Your top 10 at Light Middleweight

Rabchenko is a very good prospect about time he got a world title shot hes been high in the WBC ratings for ages. Taras Shelestyuk looks good as well he'll be up there with these guys in 18 months time.

I'd like to see Alvarez vs Lara
and when Baysonguerov comes back he deserves an immediate shot at Andrade

 

Bball's list is quite good; my only tweak would involve dropping Boo Boo to 6 behind Trout and Cotto. If you don't feel Kirkland has done enough to warrant a rating, then slide Rabchenko into the 10th slot and bump everyone from 8-10 up a notch.

 

This sounds ideal to me. :good

I must say, head to head, unless Rabchenko can't take it half as well as he can dish it out (still not proven either way, but no red flags yet), he would probably be the last man standing in a shootout with Kirkland.

 

Shelly is going to be good. Some people overlook him because many other Ukrainian amateurs were more decorated with accomplishments on paper (not that a 'mere' Olympic bronze, or gold at the world championships is anything to scoff at) but his is a very pro-ready style and he will be in exciting main events for years and probably hold a few titles. :nod

Actually the first crack at Andrade should rightfully go to Brian Rose (although really it ought to be Maciel...)

 

Rabchenko Kirkland is the lmw fight I want to see. That would be a war.

 

Rhodes was Top 10 after beating Jamie Moore. (It wasn't a deep division at the time, but Moore was rated by Ring and most of the organizations when Rhodes beat him).

 

Rhodes actually came off quite a solid run to challenge Alvarez, starting with the Euro title capture upsetting Moore, then a dominant first defense TKO over perennial Euro contender Messi, and finally a third straight knockout of an 11-0 prospect.

Not many gave him a chance with Canelo, sure, but he surprised plenty of folks by even making it as far as he did and if you go purely by the 154lb scene of the day he was up there in the rankings and with ample reason as explained above.

 

Exactly, that has always gnawed at me and part of me has always wanted a rematch to settle the matter. (but Kirkland probably wants no part of Molina again despite getting the best of the deal; while Molina has a hard enough time getting exposure and opportunities already without risking the major setback of getting kayoed...decisions at least you can explain away crying robbery, but it's hard to argue with failing to beat a ten-count... :yep)

 

lennox got kod by a crackhead who went on to accumulate an abysmal 50 percent ko ratio

funny to see people overrate canelo when i have the fight close to a pick em if the overrated alvarez were to fight the underated kirkland tommorow(james knows that he wont win a decisions so he will ktfo or get ktfo trying and gbp judges will have no affect on the outcome).

and because of all the people that dont know anything about boxing kirkland will probably come in at +400 when he should be no more than a +150

 

He does have more hype and rating than his actual accomplishment. But I do think his ranking is and always has been fair, with the exception being his entering The Ring P4P Top 10 prior to the Floyd fight.

One can't discredit how big the unification with Trout was. Close fight, but an impressive one and good victory.

Rhodes was a legit lower end top 10 JMW, Ring had him at a too lofty #4. A totally noteworthy title defense with today's title defending standards.

Cintron was ranked the #1-2 JMW just a calendar year before he fought Alvarez, believe it or not.

Mosley and Baldomir were both well past it but the wins and the one sided-ness of them were totally solid, especially Mosley. Baldomir, based on weight and nothing more, was actually a big opponent at that time despite never amounting to anything past losing his lineal title.

Matthew Hatton to win his title in the expanding catchweight fight is very meh. He and his other smaller opponents in Josesito Lopez and Alfonso Gomez leave more to be desired. Josesito, I will say, was at least a lower end/fringe top 10 WW after the Ortiz broken jaw... In the end, this is not an abnormal pattern. See: contemporaries Golovkin and Broner and who they won their first title from.

Other nice little touches if you continue to go deep, which is the point I'm making that the quantity of acceptable fights adds up, include Luciano Cuello, Jose Cotto, and Lovemore Ndou. Journeyman make the world go 'round... Also, "size difference size difference" I know, but he did beat Miguel Vazquez way early into both of their careers twice.

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People pretend dominant wins over Mosley, Baldomir, M. Hatton, Josesito, and Gomez literally mean nothing. It is nothing historic nor even the building blocks of an era defining JMW, but doesn't somehow not count for anything. This is going to sound like I'm picking on him, but just for examples sake: How are these wins not on par with many of Leo Santa Cruz's career fights? Eric Morel, Victor Zaleta, and Alexander Munoz are totally comparable if not noticeably lesser than them... Overall, Alvarez's resume crushes Santa Cruz and you find no bigger rater of the "lower" divisions than myself.

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A seldom spoken point about Alvarez is that he jumped to the "world class" or "titlist" category at the same time he was moving up in weight from WW to JMW. Factor in normal promotional protection programs implemented for 1) young fighters with a big following and 2) fighters moving up in weight and you actually can applaud Golden Boy and Team Alvarez for his resume.

 

intresting take on it, and some good points....

i think maybe if he hadnt been gifted the title I wouldnt have felt so harsh towards his achievements.... I feel like everything he done prior to the trout fight, were the building blocks of a legitimate title shot... that shot being against trout

thanks for the post!

I guess my hate is against modern boxing standards and the routes to titles, as opposed to canelo in particular