Year-end pound for pound poll

Thurman doesn't have a shabby resume, he's beat some good fighters as a ww, and is fighting Garcia to become the number 1 guy in the division. I knew putting him above GGG was going to get a rise of out some people. I could have switched Frampton with Thurman which is logical, but even then with Thurman's inclusion in my P4P rankings I just knew people would question it. Lol.

 

I see people putting Inoue in their top 10 P4P lists but why? He's a monster but his resume compiles of his own countryman. Not 1 name really sticks out on his resume. NOT 1.

 

It's a good defence of Canelo, I'll explain where I think differently.

I can agree with those three aspects, although disagree about the Golovkin comparison (I wish ODLH had your confidence in Canelo!). That's why Canelo is in my top 10.

But he does have a glass chin and is 1-2 divisions smaller. That's why I give Canelo nearly zero credit for beating Khan and GGG nearly zero credit for beating Brook.

Beefy, yes that was a good performance, all the more so as some thought Beefy would win. I don't rate Beefy though, and to be honest he isn't either world level or anywhere near Canelo's level. I still give him decent credit for that win.

Lara? That was really close. I had it a draw. Still some credit, also for taking the fight.

Mayweather? That was a schooling, C.J. Ross card notwithstanding. Sure Floyd never hurt Canelo but he landed almost all the scoring shots. Boxing is a sport with scoring rules, so ... I give credit for taking the fight, extra credit in view of the catchweight + youth, but it wasn't a good performance.

I had Canelo winning that close but clear, although I actually thought it would've been even more one-sided than it was. Some credit from me.

I guess we saw Canelo drop the belt and refuse 83/17 at 156 lb apparently. Golovkin looks better to me and to most of the boxing world too.

I know Cotto and Khan are big names, but I don't think they are that good at MW to be honest.

I'm an eye test person, and to my eyes Canelo is top 10 in terms of ability / size, but not top 5.

 

Right, Thurman does have better names on his resume than GGG so I can see that (although I disagree personally ); however Frampton looks better than Thurman and has the better wins, doesn't he?

 

It's subjective. I think Frampton could switch places with Thurman.. But I'm a huge swift fan, so maybe I have an agenda putting Thurman that high!! Hmmmm

 

Two-weight world champion after 11 pro fights. Dominated Taguchi in only his third bout. Jumped up two divisions and KO'd Narvaez inside 2 in his eighth. Also passes the eye test with flying colours .

 

Well, I look at who you've beaten rather than how good you look against limited opposition as a gauge. Narvaez is a good win, but he was a little past it. He looks good but hasn't been tested yet. USYK has a better case than Inoue imo.

 

I guess that's where the term eye test kicks in. You say Canelo looks more impressive than GGG against similar level opposition and that has more impressive KOs, I disagree. In my view, Knocking the **** out of Matthew Macklin(who was a better quality operator than Beefy and competed at a higher level coming into his bout with GGG) early in the fight with a single body shot is a lot more impressive than ripping Smith to the body and wearing him down over 9 rounds. Or KTFO of Ishida, a guy who walked through the shots from Dmitry Pirog, Paul Williams, Kirkland and even HW Fujimoto, or dropping Martin Murray at will who stood up to shots from other top MWs and hard hitting SMWs without ever going down and having a field day with him, not to mention the jab and the footwork that allows him the carry the same power boxing off the back foot or in stalker mode, specifically against Lemieux practically dismanting him with one hand is a far greater power and offensive skill display than anything Canelo has ever done. P4P rankings is probably the most debatabe aspect of the game.

 

Think Narvaez was a bit lucky to get the win against Orucuta but he was by no means washed. Rate Inoue's resume higher than Usyk's but expect Usyk to feature high up in my P4P list in the near future.

 

Ward
Gonzalez
Kovalev
Lomachenko
Crawford
Golovkin

Something like this

 

Those are indeed the top 6 currently when summed up

 

Who did Loma beat to be at #2? Russell jr and Walters?

Ward has beaten Kovalev, Kessler, and Froch. Loma should be lower than Ward, Gonzalez, Kovalev but higher than Crawford, Golovkin, Canelo, etc.

 

Is P4P rankings more about skills or who you beat? The problem with using "who you beat" to decide P4P rankings is it's nearly impossible to gauge how a Russell Jr or a Walters compares to a Beefy or a Lara. It's much easier to just look at the fighter's skills and compare that fighters skills to another fighter's skills and rate their in-ring performances.

I don't have Canelo at #1 because of who he beat or even who he fought. I'm impressed with his literal in-ring boxing skills more than anyone else. Who he beat and who he fought produced performances that moved him up the P4P list. I think there's a tendency to rank these fighters like each guy is a college football team. That's not really what P4P rankings are supposed to be about. I think if you did your P4P rankings based on a fighter's skills and individual performances (with an emphasis perhaps on more recent performances) it will be easier to make an accurate list. This isn't just about number crunching and rating opponents. It's about studying how these guys perform in the ring, judging how effective they are as a boxer and how innovative they are.

A guy who I think deserves to be in this discussion as well is Thurman. When I did my list I probably should have included him in the Top 10. Just based on his last performance, he really impressed me in how he fought. We really need to start rewarding guys who put on performances that leaves us satisfied as fans.

 

I use a combination of who they beat and the eye test. Only thing you can use, I think.