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My rankings are just that, my rankings, my
humble opinion. It was fun seeing how much my pound for
pound rankings have changed over one year. Actually, after
Floyd and Pacman it was tough to compile and organize. Some
fighters benefited from others' misfortunes and poor
performances, while others advanced based on their own solid
performances.
Here's my Top 10 list:
#1- Floyd Mayweather Jr.- I know, I really went out on a
limb here. But, Floyd is an easy choice to make, and
I've seen few lists without him on top. Floyd's coming off a
most recent win against Oscar de la Hoya, and though the
fight it was somewhat disappointing, it was still a
win over Oscar.
#2- Manny Pacquiao- The Pacman has been steadily climbing
up pound for pound lists. He's been rolling through whoever
is put in front of him, whether it's Erik Morales, Jorge
Solis or Oscar Larios. He never fights a bad fighter, and he
never fights in a dull fight. Thus his high ranking.
#3- Joe Calzaghe- This is where the list started to get
harder. You could argue that Calzaghe hasn't done too much
this year, only an easy win over an overmatched Peter
Manfredo Jr. Calzaghe just continues to defend his title in
impressive fashion. It was just hard for me to say that
there are more than two fighters better than Joe. This
ranking will be tested, as Calzaghe will be looking to unify
the division later this year against the very tough Mikkel
Kessler.
#4- Bernard Hopkins- I know many will question how I can
have Hopkins this high when he fought in a stinker of a
fight against Winky Wright, especially when I was in the
small minority that felt Wright won the fight. Well, I
expected the fight with Winky to be a stinker because of the
styles so I wasn't disappointed. Furthermore, I used to have
Hopkins at #2 on this list, so I did drop him a little bit.
Hopkins is still one of the best fighters in the world. The
last time he was soundly beaten was over a decade and a half
ago. Bottom line is that he did beat Winky Wright, who is a
very solid fighter. So, B-Hop still stays high on my list.
#5- Miguel Cotto- Cotto rose higher then anybody on my
list. I had him unranked last year at this time. But, he
continues to dominate, he continues to be in exciting
fights, and he continues to fight solid guys. He's coming
off a nice win over Zab Judah, and is fighting Shane Mosley
later this year. So, Cotto is on a high right now, and on an
all time high on my list.
#6- Israel Vazquez- I have always been high on Israel and
debated having him even higher. It blows my mind that some
people still leave him off their lists completely. He has
beaten some of the best over the past two years, including a
very exciting fight of the year victory over Rafael Marquez,
who I rate as one of the better smaller fighters of this
era.
#7- Marco Antonio Barrera- Though Barrera is starting to
slow down, he's still one of the best and deserves to be
here. He keeps on winning, and will be tested thoroughly
when he fights Manny Pacquiao next.
#8- Winky Wright- I know many have dropped Winky out of
their top 10s. I've usually had Winky in the top 3, so
he did drop. I'm also in the small minority that thought he
beat Bernard Hopkins. I can't get myself to drop him
completely out because I just don't think there are many
fighters better than him.
#9-hane Mosley- Mosley has been kind of quiet, but he
deserves to be in the top The silence will end soon when
he fights Miguel Cotto later this year.
#10- Ricky Hatton- Some have Hatton a lot higher. Though I
think he's a good fighter, I'm not totally sold on the
Hitman. While he looked good in his last fight against Jose
Luis Castillo, Castillo looked like a shot fighter, whose
past wars and battles with weight finally caught up with
him. If you look at Hatton's fights prior to this they're
nothing to be very enthused about. This will change as he's
scheduled to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the end of the
year.
Honorable Mention
- Jermain Taylor- Taylor plummeted more than anybody on my
list. His stock to me greatly dropped over his last
performances against Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks, both of
which were bloated middleweights with no punch. Taylor just
hasn't looked like a top tier fighter, although this
can change when he fights Kelly Pavlik next month.
-The Marquez brothers- You could make a great argument for
both to be up here. It's really hard for me not to have
Rafael up here. But his brutal KO loss against Israel
Vazquez has to drop him a bit
-Oscar De la Hoya, Mikkel Kessler, Paul Williams
8-21-2007
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