22.09.06 – By Michael Montero: *NOTE: I don’t base my rankings solely on records and/or title status; I factor in the fighter’s talent and potential, quality of opposition, length of time and/or dominance in their current division, and said fighter’s potential style match ups with other top ranked fighters at their weight.
I also rank fighters at the divisions they are about to move to – for example I rank Jose Luis Castillo at 140 even though he has hailed at Lightweight (135 pounds) for a long time, and Shane Mosley at Welterweight (147 pounds) even though he’s fought at 154 in recent years. Both plan on moving up and down in class, respectively, in 2007. Let the arguments begin!!!
Montero’s Rankings:
Heavyweight
1: Wladimir Klitschko
2: Serguei Lyakhovich
3: Lamon Brewster
4: Oleg Maskaev
5: Samuel Peter
Cruiser – 200
1: O’Neil Bell
2: Jean-Marc Mormeck
3: Guillermo Jones
4: Wayne Braithwaite/Steve Cunningham
5: Grigory Drozd/Vadim Tokarev
Light Heavy – 175
1: Tomasz Adamek
2: Clinton Woods
3: Zsolt Erdei
4: Glen Johnson
5: Antonio Tarver/Paul Briggs
Supper Middle – 168
1: Joe Calzaghe
2: Mikkel Kessler
3: Jeff Lacy
4: Markus Beyer
5: Anthony Mundine
Middle – 160
1: Jermain Taylor
2: Winky Wright
3: Arthur Abraham
4: Kassim Ouma
5: KellyPavlik/Edison Miranda
Super Welter – 154
1: Cory Spinks
2: Roman Karmazin
3: Oscar De La Hoya
4: Jose Rivera
5: Sergeii Dzinziruk
Welter – 147
1: Antonio Margarito
2: Floyd Mayweather
3: Shane Mosley
4: Carlos Baldomir
5: Miguel Cotto
Super Light – 140
1: Ricky Hatton
2: Jose Luis Castillo
3: Junior Witter
4: Vivian Harris
5: Ricardo Torres/Mike Arnaoutis
Light – 135
1: Diego Corrales
2: Joel Casamayor
3: Juan Diaz
4: Acelino Freitas
5: Julio Diaz/Jesus Chavez
Super Feather – 130
1: Manny Pacqiao
2: Marco Antonio Barrera
3: Joan Guzman
4: Edwin Valero
5: Erik Morales
Feather – 126
1: Chris John
2: Juan Manuel Marquez
3: Injin Chi/Rodolfo Lopez
4: Takashi Koshimoto
5: Robert Guererro/Scott Harrison
Super Bantam – 122
1: Isreal Vazquez
2: Somsak Sithchatchawal
3: Celestino Caballero
4: Ricardo Cordoba
5: Sergio Manuel Medina/Daniel Ponce De Leon
Bantam – 118
1: Rafael Marquez
2: Hozumi Hasegawa/Genaro Garcia
3: Silence Mabuza
4: Wladimir Sidorenko
5: Veerapol Sahaprom/Poonsawat Kratingaengym
Super Fly – 115
1: Masamori Tokuyama
2: Nobuo Nashiro
3: Martin Castillo
4: Fernando Montiel/Luis Perez
5: Jose Navarro/Dimitri Kirilov
Fly – 112
1: Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
2: Vic Darchinyan
3: Jorge Arce
4: Lorenzo Parra
5: Omar Narvaez
Super Straw – 108
1: Roberto Vasquez
2: Nelson Dieppa
3: Hugo Cazares
4: Ulises Solis
5: Brian Viloria/Koki Kameda
Straw – 105
1: Ivan Calderon
2: Yutaka Niida
3: Muhammad Rachman
4: Rodel Mayol
5: Eagle Kyowa/Eriberto Gejon
Pound for Pound
1: Manny Pacquiao
2: Winky Wright
3: Floyd Mayweather Jr
4: Marco Antonio Barrera
5: Jose Luis Castillo
6: Rafael Marquez
7: Joe Calzaghe
8: Juan Manuel Marquez
9: Ricky Hatton
10: Jermain Taylor
Best Divisions
1: Super Featherweight (130)
To me this is a no-brainer. This division features future hall-of-famers Manny Pacquiao, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales as well as rising starts Edwin Valero, Joan Guzman and Rocky Juarez. There are literally too many contenders and prospects to list here.
2: Welterweight (147)
Welter is the current home for the most talented boxer in the game today (Floyd Mayweather Jr). The division also features the “Cinderella Man” (Carlos Baldomir), the most ducked fighter in the sport (Antonio Margarito), a future hall-of-famer who’s coming back down from 154 (Shane Mosley), a rising star moving up from 140 (Miguel Cotto), and future stars like Paul Williams, Carlos Quintana and Kermit Cintron.
3: Super Lightweight (140)
Jose Luis Castillo will soon call 140 his home along with another consensus top ten pound-for-pounder, Ricky Hatton; who’s coming back down after a brief stay at 147 (these two should be fighting one another in 2007). Rising contenders/prospects like Junior Witter, Mike Arnaoutis, Paulie Malignaggi and Demetrius Hopkins will make for great fights in the near future.
4: Lightweight (135)
With the probable retirements of Arturo Gatti and Fernando Vargas on the horizon, Lightweight now undoubtedly holds the game’s most passionate blood and guts warrior – Diego Corrales. The division also features “the Diaz’s” (Juan, Julio and David) along with solid veterans like Joel Casamayor, Acelino Freitas, Jesus Chavez and Zahir Raheem.
5: Featherweight (126)
Future hall-of-famer Juan Manuel Marquez fights here, along with international stars Chris John, In Jin Chi and Scott Harrison. Rising American star Robert Guerrero just became a titlist.
*On the bubble: Super Middleweight (168)
I know what many of you are thinking – “who cares about Super Middleweight?” Laugh if you will, but if the winners of the Calzaghe-Bika and Kessler-Beyer bouts this October end up fighting each other next year, Super Middleweight will be the ONLY completely unified division in boxing! Young star Jeff Lacy – along with rising prospects Lucian Bute, Librado Andrade, Allan Green and Carl Froch – provide a bright and exciting future for 168.
Comments, questions, hate mail – you know what to do…
Mike@michael-montero.com
Ciao.