By Dennis Principe

29.07 - The exciting world of boxing is teeming with lots of talent all over the planet. But with so many boxing organizations sprouting and giving many fighters the title “world champion”, there seems to be only one title which boxing fans consider as the real worthy crown, the “Pound-for-Pound” championship. Following are a compilation of the best active boxers, at least for this writer, who can be considered as the best boxers, Pound-for-Pound in the world today.

Lennox Lewis – His win over Mike Tyson cements his claim as the best heavyweight champion of his time. But it may not be the final nail to his claim as the greatest heavyweight of all time. The Tyson win is just the start to his greatness. Maybe three more victories will earn him that distinction and these fighters are Evander Holyfield, WBA champ John Ruiz, WBO king Wladimir Klitschko and, possibly a rematch with a well-conditioned Tyson.

He could be the moment’s pound-for-pound champion considering that all other champions continue to ignore top contenders of their division.

Roy Jones – Consider him as the former P4P champion. Lately, he’s been facing fighters way below his caliber. Can’t blame him because his division is turning out to be boring. However, he can easily regain the P4P title by facing and winning over Bernard Hopkins, Dariusz Michalczewski and Vassily Jirov. But if Roy continues to get bored with the fighters mentioned, maybe a match with Mike Tyson at heavyweight will make his adrenalin reach the max.

Bernard Hopkins – Just like Lewis’ victory over Tyson, Hopkins’ triumph over Felix Trinidad is just the start to his claim as the greatest middleweight of all time. But unlike Lewis, Hopkins got a long ways to go. But if we talk of today’s P4P title, a win over Jones may give him that title.

Felix Trinidad – One of the top contenders for the title. But his unexpected retirement may end the debate for him.

Oscar Dela Hoya – Oscar has already lost the heart to fight the best there is in his present campaign. Credit this to his promising promotional outfit which, obviously needs time and attention from its boss. Even a win over Fernando Vargas can’t assure him of the P4P title. But if he can fight at 160 and beat Hopkins, who knows?

Vernon Forrest – His two impressive wins over Shane Mosley deserves serious attention. At present he may be a longshot for the P4P title but his conquest over Mosley is enough to give him a chance to go for real big money fights like Dela Hoya, Vargas or even Kostya Tszyu.

Kostya Tszyu – Another P4P longshot. Tszyu is running out of challenge at 140. But maybe he can give knockout victim Diobelys Hurtado a rematch. The first time they fought, an ill-prepared Hurtado almost pulled the rugs under Tszyu. With a newfound confidence since winning the WBA title, Hurtado may pose a real serious test for Tszyu, and a serious test for the P4P title.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. – Considered as one of the best talents in boxing, but his last fight turned out to be controversial. Be it because of his brittle hands or not being familiar in the lightweight division, his last fight affected his claim to the P4P title. An immediate rematch with Jose Luis Castillo is needed to regain whatever recognition he gained as a superfeatherweight.

Marco Antonio Barrera – One of the best Mexican fighters to date. His division is the most exciting in boxing right now. Which means he has to face a number of challengers before being considered for the P4P title.

Erik Morales – From being the best 122-lb champion, he seems to struggle at 126. A fight and eventually a convincing win over Barrera will get him back in the picture.

Tim Austin – Perhaps the hardest punching fighter at present. Needs to make noise in his division, like, unifying the bantamweight division.

Ricardo Lopez – A serious contender for the title. Has fought all the best in his division but being in the lightest division is not enough to consider him as P4P champion. With 23 “quality”, title defenses aside from beating all the champions in his division, Lopez definitely deserves a serious look.

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