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By William Trillo & Raymundo Dioses
Photos: Bret Newton, Marlene Marquez, German Villasenor & Ray Bailey
Due to circumstances beyond out of our control (well maybe it’s our
fault) our P4P Top 10 list has not been updated in quite
some time. But fear not, one of our newest contributors,
Raymundo Dioses, has stepped up to take on the daunting
challenge. With this new P4P list we are hopeful Raymundo
will chime in a couple more times this year as fighters
raise and/or drop in the rankings.
Speaking of dropping, we are also bringing back our P4P
Bottom 5 by none other than William Trillo. As usual there
may be some fighters who make it to both lists as you will
soon find out here. Without further adieu……
1. Roman Gonzalez (46-0, 38 KO's)
Despite facing solid opposition against Carlos Cuadras this past
September 2016 at The Forum, ‘Chocolatito’ successfully stepped
up in weight to challenge WBC titlist Cuadras and still showed
the skills and poise that has most pundits ranking him No. 1 or
No. 2 fighter in the world, alongside Gennady Golovkin, for the
past year.
With the Cuadras decision win, Gonzalez, a Nicaragua native,
once again became a champion in another weight class and is in
talks to fight again in the early months of 2017. Regardless of
when he fights, rest assured you are watching today’s current
No. 1 fighter. |
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2. Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33
KO's)
Golovkin, AKA ‘GGG’, has steadily become one of the most
exciting fighters as well as the most avoid during his rise in
the middleweight division which has included unifying 160 pound
titles while riding an incredible knockout streak (23) alongside
middleweight title defenses (16) that may see him eclipse
Bernard Hopkins defense record (20). The combination of
Golovkin’s power in both hands alongside an exciting, crowd
please style have had Golovkin trading No. 1 and No. 2 spots
with Gonzalez.
Look for Golovkin to go for knockout number 17 and middleweight
title defense number 17 in March against Daniel Jacobs in New
York. |
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3. Vasyl Lomachenko (7-1, 5
KO's)
The two-time Olympic Gold medalist burst into the professional
ranks in 2013 and in only his third fight, the Ukraine
featherweight earned the vacant WBO title in dominating fashion
over Gary Russell, Jr. in 2014. What has followed since are
knockout and stoppage wins over Roman Martinez and Nicholas
Walters.
Although the fist-thrower has only registered eight bouts as a
professional, Lomachenko has already shown that he is all around
one of the most fluid boxers in the game, who may soon outgrow
or cleanout the featherweight class and jump to the lightweight
level for better opposition. |
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4. Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KO's)
Like Lomachenko, Ward also is an Olympic Gold medalist, and
since his professional debut in 2004 all Ward has done is win.
The Oakland native was a longtime super middleweight champion,
later a unified super middleweight champion, and with his most
recent win over Sergey Kovalev, Ward finds himself a unified
light heavyweight titlist with the IBF, WBA and WBO straps in
his possession.
Ward, who at one point during his 12 year career found himself
atop many pound for pound lists several years back, does not
have the most crowd pleasing style, yet has always found a way
to win. The Kovalev win was controversial due to the scorecards
and it remains to be seen if a rematch with Kovalev will take
place, yet whenever Ward is in a fight, he comes in with the
professionalism that earns him pound for pound status. |
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5. Sergey Kovalev (30-1, 15 KO's)
Prior to the Ward bout, Kovalev gained a solid reputation as a
heavy hitter in the light heavyweight division. Kovalev gained
champion status in 2013 and went on to unify three light heavy
titles while becoming one of the most feared boxers in the game.
Due to the controversial outcome in the Ward fight, in which
Kovalev sent Ward to the canvas for the first time in his
career, it is natural for both fighters to both be ranked in the
top ten, as well as in close proximity to each other. A rematch
would settle matters and lift the winner to an even higher
position. |
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6. Terence Crawford (30-1, 15 KO's)
Crawford is an Ohio native who has unified lightweight titles
alongside becoming one of the more gifted fighters in the sport.
Alongside a two-fisted, southpaw switch stance, Crawford shows a
great all-around effort in the ring. A move to
junior-welterweight would produce some interesting matchups for
Crawford as well as a higher spot in the pound for pound list. |
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7. Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KO's)
The WBA bantamweight titlist, Rigondeaux is exceptional in every
category a fighter can be graded by. Rigondeaux became a major
titlist in only his ninth bout for the WBA’s bantamweight title
in 2012, in the next year besting Nonito Donaire for an upset
win, and has since remained undefeated in that division.
Rigondeaux’s only flaws come via ring inactivity due to
promotional issues and a lack of quality opponents since the
Donaire fight. Rigondeaux is set to defend his title against
unknown Moises Flores in February 2017. |
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8. Canelo Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KO's)
Mexico’s Alvarez has steadily become both one of the most
exciting fighters in the sport as well as its most popular and
gifted fist throwers of the last several years. The welterweight
was undefeated in 42 fights while becoming a 147 pound champion
before stepping up to face Floyd Mayweather in September 2013.
Alvarez lost to Mayweather via decision, yet has since gone 7-0.
Since 2015, Canelo has faced criticism for not facing Golovkin
at middleweight, even dropping the WBC title he won by defeating
Miguel Cotto in November of that year. Canelo had a productive
2016, scoring a highlight KO over Amir Khan in May 2016, his
only defense of the WBC title before dropping the belt. In
September 2016, Canelo won the WBO super welterweight belt with
a stoppage over relative unknown Liam Smith.
Canelo is expected to fight twice this year, in May 2017,
possibly against Mexico rival Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and with a
verbally agreed to match in September 2017. Expect Canelo to
rocket up the pound for pound list with a win over Golovkin. |
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9. Keith Thurman (27-0, 22 KO's)
Thurman is a hard hitting welterweight titlist who burst onto
the scene in 2007. The Clearwater, Florida native has steadily
beaten quality opposition over the course of his career and as
the WBA’s champion for the past several years has shown himself
to be a quality fighter.
Thurman is coming off a unanimous decision win over Shawn Porter
in June of 2016 and will be fighting Danny Garcia in March 2017. |
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10. Danny Garcia (33-0, 19 KO's)
Puerto Rico’s Garcia is a solid fighter who has been successful
in the lightweight, super lightweight and welterweight division
since turning professional in 2007. Garcia bested Erik Morales
in 2012 for the WBC super lightweight title and unified the
division four months later in an upset win over Amir Khan.
Garcia has since defeated Morales again, Zab Judah and Lucas
Matthysse. Garcia had debated wins over Mauricio Herrera and
Lamont Peterson in previous years, yet finds himself the WBC
champion after a decision win over Robert Guerrero in January
2016. A showdown against Thurman will unify the WBC and WBA
titles. |
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1. Alexander Povetkin (31-1, 23
KO's)
Without question Povetkin has aligned himself with some of the
worst drug cheats in boxing and with his second offense for
testing positive for banned substances, (yes, that’s plural),
Povetkin stands alone as one of the biggest losers in boxing. In
the same calendar year this guy had two shots at becoming the
heavyweight champ of the world only to piss them away, (take tem
literally) after failed drug tests. As of yet there have been no
rumors that Donald Trump hacked the internet in order rig the
testing and keep the belt safely here in America. |
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2. Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36
KO's)
In his last two fights Wilder defeated a broken down Chris
Arreola and before that he defeated an guy who made his way into
boxing because he was a pretty tough soccer hooligan, that being
Artur Szpilka. No one is buying into this act and quite frankly
as Larry Merchant stated, no one knows who Deontay is.
Seriously, if you have to pay some schlub to follow you around
and shout “Bomb Squad” every 30 seconds just to create a buzz
around you, then go ahead and assume the impact you have made in
boxing is negligible at best. |
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3. Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KO's)
In a recent article the fighter who arrogantly call himself
the “Son Of God” said, “I Don't Have To Fight Anymore, I
Accomplished Everything.” So if Ward means squandering his Super
Six victory, slapping Showtime in the face by jumping ship and
running back to HBO after that gimme concocted prize, staying
idle for near two years while he refused to honor a contract he
signed, dancing on his promoters grave days after he died to get
out of said contract, feigning injury to avoid big fights,
asking for tune-up fight after tune-up fight against washed up
bums and demanding top money for them and lastly lying about the
shock on his face when he was wrongly awarded the victory over
Sergey Kovalev…then yeah….Ward has accomplished everything. Now
do us all a favor and leave. |
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4. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
(50-2-1, 32 KO's)
Junior exemplifies everything that it wrong with boxing and the
promoters who feed him with a silver spoon in order to line
their pockets with the almighty dollar. Fighting only once at
the tail end of 2016 Chavez Jr. finally makes weight and
defeated a handpicked scrub. Big deal! Somehow doing what is
expected of him after years of screwing up has put him in line
for a Mega Fight in 2017? Give me a break! In 2015 Chavez Jr.
got his ass handed to him by Andrez Fonfara and then tried to
save face by fighting a few months later in a catch weight fight
at 170 pounds that he still couldn’t make. This spoiled brat
does not deserve to be fighting on the coveted Cinco De Mayo
weekend and anyone involved with putting him in a fight like
this should be ashamed of themselves. |
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5. Danny Garcia (33-0, 19 KO's)
Here is a guy who makes a career out of fighting either has been
fighters or smaller guys who have no chance of defeating him.
Beating The Ghost and Sammy Vargas in 2016 is nothing to hang
your hat on. Yet, with his cheerleader father in his corner
Garcia somehow managed to stay afloat. If he somehow can beat
Keith Thurman and the victory isn’t controversial, (normally the
case in Garcia fights), then and only then will he be removed
from this list. |
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Canelo Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KO's)
You can’t take on GGG at 160 pounds but somehow can challenge
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at 165 pounds? Enough said! |
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