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

[freakydestroyer]

Castillo was the bigger stronger fighter so he was able to bully Floyd around the ring. It's not going to be the same story with Guerrero. He might be able to make it as entertaining as Cotto did but my guess is he won't win as many rounds as Cotto.

What Guerrero lacks in size, he will make up for with youth. He is also the smartest guy Floyd has fought for quite some time. I am not saying Ghost will make it as competitive as Castillo, because he probably won't. And I doubt this fight will be entertaining because Sr is in his corner and he's all about defense first. That along with this being Floys first fight out of jail and him aging just screams BORING.

 

[yungmatt]

Expect more of the same floyd. Win 9-12 rounds and an easy UD

 

[maddog345]

Mayweather will cruise to an easy decision. Floyd is the naturally bigger man so I doubt that Guerrero will be able to bully Mayweather in the ring. I expect Floyd's right hand to land easily since Guerrero is a southpaw.

I'm more excited for the Mares vs. Ponce De Leon fight.

 

[proshares]

Weekend wrap up.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:


Saturday at San Antonio
Canelo Alvarez W12 Austin Trout
Unifies two junior middleweight titles
Scores: 118-109, 116-111, 115-112
Records: Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KOs); Trout (26-1, 14 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This was the kind of fight that reminds you just how big boxing can be on the highest level. This one had it all -- the top two 154-pounders in the world, both undefeated, meeting to unify their titles in a match of clashing styles. The fight was also staged in the perfect place, the Alamodome, where Alvarez's passionate Mexican fans turned out in droves. The fight drew a sellout crowd of 39,247 and generated a special atmosphere for one of the year's biggest boxing events.

Alvarez, 22, was defending his version of the title for the sixth time but facing his first prime opponent. He demanded to fight Trout even though his handlers were largely against it. But Alvarez was tired of hearing the criticism that he hadn't fought any top opponents during his title reign. Trout, 27, a southpaw from Las Cruces, N.M., who was coming off his biggest win -- a unanimous decision against star Miguel Cotto in December that put Trout on the map -- was all too happy to accept the challenge for his fifth title defense.

Alvarez's instincts to step up served him well: He won the fight, which was a good one. It was no slugfest, but it was an entertaining nip-and-tuck match, even though you wouldn't know that from the 118-109 scorecard turned in by judge Stanley Christodoulou. It was a much more competitive fight than that, even though, to Trout's credit, he didn't complain about the decision. Instead he gave Alvarez credit and showed class by saying, "Canelo shocked us. He boxed a lot better than I thought. He moved a lot better than I thought. Not that I underestimated him; we just prepared for a totally different fighter. He was the better man. He was quicker. He was stronger. I have no excuses. He was the better man."

Trout has nothing to be ashamed of. It came down to the preference between Trout's high work rate or Alvarez's heavier blows. According to CompuBox statistics, Canelo landed 124 of 431 punches (29 percent) while Trout landed 154 of 769 (20 percent). There were many close rounds, but the biggest moment came in the seventh when Alvarez decked Trout with a clean straight right hand. It was the first time Trout had ever been down in his career, and he was hurt, but he battled through the adversity.

One of the reasons Alvarez wanted the fight so badly was to avenge older brother Rigoberto Alvarez's loss to Trout, who outpointed him for a vacant title in 2011. But the drama of the fight was sucked away by the WBC's awful open scoring, which Texas regulators should never have allowed. After the eighth round, the scores were announced and Alvarez was ahead a preposterous 80-71 on Christodoulou's card as well as 78-73 and 76-75 on the others. Alvarez knew he had the fight in the bag, and it was reflected in his performance late in the fight when he eased off the gas and engaged far less than he likely would have had he believed the fight was on the table. Open scoring ruined what could have been a dramatic final few rounds.

Although he lost, Trout is still one of the best junior middleweights out there and should have no problem finding another marquee fight. Alvarez, now the clear 154-pound champion, once again called out Floyd Mayweather Jr., whom he would like to fight in the fall should Mayweather defeat Robert Guerrero on May 4. A Mayweather-Alvarez fight would be a pay-per-view monster.

Omar Figueroa KO1 Abner Cotto
Lightweights
Records: Figueroa (21-0-1, 17 KOs); Cotto (16-1, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Figueroa, 23, of Weslaco, Texas, is one of the more exciting prospects in boxing. His defense is basically nonexistent at this point, but he is gifted offensively and has an extremely fan-friendly style because he is all about aggression. He wants to walk his opponents down and fire shots and is rarely concerned about what is coming back.

He was taking a step up in competition against Cotto, 25, of Puerto Rico, a cousin of star Miguel Cotto's who was also facing his best opponent. Figueroa, with a growing fan base in Texas, gave the Alamodome crowd reason to cheer with a thoroughly dominant performance against Cotto. He instantly went on the attack, and Cotto couldn't deal with his firepower. With a minute left in the round, Figueroa unleashed a four-punch combination that drove Cotto backward and down to a knee. Cotto was able to continue, but it was only a matter of time until the fight would end.

Figueroa continued to attack and eventually landed a brute left hand to the gut of Cotto, who went down again and didn't beat the count from referee Jon Schorle, who counted him out at 2 minutes, 57 seconds. Because of Figueroa's TV-friendly fighting style and growing fan base, it won't be a surprise to see him land a title fight before the end of the year, even though he remains fairly untested.

Jermall Charlo TKO4 Orlando Lora
Junior middleweights
Records: Charlo (13-0, 9 KOs); Lora (29-4-2, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Charlo, 22, of Houston, is the twin brother of Jermell Charlo, who is also a quality junior middleweight prospect (and a little more advanced professionally than Jermall). But this was Jermall's night to shine, and he did just that, taking apart the veteran Lora, 32, of Mexico.

Although Lora represented a step up in competition and tried to press Charlo, he couldn't do much against a more physical and skilled opponent. Charlo jabbed, moved and whacked Lora around. He began to bust up Lora's face in the third round and cut him over the right eye. Charlo continued to bash away in the fourth round, including landing a great right hand that nearly dropped Lora. When the fourth round was over, Lora's corner stopped the fight, although the fighter wanted to go on. It was a good stoppage, however, because there was no way Lora was going to win and he was beginning to take heavy abuse.

Lora dropped to 1-3-1 in his past five fights, including a decision loss to Paulie Malignaggi and a sixth-round knockout at the hands of Keith Thurman.

Terrell Gausha W4 William Waters
Super middleweights
Scores: 38-37 (three times)
Records: Gausha (4-0, 2 KOs); Waters (2-4, 2 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Gausha, 25, a 2012 U.S. Olympian from Cleveland, officially weighed 164 pounds for this fight, but he put on a whopping 20 pounds between the weigh-in and Saturday night. Maybe that's why he was a little sluggish. Although Gausha won, it wasn't easy.

The hard-charging Waters, 23, of Valley, Ala., did major damage in the first round, dropping Gausha hard with a clean overhand right. Gausha was badly hurt and lucky to survive. Waters was teeing off on him when the round finally ended. But to Gausha's credit, he showed great heart. He got himself together and won the remaining rounds to win the decision in a surprisingly good scrap. But this performance has to give one pause when it comes to assessing Gausha's future.

Saturday at London
Nathan Cleverly W12 Robin Krasniqi
Retains a light heavyweight title
Scores: 120-108 (twice), 119-109
Records: Cleverly (26-0, 12 KOs); Krasniqi (39-3, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Cleverly, 26, of Wales, was supposed to face Krasniqi, also 26, of Germany, on March 16, but the entire card was postponed. When they met five weeks later, Cleverly, a southpaw, ran roughshod over Krasniqi in a one-sided fight made possible because of his extraordinary punch output.

Cleverly isn't the biggest puncher in the world, but he is so darned active that he barely gave Krasniqi a chance to breathe, much less mount any kind of sustained offense. Cleverly, who was making his fifth defense, averaged 87 punches thrown per round, according to CompuBox. That's very busy for any fighter, but especially a light heavyweight. For the fight, Cleverly landed 319 of 1,047 blows (30 percent) while Krasniqi was limited to landing just 92 of 381 punches (24 percent).

Cleverly was clearly in tremendous condition for the fight, as his output got better as the fight went on. He averaged 103 punches per round over the final four rounds. It added up to a nightmare for Krasniqi, who began his pro career 1-2 with a pair of four-round decision losses in late 2005 and early 2006, but who hadn't lost since. Cleverly would like a bigger fight and has been calling out fellow titleholder Bernard Hopkins -- a match Hopkins claims to also be interested in if he is able to take care of his own mandatory, Karo Murat (against whom Cleverly owns a knockout win), this summer. Hopkins said he would even go to the United Kingdom to face Cleverly. The fighters' promoters have talked about the bout, and maybe it will happen in the fall.

Dereck Chisora TKO9 Hector Alfredo Avila
Heavyweights
Records: Chisora (16-4, 10 KOs); Avila (20-13-1, 13 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This fight was all about rehabilitating former title challenger Chisora, 29, of England, who is marketable and outlandish but in dire need of a victory. Avila was just what the doctor ordered as Chisora, who was 252 pounds to Avila's 218, ended a three-fight losing streak. In December 2011, he lost a controversial split decision for the European title to Robert Helenius in Helenius' home country of Finland. Then Chisora was dominated in a lopsided decision loss to Vitali Klitschko in a world title fight, which was followed by last July's spectacle against rival David Haye, the former titleholder who drilled Chisora in the fifth round.

Avila, 37, of Argentina, posed no such danger. Chisora took his time, showed no urgency and appeared very relaxed as he systematically broke down Avila. Frankly, it looked like Chisora was purposely trying to get in some rounds and work on some things, although he didn't look all that good in a mundane fight. Avila held a bit and lost a point for the infraction in the sixth round. He lost another point for elbowing Chisora in the ninth round, although he was so far behind that the lost points hardly were going to make a difference. Avila was mostly on the defensive and covering up in an attempt to not take too many shots, but Chisora was still eventually able to take him out. Chisora stepped onto the gas pedal a bit late in the ninth round, working Avila over with a series of left hooks and body shots that drove him into a corner before referee Jeff Hinds stepped in and called it off at 2 minutes, 49 seconds.

Chisora could be back in action this summer for a rumored bout with contender Tomasz Adamek. If that comes off, it promises to be a good action fight.

Saturday at New York
Tyson Fury TKO7 Steve Cunningham
Heavyweight title eliminator
Records: Fury (21-0, 15 KOs); Cunningham (25-6, 12 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Fury, 24, of England, is one of the most hyped heavyweight up-and-comers in the division, but he got a bit exposed in his United States debut by the much smaller Cunningham. It turned out to be an excellent scrap, one that nearly ended with a major upset in former two-time cruiserweight titlist Cunningham, who is 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, derailing Fury, the 6-9, 254-pound giant. Cunningham, 36, of Philadelphia, was on the wrong end of a controversial decision against Tomasz Adamek in their rematch as boxing returned to NBC for the first time in many years, but Cunningham performed so well that he got this opportunity against Fury on NBC's second card.

The fight, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, was to determine the No. 2 ranking in an alphabet organization for the winner to get a step closer to a mandatory title shot against champion Wladimir Klitschko. Cunningham nearly got the job done in the second round when he crushed Fury, who had talked so much smack coming into the fight that it bordered on ridiculous, with a clean overhand right that dropped him to his back. Fury was clearly hurt, and Cunningham landed a number of additional clean shots to wobble him during the round.

Cunningham dominated the early rounds, and Fury appeared in trouble multiple times and desperate to do something. In the fifth round, referee Eddie Cotton docked a point from Fury for head-butting. But Fury eventually composed himself and began to use his physical advantages to take control of the fight. Cunningham, in his third fight since moving up to the heavyweight division, was tiring. Fury began to break the smaller man down, and by the seventh round, he was all over Cunningham, pushing him, hitting him with uppercuts and shaking him with every shot. Finally, with Cunningham backed into the ropes, Fury landed a short right hand and an exhausted Cunningham hit the deck and was counted out by Cotton at 2 minutes, 55 seconds.

Heckuva fight. Fury showed resilience, and Cunningham, who has dropped four of his past five fights, fought well but was simply outgunned by a much bigger man. Solid win for Fury, too, but just imagine what Klitschko would do to him if Cunningham was able to do the kind of damage he did.

Curtis Stevens W8 Derrick Findley
Middleweights
Scores: 79-73, 78-74 (twice)
Records: Stevens (24-3, 17 KOs); Findley (20-10, 13 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Stevens, 28, of Brooklyn, N.Y., is getting more active, just as he hoped to be. Promotional problems kept him idle for most of 2010 and all of 2011 before he came back for a quick first-round knockout win in March 2012. Then came 10 more months of inactivity. But he has since jumped to a new promoter that he's on the same page with and moved down to middleweight, scoring another first-round knockout in January and returning to face Findley, a durable opponent who gave Stevens the rounds he needed.

Stevens dominated most of the fight, although Findley was credited with a knockdown in the seventh round when he touched Stevens with a left jab that put him down (although Stevens appeared to be off balance when he took the punch). It made no difference in the outcome, however, because Stevens was way ahead on the scorecards. Findley, 28, of Chicago, lost his second fight in a row and dropped to 3-7 in his past 10 bouts. But he is a tough competitor and a competent opponent who will go rounds; he has been stopped only once in his 10 defeats.

Saturday at Mexico City
Victor Terrazas W12 Cristian Mijares
Wins a vacant junior featherweight title
Scores: 115-112, 114-113 Terrazas, 114-113 Mijares
Records: Terrazas (37-2-1, 21 KOs); Mijares (47-7-2, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Unable to land a title unification fight with Nonito Donaire, Abner Mares vacated his 122-pound belt in late January to move up to featherweight rather than make a mandatory defense against Terrazas, 30, of Mexico. With the belt vacant, that cleared the way for Terrazas to fight former junior bantamweight champ Mijares, 31, of Mexico, for the title. They put on an excellent fight. It was close and competitive all the way, with Terrazas rising from a 12th-round knockdown to finish the fight on his feet and eke out a split decision.

The WBC's open scoring system was being used, so the scores were announced after the fourth round -- 38-38 across the board. After eight rounds, they were announced again, with Terrazas up 77-76, 77-75 and the third scorecard reading 76-76. Both fighters were quick and busy, and it made for a crowd-pleasing fight. Terrazas worked the body well and began to inch ahead, but Mijares, a southpaw, rallied a bit after his offense was stymied through the middle rounds of the bout.

He cut Terrazas over his left eye in the 11th round and then dropped him to his rear end with a flush left hand in the center of the ring with about 25 seconds left in the fight. Terrazas, although a bloody mess, wasn't badly hurt. He rose to his feet and made it to the final bell to win the belt in a fight in which both guys showed the wear and tear of a tough battle on their marked-up and cut faces.

The loss ended the 11-fight winning streak Mijares had fashioned since 2009. Terrazas extended his winning streak to 11 since being stopped in the ninth round by Rendall Munroe in a 2010 title elimination bout.

Juan Manuel Lopez KO2 Eugenio Lopez
Junior lightweights
Records: J.M. Lopez (33-2, 30 KOs); E. Lopez (31-25-1, 25 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Lopez, 29, of Puerto Rico, a former junior featherweight and featherweight titleholder, continued his comeback from the second of his knockout losses to Orlando Salido in their March 2012 featherweight title fight and Lopez's subsequent suspension for accusing the referee in the fight for stopping it because he had wagered on Salido. Lopez, a southpaw, returned from the suspension for a ninth-round knockout of Aldimar Silva Santos in February and got back to work with this easy win against Mexico's Lopez, 26.

It was target practice for Juan Manuel Lopez in the first round before he suddenly ended it at 50 seconds of the second round with one punch. He creamed Eugenio Lopez with a flush right hook that landed on the button, dropping him to his back in the center of the ring. Referee Rafael Saldana immediately waved off the fight, and Eugenio Lopez -- his leg twitching -- was down for several minutes.

It has been good for Juan Manuel Lopez to get in some work, as he is expected to take on a serious opponent again later in the year, possibly featherweight titleholder Miguel Angel "Mikey" Garcia or perhaps former junior featherweight titlist Nonito Donaire, who is headed up to the featherweight division after losing his title to Guillermo Rigondeaux earlier this month.

Friday at Atlantic City, N.J.
Javier Fortuna KO1 Miguel Zamudio
Junior lightweights
Records: Fortuna (22-0, 16 KOs); Zamudio (24-2-1, 13 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This was a massive mismatch to begin with, and it was made no better when Fortuna failed to make the 126-pound featherweight limit. Instead, Fortuna could not get below 126.6 pounds and was stripped of his interim featherweight title at the weigh-in.

Fortuna, a 24-year-old southpaw from the Dominican Republic who fights under the same banner as middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, was supposed to make his first title defense of the vacant interim belt he won by unanimous decision against Patrick Hyland in December on the Juan Manuel Marquez-Manny Pacquiao IV undercard. Instead, the belt was only at stake for Zamudio, 21, of Mexico, who did make weight. But Zamudio, fighting outside of Mexico for the first time, had no prayer to win. There was nothing in his extraordinarily thin résumé to suggest that he could even compete at this level. He had faced horrible opposition, and Fortuna exposed his record as nothing but fluff with a sick knockout victory.

It took Fortuna all of 68 seconds to make his point. He went straight to Zamudio and dropped him hard with a left hand 30 seconds into the fight. Zamudio was badly dazed but beat the count and was, unfortunately, allowed to continue by referee Eddie Cotton. Fortuna blitzed him with several more shots and then ruined him with another left hand that dropped Zamudio flat on his back. Zamudio's eyes were open, but he wasn't moving and Cotto immediately waved off the fight.

Zamudio wound up leaving the ring on a stretcher to be taken to the hospital for observation after suffering a brutal KO -- the sort that could get knockout of the year consideration.

Friday at Hermosillo, Mexico
Hernan "Tyson" Marquez KO3 Edgar Jimenez
Junior bantamweights
Records: Marquez (35-3, 26 KOs); Jimenez (15-10-1, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In November, Marquez met Brian Viloria to unify flyweight titles. They waged a hellacious battle in a fight of the year candidate before Marquez was stopped in the 10th round. In his first fight since that defeat, Marquez, 24, of Mexico, returned to face journeyman Jimenez, 20, of Mexico, who lost his fifth fight in a row. Marquez put Jimenez away with a left hand at 1 minute, 44 seconds of the third round. Although Viloria has since lost the belts, Marquez said he would still like a rematch with him. Promoter Fernando Beltran is making plans for Marquez to fight on June 1.

 

[retiredkicks]

I'd say Robert can win 3-4 rounds max.  Floyd is just too smart and does enough to win rounds, he is always one step ahead.

 

[illmatiic]

The Canelo/Trout fight was great. No way that 118-109 score was justified, the 116-111 and 115-112 scores were fair with the latter being the same score I had. Canelo made Trout look bad in the latter rounds and it didn't help that Trout had no power in his punches.

Now onto Sergio/Murray, Garcia/Judah, Khan/Diaz....

As for the May/Guerrero fight predictions, Mayweather by an easy unanimous decision.

 

[retiredkicks]

Excited to see Sergio back in the ring since his last great performance.  I'm pulling for my guy Zab Judah, hope he has another Vernon Paris type of performance.  I feel bad because I like Amir Khans skill but I can't help but think he will get dropped by Diaz.  I cringe every time he starts exchanging punches

 

[freakydestroyer]

Garcia wins by clear decision against Judah. I'd be surprised if it ends any other way. Well there's a very slight possibility Garcia TKOs him.

 

[thegreatbean]

I would like to see a KO in any of the upcoming fights. I feel canelo robbed us and he looked capable of getting that ko vs trout. But I guess decided to cruise to the win.

 

[freakydestroyer]

Of the bigger names I think the most likely to get a KO in the next few weeks are Quillen and Pascal.

 

[boxdok]

Of the bigger names I think the most likely to get a KO in the next few weeks are Quillen and Pascal.

I see Wilder knocking out Harrison. Really looking forward to the Quillen Guerrero fight. I think it's going to be a fight of the year type of fight. I can see both fighters tasting the canvas, but I see Quillen stopping him late in the fight after being down on the scorecards.

 

[freakydestroyer]

Of the bigger names I think the most likely to get a KO in the next few weeks are Quillen and Pascal.

I see Wilder knocking out Harrison. Really looking forward to the Quillen Guerrero fight. I think it's going to be a fight of the year type of fight. I can see both fighters tasting the canvas, but I see Quillen stopping him late in the fight after being down on the scorecards.

I don't even know who those guys are? Maybe Audley Harrison? I don't follow HW that much.

 

[eagle 0n]

Angel Garcia got issues

 

[don dela vega]

Angel Garcia got issues

was just coming in here to ask if anyone had seen this yet.... but yeah you guys think it was well timed/orchestrated hype play or was something that happened cause Zab knew they'd be there?

 

[maddog345]

Angel Garcia is a damn fool

 

[AEA18]

Damn Zab can't even hit the speed bag no more



Danny Garcia is going to knock him out.

 

[solidus snake]

#37 Kid Gavilan (108-30-5)

The Keed was a Cuban exile so brilliant that we name him here the greatest of all time to ever drop off that conveyer belt of talent. Gavilan served his apprenticeship on that boxing paradise and, like his fellow exile and welterweight Jose Napoles, actively sought out the massed ranks of Mexican opposition, twice to his detriment in those early years. When he left his home behind in 1948 it was to escape the political gangsterism that plagued that island in the precursor to Castro’s revolution and fought for territory in his knew turf against no less a figure than Ike Williams, lightweight champion of the world. The fight was close but Williams had pulled off the rare feat of dropping Gavilan on the seat of his trunks (granite jawed, Gavilan was never stopped despite his boxing on way past his prime) and this turned the fight barely in his favor. The New York Times and Daily News both scored the fight for The Keed as did the not inconsiderable numbers in attendance who booed the decision. Gavilan picked himself up, dusted himself off, and picked off former world champion Tommy Bell before matching new champion, a man named Ray Robinson, in a non-title fight. It is fair to say Gavilan had little luck in terms of timing. He arrived on American shores just in time to meet one of the greatest lightweights of all time on the hunt for the welterweight title and then ran into a man who might just be the greatest, ever, who also happened to be peaking.

Robinson outboxed Gavilan but that didn’t stop the crowd booing another decision going against The Keed, who was already a hugely popular fighter. The reaction guaranteed him a title shot and although Robinson won once more, the first half of the fight was close as could be and only a deeply conservative approach from a cut Robinson seems to have led to his taking over in the second half for a clean win.

Unable to solve the Robinson problem, he turned instead to the Williams problem twice beating the lightweight champion in rematches. He had adapted his style, swarming in on Williams from a crouch, pressurising relentlessly whilst showing off his superb accuracy. Williams, a hard puncher, was used to having his way when he landed, but not against Gavilan. Such was his durability that he could afford to take even those cracking punches; like **** Tiger, Gavilan was brilliant in such a way as to negate brawlers—no puncher himself, he was busy, stinging, accurate with a brilliant line in punch selection and timing. He could outwork, out-snipe or out-maul. Power aside, he was complete.

This completeness brought him victories over Rocky Castellani, Beau Jack and Laurent Dauthuille before being outright robbed against Lester Felton and dropping a widely criticized decision to Billy Graham then Robert Villemain. Not for the last time, judges had played a questionable role in a Gavilan loss. He did lose legitimately to George Costner but also twice avenged himself upon Graham and an earlier loss to Gene Hairston. He then picked up the welterweight title from Johnny Bratton in ’51 and defended it against all comers, highlights including his defeat of Carmen Basilio and the brutal stoppage of Gil Turner. In all he managed seven defenses before the judges did what no welterweight on the planet could do and took his title from him in a joke decision against the connected Johnny Saxton. Twenty of twenty-two ringside reporters found for Gavilan.

At middleweight, Gavilan had come within a whisker of beating Bobo Olson for the title having previously scalped several 160 lb. contenders including Rafael Merentino and the huge punching Eduardo Lausse but his second tilt at the middleweights went less well. He was able to add to his resume in the form of Ralph “Tiger” Jones and Gaspar Ortega, but he was not the same fighter post-Saxton and lost fifteen of his last twenty-five fights. In his fierce prime, he was almost as good as it gets.

 

[solidus snake]

#36 Tommy Gibbons (57-4-1; Newspaper Decisions 38-1-4)

For a certain type of purist, Tommy was the weaker of the Gibbons brothers. He lacked Mike’s phantasmical qualities and was perhaps regarded as the less skilled overall during their primes, but Mike did not have Tommy’s astonishing career arch.

Turning pro in 1911, Gibbons boxed a fourteen-year stint that saw him lose just two decisions, one newspaper decision, once by knockout and in a disqualification loss to Billy Miske. The knockout came in his last fight, way past his best, against heavyweight champion Gene Tunney. Of the three decisions, two were to Harry Greb and one was to a peak Jack Dempsey—in his own prime, Gibbons proved himself all but unstoppable against that particularly nasty piece of offensive machinery.

Between 1911 and 1922 he was only beaten by Harry Greb and in the same period of time he also beat that great fighter twice. He was so good as to be worthy of Harry’s prime and he handed him one of the worst beatings of his career in 1920, knocking Greb around the ring like he was a preliminary fighter. In addition to Greb his top scalps included Billy Miske on four occasions, George Chip on five, Kid Norfolk, Georges Carpentier and Battling Levinsky, who called Gibbons the best defensive fighter he had ever faced—given that he had faced Greb, Sullivan, Tunney and Stribling, this is high praise indeed.

Whilst he laid claim to the 175 lb. title in his time, he was never universally recognized, although the men who held that recognition during his time in the division, Carpentier and Levinsky, were both outclassed when he got them into the ring. Up at heavy he was heavily avoided with both Tex Rickard and the New York Commission complaining about the difficulty of making fights for him at the weight, such was his reputation.

 

[solidus snake]

#35 Julio Cesar Chavez (107-6-2)

Eighty-six knockouts in one-hundred and seven fights posted across three different decades is not normal for a fighter who retired as recently as 2005. That he posted just six official losses, the first coming only after his fourteenth year as a professional fighter is even more astonishing. His habit of winning was matched only by his habit of hoovering up titles.

He won a vacant super-featherweight strap in 1985 against the favored veteran Mario Martinez via an eighth round stoppage, and although his failure to match linear champion Wilfredo Gomez casts doubt over the validity of the title, he did defend against former champions Roger Mayweather, brutalizing him in two, and Rocky Lockridge, whom he decisioned in spite of an injury to his right hand. In total he made nine defenses of his strap and at the time of his move up to lightweight his record stood at 55-0 (reported in some corners as 54-1 due to controversy surrounding his twelfth fight which was originally ruled a DQ loss upon his landing the knockout punch after the bell).

His first fight at lightweight was, naturally, a title fight, and arguably his finest moment as he weaved an offensive tapestry that forced the aggressive and brilliant Edwin Rosario back to the ropes time and time again. Making his man miss repeatedly up close even as he threaded his own blows through the eye of the proverbial needle, Chavez exposed Rosario’s defense, which was excellent, and offense, which was superb, arguably winning every single round on the way to a late stoppage. Three more defenses of that strap followed, one of them making him linear champion, the eleventh round technical decision over Jose Luis Ramirez, then it was off to light-welterweight where things got a little more hinky.

He picked up the customary strap straight away of course, against old-time opponent Roger Mayweather, but this time Mayweather lasted ten rounds instead of two. In his third defense of his strap Chavez met with Meldrick Taylor and near disaster, winning by perhaps the most controversial stoppage of all time at the very end of the twelfth in a fight he was losing against an opponent who claimed he was able to continue—but who did not respond in time for referee Richard Steele. Chavez remained champion and added a further nine defenses carrying him into the nineties and the welterweight division where he was gifted a draw by horrific judging against clear winner Pernell Whitaker which all but tolled the bell on his prime, though he would still manage 6-1 in title fights until he was twice beaten down and out by Oscar De La Hoya in ’96 and’98.

As extraordinary a career as has been boxed entirely in color finally ended with defeat to journeyman Grover Wiley in 2005. The raw statistics for that career are astonishing. He fought in 37 world title fights winning 31, including an unbroken streak of 27 successful defenses across three weights, winning 21 by way of knockout. Even allowing for the fact that many of these “world” titles were straps rather than true championships and that he sometimes failed to meet the best in his division, Chavez has earned the right to call himself great.

I've really grown to appreciate Chavez this past year or so, his defense is sooo underrated.

BONUS Video

 

[solidus snake]

#34 Marvin Hagler (62-3-2)

They say Marvin Hagler had a chip on his shoulder. I say, no wonder. Sometimes a mass of journeyman, gatekeepers and local toughs can be as intimidating as the ranked men that lie just beyond, tantalizingly out of reach. Hagler seemed to have reached them when, in January of 1976 he got top-ten Philadelphian Bobby Watts into the ring having already chomped through 25-0-1 worth of boot-tough steak. Dropping a questionable decision to Watts, who held, spoiled and mauled his way to a win in spite of Hagler’s crisper punching dropped him right back in that meat-grinder and when he lost another decision to an even tougher Philadelphian, Willie “The Worm” Munroe, it seemed as if he might be stuck there for good.

Hagler did what he always did, and gritted it out.

He beat the superb Eugene Hart, the third Philadelphian brother Grim, making him quit no less, then brought Monroe out to Boston, smashing him up in twelve then followed him back to Philly and switch-hit him to the canvas in two. A superstitious soul might consider that he had taken Monroe’s victory over him personally…

In 1980 he’d give Watts the same treatment to prove his dominance over Philadelphia once and for all, but before that he’d kick the hell out of Kevin Finnegan twice, best the menacing Bennie Briscoe over ten add Ray Phillips and Mike Colbert to his lengthening list of unbeaten records busted and smash Ray Seales to pieces in a single round ending their three-fight rivalry forever and sending himself into the stratosphere. He’d made it. All he had to do now was take the title from the solid but unspectacular Vito Antuofermo and he was champ—only instead he dropped another strange decision. This one perhaps was less bizarre than his loss to Watts and as in that fight, where he seemed to miss a chance to close the blinds on his opponent, Hagler let his man back into the fight with the championship in sight. It would be the last big mistake of his career but not the last questionable card.

Before that the title passed to Alan Minter and when Hagler got his hands on him it was as though he was seized with the ghost of those past failures and he brutalized Minter in three, the British ring, disgustingly but perhaps fittingly given what Marvin was about to do to the middleweight division, pelted with bottles and anything else that came to hand. Hagler then brutalized and stopped his first seven title opponents, among them Antuofermo , upon whom Hagler wrought a terrible revenge opening his face like a watermelon. His destruction derby of world-class opposition was halted only by Roberto Duran, who managed the full fifteen rounds. Four more knockouts followed including the destruction of unbeaten John Mugabi and that fight against Thomas Hearns but it was clear Hagler was beginning to slip. Even so, I would argue like so many others, that he was unlucky in losing his last fight to Ray Leonard. It seems to me that he went out of title affairs in boxing the same way he came in—furious, embittered and, on my card at least, the victor.

Even if you allow that Leonard defeated Hagler, it is the only un-avenged defeated of a career that made him one of the great champions and amongst the greatest one-weight competitors of all time.

 

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#33 Eder Jofre (72-2-4)

Jofre spent better than fifteen years fighting at the sharp end and lost just twice, to Fighting Harada, a great fighter in his own right. He first came to honors in February of 1960, beating the ranked (some sources have him #1) Ernesto Miranda for the South American bantamweight title and then beating him again several months later by knockout. Joe Medel was then stopped in ten in a title eliminator before he picked up the NBA title against the slipping but still ranked Eloy Sanchez, whom he overwhelmed in just six. He defended against the #3 contender Piero Rollo and the soon-to-be ranked Ramon Arias before polishing off Johnny Caldwell and Herman Marques to unify. Jofre added four more defenses and then ran into Harada who merrily carried his title off, consigning Jofre to history. Three years later “The Golden Bantam” hoisted himself back into the ring, and having made what I consider the toughest leap in boxing, beat Jose Legra for a piece of the featherweight title. In his very next fight he knocked out all-time great Vicente Saldivar. He was thirty-seven years old. He went unbeaten in his second career—unheralded—and beat world-class fighters like Octavio Gomez, Juan Lopez, Jose and Antonio Jiminez. It may be the greatest comeback in the history of the sport.

Arguably the definitive box-puncher, Jofre knocked out fifty men, something he was capable of doing with either hand, but also boasted a superb defense and speed. He pulled of the rarest of tricks relying upon no single attribute to get the job done—when he was in his absolute prime it is possible that there is not a bantamweight who would have beaten him.

 

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#32 Jimmy Wilde (132-4-1)

Sources would have us believe that Jimmy Wilde turned professional very late in 1910 or early in 1911 but such are the vagaries of the era that either of these dates is highly debatable. Wilde seems to have fought for money for many years before this, perhaps as early as his fifteenth year. Can we credit his own claim of 850 fights? Although this seems unlikely I would also consider it a given that Wilde fought more than the 150 fights he is credited with by BoxRec.

Tracing Wilde’s title claim is difficult. For some it can be counted first from 1914, when he first lifted the European flyweight title against the even smaller Eugene Husson a fight also billed for something called the “gnatweight title,” a world title. Unfortunately, this claim is opposed by fellow Welshman Percy Jones, who held the IBU flyweight title at the same time, who then lost the title to Joe Symonds. Symonds claim is strengthened over Wilde’s because he was able to defeat the man who stopped Wilde in 1915, Tancy Lee, ending his run of one-hundred fights unbeaten. Furthermore, the gnatweight title fell by the wayside (thank goodness) and the European title Wilde held remained just that in terms of lineage; the IBU title, held by Jones and Symonds, morphs into the flyweight linear title—although Wilde’s holding the European title leads to his claim as world champion being recognized by many due to America’s failure, at this point, to recognize a flyweight division. I prefer to recognize the IBU champion, meaning that Wilde doesn’t come to the title until his victory over Symonds in 1916.

What does all this mean for Wilde’s legacy? Well, whilst his involvement in all manner of weird and wonderful title fights from 1914 speaks of his elite status, he cannot be named the best flyweight in the world until 1916, especially not in light of his knockout loss to Lee in 1915. This, in addition to concern over his level of competition and a lack of any real longevity starts to make Wilde’s status questionable; fortunately he removes such concerns with his career post-Lee.

First, he renewed his status at fly (boxing as a light fly—Wilde would never weigh in at the division limit of 112 lbs. in his career), mowing down former flyweight champion Sid Smith in eight one-sided rounds before lifting the IBU title a year after his first failed tilt, knocking out Joe Symonds in twelve. These are two of the outstanding fighters in the division’s infancy. He then avenged himself on the still red hot Tancy Lee before anointing the world flyweight title proper against American contender, Young Zulu Kid, in a fight where Wilde for once found himself the taller man. A red hot war for the first few rounds, it was Wilde who emerged, as he almost always did from any firefight, triumphant in eleven.

Then things started to get a little spooky.

Jimmy Wilde dispatched featherweight Joe Conn. Conn was on a hot streak but couldn’t live with Wilde in spite of a weight advantage of around 20 lbs.—around 20% of Wilde’s total bodyweight. Jimmy chopped him off in twelve. Next was Joe Lynch who would go on to become one of the definitive bantamweights of a golden generation for that weight division. Wilde nipped him over three rounds in December of ’18 and over fifteen in March of ’19. More bantamweights followed including world-title claimant Pal Moore, whom he shaded over twenty with an aggressive punching display that nearly saw him knocked out late in the fight. Moore was a handful for any of the era’s superb bantamweights—that Wilde proved his master whilst outweighed by 8-11 lbs is extraordinary. A three-round defeat to Moore and a poor performance which saw him drop a decision to Jackie Sharkey are the only losses he suffered in this extraordinary period.

His going 1-1 with Tancy Lee, likely the best flyweight he met, and my decision to acknowledge his title claim from his lifting the IBU rather than the gnatweight or European flyweight titles, undermines his supposed domination at flyweight and there is no question that his level of competition, for the most part, is a concern in what was a semi-recognised division. But Wilde rendered most of that irrelevant by stepping up to an established division and beating some excellent bantamweights in what was a true pound-for-pound achievement. The man Gene Tunney named the best fighter he had ever seen may rank lower here than on similar lists but his incredible run between his 1915 loss to Tancy Lee and his 1919 loss to Jackie Sharkey makes him a lock for any top forty.

 

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#31 Carlos Monzon (87-3-9)

Carlos Monzon systematically destroyed opponents. Perhaps most instructive was his deconstruction of former world champion Nino Benvenuti. Benvenuti had quit with an injury in a non-title fight in March of 1970, but wouldn’t be knocked out in a fight until his fifth defense of the middleweight championship that November, a fight in which he was devastated by a Monzon right hand. In the rematch, Monzon showcased what was to make him the greatest middleweight champion ever to live.

As thumping a jab as has been seen in the weight division, consistently thrown from maximum distance is the first crucial ingredient. A points gatherer and a sadistic softener it also worked as Monzon’s first line of defense—even the toughest fighters took their durability in their hands when pressuring the Argentine. It also worked as a direct challenge to the opponent’s balance, inviting counterpunchers to travel the entire length of what was essentially a staving maneuver, and lurking at the end of this stave was Monzon’s devastating right hand. His own balance, meanwhile, bordered on supernatural. he temptation when analyzing a fighter’s offense is naturally to concentrate upon the punches a fighter lands, but even the punches Monzon misses are important. If he misses a straight right hand, he’s bringing a left to the gut behind it. No matter how compromised he appears to be physically by some winging miss, he finds a way to bring some unwanted gift in compensation.

An inside game that was less nuanced but that married great strength with a mauling aggression, Monzon was every bit the boxer-puncher Eder Jofre was but with added malice. He may have been an even better general, moving opponents with a combination of careful footwork and shepherding punches that gave him eventual control of pacing in every title fight he ever fought. Even the rematch with Rodrigo Valdez, fought past his prime in his final match, eventually ended up in his control despite his being outgunned in the first half of the fight; Monzon, ice in his veins, remained calm and outthought his physically superior opponent for a UD.

It is a combination of skill and will that made Monzon almost unbeatable. The three losses he suffered all occurred within the first eighteen months of his career. Between late 1964 and mid 1977—for thirteen years—he went unbeaten, stopping fifty-nine opponents. He was never stopped himself. He was victorious in a record fifteen middleweight title fights, none of which he came close to losing. He retired the undefeated champion of the world—his two-time victim Valdez beat out Hagler-era contender Bennie Briscoe for the title.

Monzon was brilliant, and purely in terms of ability may rank even higher. Above him, there are only monsters.

What a cold bastard Monzon was, but god damn if he isn't the greatest MW of all time.

 

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“Barbados” Joe Walcott, a wrecking ball of a fighter, is a pound-for-pound legend who struggled to beat the best of his own size—or, I should say, his own poundage, as listed at just over 5’1 he rarely met his opponents eye to eye. Ironic, then, that he was capable of laying waste to men above his own poundage and up to a foot taller than him. In 1893 aged just twenty, he knocked out New York light-heavyweight Jimmy Carroll (mistakenly listed as the lightweight Englishman on BoxRec) boxing as a lightweight, announcing his arrival as perhaps the greatest slayer of giants in all of history. When he stepped up to take on his first top man at his own poundage, meeting Billy Smith in March 1895 for the American welterweight title, he came up short, floored in the sixth and letting an apparent lead slip as Smith fought back in the second half of the fight to claim a fortunate draw. An April 1898 rematch produced the same result over twenty-five, the New York Sun stating that “neither man had a decided advantage.” The Sun then describes a one-sided victory for Smith when they met for a third time that December, and it would in fact take four attempts before Walcott was able to beat Smith, which he finally did over twenty-five rounds in the year 1900.

He also lost twice to Kid Lavigne, although in the first fight there was “some astonishment” concerning Walcott’s lack of aggression in a fight he had to win by knockout to lift the world’s lightweight title. Many believe that Walcott’s record is hurt by the business arrangements apparently forced upon many fighters in this era. A technical knockout loss in an 1897 rematch is also suspect, although most ringside reporting indicates a straight-up fight in which Walcott was beset by cramps; nevertheless, it is the case that he had yet again failed at the highest level against a fighter of his own weight—but during this entire period, Walcott was knocking out bigger men. Middleweight contender **** O’Brien, twenty pounds heavier, knocked out in one. Former British Empire heavyweight champion Dan Creedon, knocked out in one. The sixteen pounds heavier, ten inches taller Joe Choynski, who had knocked out Jack Johnson, stopped in just seven. Whilst he struggled with the Tommy Wests of the world he was laying his era’s bigger men low with a punch that may have been the pound-for-pound hardest of all. In all of hundred names on this list there is perhaps not another who may legitimately lay claim to the hardest punch and the hardest chin in all of boxing, his stoppage losses a mix of quit jobs (usually with a suspect “bad arm”), low blows, disqualifications and technical halts.

Into the 1900s he dominated a series with Young Peter Jackson, took the lead in his series with Billy Smith and Tommy West and lifted the welterweight title of the world, although he seems to have been lucky in drawing a bout with Sam Langford in defense of that title and later in making the same result against Joe Gans. Going 1-10-3 in the last months of his career certainly took the shine off his paper record and his strange struggles with the best men of his own size even as he exterminated those bigger than him makes him difficult to quantify, but I feel he is deserving of his spot just inside the top thirty.

 

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#29 Roy Jones 56-8

Roy Jones was a phenom, one of those one-in-a-lifetime talents that comes along and just dazzles. Of all fighters that appear on film, Jones is the one who appears most otherworldly. For all that the other phenoms in boxing history are extraordinary it is Jones who has the appearance of being plugged into a totally different matrix; he was a fighter upon whom gravity seemed not to work the magic that left the professionals with whom he shared the ring earthbound.

He fought his sixteenth professional fight against former strapholder Jorge Vaca, playing a seemingly crude fairground game against the fleetingly aggressive Mexican, winging in the kind of wide hooks a prospect must be cured of in order to progress. Such was Roy’s speed that not only could Vaca not take advantage, but in fact he was stopped in the first round, a look of confusion betraying his uncertainty as to what had hit him as he struggled to regain control of his forearms, which gingerly controlled his swaying weight. Not a technician in the truest sense of the word, Jones punched all the way from his boots and had a supernatural grasp of positioning from his earliest days as a professional. He organized himself in ways that demonstrated natural feints against an opponent desperate for any opportunity to land on an opponent who was almost impossible to hit. If an opponent moved in the way Jones expected, his trap was sprung without providing an opportunity for the opponent to react—and if they didn’t move in he had still positioned himself in such a way as to throw his punches with fractions of seconds shaved from them, fractions that mattered because he was a fighter already arguably peerless in terms of speed.

This brought him wins in twenty-two “world” title fights between 1993 and mid-2004 from middleweight up to heavyweight. His most notable victims include three men from this list, James Toney, Mike McCallum and Bernard Hopkins. All were completely outclassed, world-class talents who looked to all intents and purposes as though they did not belong in the ring with Jones.

Arguably his best win came up at heavyweight, when he became the first man since Bob Fitzsimmons to hold titles at both middle and heavy. Ruiz was a strapholder rather than a legitimate champion, but even so, like the greater but smaller men Jones dominated, he offered little in the way of resistance. Roy’s one loss during these peak years was a questionable and brutally avenged disqualification.

Such was his domination and pound-for-pound standing in his own era that his crash was bound to be spectacular, and so it proved. Devastating knockouts rendered by fighters not of his standing brought into question a chin that was so rarely tested in his dizzying prime, but from late ’94 to early ’96, Jones appeared peerless—not just in his own time, but for all time.