkins. He was never dull, except occasionally in his fights. He's one of the all-time greats.
MM: After his loss to Calzaghe, Hopkins sounded as delusional as James Toney after his second fight with Samuel Peters. He still deserves to be in the top ten, but I don't foresee another "great chapter" in his storied career. His best days are in the rearview mirror.
TS: The other factor in my placement of Hopkins, besides how I scored Marquez/Paquiao II and Calzaghe/Hopkins, was the fact that, as well as he fought for a 43-year-old, the fact remains that Hopkins finally showed an age-related drop-off. Unlike Marquez/Pacquiao III, which I think Marquez would have a good chance of winning, I don't see a rematch between Calzaghe and Hopkins producing the same chances of a Hopkins victory. Besides, he probably isn't going to get it. That means Hopkins has very little way to go but down, because there aren't many wins available that could boost him above the considerable resumes of my top 5, unless someone above him slips unexpectedly.
JK: Hopkins has dropped four notches for me since the last time I thought about this. His expiration date is not up, but it seems more and more like the only things left out there for him are old grudges to settle. He would still test the living shit out of anyone at Lt. Heavy, and test the patience of audiences everywhere.
9. Kelly Pavlik
33-0, 29 KO, Middleweight
62, 10
SC: I had a long e-mail conversation with a reader a couple months back, and eventually it came down to both of us discussing the sanctioning bodies and their corruption, Don King (who it turns out I like a lot more than some people might think based on some comments), and how special Kelly Pavlik really might be. Pavlik has talked recently of going up in weight, maybe even someday landing at heavyweight. But Top Rank has his future planned out for now. Lockett, Rubio, then probably Abraham, and after that we start getting into questions of weight classes and opponents. Here's the real point: Pavlik, I believe, is just that rare breed of fighter that is truly more than the sum of his parts. I think we're witnessing the bloom of what is going to be a significant fighter in terms of history. Like Cotto, there's nothing about Kelly Pavlik I don't like.
MM: Pavlik makes a nice leap up on my list with his win against Taylor, cracking the top ten and suggesting many intriguing possibilities for future matches.
TS: After beating Jermain Taylor earlier this year, Pavlik isn't doing a whole lot in 2008 until the end of it. He's got two easy title defenses on his agenda, then it's Arthur Abraham, a very serious middleweight. Still, I see him being in the top 10 at least until then, unless a couple fighters I rank lower go buck wild with quality wins, and a win over Abraham would likely bump him upwards.
JK: Pavlik's do-over with Taylor pulled him into my top ten. While its true that "Taylor x 2" counts as really his only world class victories, he has made a bigger splash in and around his division then almost any fighter in recent memory. Pavlik was and atomic bomb in 2007, and the blast radius sent a top contender and a champion fleeing to other divisions. Also, the number and quality of guys now talking about wanting to fight Kelly Pavlik is matched only by the number and quality of guys that seem to want no part of him. He is one to watch, and has the potential to scoot up this list in a heartbeat in 2009.
10. Shane Mosley
44-5, 35 KO, Welterweight
51, 11
SC: He's going to whip the piss out of Zab Judah and will grab a rematch with Cotto if Miguel beats Margarito. How's that for my analysis of Shane Mosley? Another future Hall of Famer who can still fight at a very high level. I don't see Zab making it into the double digit rounds against Shane.
MM: I'm looking forward more and more to watching him beat the tar out of Zab Judah. He pushed Cotto harder than anyone has so far, and he deserves a place of respect on anyone's P4P.
TS: If Mosley beats Zab Judah, I shoehorn him into the top 10. He barely fits, but I can see him coming off that win and taking the place of his old conqueror, Wright, simply because beating Judah's a quality win and Wright isn't doing jack.
JK: Shane is still top-ten. His Cotto fight proved that time has pretty much stood still. This isn't just a case of "he's in good shape for an old guy." He is a dangerous man, and still a real threat to two of the top fighters three fighters on my list. Cotto was not his swan song by a long shot.
11. Winky Wright
51-4-1, 25 KO, Middleweight
50, 9
SC: Winky Wright is perhaps doing a generation of fighters a favor and teaching them a lesson. Never overvalue your own worth to this degree. Where are you, Ron?
MM: Winky has done everything possible, it would seem, to scuttle his own career. I suspect many will drop him out of the top ten altogether this cycle. He needs a big fight and needs it soon. To that end, he must quit thinking of himself as a household name in the biz and get back to taking the toughest fights available, as he has done throughout most of his career.
TS: Mayweather and Wright are the two guys in my top-10 who are just wasting time. Wright would be far easier to bump down than Mayweather, for me. He's done nothing, but for some reason, several of the boxers just on the verge of cracking the top 10 haven't put anything compelling up to replace him. Like, Diaz -- he could've snagged #10 by beating Campbell. I just need to see one quality win from one guy on the edge of entry.
12. Ivan Calderon
31-0, 6 KO, Junior Flyweight
49, 13
SC: He just keeps winning. The no-doubt best of the little guys -- a shrunken Mayweather in some ways. He is a boxer's boxer. Combine his style and his size, and you have the reason why Ivan Calderon can't get on American TV if he pays to run an infomercial. But "Iron Boy" deserves all his props. A rematch with Hugo Cazares looks likely, and that's a good one, as Cazares deserves one. But the fight I want to see (and I mean actually SEE somewhere) is Calderon against Ulises Solis.
MM: Calderon utterly dismantles Nelson Dieppa and proves he is still the best of the best at the lowest end of the weight spectrum.
TS: Yeah, you can totally make the case for Calderon being in the top 10, skill-wise. But he's fought in a pretty weak division most of his career. His next fight is probably a rematch with Hugo Cazares. Winning that propels him into the upper echelon for me, finally.
13. Oscar de la Hoya
38-5, 30 KO, Junior Middleweight
32, 14
SC: I know it's not the fight that hardcore fans are clamoring for, and I'm not exactly thrilled, either, but Floyd-Oscar II does carry some minor intrigue. What if Oscar won? Let it enter your mind. If this is truly to be Oscar's final year in the ring, then I can do nothing more but sincerely thank him for what he's done for boxing. He fought the best -- Mayweather, Hopkins, Mosley, Trinidad, etc. -- and even if he wasn't the era-defining talent that some might have hoped way back in 1992, he was a great fighter that was only rarely beaten soundly. Both losses to Mosley and the loss to Tito were competitive, the latter an historic boner on Oscar's part. And, man, what IF? What if Oscar doesn't lose his jab? What if he attacks the body and sustains it? What if? It'd be a great story.
MM: Inactive since last cycle, Oscar has two fights on the horizon and at this point, may be less of a "mega-event only" fighter than Floyd.
TS: De La Hoya's ranked this high by me really only for a little while longer, I suspect. He's likely to lose to Mayweather again later this year, and there's no real shame in that, since it's what pretty much anybody would do. But he's talking retirement soon, and none of the wins he's likely to get in 2008 are impressive enough to keep his position from eroding further should some folk below him get a couple better ones.
14. Jermain Taylor
27-2-1, 17 KO, Super Middleweight
30, 16
SC: Moves back up some for me, because I think he edged Pavlik out in that rematch, though like Marquez-Pacquiao, it was one where I think it's just what flavor you like best. Taylor looked the best he has in years in that bout. I'm looking forward to the rest of Jermain's career. He is giving the impression that he's very mentally tough, which is going to be in his favor.
MM: Despite losing again to Pavlik, Taylor remains at 14 in my list, because there is no one below him who has done anything. Taylor still has a lot left, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him turn another chapter in his career and begin to ascend the ranks.
15. Ricky Hatton
43-1, 31 KO, Junior Welterweight
27, 15
SC: I'm ranking the "Hitman" as a 140-pounder and not so much on his last fight, because if Ricky ever starts thinking again that he's a welterweight, he drops off this list like a rock from the top of the Empire State Building.
MM: Hatton is still a monster at 140. Looking forward to seeing him fight Paulie Malignaggi.
TS: I think Hatton has a tough fight on his hands this summer against Juan Lazcano, but more because of the style match-up. Beating him is not the kind of win that could get him back into the top 10. Beating Paulie Malignaggi later this year? That's the kind of thing he needs, but by then, several people just below him may have better wins on their resumes than that.
16. Joan Guzman
28-0, 17 KO, Super Featherweight
18, 19
SC: Giant kudos to Alex Arthur for fighting Joan Guzman, because no one else wants to, and it proves that Arthur will put his money where his mouth is. Guzman is a two-division titlist that could probably add straps at 135 and 140 if he wanted to. He's very good, but we may never get to see how great he could be. He's exactly the type of opponent that no top fighter wants anything to do with. He's too good, and too hard to look good against.
MM: With Diaz and Williams' losses, Guzman cracks my top twenty despite not fighting. Now it's time for him to step up the competition.
TS: OK, so I don't see Guzman as better than Mijares, but he'd jump over Mijares on my list temporarily in May if he beats Alex Arthur, and De La Hoya, at least until Mijares beats Munoz a couple weeks later.
17. Chris John
41-0-1, 22 KO, Featherweight
13, 18
MM: Another meaningless win for Chris John, this time over 22-7-1 Roinet Caballero. The only reason he moves up at all is because Diaz and Williams were exposed in the meanwhile.
SC: I didn't rank John this time around. He doesn't fight anyone worth a damn, and the staying in Indonesia act is stale. The only time in his career he risked fighting a top guy was against Juan Manuel Marquez, and while he won on wide scorecards (which I just don't agree with and never will), he clearly didn't like something about that experience, because he's never dared to come close to anything like it again. John is more myth than anything at this point. At least when Sven Ottke was being gifted phantom victories, he did it against credible opposition. OK, that's rude, John has done nothing to warrant comparison to Ottke.
17. Wladimir Klitschko
50-3, 44 KO, Heavyweight
13, 17
MM: You would think that unifying a couple of HW belts would be worth a jump up on my P4P list. Nope. Not with that win. I'm going to hold my nose and keep Wlad at 16.
TS: I can't imagine how Klitschko moves up my list this year, because beating his next two mandatory challengers, while decent wins, aren't the kind to put him ahead of folk who have better-than-decent wins.
SC: Another guy that fell off my list. It's nothing against Klitschko, it's just that I think there are 20 better pound-for-pound fighters out there. Let me say this about Wlad. You can look over the entire history of heavyweight boxing, and you won't find a single guy that Wladimir Klitschko couldn't beat. His combination of size, power, intelligence and speed when he chooses to use it all together is lethal. I'm not saying that he's the best or even close to it, or that these guys couldn't just as easily beat Wlad. All I'm saying is on the right day, Wladimir Klitschko could beat them all. He's a hell of a fighter, and I think it's a crying shame that he's stuck in this era, playing King Shit of Turd Mountain.
19. David Haye
21-1, 20 KO, Heavyweight
10, NR
TS: Haye is going to be incubating for a bit at heavyweight, which means it'll be a while before he tests himself against the kind of opponent that could further boost his pound-for-pound stock. Look out below.
SC: Didn't rank Haye, either, mostly because I've got to see him against a legit heavyweight before I start caring too much about his jump up the weight totem pole. As a cruiserweight, I love him. He's a destructive force.
20. Juan Diaz
33-1, 17 KO, Lightweight
8, 12
SC: jrok is the sole voter that ranked Juan Diaz. He left no comment, but when I emailed him to make sure that he wasn't accidentally putting "Juan Diaz" when he meant "Nate Campbell," he cited my other thought, which is that he simply feels that Diaz had an off-night complicated by a bad cut man. I can see that.
Others Receiving Votes: Joel Casamayor 7, Cristian Mijares 7, Nate Campbell 6, Antonio Margarito 5, Junior Witter 3, Chad Dawson 3
Dropped Out: Paul Williams (20)