Ali Funeka- best lightweight in the world currently??

well hes better then guzman.

nah but seriously i dunno, i always thought Funeka had a cool head and good fundamentals but he always seemed easy to exploit. Guzman basically punched himself out hitting him, it was like a child hitting a grown man with full force and funeka just margarito'd his ass. it was a clear win for ali and i feel guzman could have won the fight rather easy but i swear dude had no plan what so ever and thought he was just gonna steamroll funeka.

 

If Marquez still has a future as a lightweight, no. Otherwise, may be. I'd love to see Funeka VS Valero though for the WBC title.

 

The African warrior is no joke, i mean apart from controversial decisions he may have suffered i dont see anyone clearly beating him. Tough as nails. Most African fighters are anyways.

 

If Marquez doesnt come back theres only 3 in the division for best lightweight.

Valero,Funeka, and Soto. Id rank them in that order as well.

 

I agree about him being on the decline and I don't know if he can safely come back down without getting worse but he does still have the belts, so I wonder if he's not at least thinking about it. Dying to know who his TBA is.

 

No.

 

yeah but Campbell KD him twice. He is not that tough. JMM will kick his ass

 

He got back up though so I think he deserves credit for being tough.

Now I don't know if he's the best guy at 135. I think JMM and Juan Diaz (yes I still have hopes for Juan Diaz) might argue that as would the winner of DeMarco vs Valero.

I'd like to see Funeka in any of those fights to be honest. Guy is fun to watch.

 

Campbell may be a granddaddy but he can hit and he's a fine ring technician. I don't take too much away from Funeka for that.

 

Still have hope for Juan, huh? I like the kid but he's going to have to put the potato chips down for a few months if he's going to be a 135-pounder again. If the baby bull didn't have natural baby fat on him, he'd be a Super Featherweight.

 

I think at 135 he's still a pretty good fighter. He's got some good wins over Katsidis, Julio Diaz, Jose Miguel Cotto and Acelino Freitas. He lost to JMM in the FOTY (where he was still very much in the fight prior to the KO) and I'm not counting the performances against Paulie because he wasn't at 135.

I think he could still do some damage at 135 if he was commited to it. I'm just not sure the comitment level is really there.

 

Yeah, you nailed it. Commitment. If he had it, he knows he's got no business north of 135 and never did. Don't get me wrong, he's always committed during the actual fight. But I just don't think he wanted to get down as far any more. And the scar tissue around the eyes. He's starting every fight at a disadvantage now because of that. I'd be happy for him if he had one more big win, maybe even got another title but I don't see him being capable of taking a top-notcher like Funeka, JMM, Valero anymore. I thought he was a good champ though. Did what I like to see, made defenses, unified, got out and fought plenty, took challenges.

 

Not just that but there's a good chance he's going to be a lawyer at some point. I'm certain that's on his mind as well.

Whatever the case may be, Diaz was a very fun guy to watch. I wish him well.

If you eliminate Diaz from the mix then you have Valero, DeMarco, JMM, Funeka and Katsidis as the tops at 135. I think Funeka has a chance against any of those guys to be honest.

I know Lennox Lewis hates seeing Funeka's name on the marquee.

 

Yeah, he was fun but at some point being a lawyer starts to look better than Ali the giant or 100% KO Valero punching you in the face. And :rofl to Lennox.