Pound for Pound Top 100 Active List

I once held Sturm in very high regard. In retrospect, perhaps too highly.

Now let us look at the negatives.

His best performances are:
Sebastian Sylvester in '08
Javier Castillejo II in '07
Oscar de la Hoya in '04

Not only are those moving further back as time goes on, but let us look at those. Oscar was past prime and had never fought above 154 before entering their fight. Castillejo had hardly ever fought at middleweight either, and the re-match was only as relevant as it is due to Castillejo KOing Sturm the year before. And Sylvester, while a very good one, is not one that demands the respect that can carry ones' status as elite, PARTICULARLY when this follows:

2011:
D Martin Murray - I scored it for Murray
W SD Macklin - I scored this wide for Macklin, 9-3
W KO Hearns - I didn't value Hearns as that great of an opponent going in.

Being that Macklin was in the ass end of my top 10 MW's and that Murray wasn't there at all, to lose to both of these guys consecutively by getting outworked and looking unable or unwilling to pull the trigger with meaning.

Based on my scoring, and the consensus of what I have read on ESB as well as overwhelming Compubox numbers, Sturm is 0-2 in his last two fights. After the Macklin fight, Sturm dropped in my eyes to the 40's or 50's, then took the plummet again when unheralded Murray made him look like a contender at best, not the longtime titlist.

His career best wins aren't even that great, to go along with his recent run of miserable outings. Not only on paper, but he has shown a severe erosion of skills, or at least a lack of ability to flex them. I can name several guys not in my top 100 P4P at MW who I would favor over Sturm in a H2H match-up.

 

Jaro TKO6 Wonjongkam
Wladimir TKO4 Mormeck
Montiel KO9 Angkota


Wonjongkam drops from #10 to #42 on account of the bad defeat to the journeyman that is Sonny Boy Jaro. That will almost certainly be Upset of the Year. Jaro enters the list one spot behind Wonjongkam. Although that may seem foolish due to the one sided nature of Jaro wiping Pong out, I happen to personally believe that including that, Pong deserves higher placement. Also factoring in their, I'd still pick Pong in a rematch. I can't justify at this moment saying either are better than Khan or Peterson and certainly not Segura, who KO'd Jaro at junior flyweight easily in the 1st round not long ago. At the same time, Jaro fits where he does ahead of Narvaez because, despite Narvaez's long time dominance, he has yet to achieve what Jaro did in one fight, and that one fight is almost as impressive as all of what Narvaez has done.

It's an interesting scenario. Part of me wants to keep the Thai legend higher because of who he is and part of me wants to drop him lower based on what would happen to others should they lose in the manner he did to the low level caliber opponent he did. Part of me wants to lower Jaro down on virtue that many below him are in fact better in many ways.

Klitschko and Montiel retain their positions. Neither of their opponents warranted me to rethink the spots they are at, especially Wlad not entering the class of the top 6 and Montiel staying behind Terrazes, who decisively beat him down late last year.

 

3/12/12 update:
-Salido moves up from #22 to #19
-Lopez moves down from #23 to #62
-Burns moves up from #29 to #25
-Geale moves up from #55 to #48
-Dzinziruk is removed due to one year inactivity.
-Fuentes enters at #100 where he had previously been.

Salido moves up a few spots for his handling of Juanma in the re-match and beautiful KO, but ultimately I cannot put Salido above guys like Bute, Nishioka, or John for a couple of reasons. His vast number of defeats (even if many were early on), his recent struggle against the journeyman Heya, and former PED suspension are among why he isn't any higher in my book. Also, I gave him plenty of credit for the first win considering going in he clearly wasn't, in my eyes, on this list.

Lopez takes a sizable tumble. He is lucky to have retained what is now a lofty ranking after the first Salido loss, so perhaps that makes the tumble seem not nearly as dramatic. He landed in that specific spot due to the guys around there. I can't honestly say I think Lopez is or deserves to be thought of in higher regard than Vazquez, when putting the emphasis on the recent. I couldn't justify placing him ahead of Calderon, being that both lost two KO's to the same guy it is comparable. Calderon is better accomplished career wise and losing to Segura, the then next highest ranked 108 pounder twice isn't as bad as losing to a coming-off-a-loss rugged part time construction worker in Salido twice.

Burns moves up a few notches. He deserves to be ahead of those he jumped, including Uchiyama. There is a reason why Ricky Burns was the #1 130 pounder before he moved up to collect nice scalps in Katsidis and Paulus Moses on Saturday. Moses was very game and showed his skills as well. I'm not sure I could name 10 lightweights who I think would beat Moses, which makes Burns' shutout or near shutout even more impressive. Burns showcases a great overall skillset and fight game.

Geale warranted a move up as well. I think Adama was a top 20 MW, so a clean sweep over him and looking decent while doing so deserves some respect.

Sergei Dzinziruk exits my rankings. He hasn't fought since hitting the canvas 5 times against Sergio. The Sergio fight is his only over the past 22 months and he has no fight scheduled. I am not establishing a "one year of inactivity and you're out" precedent. That is certainly when I will look to remove them, but I will not only consider that. An example of that would be Nkosinathi Joyi, who hasn't fought in just over a year yet remains on my list.

Moises Fuentes, who was at #100 before getting bumped out, comes back at the slot. The winner of what I felt was 2011 Upset of the Year claims this spot not out of my value of his skill or future projections, but on virtue of Garcia's previous spot and the previously stated. Minimumweight is a division, as much as some may pretend it is not.

 

A lot of people tend to think so. He's close, but I think he is clearly and decisively behind guys like Hopkins, Dawson, Moreno, and Cotto.

Gamboa's top wins are very limited.

UD12 Salido unification - a very, very good one
TKO4 Solis - had lost his most recent fight at 126 two years prior, impressive win and then some due to the one sided dominance
UD12 JVBarros - good one but hardly spectacular, took JVB's "0"
TD8 - Ponce de Leon - Ponce was in every round and Gamboa did not dominate despite winning every round up until the cut stopped it
TKO2 Mtagwa - one of the great journeyman of the era, he was however just a journeyman

His skills and talent are off the charts, but I can't elevate him higher on account of his resume. He simply hasn't proved it consecutively on the highest levels as those above him have, nor have the individual performance which can justify him being ahead. Call me crazy, but in the Barros and Ponce de Leon fights I am left desiring more from Yuriorkis. He has shown a pretty damn weak chin and a lot of his defense seems to be dependent on foot speed and head movement, if I'm looking for negatives which to me hold him back. The answer is simply: the resume. It's the same reason why Bute is not higher than where I have him. I mean, let us be honest, Chad Dawson's controlling and decision over Adrian Diaconu is equal to Gamboa's second best career victory.

 

Very good stuff.

Props for being the first to go through and post their own.

Obviously there are specific things I will disagree moderately to largely from you but overall I think that is a very, very solid list.

I didn't want to point out anything specific I disagreed with but it is staring me straight in the face. I disagree greatly with your 96-99 of Lee, Mosley, Helenius, and Fury. No way to any of those, in my opinion. Don't let that sour my post. Thank you for doing this!

 

Thank you Drew. Value your opinion.

The Wonjongkam/Jaro situation is an interesting one (and "controversial," to steal a scoring term). I was going to type an explanation, but based on what you said you probably know everything I would say anyways. I also sort of agree that maybe the 40's are too high for both of them, but I respect the lineage and Pong's ATG @ flyweight stature too much to justify lowering below some of the other guys. It goes both ways though. And although it was a blowout and very decisive, I would have to pick Wonjongkam in an immediate re-match and that would ultimately be the final justification for placing him one notch ahead. Sort of a 1A/1B situation which I think is reasonable for fighters coming off a H2H match where the fight was close to equal terms or had mitigating circumstances OR the disparity between their talent/resume going into the match allows for such. Absolutely 100% see what you're saying and believe me, I thought about it for a couple days.

As far as dropping from the rankings, circumstances such as suspension for PED's would play a large role, so suspension for others things certainly would too. However, Lopez would be suspended for comments made after the fight in the ring was over, so I'd be hard pressed to hold him to standards that I wouldn't hold others too. For instance, if someone were suspended for frequent arrests or for something like failing to turn over a portion of their purse to the required commission or something of that nature, I likely would not drop them in or remove them from the rankings. So, although Lopez made big claims of corruption and poor refereeing, just at this moment I don't think I would let that affect his P4P placement. However in my opinion, and this is true about every aspect of the list, everything is a case-by-case basis of personal assessment.

I hope that didn't sound like too long of a rant. Thanks for the input.

 

I have Lara #75 as being ahead of Ao at #76.

So, by "a bit too high" I would take that as meaning that you believe Ao should be ranked above Lara? Just trying to understand the question. If you do, please detail further. I'd like to hear some things about Takahiro from someone who supports/respects/etc. him.

I can obviously see major arguments both ways, and would expect most people would have Lara much further above Ao. I think Ao gets forgotten a bit. Can't remember when I last read a comment that detailed him as more than simply "one of the titleholders at 130." I like Ao, and even with the Boschiero close fight/potential "robbery," feel he has earned at least close to my placement. Ao's April 6th fight with Terdsak Kokietgym should be a good and proving one!

 

Weekend update:

#6 Sergio Martinez stays #6
#21 Roman Gonzalez stays #21
#64 Antonio DeMarco stays #64
#70 Matthew Macklin drops to #87

Don't have too much time to elaborate (eh, couldn't help myself afterall). I will check back later tonight or tomorrow and get back to people who would like to share their opinions and discuss.

Sergio proves why he is elite, but also showed why he is below the five I had above him entering the fight. He looked good, especially at the end, but certainly lost rounds and showed flaws, something which elite level top P4P guys generally don't do, especially when the opponent entering the fight is clearly a class or two below.

Gonzalez proves little in his 1st round KO of Manuel Jimenez. Jimenez could have been a worse foe, but can also be called an unknown journeyman of little experience. Certainly won't move him up the list any. His original opponent, Ramon Garcia, would prove something however. It was re-scheduled to mid-late April.

DeMarco stops Miguel Roman, who in 9 defeats had never been stopped. That is impressive, even if Roman himself is not all that. He doesn't move up even one or two spots because I feel I gave him ample credit in ranking on virtue of his Linares comeback win.

Macklin takes a little tumble. He doesn't deserve to be blasted off the list due to his hanging in there and at times getting the better of the MW champ Sergio. However, going into his fight with Sturm, he wasn't even on my "notables/to watch" list, showing his very thin resume. His escalating to #70 was warranted based on what he did to Sturm, then in my top 40, maybe 30 even I forget. However, many months of inactivity and getting KD'd twice en route to a corner stoppage doesn't show he should maintain his spot, even if now he drops below Sturm, whom he clearly bested.