Official 2013 Boxing Thread: Year is over, please lock.

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Weekend wrap up.
A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:


Sunday at Osaka, Japan
Koki Kameda W12 Panomroonglek Kaiyanghadaogym
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 115-114, 115-113 Kameda, 116-113 Kaiyanghadaogym
Records: Kameda (30-1, 17 KOs); Kaiyanghadaogym (36-2, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Kameda, 26, of Japan, eked out a sixth consecutive title defense in a tough fight with fellow southpaw Kaiyanghadaogym, 29, who was facing his first top-notch opponent and fighting outside of his native Thailand for the first time. Kaiyanghadaogym nailed Kameda with an uppercut in the second round to wobble him, although Kameda didn't go down and rallied back. Kaiyanghadaogym applied pressure, displayed a solid jab and drew blood from Kameda's nose in the fourth round; Kameda, whose face began to swell later in the fight, had an effective body attack. With the fight seemingly up for grabs, Kameda came on big in the final round. Afterward, Kameda was hard on himself, saying through a translator, "I feel sorry to have shown such a poor performance. I wanted to display a better fight." Kaiyanghadaogym said he hoped to get a rematch.

Also on the card, former junior bantamweight title challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka (22-10-1, 10 KOs), 28, of Japan, outpointed former flyweight titlist Sonny Boy Jaro (34-12-5, 24 KOs), 31, of the Philippines, in a mild upset, winning on scores of 98-94, 98-94 and 96-94. It was Jaro's second loss in a row, following his split-decision title loss to Toshiyuki Igarashi last July in Japan. Also, strawweight contender Denver Cuello (33-4-6, 21 KOs), 26, of the Philippines, dropped Takashi Kunishige (24-9-2, 2 KOs), 36, of Japan, in the second round and won a majority decision, 97-92, 96-93 and 95-95.

Saturday at Macau, China
Zou Shiming W4 Eleazar Valenzuela
Flyweights
Scores: 40-36 (three times)
Records: Zou (1-0); Valenzuela (2-2-2, 1 KO)
Rafael's remarks: The reason that Top Rank was able to put on such a major card in Macau, a casino haven where gambling money flows like water, was because of Zou, who is a national hero in China. The 31-year-old is a three-time Olympic medalist, having won China's first-ever boxing medal, a bronze, in 2004, followed by gold medals in 2008 and 2012. How big is Zou in China? His four-round pro debut was the main event of this card, and he made $300,000 for an otherwise forgettable fight, while Valenzuela, who had never made more than $400 for a fight, earned $15,000.

Trained by Freddie Roach, Zou was the star of the show, but his wasn't a very competitive fight. Pro debuts typically aren't. But Zou, who doesn't seem to have much punching power, did what he needed to do -- although it's clear he still has a lot to learn when it comes to adapting his amateur style to the professional ranks, especially shortening his long, wide punches. That's something Roach will work on with him, but Zou was still able to soundly outbox and outslug Valenzuela, 18, of Mexico, for the shutout decision in a fight that many believe was the most-watched boxing match in the history of the world. That's because it was televised on multiple networks on free television throughout China, whose population is close to 1.4 billion.

Roach and Top Rank hope to have Zou fighting for a world title inside a year -- and undoubtedly with fewer than 10 pro fights -- but he is so green for a pro that he will have to be matched very carefully. Top Rank is planning another show in Macau in August, with Zou slated to headline in a six-round fight.

Juan Francisco Estrada W12 Brian Viloria
Wins unified flyweight titles
Scores: 117-111, 116-111 Estrada, 115-113 Viloria
Records: Estrada (23-2, 17 KOs); Viloria (32-4, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In November, Estrada, 22, of Mexico, came out of nowhere to make a big impression when he pushed junior flyweight titlist Roman Gonzalez to the absolute limit in a decision loss in a tremendous slugfest. The fight came on the undercard of Viloria's victory against Hernan "Tyson" Marquez in a unification fight that was as violent and exciting as Gonzalez-Estrada. So when Viloria, 32, a Filipino-American from Hawaii, was in need of an opponent, Estrada got the call, accepted and moved up in weight.

Given their recent bouts, it shouldn't have come as any surprise that they waged a thrilling fight, especially the second half, with a lot of back-and-forth action, clean punching and exciting exchanges. Both of these guys showed great heart and great chins. Viloria seemed to be in control through the first half of the fight, but he began to fade toward the later rounds. Estrada, with youth on his side, seemed just a little bit quicker and fresher than Viloria, a former junior flyweight titlist, two-time flyweight titleholder and the last member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic boxing team still relevant in the pro game.

Estrada put in some seriously good work on the inside, which was probably enough to tilt the balance in some close rounds and allow him to pull out a very good fight that he deserved to win. He applied constant pressure to Viloria in the later rounds and landed some excellent uppercuts. He closed with a big 12th round, in which he had Viloria a bit wobbly. According to Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions, Estrada could be back as soon as June 1 in his native Mexico for his first defense.

Roman "Rocky" Martinez W12 Diego Magdaleno
Retains a junior lightweight title
Scores: 115-112, 114-113 Martinez, 116-111 Magdaleno
Records: Martinez (27-1-2, 16 KOs); Magdaleno (23-1, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In January, Martinez, 30, of Puerto Rico, made his first title defense and was lucky to escape with an unpopular split draw against Juan Carlos Burgos, who many believed had clearly won the fight. In the second defense of his second reign with the belt, Martinez performed a lot better against Magdaleno, a 26-year-old southpaw from Las Vegas, who went past 10 rounds for the first time.

As expected, Martinez and Magdaleno put on a crowd-pleasing fight. Magdaleno, more of a boxer than puncher, hurt Martinez with a clean straight left hand late in the third round. The difference in the fight may have come in the fourth round when Martinez landed a solid right hand to the chin, dropping Magdaleno (who nevertheless didn't seem badly hurt). Magdaleno regrouped and did a good job of boxing against the more aggressive Martinez. Magdaleno had Martinez in some trouble in the final seconds of the eighth round, rocking him with a flurry of shots as Martinez backed into the ropes. Martinez opened a cut over Magdaleno's left eye in the 10th round as the fight became increasingly action-packed.

Yasutaka Ishimoto W10 Wilfredo Vazquez Jr.
Junior featherweights
Scores: 96-93, 95-94, 95-95
Records: Ishimoto (22-6, 5 KOs); Vazquez (22-3-1, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In 2010, Vazquez, the son of former three-division titlist Wilfredo Vazquez Sr., won a junior featherweight world title and made two defenses, but it has been hit-and-miss since. He lost the title by upset 12th-round knockout to Jorge Arce, rebounded for an easy win against a D-level opponent, got knocked down and lost a decision for a vacant title against Nonito Donaire, and then looked good in a solid seventh-round knockout of Jonathan Oquendo in October. Now Vazquez, 28, of Puerto Rico, is down again after dropping the majority decision to Ishimoto, 31, of Japan, in a rough, tough back-and-forth battle.

The difference probably came in the eighth round. Vazquez was working over Ishimoto with right hands, had opened a cut above his left eye and was having a good round when, just as the round was coming to an end, Ishimoto cracked Vazquez with a clean straight right hand, buckling Vazquez, who put his left glove to the canvas for a legitimate knockdown that swung the round to Ishimoto. The fight was action-packed, very close and competitive throughout, and probably could have gone either way. Vazquez should have no quarrel with the judges.

Saturday at Chester, W.Va.
Paul Spadafora W10 Robert Frankel
Junior welterweight
Scores: 99-91, 98-92, 97-93
Records: Spadafora (48-0-1, 19 KOs); Frankel (32-13-1, 6 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: From 1999 to 2003, Spadafora held a lightweight title before relinquishing it. Since then, Spadafora has had all kinds of issues because of an admitted drinking problem as well as an incident in which he shot his then-girlfriend, for which he was convicted and incarcerated. There have been multiple long layoffs. He seems to have his life under better control these days and won his third bout in a row since returning from a nearly two-year layoff last August. And with Roy Jones Jr. involved in his promotional team, Spadafora probably will get a notable fight at some point. He is still undefeated -- although he hasn't been fighting especially tough opponents -- and he can still box very well at age 37.

Frankel, 32, of Denver, posed little trouble. Spadafora jabbed effectively, moved well and mixed it up when necessary to cruise to a victory in a fight that got a bit better as it moved along. Frankel's right eye began to swell in the second round, and Spadafora, who is able to stand in front of his opponent and make him miss with his excellent movement, worked Frankel's body with authority. Frankel did land some shots, though, raising swelling under Spadafora's left eye in the fifth round and bloodying his nose. In the seventh round, Spadafora opened a nasty cut around Frankel's left eye. Early in the fight, Frankel took to standing in his corner between rounds. Later, as he obviously tired, he started to sit down between rounds as Spadafora picked him apart in an easy win.

Saturday at Carolina, Puerto Rico
Thomas Dulorme W8 Ben Ankrah
Welterweights
Scores: 80-72 (three times)
Records: Dulorme (18-1, 13 KOs); Ankrah (17-13, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Dulorme, 23, of Puerto Rico, was one of boxing's fastest-rising prospects when he was, in retrospect, overmatched with Luis Carlos Abregu in October. The result was two knockdowns and a seventh-round knockout loss for Dulorme, who needed to regroup. He and his handlers said he would drop down to junior welterweight, but he hasn't done that yet. He returned in February for an easy first-round knockout against Eddie Brooks at 143 pounds and then returned home to Puerto Rico at 144 pounds to face the 148-pound Ankrah. Dulorme was facing Ankrah because original opponent Ivan Hernandez dropped out less than two weeks before the fight because of an injury.

Dulorme had no problems with the replacement, pitching a clean shutout against Ankrah, 33, of Ghana, who dropped his second fight in a row and third in his past four. Dulorme could be headed back to the United States for his next fight on June 28 on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights."

Friday at Santa Ynez, Calif.
Rustam Nugaev KO8 Jonathan Maicelo
Lightweights
Records: Nugaev (23-6, 13 KOs); Maicelo (16-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Lightweight Marvin Quintero suffered a broken nose in a sparring session while getting ready for his title elimination bout with Ameth Diaz and was forced to pull out two weeks before the fight, leaving matchmaker John Beninati the tough task of putting together a solid main event on short notice. But, boy, did Beninati get the job done with this dandy of a battle.

Nugaev, 30, a native of Russia living in Los Angeles, wound up scoring a highlight-reel upset knockout over Maicelo, 29, who lives in North Bergen, N.J., and is a celebrity in his native Peru. Nugaev and Maicelo fought a good, competitive, toe-to-toe slugfest that came to an abrupt end when Nugaev caught Maicelo with a clean and powerful right hand that dropped him face-first before he rolled over on his back. Maicelo tried to get up, but in an odd scene, referee Jack Reiss forced him to remain on the mat by holding his arms down and called off the fight at 2 minutes, 3 seconds without a count.

Gabriel Tolmajyan W8 Jorge Maysonet Jr.
Lightweights
Scores: 80-71 (twice), 77-75
Records: Tolmajyan (14-2-1, 3 KOs); Maysonet (11-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Maysonet, 23, who has been getting some hype as one of Puerto Rico's prospects to watch, was stepping up in competition in this fight. His father (and trainer) Jorge Maysonet Sr. was a 1984 Puerto Rican Olympian and once challenged for a welterweight title. But the hype for the younger Maysonet is likely to cease after this poor performance against Tolmajyan, 27, a native of Armenia living in Glendale, Calif.

Tolmajyan, a southpaw, started fast and never let up, dropping Maysonet to a knee with a sneaky inside counter left hand (and with the help of an accidental head-butt that landed with the punch) midway through the first round. Tolmajyan outclassed the youngster. He fought a much more controlled fight, while Maysonet's inexperience showed. Maysonet was wild with his punches and never found a rhythm. Back to the drawing board for him.
 
Donair and Rigondeaux toughest opponents to date
props for Donito for taking this fight
Have him taking itby KO but then again Guillermo can come out hitting and getting that one punch

anyone know of the undercard for this fight?
 
The schedule is on page 1, it'll have all the fights for that night.

I personally think Rigondeaux might KO Donaire.
 
I;ve got Rigo.

The skill level is truly incredible. Donaire obviously has the power to end things, but I'm going with skill to beat power. The footwork and left to the body will be the key factors.
 
 
#50 Jack Dillon (95-8-15, Newspaper Decisions 92-19-17)

Five-feet-eight-inches and overweight at 175 pounds. Jack Dillon became contender to the title of one of the biggest heavyweight champions in history, the 245-pound man mountain called Jess Willard. Willard never met Dillon, but in the three years between his defeat of Frank Moran and his devastating loss to Dempsey, the smaller Jack was named as a possible opponent as often as anyone else, such was the resume he built at heavyweight. This, though, was but the greatest achievement of the first man to be given the moniker “Giantkiller.” He also amassed a tremendous win ledger at both middleweight and light-heavyweight.

When he lost back-to-back fights (and his generally unrecognized title claim) to Frank Klaus in December of 1912, Dillon had already boxed a career. Going into those fights he was 31-2-5, and he had beaten some of the leading middleweights of his era, George Chip, Leo Houch, Eddie McGoorty, Battling Levinsky, Mike Sullivan, Jimmy Gardner and Bob Moha. The incredible thing is that all of this was in Dillon’s pre-prime. His run after the twin losses to Klaus is what made him.

He came hot out of the blocks beating two top contenders of the Ketchel era, Jack Sullivan and Hugo Kelly. Both were faded but both were at one time amongst the very best middleweights in the world—Dillon outclassed both. A six-rounder newspaper decision against Leo Houch (whom he had already beaten several times) aside, Dillon won more than seventy fights in a row against almost as massed an array of talent as the era could provide him below heavyweight. He also began his insidious creep up the heavyweight ranks, besting heavyweight contenders and gatekeepers in Jim Flynn whom he spotted fifteen pounds, Gunboat Smith who outweighed him by twelve pounds, and Dan Flynn to whom he gave up eighteen pounds. He then dropped a strange one to the unheralded Tom McMahon before digging into the heavyweights in earnest, beating up Jim Savage, Charley Weinhert, Dan Flynn twice and Jim Flynn once. Billy Miske proved a step too far in January of 1916 but stopped the giant Tom Cowler in his very next fight, by knockout no less. He continued to brutalize the Flynns, Smith and perennial victim Battling Levinsky before he avenged himself in April of ’16 upon Billy Miske whom he outboxed over ten.

It was said by some that Dillon’s manager had become a little too brave when he matched him with the 205-pound Frank Moran, a fighter who had just boxed ten rounds with the incumbent heavyweight champion, but such was Dillon’s reputation by this point that he was made a favorite over the world-title challenger.

“Jack Dillon proved his right to the title of Giantkiller last night,” wrote The New York Tribune, “by handing Frank Moran a thorough lacing at Washington Park [Brooklyn].” An astonishing 25,000 people watched the massacre.

After this feat, Dillon dropped off a bit, as witnessed by the fact that Battling Levinsky now at last managed to best him. Others would take advantage, but during his mind numbing six-year prime, he amassed an astonishing 92-3-7-2 against the best the middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight had to offer.
 
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#49 Tommy Ryan (84-2-11, Newspaper Decisions, 5-1-1)

Tommy Ryan’s decade of dominance began in 1891 when he lifted the welterweight title of the world beating Danny Needham over—wait for it—seventy-six rounds. These excessive distances suited Ryan as he was persistently in tremendous condition and boxed intelligently to break his opponent down. Needham was taken apart at the seams, eyes closed one-by-one before a body attack sapped his strength. “Pure science” is how the LA Herald reported it; here then was the successor to Jack Dempsey, The Nonpareil, only Ryan would have the competition to prove his greatness.

Proving he could punch in addition to box, he dispatched Billy McMillan and “cat-quick” Englishman Frank Howson in three and fourteen rounds respectively to round out ’91. Three more defenses followed through ’94 including a twenty-round victory over one of the era’s outstanding fighters and perhaps the dirtiest of all time, Mysterious Billy Smith. Smith was the aggressor throughout, but Ryan kept him under control with a body attack that would have “felled an elephant” according to The St. Paul Daily Globe. Ryan defied the one-hundred degree heat to rally and dominate the final five rounds of twenty, forcing Smith to his knees several times. The two were rematched in ’95 and the fight was ruled a draw upon the interference of the police, but in reality Ryan had beaten Smith to a standstill, the wire report stating that he had split Smith’s ear whereupon Smith turned to the ropes whilst Ryan hammered him.

Ryan failed to lift the middleweight title upon his first attempt losing out to Kid McCoy but he would add it two years later in 1898, beating Jack Boner in twenty rounds, beating the outstanding Tommy West in fourteen rounds, drawing a rematch with McCoy (once more due to police interference) and once again defeating Billy Smith in the interim. He fought six official defenses of his middleweight title, including one of the bloodiest contests ever staged in his 1902 rematch with West and retired the undefeated champion of the world. Nor did he ever lose his welterweight title in the ring; in fact he lost just twice, once by knockout to the bigger McCoy and once by disqualification. Whilst his dominance is hurt by his failure to match Barbados Joe Walcott, the other colossus of this era, Ryan’s being arguably the best welterweight or middleweight for as many as ten years provides a huge counterbalance.

 
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#48 Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2)*
#47 Floyd Mayweather (43-0)*

In the introduction to Part Three I wrote that “should conservatism in boxing become the norm, much of the oxygen that allows greatness to burn is sucked from the room.” Is it reasonable to level at these two men, who hold eighteen different straps including seven lineal championships at a total of thirteen different divisions between them, accusations of conservatism in matchmaking? No. I cannot say that. Fans whinge endlessly about Floyd Mayweather “cherry picking” his opponents whilst the other camp gnashes their teeth about Manny Pacquiao “weight-draining” his opponents in a series of catchweight bouts, but these men have both fought some of the very best fighters of their era.

But they haven’t fought each other.

I am not interested in the reasons why. Was Pacquiao’s ducking blood tests the reason or did Mayweather’s determination to duck Pacquiao just render that a handy excuse? We will never know for sure and I don’t care. My job is to analyze the legacy of the two men and rank them in relation to others. Their failure to meet is of interest, however, because if they had fought a pair it would have changed the rankings of both men more than any other series imaginable. Say Pacquiao had beaten Mayweather twice—he then becomes the unfettered #1 for this era with a domination of a fellow and primed all-time great under his belt and is thereby catapulted up this list whilst Mayweather drops to the lower reaches. As it stands, they are ranked almost together, as they were through much of the past decade, with Mayweather slightly higher, just as he was for much of that time. Both were ranked on the pound-for-pound list between 2003 and 2013, with Mayweather ranked higher for most of six of these years and Pacquiao ranking higher for most of four, despite Mayweather’s yearlong “retirement.”

If that seems an arbitrary way to judge them, it needn’t. It is obviously desperately close between them and they themselves had the chance to separate one from the other in terms of skill and legacy but declined—the fans are the big losers and for boxing it is the most embarrassing low blow since the abolishment of the color line. Mayweather’s slight advantage in longevity on the P4P list plus a sneaking suspicion on my part that he was better by a hair is, tragically, all I have to separate them.

There was enough oxygen in beating a series of top men and one another’s leftovers but not enough to see them fulfill that dramatic potential, and with that fight now rendered all but meaningless by Pacquiao’s destruction at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez, only extreme longevity or a surprising leap to middleweight on the part of Floyd Mayweather will see these two modern giants trouble the top twenty in the way their fans would wish.

 
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#46 Ike Williams (128-24-5)

Ike Williams sits atop a pile of lightweight as deep as any since the heyday of Joe Gans. Pinning down his absolute prime is difficult—such was Ike’s level of competition that there would always be a loss just around the corner—but he probably hit his absolute stride sometime in 1944. This was the year in which, putting his defeat by the superb Bob Montgomery in January behind him, he twice beat the equally brilliant Sammy Angott (Angott would avenge himself by stoppage in ’45) adding scalps like Slugger White, Freddie Dawson, Enrique Bolanos and Johnny Bratton through ’46 before Gene Burton picked him off in ’47. Tippy Larkin then fell in four before he unified the title having already picked up the NBA title in ’45, all but murdering Bob Montgomery in the process. The lightweight then stepped up to do what few welterweights could do, knocked down and outpointed Kid Gavilan in a ten-round fight in February of ’48. The decision was not a popular one in every quarter, but this rather misses the point; Gavilan, whilst not primed, was on his way to becoming one of the most formidable welterweights in history. Stepping up to beat him should have been all but impossible. Dropping him in the process is a real feather in Ike’s cap.

Defenses against the outstanding Beau Jack and Jesse Flores followed before Kid Gavilan twice avenged himself giving him a total of seven defenses against as superb an array of contenders as challenged a lightweight champion. Zurita, Montgomery, Angott and Jack were fellow kings who at some stage knelt before him. On the downside, Williams dropped a four-fight series to the stiff-jabbing fleet-footed Willie Joyce who bested him during his apparent prime, revealing a surprising stylistic weakness that undermines his standing a little, and the fifties were deeply unkind to him, stealing both his title and a his air of invincibility as he boxed on beyond his prime. An excellent puncher and a superb boxer, he’s a handful for any fighter you care to name weighing in at or below 140 pounds and was the definitive lightweight from an era that would have given up more names to this list were it 120 place long rather than 100.

 
Rigo v. Donaire is my most anticipated matchup so far this year, 2nd to Rios v. Alvarez 2. Rigo has to let his hands go if he wants to win. I could see judges going for the more aggressive Donaire if he is scoring against Rigo's good defense.
 
I got Donaire. Not by KO, but by decision. Rigo makes it a brawl, could be interesting.

GGG V Macklin set for June 29th. Will be GGG's third fight of 2013.
 
I hope Rigo takes it. Donaire would have duck rigo if the promoters were not beefing.

Any word if Marquez gonna fight again? Hoping we see him again against bradely.
 
Article Link - http://www.boxingscene.com/marquez-im-no-puppet-i-want-bradley-not-pacquiao--64114#ixzz2Q33d8K15
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Four division world championJuan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40KOs) has made it clear that he will not allow any promoter to force him into a fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao. Marquez, who will soon decided the future of his career, wants to pursue a fifth world title in a fifth weight division - and the target appears to be WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (30-0, 12KOs).

Top Rank's CEOBob Arum is trying to reach an agreement with Marquez for a fifth Pacquiao clash, but the Mexican boxer doesn't see the point after knocking Pacquiao out cold in the sixth round of their fourth meeting last December at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“It motivates me more to look for a fifth divisional championship. I believe that any sportsman or professional wants to achieve certain goals and that's why another belt inspires me more. And what's better than facing an opponent - who for me is a great fighter, tough and difficult, like Timothy Bradley. My family has the last word [on my future]. I am not a puppet for anybody. I will not allow myself to move forward based on what a promoter or other [industry] people say. My decision [regarding the future of my career] is firm - if it is no then it is no and if it is yes, then it is yes. The surest thing is that there will not be a fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao, and yes there will be a [fight for a] fifth championship," Marquez said.
Click to expand...

There's plenty of Jr. welterweight/welterweights in there for JMM to pick from if Manny or Tim doesn't come to fruition.

Guerrero? Berto? What about if Mike Alvarado, Lucas Matthyse, or Danny move up? :nerd:

I'd really like to see Danny go up someone that's not so goddamn vanilla. Everyone that he's fought recently seems over-the-hump. Erik Morales, Amir Khan, and Kendall Holt? Two years ago those names would've been nice, but if he keeps fighting guys like Zab.... yawn.
 
TheGreatBean said:
I hope Rigo takes it. Donaire would have duck rigo if the promoters were not beefing.

Any word if Marquez gonna fight again? Hoping we see him again against bradely.
Click to expand...
He will absolutely fight again.

Arum is trying to force him into a 5th fight with Pacquiao, but he's pushing for Bradley or Alvarado.....at least to the media. The money will be much higher for the 5th fight, but it's tired already. Marquez boxed Pac's head off in the 3rd fight only to be robbed, then he iced Pac in the 4th, no need for another one.
 
Donaire by spectacular K.O.

Or it turns into a boring fight since Nonito sucks at cutting the ring off, with Rigo running away.
 
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Marquez has demanded a 50/50 money split to fight Pacquiao again.

While it's perfectly reasonable for him to get that considering he just iced Pac a few months back, Freddie Roach has called it 'ridiculous'...Freddie has always been one for talking nonsense, but if he thinks that is ridiculous then he is deluded,
 
#45 Jimmy Bivins (86-25-1)

Jimmy Bivins fought a level of competition only a handful of men on this list can equal and even fewer outmatch. After just fourteen fights he was pitted against Pittsburgh welterweight Charley Burley, then approaching his red hot prime, and although he held a size advantage, it is in no way a fight Bivins should have been winning—and yet, he did, landing the heavier blows and nicking a unanimous decision despite Burley’s taking over down the stretch. The door had opened on one of the most astonishing runs in boxing history.

Jimmy’s unbeaten streak was ended by former European middleweight champion Anton Christoforidis whilst he was still just 19-0, but Anton was a fighter Bivins had beaten before, and would again. In March of ’41 he beat the great Teddy Yarosz, and a month later outpointed heavyweight veteran Billy Knox. Still a light-heavyweight, Lem Franklin and Tony Musto, both in excess of 200 pounds proved too much for him, but he overcame the murderous punching Curtis Sheppard in ten. After losing to Melio Bettina he beat former middleweight champion Billy Soose and former (and future) light-heavyweight champion Gus Lesnevich back-to-back before being matched against leading heavyweight contender Bob Pastor. Pastor had around ten pounds on Jimmy, who was a huge underdog, but the Clevelander nearly put him away in both the first and the second before succumbing to Pastor’s sustained body attack and dropping another decision. That was April of 1942 and Bivins would not lose again until February of 1946. In that time frame he beat:

Oakland Billy Smith who was two months away from knocking out Lloyd Marshall, and a few months away from a draw with Archie Moore; light-heavyweight title challenger Melio Bettina to take a 2-1 lead in their series; 200-pound heavyweight contender Lee Q. Murray, twice outpointed over ten; Archie Moore, whom he knocked down six times before knocking him out in six; Lloyd Marshall who was coming off a career’s best win over Ezzard Charles, stopped in thirteen; heavyweight contenders Tami Mauriello and Pat Valentino; his former conqueror, Anton Christoforidis whom he defeated over ten to lift the “duration” light-heavyweight title, a series of belts introduced for the duration of World War Two; Ezzard Charles himself, who he beat like a thief, dropping him so many times in the course of winning a ten-round decision that the newspapers cannot agree upon how many counts there were; Joey Maxim, future light-heavyweight champion of the world; Bob Pastor, whom he avenged himself against by nearly stopping on course to a ten-round decision; and the much heavier Lee Savold, beaten in one-sided fashion.

It’s a staggering run of form carving him out as the premier light-heavyweight of the war years and likely amongst the two or three premier heavyweights. Given what he did to this huge swathe of champions and contenders in his prime years it is astonishing that he never held a genuine title himself.

So why no higher?

His incredible run of form was brought to a halt by Jersey Joe Walcott who beat him in a controversial points decision in February of 1946. From this, Bivins appears to have never recovered. He lost to Lee Q. Murray a few weeks later, a fighter he had never had issues dominating in spite of his seven-inch height and fifteen-pound weight disadvantage, but Murray now beat him clean. He’d drop his third straight to a peaking Ezzard Charles and this was the pattern that was repeated through the second part of his career. Charles knocked him out in four rounds twelve weeks later, then Murray beat him again; then Moore stopped him in nine, then he took him for a decision; Charles and Maxim both outpointed him; Moore knocked him out in eight and then nine; Harold Johnson decisioned him; as he slipped, so did lesser talents.

That said, you cannot take away from Bivins the extraordinary things he did and even whilst the best were beating him, he was adding to his resume, taking scalps like Valentino and Turkey Thompson. A brilliant fighter capable of the dull and sublime, wonderful wins and inexplicable losses, he unquestionably can be named amongst the greatest of the 1940s.

 
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#44 Thomas Hearns (61-5-1)

Of the many brutalizing punchers that litter this list, few have Tommy’s laser-guided accuracy, and even fewer enjoyed his height and reach advantage at his first championship weight of 147 pounds. He knocked out thirty of his first thirty-two opponents and like so many punching kings, included in this run was an excellent and dominant champion, in this case Pipino Cuevas. More unusual; until Hearns came along, Cuevas was regarded as the great welterweight puncher of the era, knocking out eleven of twelve title opponents—Hearns brushed him aside in two of the most devastating rounds seen.

The unbeaten Luis Primera and Randy Shields followed before Hearns embarked on one of the great nights of his career, of any career, the showdown with fellow welterweight demigod Ray Leonard, the winner to be anointed divine. Hearns was favored but was taken apart late after outboxing the man that would for many remain the best welterweight boxer of all time. In spite of the loss, this fight is also regarded by some as literal proof that Hearns could not be outboxed at the weight, and needed to be outfought. That this would prove a horrifying task was demonstrated when Hearns stepped up to what I consider his best weight, light-middle. A win over Wilfred Benitez helped to define his stint in this weight division although it was the knockout perpetrated against Roberto Duran that would forever define him. Like Cuevas before him, Duran was swept away on a terrifying tide of offense in just two rounds.

Middleweight is where the Hearns story likely should have ended; losses to Marvin Hagler and Iran Barkley make 160-pound tenure a near failure despite the strap, but Hearns, like all the great ones, rose again, draping 174 pounds over his 6’1” frame and stepping up to add a strap at light-heavyweight versus Dennis Andries and another versus Virgil Hill. Hearns brought remnants of both his speed and power to this class, evidenced by his dropping the tough Andries on six occasions, and although he looked vulnerable in spite his bulging biceps and even pedestrian in short spells against Hill, he declared 175 pounds “the weight division for me!” He did look the part, and allowing that he added the super-middleweight title, making him the first fighter in history to win straps at five different weights, Hearns is overqualified for pound-for-pound greatness, his keynote wins guaranteeing his place ahead of Floyd Mayweather.



In my top 5 favs, glad to see The Hitman this high.
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#43 Tommy Loughran (89-25-10)

Jack Sharkey was slipping when Tommy Loughran got to him in a razor-thin split decision in 1933. The result typified Loughran’s time at heavyweight. Starting to slip a little himself when moved up to the big division in earnest, he was capable of outboxing the mercurial Sharkey or dropping a decision to a less brilliant contender, like Walter Neusel. The giant Primo Carnera was too big for him, bringing to the ring a weight advantage close to 100 pounds, but Loughran was able to trouble Arturo Godoy, the man who came so close to upsetting a prime Joe Louis, going 1-1-1 with him. In addition to Sharkey and Godoy, he beat top contenders Steve Hamas, King Levinksy, Paulino Uzcudun, Earnie Schaaf, Jack Renault and Max Baer, many of whom fought for the heavyweight title—or held it. A stirring resume is undermined by an inconsistency at the weight but this never was Loughran’s best division. At light-heavyweight he was one of the greatest of all time.

Loughran fought an eight-round draw with Gene Tunney and began his dramatic series with Harry Greb whilst he was still a teenager. After going 1-1 with Jeff Smith and Mike McTigue in no-decisions for the light-heavyweight title no less, Loughran began to gain weight and take scalps. In 1923 he received a close and perhaps questionable decision over the great Harry Greb. Greb hadn’t lost a fight outside of a dubious decision loss to Gene Tunney since 1920. He was twenty-one years old. Greb took his revenge (as Greb was wont to do) a couple of months later but from 1926 through to 1929 he went unbeaten. In that time he would lift the light-heavyweight championship of the world and beat such men as champion Mike McTigue, the wonderful Jimmy Slattery, Leo Lomski, Pete Latzo, Mickey Walker and Georges Carpentier before vacating as the undefeated champion of the world.

 
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#42 Michael Spinks (31-1)

Michael Spinks doesn’t look like a fighter. He looks like a car mechanic.

A good car mechanic. The type of car mechanic that gets it from his wife for knocking money off, for people who are friendly with him, for people who might be poor. A nice guy; but not a fighter.

He looked like a mechanic, like a nice guy, even after Larry Holmes threw him to the ground in the opening seconds of their 1986 rematch. “That’s okay ref,” he reassured Mills Lane. “That’s okay.” Unequaled in terms of temperament, he then got back to the job at hand, taking the fight on two of the three judges’ cards against a hyper-aggressive version of one of the greatest heavyweights in forever: mission accomplished.

This is what defines Michael Spinks. Professionalism. Generalship. Generalship is the most professional aspect of a boxer’s make-up—the discipline of engineering the circumstances necessary for your victory. In just thirty-two fights he achieved a level of awareness in the ring that take the few men who reach that level many more fights to do so. His herky-jerky style and hurtful rather than devastating punching were so properly nursed as to make him a world-beater. His 1983 light-heavyweight unification fight with Dwight Muhammad Qawi (then Dwight Braxton) was a masterclass, moving to his right with the uncanny discipline of a career soldier, and only throwing his right hand as a counter to the Qawi right hand, taking away his man’s best punch and best draw with reads and discipline alone.

Between 1981 and 1988 he engaged only in world title fights (uncertainties surrounding his masterful five-round knockout of the thirty-pound heavier Gerry ****ey notwithstanding) and with the exception of the one-round devastation wrought upon him by Mike Tyson he won them all for a total of 15-1. His run at light-heavyweight included wins over Qawi, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Yaqui Lopez and his step up to heavyweight was as brilliant as any ever made by a light-heavyweight. Michael’s gain in early retirement, money and health intact, was the sport’s loss, but even in such a short space of time he was in the game he did enough to earn a place in the top fifty.

 
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#41 Alexis Arguello (89-8)

Between his being decisioned by the superb Ernesto Marcel in early 1974 and his failed attempt at becoming a four-weight world champion in the controversial loss to Aaron Pryor in late 1982, Arguello lost just one of forty-two fights against fleet-footed lightweight Vilomar Fernandez, who exposed in him a stylistic weakness to elusive, dancing boxers. In the other forty-one fights, everyone else revealed a stylistic weakness to an all-time great punching technician with every punch in the book and unerring accuracy. Those that demonstrated this universal Achilles heel included Art Hafey, Ruben Olivares, Royal Kobayashi, Bobby Chacon, Ruben Castillo, Jim Watt and Ray Mancini. He lifted titles at featherweight, super-featherweight and lightweight, holding the linear title at featherweight and lightweight but ironically not the weight at which he was most deadly, super-featherweight, his failure to meet Sam Serrano costing him that particular badge of honor. Whilst his height, genuinely freakish for a featherweight, helped him immensely in moving through the weights Arguello’s dominance through those classes remains impressive.

Furthermore, Arguello lost none of these titles in the ring, only parting from them each time he moved up in search of new challenges. His failure at light-welterweight can hardly be held against him as he was approaching the end and allegedly facing a doped opponent in Aaron Pryor.



Another of my favs.
 
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#40 Jose Napoles (81-7)

In appraising fighters I’ve become accustomed to trying to understand the boxing cultures that birthed them. In my opinion, nothing was tougher for a young fighter than the lower weight classes in Mexico in the 1960s and 1970s. It was strange, then, that Jose Napoles, the last of that generation’s great Cuban émigrés, settled not in Miami, as was custom, but in Mexico City. It made him. He did outstanding work in the lightweight division beating toughs like Carlos Hernandez, who would be light-welterweight champion in 1965, and the Mexican champion Raul Soriano whilst embracing the burden of the exile, traveling to places as far as Japan in search of money and glory. By the time he was matched with the superb Eddie Perkins up at light-welterweight he was more than ready, setting Perkins down on his backside en route to a near shutout. Mantequilla had arrived.

Between this victory and mid ’75, he would lose three fights—one to L.C. Morgan on cuts, thrice avenged, once to Billy Backus on cuts, also avenged, and once up at middleweight to the welterweight’s bane, Carlos Monzon. One of the legitimately great champions, he picked up the linear title from Curtis Cokes in early ’69. Cokes had stopped no less a figure than Luis Rodriguez on his way to the title and had himself posted five defenses. Napoles thrashed him. Their fight was not competitive. To chants of “Mex-i-co! Mex-i-co!” Jose’s adopted countryman cheered him home as he brutalized a stunned Cokes to body and head. Cokes quit, or was pulled, after the thirteenth round.

Complaining that “something was wrong” Cokes was honored as a former champion with a rematch. The same thing that was “wrong” the first time around was “wrong” again, namely Jose’s utter brilliance, and Cokes was stopped once more, this time in just ten. Napoles brought the most educated pressure it is possible to imagine in the ring. He boxed in a fashion so close to faultless as to make the apparently so. Fast, what he lacked in terms of absolutely elite hand-speed he made up for in the shortness and accuracy of his snapping punches, punches that brought stoppages in fifty-four fights. A crackling left hook to body and head may have been his best punch by virtue of the fact that it was so difficult to pick at mid-range, but this is a question open for debate. There was not a punch he did not excel at.

This formidable skillset brought him a successful defense against perhaps the only fighter who might have rivaled him for the title of best welterweight between Sugar Ray Robinson and Ray Leonard, Emile Griffith, ditched and beaten wide over fifteen. A routine defense against an ever willing Ernie Lopez followed. Then Billy Backus got to borrow the championship for a while courtesy of Mantequilla’s only real weakness, the sometime tenderness of his skin, the Cuban taking it back in eight the following year. In the interim, slickster Hedgemon Lewis had achieved a sparsely recognized counterclaim to the welterweight title; Napoles shut it down with a knockout. This was one of ten more defenses that ran down his prime, only the ill-advised trip up to middleweight punctuating the winning streak, and then at the end of 1975, eleven years after he first defeated a world champion, he bid farewell to his title, losing to John Stracey.

He immediately retired, ending a career had taken him to all corners of the world, and to the very heights of boxing greatness.

 
#39 Emile Griffith (85-24-2)

Emile Griffith is the two-time linear welterweight and two-time linear middleweight champion of the world. He also lifted a strap at light-middleweight going 2-1 in “world” title fights at 154 lbs. with his first and last contest for belts at that weight separated by fourteen years. His first ever title fight was at 147 lbs. and was fought less than three years after his turning pro, but by this time Griffith had already served one hell of an apprenticeship. After beating perennial contender and veteran Gaspar Ortega having boxed just sixteen times as a professional, Griffith was matched twice with the future light-middleweight champion of the world Denny Moyer, going 1-1. Immediately, he was thrown back into the deep end, taking an unpopular decision over another welterweight veteran, Jorge Jose Fernandez, immediately rematching him for a cleaner win. Florentino Fernandez, the immensely strong “Ox” followed just a month later, outpointed over the distance and after stopping Willie Toweel in eight and shading the great Luis Manuel Rodriguez in ten, Griffith was deemed ready, faith he repaid by stopping world champion Benny “Kid” Paret in thirteen to lift the title. After knocking out Ortega, Griffith rematched former champion Paret and was controversially beaten on points. Two of the three judges went for Paret, but the ringside press went almost exclusively for Griffith—surviving footage shows Paret being generally outhustled in a close one. Whatever the detail, Griffith would win back the title in what was arguably a needless third meeting between the two in a fight that Paret, tragically, would not survive. He was stopped by a huge attack and died of his injuries ten days after the fight. Griffith would later claim that he had left the most brutal percentage of his offense in the same ring which took Paret’s life.

It didn’t stop him excelling. After winning three more title fights, Griffith lost his title on a razor-thin decision to the man he had finished his apprenticeship against, Rodriguez. Pressmen barely favored Griffith, the judges barely favored the challenger. The two met again three months later and he took a controversial decision but the two would meet for a final time in 1964, Griffith winning clean to pick up their series 3-1. Between their third and fourth fights, he had begun his invasion of the division that would yield him his third title, 160 lbs. Despite a disastrous first round knockout loss to Rubin Carter, Griffith beat Holly Mims on his way to taking the championship from all-time great middleweight **** Tiger. It was a classic Griffith performance, all hustle, a beautiful coagulation of his stymying the opposition offence whilst making room for his own sharp punches. Griffith was no stylist, and the New York crowed loved him for his heart and work-rate rather than his brilliance—there was something honest and workmanlike about his performances that the people responded to in spite of its aesthetic limitations, limitations that didn’t interfere with results. Griffith won ten welterweight title fights against generally outstanding competition and added two wins at title level at 154 lbs. When he got up to middleweight, in addition to **** Tiger he beat the outstanding Joey Archer twice and Nino Benvenuti once before losses to the Italian and to the brilliant Jose Napoles signaled the end of his prime. It didn’t stop him turning in two tremendously brave losing performances against the deadly Carlos Monzon, but he lost ten of his last twenty fights, damaging an otherwise absolutely outstanding record.

 
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