The Boxing Bulletin P4P Top 25
As several of the sport's top fighters have been in action since our last list came out on April 10, we figured it was time for an update.
The rankings are based on a combined voting effort of The Boxing Bulletin writers. Our criteria is:
1.Current level of ability
2.Accomplishments over the past 3 years.
Let's get to it...
- Manny Pacquiao - No change at the top.
- Floyd Mayweather - Despite his dominant win over Shane Mosley last Saturday night, Floyd didn't receive enough first place votes to pull in front of Manny. He closed the gap though.
- Chad Dawson - The classy southpaw moves up one spot, taking over from Shane Mosley at #3 on our list.
- Timothy Bradley - The top man at 140 also moves up one. His HBO debut awaits.
- Paul Williams - He's talking about Floyd or Manny at 147, but let's hope a rematch with middleweight champion Sergio Martinez is next for The Punisher.
- Juan Manuel Marquez - We'll see what Marquez has left on July 31 against Juan Diaz. Anything less than a repeat of last time's stoppage win could mean a significant drop on our list for the aging master.
- Lucian Bute - The odd man out at 168 pounds moves up a spot after his one punch smashing of Edison Miranda last month.
- Sergio Martinez - Became the new middleweight champion and confirmed his status as one of the best in the world with a convincing decision victory over Kelly Pavlik.
- David Haye - Will need a big win at heavy in the near future to keep his lofty rating.
- Andre Ward - Despite not fighting since our last rating, the current Super-Six favorite jumps six spots. No doubt our voters decided his win over Kessler was that much more impressive after the Dane defeated Carl Froch last month.
- Fernando Montiel - Not rated last time out, the Mexican bantamweight jumps right in at 11, thanks to a stunning 4th round TKO over Hozumi Hasegawa (our previous #13). We'll just admit the silliness of P4P ratings right here, as with the top guys fighting so infrequently, the ratings are too heavily dependant on one or two big fights.
- Nonito Donaire - Speaking of a fighter with a rating heavily dependant on one big result, the Filipino Flash has been riding his victory over Vic Darchinyan for awhile now. Unfortunately the chances of doing it again fell apart at the negotiation table, and with our criteria only counting the last 3 years, Donaire could drop off our list entirely in the very near future.
- Tomasz Adamek - As with the case of David Haye, the high rating for this former cruiserweight champion is heavily influenced on his work below his current division. He'll eventually need a significant win at heavy to keep his rating.
- Ivan Calderon - He's getting up their in years, and it's fair to question just how good his competition has been, but until the clever little southpaw stumbles, it's hard to drop him too far.
- Carl Froch - The Cobra drops four spots on our list after his defeat in Denmark. It was a close one though, and he'll have a chance to bounce back up when he meets Arthur Abraham in September. That's the great thing about the Super-Six; with the best fighters fighting each other, a loss isn't as devastating since the opportunity to immediately respond is there. If only every division had this kind of competition, the sport would be a whole lot more compelling.
- Juan Manuel Lopez - Unless he takes a big fight soon, the big hitting featherweight will be hard pressed to hold onto his P4P status. Let's hope Arum puts him in with Gamboa or Caballero soon.
- Mikkel Kessler - He's back in the Super-Six running, and back in our P4P rankings. The Dane dropped from our list after his decisive loss at the hands of Andre Ward, but a big effort against Carl Froch has him jumping in at #17.
- Celestino Caballero - The lanky Panamanian climbs up a few spots after his impressive HBO debut. He's now at feather where some big fights hopefully await.
- Devon Alexander - Another good young fighter in a packed division, the talented junior-welter should have plenty of opportunities to prove himself in the next couple years. He wants Timothy Bradley, although chances are that fight might have to wait a little longer.
- Chris John - At some point soon, he'll need to take one of the newly arrived top 126 pounders if he's to maintain his place on the list as his resume is a little thin in terms of P4P quality.
- Andre Dirrell - Next up is a meeting with Andre Ward. A win will see him jump in the P4P rankings and more importantly place The Matrix in the semi-finals of the Super-Six tournament.
- Wladimir Klitschko - P4P lists sometimes ignore heavyweights, and the two 200lb+ fighters ranked about Dr. Steelhammer on our list rely mainly on their cruiserweight credentials for their ranking. Dominance is dominance though, and its hard to argue that Wladimir doesn't belong.
- Arthur Abraham - The huge punching Abraham ranked much higher on our list before his trip to Michigan. He'll have a chance to jump right back against Carl Froch in September... no easy task.
- Shane Mosley - He's had a great career, but now is probably a good time to call it quits for the once dynamic Sugar Shane.
- Vic Darchinyan - A rematch with Nonito Donaire would have given the Raging Bull his chance to jump up the ratings. He's staying busy though, and will find another challenge soon enough.
Just missing the cut...
Bernard Hopkins, Yonnhy Perez, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Jean Pascal
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