British Scene: P4P Top 15 List

Dave Oakes updates The Boxing Bulletin's British Scene P4P list.

Well, it’s been over six months since our last British Scene P4P list and a lot has happened in that short period of time.

Three of our top 15 have retired – Jamie Moore, Clinton Woods and Bernard Dunne, David Haye won and defended the WBA heavyweight title, whilst the likes of Ryan Rhodes, Matthew Macklin, Nathan Cleverly and Paul McCloskey have moved up in the rankings after claiming European honours.

Let's get to the ratings...

1. David Haye (2)

Haye executed the perfect game plan to relieve Nikolai Valuev of his title and then showed a more aggressive approach in hammering John Ruiz to submission earlier this month. This, along with his achievements at cruiserweight, makes him number one on our list.

2. Carl Froch (3)

The ‘Cobra’ followed his impressive victories over Jean Pascal and Jermain Taylor with a scrappy split decision points win over the slick Andre Dirrell. He faces Mikkel Kessler later this month in what’s an intriguing match up. The undefeated Nottingham man moves up one place due to his achievements and Ricky Hatton’s inactivity.

3. Ricky Hatton (1)

Hatton remains on our list despite having not fought for nearly a year as he continues to weigh up his options. I wouldn’t be surprised if he followed his good mate Jamie Moore into retirement.

4. Amir Khan (6)

It’s been all change in Khan’s career as he’s dumped Frank Warren for the promise of Goldenboy’s perceived ‘American dream’. We’re yet to see whether this is a wise career move or not but he seems up for the bigger fights that he craves. He starts with what looks like a routine defence against Paul Malignaggi next month. He did well to blow out the rabbit in the headlights Dmitriy Salita and moves up a few places as a result.

5. Rendall Munroe (9)

The boxing bin man made his fifth successful defence of his European belt when he defeated Simone Maludrottu in November and is only one fight away from a world title shot. He faces Victor Terrazas in a WBC eliminator this month.

6. Ryan Rhodes (unranked)

Rhodes crashes into our list after his thrilling defeat of Jamie Moore, who was ranked at four in our last list. Rhodes seems to be in the best form of his career and will be hoping to finally capture a world title after two unsuccessful attempts in the 90’s. He’s been out of the ring for a while now and I hope he can get a fight lined up sooner rather than later to avoid losing momentum.

7. Nathan Cleverly (14)

The Welsh light-heavyweight moves up our list considerably after two very impressive wins. He defeated former top class amateur Courtney Fry inside eight rounds before demolishing Antonio Brancalion in the fifth round of a fight for the vacant European title.

8. Junior Witter

He remains on our list due to past achievements and despite his recent inactivity. It’ll be interesting to see how much he’s got left in the tank when he fights again, if he fights again that is

.9. Jason Booth (12)

He’s unbeaten in his last eight bouts and seems to be really making the most of the resurgence in his career. He’s claimed two impressive stoppage victories since our last list, against Matthew Marsh and former world title challenger Michael Hunter.

10. Matthew Macklin (15)

Macklin produced the best performance of his career to claim the European belt when he took Amin Asikainen out in the first round. He’s subsequently had to vacate the title through to injury but still moves up on our list due to the impressive nature of the Asikainen victory.

11. Ola Afolabi (10)

He seems to have disappeared off the radar since losing a close decision against Marco Huck in December. He’s never been the most active of boxers and needs to get back in the ring as soon as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rematch with Enzo Maccarinelli sometime this year.

12. John Murray (unranked)

His fourth round stoppage of Jon Thaxton to reclaim the British title was far more one-sided than anyone had anticipated. He’s now unbeaten in twenty-eight fights and needs to be moved up into European class as soon as possible.

13. Paul McCloskey (unranked)

The Northern Irish light-welter vacated the British title to challenge Souleymane M’bay for the European title only to pick up an injury that forced him to withdraw. He eventually got his chance though, and he out-boxed and stopped Daniel Rasilla to claim the title in November. He makes his first defence against Giuseppe Lauri in May.

14. Darren Barker (unranked)

He added the vacant European belt to the British and Commonwealth titles after coming through a hard test against Affif Belghecham last Friday. Everyone is hoping for a fight between him and Matthew Macklin but the chance of it happening is very slim. He’s not far from being the finished article and should be ready to push towards world honours after a couple of European title defences.

15. Kevin Mitchell (unranked)

He looks to have finally put his injury problems behind him and looks at home in the lightweight division. He put in a sensational performance to out-box Breidis Prescott late last year and followed it up with a chilling knockout of Ignacio Mendoza in February. He takes on Michael Katsidis next month for the WBO interim title in what could be the fight of the year.

Just missing out...

Paul Smith, Kell Brook, Martin Lindsay, Brian Magee, John Simpson and Ajose Olusegan

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