Josh Taylor's one of the..

Come on now gents, yall always putting fighters on pedestals before their time. When a fighter is considered p4p his skills stand out above the rest and it's not all about resumes because a fighter can only fight who is put in front of him. When his skills and attributes are on display then you know that he is a cut above. To be honest I would only rate a p4p fighter down to number 3. The next 7 are all in the same boat and after that there is no rating. P4p is a special kind of fighter and I don't see nothing special after 3, good or very good but not special.

 

Why not? Some wins lower your credit and some losses raise it. There's no rule that says you have to change anything based on a win or a loss. I don't raise or lower my expectations about a fighter based on a robbery either. It's not about whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game.

For an example, take Floyd Mayweather. He doesn't lose, but his performances get worse. If you don't lower him down the p4p rankings then I think that you are not ranking people according to who is actually better than others.

Take another example from my p4p list above. I rank Gonzalez above Estrada even though Estrada technically won their bout, according to the judges. Since I thought that he was robbed and is actually the superior boxer, I've ranked Gonzalez higher in my p4p list.

I'll reiterate my point. A pound for pound list isn't about who won and lost. It's about who you think is the better fighter.

 

Not sure how anyone can rank Loma @2 after failing to turn up for the the first half of his fight with Lopez! 1-arm or not, that is hardly P4P worthy, especially not #2

 

You have Usyk above Spence?

Loma above Canelo?

 

I never mentions Gonzales as I thought he won that fight also. Speaking about Floyd it doesn't matter how good he looked in his fights what mattered was he found a way to win hence he was #1 rated for the "money may" part of his career (and rightly so).
It just is not possible to have Lopez 13 places behind Loma P4P even if you still have Loma higher 13 places is absurd.

Back to the point..... Taylor is definitely a top 10 P4P fighter now, and the only reason Crawford is top 10 is because he passes the eye test, but his resume still stinks for someone top 10 P4P.

 

I'd say his footwork is exceptional and, as a result, his balance - and these are products of his athleticism and ring IQ. We should enjoy him while he's around - I'm not sure his style lends itself to someone boxing beyond their physical prime. It's the intensity at which he does all you describe that makes him so effective. It's hard to be 'precise' and 'intense' at the same time - very few boxers can combine these attributes...

 

Actually, that's all that matters. Squeaking out a win against inferior competition ought to be worse than losing to a good fighter. Winning and losing is only one part of the equation and sometimes not even the most important part.

I mostly rate Canelo on the basis of his two close losses to Golovkin. Those losses told me more about his quality than his walk over victories against Khan, Cotto, or Mosely. He accomplished one hell of a lot more in those two fights than he did the rest of his career. His stock rose in any reasonable person's estimation, and not because he rigged the scorecards and robbed Golovkin twice, but because he managed to show his worth that he was almost the man's equal. Meanwhile, anyone lowering Golovkin's stock on the basis of those two excellent career defining performances is an *******. Anyone who'd put him below Canelo after that is wrong.

I'm telling you that pound for pound is not about wins and losses. We've got lots of unimpressive guys with no losses and some very impressive guys who've had a few.

Leaving Floyd at number one for years when he wasn't the best fighter on the planet is dumb to me. I saw Donaire, Rigondeaux, Golovkin, Ward, and Gonzalez all hit their primes and pass him as he declined. If you gave Floyd those accolades while they were clearly more dominant, doing better work, then you're robbing them. The fact of the matter is that from 2010-2015 Floyd was a lot more beatable than those boys. He only escaped losing by cherry picking his opponents.

 

I think his judging of distance is maybe only bettered by Bivol right now. His left-hand is also pretty exceptional I'd say.

His downsides are still a tendency to want to trade / not box smart (meaning he gets hits more than maybe he should) - however, this makes him a more exciting fighter, he is not safety first, and I'm not sure I would enjoy his work as much if went overly in that direction. He has passed the chin and gut test multiple times, I think his 'intangibles' are pretty high.

 

If you believe that, then you need to show where you place him in the p4p list as well as explaining why he deserves to be there more than
10.Bivol
11.Spence
12.Joshua
13.Garcia
14.Saunders
15.Lopez
16.Davis
17.Wangek

 

If you look on accomplishments in pros or in am ranks, yeah, Usyk's resume today is level above in both: pro and am ranks.
If Usyk was from US then he had been hyped up till heavens in forums, US media and already had been turned into damn huge cash cow when he fought at CW. Most likely he had get row with well paid fights after he had get all belts and The Ring belt at CW.
& There is one thing about talks " Usyk is pillow fisted even for CW ".
Reality is different: at CW he was not able to drop only real division elite boxers if they were in good shape.
What could be done to sell his fights in US at CW if he was from US?
Simple thing: gave to then prime Usyk any boxer who is not top 4-5 & in his prime and fans had get their worshiped stoppages in distance.

Accusations about too low power started when he had not dropped, stopped some boxers at CW.
These were Gassiev, Briedis, Hunter and Glowacki and all these were in their prime. Other pro CW boxers he had stopped.
Now he doesn't looks is so sharp and fast like he was at CW, still, he deserves respect because he turned Undisputed without over the hill opponents in the ring.

If Usyk was from US, he had been praised in US like DLH had been in his best career years.

 

Well, with fighters happens thing that they are rated also from all their fights.
Young Floyd was considerably more sharp than when he get older, moved up in weight classes etc.
The same had happened with DLH and xxxx of boxers here.

Skills are one thing, experience is another thing and body is there what it is here.
Father Time is and always will be only 1 alone Undisputed Champion of the World. In all weight classes and in ALL kinds of sport.
Injuries are thing that helps Father Time to do his work earlier.
Maybe expect chess and like this.

 

I'm not saying Usyk isn't good, but THAT good?

Good enough in terms of his recent achievements to be ahead of some of those names you mentioned?

You also have Saunders in there, above Lopez?

Is this the same Lopez who beat Loma, yet you have Loma at number 3 and Lopez way down near the bottom?

That makes no sense to me.

The pound 4 pound number one should be the guy who has spent the last few years beating everyone else at an elite level and doing it in impressive fashion.

How does Saunders qualify in any way to be among the top 20?

Because he had one good outing against Lemieux a few years ago?

You put him ahead of Lopez, yet Lopez had a spectacular outing against the guy you rate as a top 3 p4p...but Saunders is ahead of Lopez?

Sorry, I don't get it.

Unless, of course, this is not Billy Joe and Teofimo we are talking about?

You also put Garcia ahead of Taylor, as if Garcia has earned a place there because he beat Campbell?

It's not even the names in the list, so much as the order they are in.

I'm not saying you are wrong, because you are entitled to your opinion as much as I am...I just find it a bit inconsistent.

 

His last 6 fights opponents combined:-

136-1

The one loss there was of course Postol's loss to Bud Crawford.

Not to shabby at all, especially given it's pro fights 13-18