11. Vic Darchinyan: There are only two things keeping the Raging Bull out of the top 10: (1) His vicious fifth-round knockout loss against Donaire, and (2) Adamek's win over No. 1 cruiserweight Steve "USS" Cunningham to claim the division's lineal championship. Darchinyan is an unorthodox beast, a pleasure to watch and talks a great game, too.
12. Chad Dawson: Bad Chad has superior speed at 175. The southpaw is still undefeated, with wins against Adamek and -- though seemingly slim despite the scores -- over Glen Johnson. With Joe Calzaghe retiring and the rest of the top boxers at light heavyweight advancing in age, it won't be long before he is champion and a stalwart in the P4P rankings.
13. Miguel Cotto: With an impressive win Saturday against unheralded Michael Jennings, Cotto appears to have returned from his brutal beating at the (again, loaded?) hands of Antonio Margarito. Doesn't Mosley's decimation of Margs make Cotto look even better, considering he owns a win over Shane? He still has the best left hook in the fight game.
14. Paul Williams: The Punisher can barely buy a fight at any weight class. The extremely busy and unorthodox southpaw is a threat to anybody at 147, 154 and 160. Too bad he's fighting at middle, ranked at junior middle and calls himself a welter. His avenged loss to Carlos Quintana keeps him out of the top 10. We'll see how he performs against Winky Wright on April 11.
15. Nate Campbell: Losing his lightweight trinkets after weighing 3 1/2 over the 135-pound limit didn't help him, but the Galaxxy Warrior was able to beat a game Ali Funeka on Feb. 14. At 36, he's still a factor entering the junior welterweight division, but time is running out. He needs high-profile fights against the likes of Hatton and Pacquiao.
16. Timothy Bradley: Speaking of 140, the No. 1-ranked Bradley may be the best fighter in the division. Consider these particulars: Desert Storm is only 25, has excellent speed and glimpses of power, has superb conditioning and isn't afraid to infiltrate hostile territory to score KOs. Ask Junior Witter. His April 4 bout against Kendall Holt should be explosive.
17. Chris John: The self-promoted featherweight is the best undefeated boxer nobody knows or has seen for lack of North American exposure. Most of his bouts have been in his homeland of Indonesia. One of his 42 wins was against Juan Manuel Marquez. The Dragon makes his U.S. debut against Rocky Juarez on Saturday's HBO card.
18. Juan Diaz: After being out-boxed by Campbell, the Baby Bull rebounded by brutalizing Michael Katsidis. He's fearless, a ferocious body puncher and forces action with forward progression and flurries. A victory over Marquez on Saturday may vault Diaz into the top 10, depending on performance, but Marquez is no pushover.
19. Nonito Donaire: Inactivity has plagued the flyweight since his 2007 knockout of Darchinyan. The Filipino Flash has only fought twice since, winning both bouts by stoppage. He returns March 22 against Raul Martinez on a Top Rank PPV card. His split with promoter Gary Shaw may cost him because Shaw has refused to match him against his fighters.
20. Wladimir Klitschko: Before hitting "send" on the hate mail, hear this out: Dr. Steelhammer is the best heavyweight in the world, bar none. This slot could be a two-headed monster with the inclusion of brother, (No. 2) Vitali, since the two top heavies will never square off. He fights cautiously, but still dominates the division. He's earned his rating.
Well, there you go. Feel free to comment and berate the decisions, but a lot of time and consideration was put into this list. Hope you enjoyed it.
Oscar Diaz update: The Associate Press reported today that boxer Oscar Diaz was released from a hospital seven months after falling into a coma during his fight against Delvin Rodriguez. The welterweight bout was televised on the now-defunct ESPN Wednesday Night Fights on July 16.
A doctor said he is optimistic the 26-year-old will walk and talk again.
Donations to the Oscar Diaz Foundation can be made by clicking the banner above.
I wish all the best to El Torito. May science be as sweet to him as he was to fans.
4 comments:
My hate mail on Wlad would not be that he's in there. I think he's too low! He's not top 10, but he is better than 20. And Cotto is still a top 10 talent to me and I think we both can agree that he'll likely be back in your top 10 in a year.
Darchinyan's problem is that he never gets a good stretch in before the fight. He's always flexing and stuff during the bout... very concerning.
Wlad is dominating a weak division with limited skill and heart. There are too many competitive classes to leave some guys out. Whom should he be listed above?
Cotto is a top-10 talent, but he's going to have to rebound against better fighters than Michael Jennings. If Berto or Collazo were to beat him (and Mosley would), it could all fall downhill.
I love Vic! Only Emanuel Augustus makes me laugh that much while watching a fight. And Darchinyan doesn't even realize how funny he is!
Only one argument with your list Joe, and while I may just be nit-picking, too bad. I would have Williams ahead of Cotto since the Punisher did beat Antonio "Tijuana Escayola" Margarito and Cotto is still picking bits of plaster from his face. Other than that, I like the list.
I've thought that out, too. Though Williams beat Margs, it was close. Yes, Cotto has a fair gripe for the KO loss, but he also has a win against Mosley and a bone-crushing liver-shot KO against Quintana (who beat the Punisher handily in their first bout). It's one slot. Williams still hasn't done enough to surpass any of the guys ahead of him -- not even Fernando Montiel, who didn't make the list.
Like the plaster remark, though.
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