One man's top 10 pound-for-pound fighters
I started this column a couple of months ago as a wakeup call to Ring Magazine, but I got sidetracked by the Hopkins-Kovalev fight and then Demetrius Andrade’s problems with promoters (nothing new on that front).
The wakeup call to Ring had to do with the magazine’s stubborn (I won’t say stupid) insistence on ignoring Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in their pound-for-pound ratings. But the January issue remedied that, well, sort of. Let me explain.
The January issue, you see, features the magazine’s annual listing of the top 100 pound-for-pound boxers, which included Golovkin at No. 10. Not nearly high enough in my humble opinion, but it’s a start.
However, someone forgot to tell whoever compiled the magazine’s monthly pound-for-pound ratings, which once again ignored Golovkin. Talk about the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing ...
Obviously, the two listings were not compiled by the same people, but how could anyone who claims to be remotely interested in boxing leave Golovkin off any pound-for-pound list?
Which brings me to today’s topic -- my Top Ten pound-for-pound list.
So where do I put Golovkin, you ask? Patience, dear reader, patience. First things first and Floyd Mayweather is still first, though he will be risking his precious legacy as one of the all-time greats if he fails to accept Manny Pacquiao’s latest challenge.
As of now, the Money Man is still perfect at 47-0 with 26 knockouts, and no one has come close to beating him since his first match with Jose Luis Castillo 12 years ago.
And yes, I saw his first fight with Marcos Maidana, but the main reason that was as close as it was is due more to what Mayweather did than what Maidana did. Mayweather said before the fight that we were going to see a different Mayweather and that it would be an exciting fight.
What he did different was stay in the pocket and exchange with Maidana, which made for an exciting fight, but not a smart one for Mayweather.
The old defensive-minded Mayweather returned in the rematch and won the fight easily, much to the displeasure of the fans. And with only two or three more fights left in him, we’re not about to see Mayweather the slugger again.
Runner-up up on our pound-for-pound list is WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs), who at 168 is too big for Mayweather to consider as an opponent. That’s unfortunate because it would make for a helluva fight.
Ward is the complete boxer/puncher, who may have to move up light heavyweight to get that mega fight he’s looking for (Sergey Kovalev?). I don’t see anyone in the current crop of super middleweights who could test Ward, with the possible exception of Carl Froch, the IBF champion from the U.K.
Slightly, and I do mean slightly, below Ward at No. 3 is Gennady Golovkin, whom you may have noticed I’ve been trumpeting since his U.S. debut, when he took out Grzegorz Proska in five rounds in September, 2012.
The hit man from Kazakhstan has been terrorizing the middleweight division ever since to the point where he is now having trouble finding credible opponents. (A tip of the hat here to Martin Murray, who will test Golovkin Feb. 21 in Monte Carlo.)
For the record, the WBA middleweight champion is 31-0, with 28 knockouts (19 straight), but he’s not just a slugger. The guy can box, has a good, stiff jab, a decent defense, and is relentless in cutting off the ring. But don’t take my word for it.
“I rate him up there with the best middleweights of all time,” said Bill Treacy, manager of former champion Daniel Geale, whom Golovkin destroyed in three.
The problem for Golovkin is that, like Ward, he may have to move up a division to get the big money fights.
Next up at No. 4 is Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 knockouts), who demonstrated in his one-sided win over Chris Algieri that he still has a lot of speed left, but Father Time is close on his heels. Hopefully, he will get a chance to prove he’s still a top five pound-for-pound fighter against Mayweather in 2015 (but I would still pick Mayweather).
In the No. 5 hole is the no longer ignored Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 52 KOs), who only recently made Ring’s pound-for-pound list, but has since climbed to the third spot. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s tough to know just how good Klitschko is because of the sorry state of affairs in the heavyweight division, but he definitely belongs in the top 10 some place.
Going from one extreme to the other, we have WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (14-0, 9 KOs) at No. 6. The former standout amateur is one of, if not the top pure boxer in the sport today, a joy to watch for those of us who savor the art in boxing. Hopefully, he will be a little more active in 2015.
At No. 7 is the Crushin’ Russian, Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs), one of the most feared punchers in the game. He also proved a pretty fair boxer with his patient, disciplined one-sided decision over ring legend Bernard Hopkins.
“He’s going to be champion for a long time,” predicted Hopkins.
Timothy Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) has slid a bit in the ratings since his rematch loss to Pacquiao, but that was his first and only loss so far. Victories over Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez keep him in the top 10 at No. 8.
At No. 9 on the back of two sensational knockout victories over Vic Darchinyan in May and Nonito Donaire in October is WBA featherweight champion Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters (25-0, 21 KOs), the newest fighter to the elite group. He will bear watching in 2015.
The 10th and final spot on our list goes to Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs), not so much for what he’s done lately, but for what he’s accomplished in a long and illustrious career that includes world titles in four weight divisions.
At 41, his best years are behind him, but he still deserves to be included among the elite as he contemplates retirement.
And that’s it for our Top Ten pound-for-pound list for 2014. Next up will be our awards for 2014.
Bob Hanna covers boxing for The Standard-Times. Email him at sports@s-t.com