Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

[BoztheMadman]

Can you name your top 5? Between 2008 and 2018, that is. Let's have a try. We'll start with heavyweight and go down to light flyweight. I don't do minimumweight, blah. The criteria is that they have to have a rather long record already, or enough achievements, so guys like Callum Smith for instance, they shouldn't count.

 

Heavyweight:

1. Wladimir Klitschko

2. Anthony Joshua

3. Vitali Klitschko

4. Alexander Povetkin

5. Tyson Fury

 

Cruiserweight:

1. Oleksandr Usyk

2. Marco Huck

3. David Haye

4. Guillermo Jones

5. Denis Lebedev

 

Light heavyweight:

1. Sergey Kovalev

2. Chad Dawson

3. Bernard Hopkins

4. Jean Pascal

5. Adonis Stevenson

 

Super middleweight:

1. Andre Ward

2. Carl Froch

3. Mikkel Kessler

4. Lucian Bute

5. George Groves

 

Middleweight:

1. Gennady Golovkin

2. Sergio Martinez

3. Saul Alvarez

4. Daniel Jacobs

5. Felix Sturm

 

Light middleweight:

1. Miguel Cotto

2. Erislandy Lara

3. Saul Alvarez

4. Carlos Molina

5. James Kirkland

 

Welterweight:

1. Floyd Mayweather jr

2. Manny Pacquiao

3. Timothy Bradley

4. Keith Thurman

5. Shane Mosley

 

Light welterweight:

1. Terence Crawford

2. Danny Garcia

3. Amir Khan

4. Timothy Bradley

5. Lucas Martin Matthysse

 

Lightweight:

1. Edwin Valero

2. Juan Manuel Marquez

3. Nate Campbell

4. Jorge Linares

5. Terence Crawford

 

Super featherweight:

1. Vasiliy Lomachenko

2. Takashi Uchiyama

3. Jorge Linares

4. Miguel Berchelt

5. Takashi Miura

 

Featherweight:

1. Yuriorkis Gamboa

2. Mikey Garcia

3. Orlando Salido

4. Leo Santa Cruz

5. Jhonny Gonzalez

 

Super bantamweight:

1. Guillermo Rigondeaux

2. Juan Manuel Lopez

3. Nonito Donaire

4. Carl Frampton

5. Abner Mares

 

Bantamweight:

1. Nonito Donaire

2. Shinsuke Yamanaka

3. Anselmo Moreno

4. Joseph Agbeko

5. Vic Darchinyan

 

Super Flyweight:

1. Vic Darchinyan

2. Naoya Inoue

3. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Wisaksil Wangek)

4. Roman Gonzalez

5. Nonito Donaire

 

Flyweight:

1. Roman Gonzalez

2. Nonito Donaire

3. Vic Darchinyan

4. Juan Francisco Estrada

5. Moruti Mthalane

 

Light flyweight:

1. Naoya Inoue

2. Brian Viloria

3. Donnie Nietes

4. Ulises Solis

5. John Riel Casimero

[selij]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

Whats this Boz? Another "I luv Kov but hate Superman" thread :haha:

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

Whats this Boz? Another "I luv Kov but hate Superman" thread :haha:

Ahem...no. :haha: Everyone has their own opinions. ;-) Maybe I should have ranked him above Pascal...yes, why not. But NO WAY is he better than a prime Dawson and Hopkins who beat all those guys in his forties!

[selij]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

Hang on....Superman took the belt OFF Dawson in 2013 and has since defended it 10 times :ranger:

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

Hang on....Superman took the belt OFF Dawson in 2013 and has since defended it 10 times :ranger:

While ducking all the biggest names! :ranger: And Dawson was weakened from having to go down to 168 to fight Andre SOB Ward.

[selij]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

"I luv Kov but hate Superman" thread

 

I was right............ :lol:

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

I was right............ :lol:

Oh shut it. :mlol: :whip:

[pittbox]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

Cruiserweight rank is interesting.

I'd strongly disagree with Huck over Haye, but I actually checked out that David hasn't fought as a cruiserweight since 10 years and 8 months, so maybe he shouldn't be ranked at all? Marco had a long streak as a champ, typical for German boxing. But he doesn't have that stand-out victory. His best win on the paper is against Lebedev, but it's hard for me to give him more than a draw in this fight. Apart from that his best wins seem to be against Arslan (after the controversial win in the first fight), Ramirez and Afolabi (he could've lost the 2nd affair). Not that impressive for me, but who was better?

Lebedev best wins are against Maccarinelli and unification against Ramirez. Hugely under-achieved career in my opinion. He had some weak-ass contenders in his fights like Cox, Silgado and old Toney. I get that you may not rate him higher than Huck, even if I believe that he sould've gotten the decision in their fight.

Jones fought so rarely that it's hard to treat him seriously even if his win against Lebedev was a kick-ass victory.

Adamek had good wins against Cunningham, Banks and Bell, but his reign was probably too short. Under-achieved in the cruiserweight as well as Lebedev.

Cunningham has some good wins, but some of them happen earlier than 10 years ago. Losses against Hernandez ended his career as a successful cruiserweight.

Hernandez had a nice record with wins over Cunningham and Alexeev, but his reign wasn't long enough,

The conclusion is that crusierweight from Haye/Mormeck/Bell period to WBSS period actually looks weak. The only unfication happened between Lebedev and Ramirez who was lucky to pick up the belt by encountering lazy Afolabi.

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

Cruiserweight rank is interesting.

I'd strongly disagree with Huck over Haye, but I actually checked out that David hasn't fought as a cruiserweight since 10 years and 8 months, so maybe he shouldn't be ranked at all? Marco had a long streak as a champ, typical for German boxing. But he doesn't have that stand-out victory. His best win on the paper is against Lebedev, but it's hard for me to give him more than a draw in this fight. Apart from that his best wins seem to be against Arslan (after the controversial win in the first fight), Ramirez and Afolabi (he could've lost the 2nd affair). Not that impressive for me, but who was better?

Lebedev best wins are against Maccarinelli and unification against Ramirez. Hugely under-achieved career in my opinion. He had some weak-ass contenders in his fights like Cox, Silgado and old Toney. I get that you may not rate him higher than Huck, even if I believe that he sould've gotten the decision in their fight.

Jones fought so rarely that it's hard to treat him seriously even if his win against Lebedev was a kick-ass victory.

Adamek had good wins against Cunningham, Banks and Bell, but his reign was probably too short. Under-achieved in the cruiserweight as well as Lebedev.

Cunningham has some good wins, but some of them happen earlier than 10 years ago. Losses against Hernandez ended his career as a successful cruiserweight.

Hernandez had a nice record with wins over Cunningham and Alexeev, but his reign wasn't long enough,

The conclusion is that crusierweight from Haye/Mormeck/Bell period to WBSS period actually looks weak. The only unfication happened between Lebedev and Ramirez who was lucky to pick up the belt by encountering lazy Afolabi.

Yeah, I agree with all that. Adamek would have probably become the kingpin of the division but he made a STUPID decision to move up. A guy of his size in a time when huge men were more and more taking over?? What the hell was he thinking, didn't he see past the big dollar sign?? :rant: Hernandez was a hit and miss, talented guy with physical tools but with a leaky defense and vulnerable chin. Cunningham was good but he also got an undeserved nod over Jones.

[pittbox]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

Yeah, I agree with all that. Adamek would have probably become the kingpin of the division but he made a STUPID decision to move up. A guy of his size in a time when huge men were more and more taking over?? What the hell was he thinking, didn't he see past the big dollar sign?? :rant: Hernandez was a hit and miss, talented guy with physical tools but with a leaky defense and vulnerable chin. Cunningham was good but he also got an undeserved nod over Jones.

 

I get your points, but I think I understand Adamek's decision. He is based in the USA and no one cared about cruiserweight division there. Who else was a champ then? WBC was Fragomeni - hardly a profitable fight, WBA was unactive Jones and WBO was Ramirez, then Huck, who probably didn't seek unification, let alone at the beginning of his reign. I don't see a potential big fight for him. Cruiserweight was at big crisis after Haye quit the division.

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

I get your points, but I think I understand Adamek's decision. He is based in the USA and no one cared about cruiserweight division there. Who else was a champ then? WBC was Fragomeni - hardly a profitable fight, WBA was unactive Jones and WBO was Ramirez, then Huck, who probably didn't seek unification, let alone at the beginning of his reign. I don't see a potential big fight for him. Cruiserweight was at big crisis after Haye quit the division.

Doesn't matter-if you see that you are just too small and weak to really succee as as hw, it's always better not losing and reigning as a champ for a long time, thus also in the long run earning more money. This way, he got banged up too many times and lost too many fights and with that the chance to earn more money. That's the way I see it.

[pittbox]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

Doesn't matter-if you see that you are just too small and weak to really succee as as hw, it's always better not losing and reigning as a champ for a long time, thus also in the long run earning more money. This way, he got banged up too many times and lost too many fights and with that the chance to earn more money. That's the way I see it.

 

He was 11-1 as a heavyweight until the Glazkov fight when his age started to be an issue. It doesn't look that bad? He beat Arreola who was seriously treated as a top 10 HW then. He earned the shot at Klitschko which gave him more money than he could've ever earned as a cruiser. I think he should've retired after the Glazkov fight or at least Szpilka and his career would look better in the end.

[BoztheMadman]

Re: Ranking the top 5 fighters in each division for the last 10 years

 

He was 11-1 as a heavyweight until the Glazkov fight when his age started to be an issue. It doesn't look that bad? He beat Arreola who was seriously treated as a top 10 HW then. He earned the shot at Klitschko which gave him more money than he could've ever earned as a cruiser. I think he should've retired after the Glazkov fight or at least Szpilka and his career would look better in the end.

I thought he faced Vitali earlier...anyway, he was doing well against slow bums or pure punchers with zero boxing skills, like Arreola. But the moment he stepped up in class, he was dominated. He got a beating against Vitali too. I don't think ONE fight can make you more money like TEN fights, even if they were at cruiser. Ten title fights still are better than one. ;-)

 

P.S. I just checked and yes, he faced Vitali in his 7th hw fight, in 2011.