The longest reign as #1 in boxing was ended in just two rounds by Manny Pacquiao this month as he destroyed the four year champion Ricky Hatton at the start of the month to solidify his number one pound for pound status. The win drops Ricky Hatton from my pound for pound top ten for the first time since the win over Tszyu in 2005, marking the entrance of Chad Dawson into the top 10. Dawson enters over the likes of Celestino Caballero, Miguel Cotto (who’s current spot in most peoples top tens still baffles me), Tomasz Adamek (who Dawson beat), Chris John and Ivan Calderon based on an ever increasing impressive resume. A win over someone like Bernard Hopkins will propel Dawson into the top five. In what was otherwise a pretty quiet month for the sport, the bantamweights got some new blood into the top five with Yohnny Perez’s knockout win over longtime top contender Silce Mabuza last weekend. Perez is a young, exciting fighter who will likely give the winner of this months Darchinyan-Agebeko fight a good scrap.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before May 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on March 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.
For some reason Main Event decided to show the Chad Dawson vs Antonio tarver mis rematch this weekend while they’ve neglected other events in the past that were certainly more worthy then this one. Tarver exercised a rematch clause to make this pointless matchup for the sole reason of lining his pocket one last time before he calls it a day and Dawson should really beat Tarver as easily if not more easily then he did the first time they fought. The Light Heavyweight division has gone to shit over the last few years. It had that brief moment of excitement after the days of Roy Jones jnr clowning everyone when Tarver and Glenn Johnson beat him and then fought but even those fights were pretty lacklustre. There’s only a couple of fights that interest me at this weight, and they all involve Chad Dawson (and none of them involve Antonio Tarver). First, there’s a fight with Bernard Hopkins and secondly there’s a rematch with Glenn Johnson. Now that I’ve ranted long enough to make this article into at least a paragraph long, I’ll end it. Chad Dawson by 7th round knockout.
Most of the action this month coming at 122 and 168lbs, the big win of the month was Paull Williams domination over Winky Wright. Due to the one sidedness of this fight, I’ve moved Williams into the top three pound for pound behind Marquez and Pacquiao. Both Hopkins and Vazquez have been sort of inactive and a win by either of them will likely be enough to move Williams down the list, but on current form Williams’ wins over Wright (who had not been dominated like that ever even by Hopkins) and Margarito puts him right up there in my opinion.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before May 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on March 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.
The interesting thing I found this month is how stacked the Bantamweight division is becoming. Last month both Fernando Montiel and Cristian Mijares made their move there to join the likes of Hasegawa who just made the 8th successful defence of his WBC belt with a 1st round KO of Vusi Malinga. The division is that stacked that long time 115lb #1 Mijares lost his 118lb debut (which could be down to ill-effects suffered in the Darchinyan beatdown though. The thing though is that the 115lb division which six months ago was one of the strongest is now probably the weakest after Darchinyan cleaned out all of the top contenders bar Montiel. Now that Darchinyan will face Joseph Agbeko at 118lbs, the division will be a wasteland come July.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before April 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on March 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.
There are two big absentees from the pound for pound rankings. First of all there was the suspension of Margarito. Due to his suspension, I’m removing him from my rankings until he is either cleared or his suspension is up. The other is Joe Calzaghe who announced his retirement last month and thus will no longer appear in the rankings (until he gets bored and comes back that is). This paves way for Pavlik to re-enter the top ten and I’ve filled out the list with Darchinyan who I think deserves it after effectively cleaning out one of the more competitive divisions in boxing.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before March 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on March 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.
Active- Roman Gonzalez, Donnie Nietes, Manuel Vargas
March Schedule 7th- Joel Julio vs James Kirkland (154lb)
7th- Juergen Brahmer vs Rachid Kanfouah (European 175lb)
7th- Robert Guerro vs Daud Cino Yordan (130lb)
12th- Hozumi Hasegawa vs Vusi Malinga (WBC 118lb)
12th- Oscar Laios vs Takahiro Aoh (WBC 126lb)
13th- Lucian Bute vs Fulgencio Zuniga (IBF 168lb)
13th- Juan Carlos Reveco vs Wilson Simao (WBA Fedalatin 108lb)
14th- Arthur Abraham vs Lajuan Simon (IBF 160lb)
14th- Nicky Cook vs Roman Martinez (WBO 130lb)
14th- Cristian Mijares vs Nehomar Cermeno (WBA interim 118lb)
14th- Marco Antonio Barrera vs Amir Khan (135lb)
14th- Oleg Maskaev vs Rich Boruff (Heavy)
14th- Enzo Maccaranelli vs Ola Afolabi (200lb)
20th- Celestino Caballero vs Jeffrey Mathebula (WBA/IBF 122lb)
20th- Junior Witter vs Gianluca Branco (European 140lb)
21st- Vitali Klitschko vs Juan Carlos Gomez (WBC Heavy)
21st- Ricardo Cordoba vs Bernard Dunne (WBA interim 122lb)
21st- Roy Jones Jnr vs Omar Sheika (175lb)
22nd- Ulises Solis vs Brian Viloria (IBF 108lb)
22nd- Nonito Donaire vs Raul Martinez (IBF 112lb)
24th- Roberto Vasquez vs Hugo Cazares (115lb)
27th- Kryzstof Wlodarczyk vs Giacobbe Fragomeni (WBC 200lb)
27th- Samuel Peter vs Eddie Chambers (Heavy)
27th- Yasutaka Kuroki vs Junichiro Kaneda (OPBF 105lb)
28th- Humberto Soto vs Albert Davis (WBC 130lb)
28th- Fernando Montiel vs Diego Oscar Silva (WBO interim 118lb)
World Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik scored a 9th round TKO win over WBC #1 contender Marco Antonio Rubio in his comeback fight after losing to Bernard Hopkins last October in a catchweight bout. Pavlik never looked like losing his WBC and WBO belts in front of his hometown crowd in Youngstown, Ohio. The fight was fought in typical Pavlik fashion, with ‘the Ghost’ firing unanswered combinations as Rubio tried to ride out the never ending storm that is Pavlik. Rubio showed a granite chin as well as some useful blocking but could offer little in the way of return fire as Pavlik repeatedly used his jab, cross and left uppercut to great effect. Rubio rallied in the 7th round, but Pavlik shifted up a gear in the 8th, rocking Rubio with a laser-like right hand. The champion continued to batter his overmatched challenger through until the end of the 9th round when Rubio wisely remained on his stool.
This fight should answer any questions as to what weight division Pavlik belongs in. He always looks like a beast when he’s fighting someone his own size. There’s some decent fights for him at this weight division as well. With Arthur Abraham demolishing all challengers and the likes of Winky Wright and Paul Williams as well as Felix Sturm and Anthony Mundine set to face off later this year, there’s some good fights that can be made. The good thing is that Pavlik is expected back in the ring come June or July instead of just sitting on his belts like some of the other fighters around. Overall, a successful comeback for Pavlik and I await his next opponent.
Also on the PPV, former WBA Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto made his comeback from the devastating loss to Antonio Margarito last year a successful one with a 5th round TKO win over Michael Jennings. The win earns Cotto the WBO Welterweight belt and could set up a rematch with Shane Mosley, who is coming off the win over Margarito and who Cotto beat by unanimous decision in 2007. Cotto took his time early as Jennings moved well although didn’t land anything significant. However, as soon as Cotto caught Jennings it was just a matter of time. In the 4th round Cotto twice dropped Jennings with left hooks to the body although Jennings was game and took as many of the ten count as he could in order to recover. Jennings looked fine at the start of the 5th, although once Cotto caught him it was a different story. A barrage on the ropes dropped Jennings again and after rising at nine, the referee saved Jennings from further punishment. With Mosley and Cotto clearly the top two guys in the division (especially with Margarito suspended) that rematch is a must and would be one of the biggest fights of the year. Hopefully it gets made as none of the other fights at this weight have the same excitement.
I have to give full credit to the Sky Channel in Australia for taking time out of their 24 hour horse racing coverage to show this card. There was two of the biggest names in boxing fighting on the card and while the opponents weren’t great, the fights were entertaining and definately worth being shown down here. Hopefully Sky can pick up more of the fights that Main Event don’t and continue to give a decent coverage of the sport. Maybe a weekly news show run by Australians wouldn’t be a bad idea? Or how about Canvas Classics once a night? (okay that last part wasn’t going to happen but one can dream can’t they?)
I’ve got no need to go into these fights anymore then they need to be gone into. Let’s call a spade a spade; these two (Rubio and Jennings) are being fed to Pavlik and Cotto who are border line top ten pound for pounders if not just inside the ten. Both Cotto and Pavlik are coming off losses and these are two highly ranked (ABC rankings anyway) contenders for them to work off any effects from the losses against.
Kelly Pavlik vs Marco Antonio Rubio (World Middleweight Championship)
Prediction- Pavlik by 3rd round KO Pavlik is coming off the half schooling/half beating he took from Bernard Hopkins at a higher weight and is fighting at his natural weight. His opponent, Marco Antonio Rubio, is the WBC mandatory but definately isn’t one of the top contenders in this division. The last fight I remember seeing of him before he earned his mandatory on the Pavlik-Hopkins card, he got iced by Kofi Jantuah in 33 seconds. That fight was nearly five years ago, and he’s gone 16-2 since with decision losses to Kassim Ouma and Zaurbek Baysangurov.
Still, in his last fight against Enrique Ornelas, he appeared to still carry the slow starting habbit. Rubio will definately be a chance if he can take Pavlik past six rounds and if Pavlik isn’t in tip top shape, but it’s likely if the fight goes that long that Rubio will be too busted up to rally anyway. I think Pavlik will batter him from the start and I’ll be surprised if Rubio sees it past the first four rounds. Pavlik has too much firepower for someone with limited defence like Rubio and I think that unless he is gun shy after failing to land any significant punches on the Executioner last October, that he’ll find his range quickly and make an example of Rubio.
Miguel Cotto vs Michael Jennings (WBO Welterweight title)
Prediction- Cotto by 5th round KO I have never seen Jennings and I know very little about him other then he’s British. I very much doubt Cotto’s handlers are after anything other then a workout before the then proposed rematch with Margarito took place, so I don’t expect Jennings to be up to much of a standard. Cotto will break him down with body shots and probably drop him a handful of times before Jennings can’t take anymore. Jennings will likely be tough and game, but Cotto will prove to be a few levels too far for him.
Undercard Action Two good matchups on the undercard featuring two good prospects. Lightweight contender Anthony Peterson takes on recent World title challenger and always handy Edner Cherry. This will be a good test for Peterson and one I expect him to pass with flying colours if he is to at all impact the packed 135lb division. Also fighting is John Duddy, who has fallen off the radar somewhat after his rumoured fight with Kelly Pavlik for early last year fell through following the complete lack of defence he showed on the Pavlik-Taylor II undercard last year. Duddy’s opponent is Matt Vanda, who always comes to fight and will give Duddy a good workout but shouldn’t cause the upset.
I’ve managed to set this up with a system that will allow me to update these monthly without too much trouble. Some interesting action this month; Mosley cracked the pound for pound list for the first time since he lost to Winky Wright back in 2004. The Welterweight division is very interesting now with the top three guys all having split wins over another. Hopefully, if Margarito gets cleared of his hand wraps incident (any suspension and I’ll probably drop him from the rankings completely), Margarito takes on Cotto and Mosley fights Clottey like what has been proposed and the winners meet later in the year. Whatever fight comes out of that series of matches will be great. I’ve also included a schedule of what significant fights are on next month and the lightweights again are all fighting in the same month which should move the rankings around a lot.
Could someone do me a huge favour and tell me how to turn off emoticons in my posts. It looks really fucking stupid having a sunglasses smiley in my rankings because the guy was ranked 8th in last months rankings.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before February 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on February 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.
Pound for Pound (1) 1- Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2)
(2) 2- Joe Calzaghe (46-0-0)
(3) 3- Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1)
(4) 4- Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1)
(5) 5- Israel Vazquez (43-4-0)
(NA) 6- Shane Mosley (46-5-0)
(6) 7- Rafael Marquez (37-5-0)
(7) 8- Paul Williams (36-1-0)
(9) 9- Ricky Hatton (45-1-0)
(8) 10- Antonio Margarito (37-6-0)
Active- Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito (loss) Out- Kelly Pavlik (10)
Heavyweight (no limit) (1) 1- Wladimir Klitschko (52-3-0)
(2) 2- Vitali Klitschko (36-2-0)
(3) 3- Ruslan Chagaev (24-0-1)
(4) 4- Nicolay Valuev (50-1-0)
(5) 5- Alexander Povetkin (16-0-0)
(6) 6- David Haye (22-1-0)
(7) 7- Samuel Peter (30-2-0)
(8) 8- Alexander Dimitrenko (29-0-0)
(9) 9- Sultan Ibragimov (22-1-1)
(10) 10- Oleg Maskaev (35-6-0)
Active- None
Cruiserweight (200lbs) (1) 1- Tomasz Adamek (36-1-0)
(2) 2- Guillermo Jones (36-3-2)
(3) 3- Steve Cunningham (21-2-0)
(5) 4- Marco Huck (24-1-0)
(4) 5- Jean Marc Mormeck (33-4-0)
(6) 6- O’Neill Bell (26-3-1)
(7) 7- Enzo Maccarinelli (29-2-0)
(8) 8- Firat Arslan (29-4-1)
(9) 9- Vadim Tokarev (26-1-1)
(10) 10- Kryzstof Wlodarczyk (41-2-0)
Active- Marco Huck
Light Heavyweight (175lbs) (1) 1- Joe Calzaghe (46-0-0)
(2) 2- Bernard Hopkins (49-4-1)
(3) 3- Chad Dawson (27-0-0)
(4) 4- Glenn Johnson (48-12-2)
(5) 5- Antonio Tarver (27-5-0)
(7) 6- Zsolt Erdei (30-0-0)
(6) 7- Clinton Woods (41-4-1)
(8) 8- Hugo Garay (32-3-0)
(9) 9- Roy Jones jnr (52-5-0)
(10) 10- Adrian Diaconu (25-0-0)
Active- Zsolt Erdei
Super Middleweight (168lbs) (1) 1- Mikkel Kessler (41-1-0)
(2) 2- Lucian Bute (23-0-0)
(3) 3- Jermain Taylor (28-2-1)
(4) 4- Carl Froch (24-0-0)
(5) 5- Anthony Mundine (34-3-0)
(7) 6- Librado Andrade (27-2-0)
(8) 7- Sakio Bika (27-3-2)
(NA) 8- Karoly Balszay (20-0-0)
(6) 9- Dennis Inkin (34-1-0)
(9) 10- Jeff Lacy (24-2-0)
Active- Karoly Balszay, Dennis Inkin (loss) Out- Markus Beyer (10)
Middleweight (160lbs) (1) 1- Kelly Pavlik (34-1-0)
(2) 2- Arthur Abraham (28-0-0)
(3) 3- Felix Sturm (31-2-1)
(4) 4- Winky Wright (51-4-1)
(5) 5- Khoren Gevor (30-3-0)
(6) 6- Randy Griffin (24-2-3)
(7) 7- Sebastian Sylvester (29-3-0)
(8) 8- Javier Castillejo (62-8-0)
(9) 9- Amin Asikainen (25-2-0)
(10) 10- Daniel Geale (20-0-0)
Active- None
Junior Middleweight (154lbs) (1) 1- Paul Williams (36-1-0)
(2) 2- Vernon Forrest (41-3-0)
(3) 3- Sergei Dzinziruk (36-0-0)
(4) 4- Daniel Santos (32-3-0)
(5) 5- Sergio Manuel Martinez (44-1-1)
(6) 6- Verno Phillips (42-11-1)
(7) 7- Cory Spinks (36-5-0)
(8) 8- Sergio Mora (21-1-1)
(9) 9- Alex Bunema (30-6-2)
(10) 10- Joachim Alcine (30-1-0)
Active- None
Welterweight (147lbs) (3) 1- Shane Mosley (46-5-0)
(1) 2- Antonio Margarito (37-5-0)
(2) 3- Miguel Cotto (32-1-0)
(5) 4- Andre Berto (24-0-0)
(4) 5- Joshua Clottey (35-2-0)
(6) 6- Kermit Cintron (30-2-0)
(7) 7- Carlos Quintana (26-2-0)
(8) 8- Luis Collazo (29-4-0)
(9) 9- Zab Judah (37-6-0)
(10) 10- Mike Jones (16-0-0)
Active- Shane Mosley, Andre Berto, Antonio Margarito (loss), Luis Collazo (loss)
February Schedule 6th- Chris Henry vs Yusef Mack (NABA/NABF 175lb)
6th- Andre Ward vs Henry Buchanan (NABF 168lb) 7th- Vic Darchinyan vs Jorge Arce (IBF/WBA/WBC 115lb)
7th- Andreas Kotelnik vs Marcos Rene Maidana (WBA 140lb)
7th- Ruslan Chagaev vs Carl Drummond (WBA Heavy)
7th- Omar Narvaez vs Rayonta Whitfield (WBO 112lb) 7th- Almazbek Raiymkulov vs Antonio DeMarco (135lb)
11th- Anthony Mundine vs Shannan Taylor (160lb) 14th- Nate Campbell vs Ali Funeka (IBF/WBO 135lb)
14th- Sergio Gabriel Martinez vs Kermit Cintron (WBC interim 154lb)
14th- Cristobal Cruz vs Cyril Thomas (IBF 126lb)
14th- Manuel Vargas vs Walter Tello (WBO interim 105lb)
14th- Alfredo Angulo vs Ricardo Mayorga (160lb)
14th- Clinton Woods vs Elvir Muriqi (175lb)
20th- Breidis Prescott vs Humberto Toledo (135lb) 21st- Kelly Pavlik vs Marco Antonio Rubio (Ring/WBC/WBO 160lb) 21st- Miguel Cotto vs Michael Jennings (WBA 147lb)
21st- Matt Skelton vs Martin Rogan (Commonwealth Heavyweight)
21st- Anthony Peterson vs Edner Cherry (135lb) 27th- Tomasz Adamek vs Jonathon Banks (Ring/IBF 200lb)
27th- Glenn Johnson vs Daniel Judah (175lb)
27th- Rendall Munroe vs Kiko Martinez (European 122lb) 28th- Juan Manuel Marquez vs Juan Diaz (Ring 135lb) 28th- Chris John vs Rocky Juarez (WBA 126lb)
28th- Roman Gonzalez vs Francisco Rosas (WBA 105lb)
28th- Donnie Nietes vs Erik Ramirez (WBO 105lb)
28th- Cesar Canchila vs Giovanni Segura (WBA interim 108lb)
28th- Sebastian Sylvester vs Gaentano Nespro (160lb)
28th- Rafal Jackiewicz vs Luciano Abis (European 147lb)
These are a little late compared to a lot of other sites, but I wanted to wait until the year was officially over before I put these up. My MMA ones will be up in a week or so. These are entirely my opinion and feel free to have a go at me in the comments section and I’ll happily debate any of my picks.
Fight of the Year- Israel Vazquez SD12 Rafael Marquez (March 1st).
Round of the Year- 4th- Israel Vazquez SD12 Rafael Marquez. Seriously if you haven’t see this fight go and see it. It’s one of my personal all-time favourite fights and considering that I’m very old school in my opinions and don’t let new fads change my picks too much that’s saying something. There’s only three fights in the last ten years that I consider up there with some of my more classic choices and this is one of them (along with Barrera-Morales I and Castillo-Corrales I). A lot of people overlook this trilogy because therse guys are only 122lbs which is complete crap. A lot of ‘fans’ say they don’t like the little guys, but seriously, where do you draw the line? If you will watch Featherweights whats the big deal with the 4lbs less for the Junior Feathers? Whats the big deal with the 21lbs to Minimumweight?
You’d all think I was crazy if I said I don’t watch anything below Cruiserweight because the next division is 25lbs smaller when those fights are usually the best yet people draw the line at other places and it’s crap. These guys in the lower classes fight just as hard, if not harder then the other guys and get little credit and anyone who has seen this fight knows exactly what I mean. These guys left it all in the ring and the action see-sawed throughout every round. Marquez got the better of the first six rounds including knocking Vazquez down in the 4th round only for Vazquez to get up and rock Marquez in return. The two then exchanged hard blows until the bell with both men getting rocked again in the final 30 seconds (youtube clip provided below). Vazquez came back to steal the fight with a 12th round knockdown, winning a split decision. There was about six or seven rounds that could have gone either way (if you scored all of them for one fighter you’re a moron I might add) and everytime I’ve watched this fight I’ve scored a few rounds different. This truly was one of the greatest fights of all-time and if you haven’t watched it, go find someone who has a copy of it and check it out. Here’s a taste and my pick for round of the year:
Honourable Mentions (Fight of the Year)- Antonio Margarito TKO11 Miguel Cotto (July 26th), Manny Pacquiao SD12 Juan Manuel Marquez (March 15th), Joel Casmayor TKO10 Michael Katsidis (March 22nd). Previous Winners- Israel Vazquez TKO6 Rafael Marquez (2007), Somsak Sithchatchawal TKO10 Mayhar Monshipour (2006), Diego Corrales TKO10 Jose Luis Castillo. Honourable Mentions (Round of the Year)- 1st- Kendall Holt KO1 Ricardo Torres, 12th- Israel Vazquez SD12 Rafael Marquez, 2nd- Antonio Margarito vs Miguel Cotto. Previous Winners- 3rd- Rafael Marquez TKO7 Israel Vazquez (2007), 10th- Somsak Sithchatchawal TKO10 Mayhar Monshipour (2006), 10th- Diego Corrales TKO10 Jose Luis Castillo (2005).
Fighter of the Year- Manny Pacquiao
Performance of the Year- Manny Pacquiao TKO8 Oscar De La Hoya (December 6th). I have to admit, I was setting this article up in late November and I had Calzaghe pencilled in to the Fighter of the Year slot expecting De La Hoya to be too big for ’The Mexecutioner’ (sorry to any Mexicans reading this but I just love that name) and Pacquiao’s performance against David Diaz down for Performance of the Year (although that was a toss-up between it and Hopkins schooling of Pavlik). Even though I made a big deal that his fight with Oscar would do nothing to his legacy should be lose, a SD over Marquez that I thought he lost and a TKO over David Diaz who I don’t rate and a loss aren’t enough to outdo Calzaghe’s downing of two legends despite one of them being more shot then Oscar. Despite plenty of people calling Oscar shot after their fight, Pacquiao definately shouldn’t have won that fight in such a one sided fashion unless he was the real deal. Despite Marquez giving Pacquiao all he could handle in their March thriller, Pacquiao proved that making 130lbs probably had something to do with it after twice moving up in weight and one sidedly knocking out two very capable fighters. So for winning new World titles in two weight divisions in 12 months and for completely dominating two very good fighters (one of them a legend) and beating a fellow top five pound for pound fighter, Pacquiao wins two of my awards this year. Honourable Mentions (Fighter of the Year)- Joe Calzaghe, Antonio Margarito, Juan Manuel Marquez. Previous Winners- Floyd Mayweather Jnr (2007), Manny Pacquiao (2006), Jermain Taylor (2005). Honourable Mentions (Performance of the Year)- Manny Pacquiao KO9 David Diaz, Bernard Hopkins UD12 Kelly Pavlik, Vic Darchinyan KO9 Cristian Mijares. Previous Winners- Ricky Hatton KO4 Jose Luis Castillo (2007), Joe Calzaghe UD12 Jeff Lacy (2006), Floyd Mayweather jnr TKO6 Arturo Gatti (2005).
Knockout of the Year- Juan Urango KO4 Carlos Vilches When it comes to knockouts, I find it best to explain it by just showing it! Enjoy!
Honourable Mentions- Antonio Margarito KO6 Kermit Cintron, Shane Mosley KO12 Ricardo Mayorga, Manny Pacquiao KO9 David Diaz. Previous Winners- Nonito Donaire KO5 Vic Darchinyan (2007), Daniel Ponce de Leon KO1 Sod Looknongyangtoy (2006), Allan Green KO1 Jaidon Codrington (2005).
Upset of the Year- Nate Campbell SD12 Juan Diaz No one seemed to be able to touch Diaz in the lightweight division and not many expected him to be beaten until he moved up a weight division. This fight was somewhat overshadowed with David Haye’s unification fight with Enzo Maccarinelli as well as Oleg Maskaev’s defence of his WBC Heavyweight strap against dangerous contender Samuel Peter (the fight was on the undercard of this bout). Campbell had won three in a row in his hot and cold career that has seen him look like one of the World’s most dangerous fighters one day and look like a complete fool the next (see Campbell-Peden I). Diaz seemed to be taking over as he usually does by the midway point of the fight with his high output of punches although Campbell stayed in the pocket with him and traded hard leather. Everything changed with one punch in the 6th round. Campbell landed a left that opened a massive cut on Diaz’s left eye and although the referee incorrectly ruled it a headbutt and docked Campbell a point, Diaz wasn’t the same fighter after that. His punch output slowed down while Campbell was spurred on by the cut and the rare weakness that Diaz ever shows in the ring. Campbell dominated the later rounds as Diaz’s eye closed shut and he took a split decision as well as Diaz’s WBA, WBO and IBF Lightweight titles. Honourable Mentions- Carlos Quintana UD12 Paul Williams, Vic Darchinyan KO9 Cristian Mijares, Breidis Prescott KO1 Amir Khan. Previous Winners- Nonito Donaire KO5 Vic Darchinyan (2007), Carlos Baldomir UD12 Zab Judah (2006), Zahir Raheem UD12 Erik Morales.
Event of the Year- Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez (By this I basically mean the biggest fight of the year without taking into account what actually happened in the ring. For example there were far better fights in 2002 then Lewis-Tyson, but that one was the highlight event of the year).
I really didn’t buy into De La Hoya-Pacquiao (as many who have read this site for a while will tell you) and I really can’t think of another fight that was as good a match-up as this one. I tend to go more for a hardcore fans perspective when picking these unless there’s an obvious pick like Lewis-Tyson or De La Hoya-Hopkins. This fight pitted the two best fighters in the 130-126lb division in a fight that had a long build up after their controversial draw in 2004. It was the culmination in a series of big fights between these two plus Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera that saw this fight as the Finale after Marquez defeated Barrera (Pacquiao also defeated him after Marquez) and Pacquiao had defeated Morales. It was sort of like Hagler-Leonard of the 80’s rivalry of those two plus Duran and Hearns although over a shorter period of time. There were plenty of big fights and one’s that received a lot more attention then this fight, but this was the fight I looked forward to the most this year. It was two top five pound for pound fighters squaring off and the fight didn’t disappoint. Honourable Mentions- Antonio Margarito vs Miguel Cotto, Kelly Pavlik vs Jermain Taylor II, Vic Darchinyan vs Cristian Mijares. (I don’t rate Calzaghe-Hopkins because even though it was a big fight, I knew it’d be as boring as all fuck as it actually was). Previous Winners- Ricky Hatton vs Floyd Mayweather jnr (2007), Joe Calzaghe vs Jeff Lacy (2006), Ricky Hatton vs Kostya Tszyu (2005).
That’s the big ones out of the road, a few I think I should touch on:
Prospect of the Year- Leonard Zappavinga First of all, I think this award is stupid. It’s not like in other sports where it’s easy to determine what a prospect is because they’ve only been playing a year. Boxing is a different sport. A prospect could be a three fight rookie or a guy with 30 fights who’s taken his time on the way up and is about to crack the big time. Second of all, I’m clearly biased. I don’t take this award that seriously so I’ll probably always pick an Australian. Zappavinga ended his year with a knockout over former two time world title challenger Tommy Browne in a fight he looked excellent in. Zappa is only 22, he is undefeated and will definately be one to watch in the new year.
Australian Fighter of the Year- Vic Darchinyan Darchinyan totally dominated two world champions with absolute ease in his new weight class and became the first Australian since Kostya Tszyu to be near the top 10 pound for pound in the World. After a controversial draw in February against Z Gorres, Darchinyan got a shot at Dimitri Kirilov’s IBF strap and won by one sided 5th round knockout. After that came a unification bout with (at least by my list) Cristian Mijares, who held the WBC and WBA titles and had wins over Jorge Arce and Alexander Munoz. Not many (I wasn’t one of them) gave Darchinyan a chance, but he brutalised Mijares over nine rounds with a great mixture of boxing and punching before knocking him out with an overhand left in the 9th. I just hope Darchinyan receives more credit and attention down here instead of joke ‘fighters’ like Anthony Mundine and John Hopoate who rob the public blind with their overpriced PPV sideshows.
One to watch in 2009- Beibut Shumenov This guy is only 7-0, but he has already beaten Montell Griffin (yes, the same one with a win over Roy Jones jnr) and Epifanio Mendoza (who gave Jeff Lacy all he could handle for 12 rounds).
And some lighter ones:
Arthur Mercante Award for Best Refereeing- Pat Russell (Vazquez-Marquez III) This was by far the best fight of the year and it could have been one of the most controversial if referee Pat Russell was having a bad night. There were several tight calls in the fight that the fight road on, and he got them all right. Russell deducted a point from Marquez for a low blow which ultimately cost Marquez a draw in the fight, however he had previously warned Marquez a number of times and had to take that point off. Had he let Marquez off the hook there it would have been unfair to Vazquez as he had warned him a few times previously and most of the shots were pretty low. The other call was the 12th round knockdown. Russell very well could have made the mistake that many a referee would have made in that situation and stopped the fight. Marquez was taking punishment on the ropes and taking a lot of it yet he wasn’t going down. He staggered into the ropes and would have fallen if they weren’t there and instead of stopping the fight he gave Marquez a count. These calls are still controversial parts of the fight, but they would have been a hell of a lot worse if Russell had say jumped in and saved Marquez in the 12th with a few seconds left.
Jersey Joe Walcott Award for Worst Refereeing- Joe Cortez (Francisco Lorenzo DQ4 Humberto Soto) (If you don’t get the reference it’s not because I hate Walcott, it’s because he refereed one Heavyweight title fight and lost complete control of the Ali-Liston rematch therefore he gets my award named after him. I actually am a big fan of Walcott so this is no cheap shot at him about his fighting, just thought I’d point that out).
Humberto Soto battered Franciso Lorenzo for three and a half rounds before dropping him in the fourth round. While going down, Lorenzo grabbed Soto’s legs prompting Soto to continue to hit him, landing a grazing shot to the back of his head. Instead of counting, Cortez ruled that Lorenzo had been hit while he was down at which point Lorenzo started faking like he was in more serious trouble as a result of the blow. Actually, Lorenzo was ready to go and all the damage was done by legal blows from Soto during the action. After viewing several replays, Cortez disqualified Soto and ruled Lorenzo as the new WBC interim champion. The WBC however would right the wrong and strip Lorenzo of his belt (one of the few controversial decisions from an ABC group that I agree with).
Eugenia Williams Award for Worst Judging Card- Doug Tucker (Cristian Mijares SD12 Jose Navarro) (Reference again is to Eugenia Williams who scored the Holyfield-Lewis first fight to Holyfield after he won maybe three rounds).
Tucker scored this fight 120-108 for Navarro. The other two judges both saw it for Mijares in a close fight. Seriously Doug, what fight were you watching? Maybe Navarro won the fight (I agreed with the other two judges) but he didn’t win every round.
George Foreman Award for Comeback of the Year- Vitali Klitschko If you come back from four years of inactivity and totally dominate one of the top contenders in your division then there’s no denying you this award. Vitali Klitschko did just that. It almost made my performance of the year honourable mentions but missed out. Klitschko came back from numerous injuries and totally dominated someone who was a very, very dangerous opponent with absolute ease. As much as I don’t like the Klitschko brothers, it was hard not to be impressed by that.
Andy Raymond Award for Worst Commentator of the Year- Andy Raymond (Fox Sports Australia) I seriously hate Andy Raymond and it’ll be a task for anyone to win this award any year apart from him. He just talks and talks and talks without ever saying anything with the slightest bit of meaning. The only Raymondism I can remember this year (if I remembered anymore I’d probably get cancer) is this: ‘Boxing under the Nitro Format this evening’
WTF does that mean?!?!?!?! At the time he was referring to the promotion as being called Nitro Fight Night or some shit, but what he actually said has zero meaning to anyone with an IQ above 50! Maybe it’s just me who gets irritated by things like this, but seriously if you’re on TV and your job is to talk you really need to know how to do it. Another thing that annoys me about him is his constant comment everytime a boxer from New South Wales fights a boxer from Queensland he calls it state of origin. On some cards when this happens four or five times he says it every fucking time. Its no wonder that boxing is seen by a lot of people in Australia as a sideshow sport that Rugby League players play to keep themselves fit in the off season when you have some moronic Rugby League commentator who knows fuckall about the sport making absolutely no sense with anything he says except when he says something that he can relate back to Rugby League like the state of origin shit.
John Ruiz Award for Worst Fight of the Year- Wladimir Klitschko UD12 Sultan Ibragimov Now this isn’t exactly the worst fight of the year, but it’s the worst one I saw that I went out of my way to watch. Ibragimov ran for dear life and Wladimir was too shit scared of being knocked out to do anything about it. The result was Wladimir winning the fight on his aggressive pawing of his jab. Valuev-Holyfield sounds worse, but you’ll have to pin my eyes open A Clockwork Orange style to get me to watch that. Bringing me to my next award:
Ruiz-McCline Award for Worst Matchup of the Year- John Ruiz vs Jameel McCline This award was originally going to be called the Ruiz-Holyfield Award out of respect for the worst boxing trilogy of all-time, then I remembered he fought McCline this year and the award will be now known as Ruiz-McCline. Now I didn’t see this fight (which is why I haven’t gouged out my eyes with a toothpick) but oh my God, who ever thought these two would make for attractive viewing needs to jab themselves in the eye with a screwdriver. Has there ever been two more boring Heavyweights? At least Wladimir Klitschko has punching power that can sometimes be exciting. These two not only have extremely boring styles, but they’re very ineffective fighters who often resort to holding. If I was managing Ruiz, after I committed suicide I’d do everything I could to keep him away from the likes of McCline who is just a fat waste of space with enough gas to punch for maybe three rounds. Matching these two up only shows the full range of boredom they can produce. Luckily I didn’t have to sit through this bout as Haye-Maccarinelli was live on one channel and by the time it had finished so had this piece of shit bit of matchmaking.
Joe Jacobs ‘We was Robbed ‘ Award for Robbery of the Year- Nicolay Valuev W12 Evander Holyfield (Joe Jacobs managed Max Schemling in the 1930s and had a famous quote ‘We was robbed, we shouldda stayed in bed’ after Schmeling lost the title to Sharkey).
I haven’t seen the fight and I don’t want to, but the whole thing is just cruel. Here’s a legend of the ring who’s battled way past his prime in a quest to re-capture the Heavyweight title before he retires and after years of not getting anywhere near it he finally gets a shot and by all accounts should have won the fight and they rob him. Now it’s probably for the good of the division that Holyfield doesn’t win the fight and ends up being killed in the ring if he puts it against one of the Klitschko’s, but to rob a man of being the first five-time champion as well as the oldest champion in history is just cruel.
And on a sadder note:
Gone but not forgotten (pictured in order below, if I left anyone out leave a comment and I’ll edit it) Yo Sam Choi- Former WBC 108lb Champion (1999-2002), lost his title to Jorge Arce in 2002. Died from injuries sustained in a fight he won in December 2007 a week later. Duilio Loi- Two-time World Junior Lightweight Champion (1960-62 and 1963), bested the great Carlos Ortiz 2-1 in their series of fights. Lost the title to Eddie Perkins in 1962 then regained it in his next fight and retired with a 115-3-8 mark. Died in January of Alzheimers. Ralph Dupas- Former World Junior Middleweight Champion (1963), also challenged Emile Griffith for the Welterweight Championship and Joe Brown for the Lightweight Championship. Defeated former World Middleweight Champion Joey Giardello and lost a disputed decision to Sugar Ray Robinson. Died in January of dememtia. Mando Ramos- Former Undisputed Lightweight Champion (1969-70) who regained the WBC title in 1972 but lost it the same year. Lost his undisputed title to Panamanian great Ismael Laguna. Died in July of natural causes. Mate Parlov- 1972 Olympic Light Heavyweight Champion, 1974 World Amateur Light Heavyweight Champion, WBC Light Heavyweight Champion (1978). First Croatian to win a World title in Boxing. Died in July 30 of lung cancer. Vic Toweel- Former World Bantamweight Champion (1950-52). First South African to win a World Championship in Boxing by defeating Manuel Ortiz. Lost his title to Australian Jimmy Carruthers in 1952. Died in August at age 80. Joey Giardello- Former World Middleweight Champion (1963-65). Fought Dick Tiger four times (winning twice) and also beat Sugar Ray Robinson and Rubin Carter to name a few. Died in September of heart failure.
They’re finally here, the long promised rankings done entirely by me based on nothing but who I think deserves to be ranked where. A few months ago I decided not to do what Ring Magazine does which is have their own champions (similar to the ABC rankings) and then 10 challengers because I really couldn’t be bothered doing the research again to find out who is the real champion. Note to all newbies; it’s not as easy as who I think the best fighter is. It’s based on who beat who and I think the whole thing will be a lot easier on me in the long run and make the chances of me putting these up every month greater then if I had to worry about champions. I may introduce them in the future, but I doubt it. One thing I was working on was having my own champions based off any 1 vs 2 fights that happen in the future or if one fighter has unified all four belts and there is a direct lineage from him to the current champion then making him champion (ie Hopkins unified all four belts, lost to Taylor who lost to Pavlik thus making Pavlik the current champion) but for now I’ll leave it as it is.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before January 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on January 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.
Weight Division (weight limit)
Ranking- Fighter
Pound for Pound 1- Manny Pacquiao
2- Joe Calzaghe
3- Juan Manuel Marquez
4- Bernard Hopkins
5- Israel Vazquez
6- Rafael Marquez
7- Paul Williams
8- Antonio Margarito
9- Ricky Hatton
10- Kelly Pavlik
Heavyweight (no limit) 1- Wladimir Klitschko
2- Vitali Klitschko
3- Ruslan Chagaev
4- Nicolay Valuev
5- Alexander Povetkin
6- David Haye
7- Samuel Peter
8- Alexander Dimitrenko
9- Sultan Ibragimov
10- Oleg Maskaev
Cruiserweight (200lbs) 1- Tomasz Adamek
2- Guillermo Jones
3- Steve Cunningham
4- Jean Marc Mormeck
5- Marco Huck
6- O’Neill Bell
7- Enzo Maccarinelli
8- Firat Arslan
9- Vadim Tokarev
10- Kryzstof Wlodarczyk
Light Heavyweight (175lbs) 1- Joe Calzaghe
2- Bernard Hopkins
3- Chad Dawson
4- Glenn Johnson
5- Antonio Tarver
6- Clinton Woods
7- Zsolt Erdei
8- Hugo Garay
9- Roy Jones jnr
10- Adrian Diaconu
Super Middleweight (168lbs) 1- Mikkel Kessler
2- Lucian Bute
3- Jermain Taylor
4- Carl Froch
5- Anthony Mundine
6- Dennis Inkin
7- Librado Andrade
8- Sakio Bika
9- Jeff Lacy
10- Markus Beyer
Middleweight (160lbs) 1- Kelly Pavlik
2- Arthur Abraham
3- Felix Sturm
4- Winky Wright
5- Khoren Gevor
6- Randy Griffin
7- Sebastian Sylvester
8- Javier Castillejo
9- Amin Asikainen
10- Daniel Geale
Junior Middleweight (154lbs) 1- Paul Williams
2- Vernon Forrest
3- Sergei Dzinziruk
4- Daniel Santos
5- Sergio Manuel Martinez
6- Verno Phillips
7- Cory Spinks
8- Sergio Mora
9- Alex Bunema
10- Joachim Alcine
Welterweight (147lbs) 1- Antonio Margarito
2- Miguel Cotto
3- Shane Mosley
4- Joshua Clottey
5- Andre Berto
6- Kermit Cintron
7- Carlos Quintana
8- Luis Collazo
9- Zab Judah
10- Mike Jones
Lightweight (135lbs) 1- Nate Campbell
2- Manny Pacquiao
3- Juan Manuel Marquez
4- Juan Diaz
5- Joel Casmayor
6- Julio Diaz
7- Joan Guzman
8- Ali Funeka
9- Antonio Pitualua
10- David Diaz
Featherweight (126lbs) 1- Chris John
2- Robert Guerrero
3- Cristobal Cruz
4- Steve Luevano
5- Thomas Mashaba
6- Guty Espadas Jnr
7- Jorge Solis
8- Mario Santiago
9- Oscar Larios
10- Hiroyuki Enoki
Junior Featherweight (122lbs) 1- Israel Vazquez
2- Rafael Marquez
3- Celestino Caballero
4- Juan Manuel Lopez
5- Poonsawat Krattindaenggym
6- Ricardo Cardoba
7- Daniel Ponce de Leon
8- Jhonny Gonzalez
9- Steve Molitor
10- Wethya Sakmuangklang
Junior Bantamweight (115lbs) 1- Vic Darchinyan
2- Fernando Montiel
3- Cristian Mijares
4- Alexander Munoz
5- Jorge Arce
6- Nobuo Nashiro
7- Z Gorres
8- Dimitri Kirilov
9- Jose Navarro
10- Pramunsak Posuwan
Flyweight (112lbs) 1- Nonito Donaire
2- Denkaosan Kaovichit
3- Daisuke Naito
4- Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
5- Omar Narvaez
6- Koki Kameda
7- Rayonta Whitfield
8- Takefumi Sakata
9- Bernard Inom
10- Jose Cesar Miranda
Junior Flyweight (108lbs) 1- Ivan Calderon
2- Edgar Soto
3- Ulises Solis
4- Hugo Cazares
5- Cesar Canchila
6- Brahim Asloum
7- Giovanni Segura
8- Juan Carlos Reveco
9- Juanito Rubillar
10- Omar Nino Romero
Minimumweight (105lbs) 1- Roman Gonzalez
2- Oleydong Sithsamerchai
3- Raul Garcia
4- Florante Condes
5- Muhammad Rachman
6- Juan Palacios
7- Donnie Nietes
8- Nkosinathi Joyi
9- Katsunari Takayama
10- Manuel Vargas
