My P4P Top 30

You know what? I think you're right. Not about the first point, I'm going to stay with my rule that if a boxer has a fight scheduled he's active and deserves consideration, and go by the level he showed his previous fight.

But if I'm here insisting p4p is simply rating the best boxers in the world, whose strengths are greater and whose weaknesses are lesser, who has the least chance of losing in the ring based on the evidence of their performances, with resume only being a factor towards that... I'll be honest and consistent and agree with you that Lomachenko is BETTER than Mayweather. I've believed so the last three years but kept Mayweather number 1 only by default. Regardless of what people might say about the Salido 'loss', the circumstances make it less of a knock against him in my opinion than the first Castillo fight deserves to be held against Floyd, as does the pretty close Oscar fight, and moreso how Floyd's looked against various opposition through his ww career. Outside the Salido fight, you could argue Loma hasn't lost a round. This isn't for a second to accept the Pacfan bashings of Floyd, or criticisms of him in several fights that aren't justified. It's just to credit Lomachenko's greatness as the most complete boxer in the world.

Assuming Mayweather is number 1 has kept me from acknowledging his compartive imperfections. And not just Loma: Rigondeaux is better and has proven more unbeatable through his career than Mayweather. The Amagasa fight was brought up, but I disagree totally, and think Rigo looked fine.

My list was called ballsy earlier, should really be now.

 

After revalutations the last few days I've settled on this. Which I will defend against any haters. Keeping it at 30, 40 was just unnecessary. And there are too many guys I might say are better than the last few of my top 40, so 30 is a more logical cut-off. See recent posts for explanations. I originally meant this to be not much more than where I could bookmark my p4p list, didn't think I would be compelled to put so much effort into defending it.


1. Lomachenko
2. Rigondeaux
3. Mayweather
4. Ward
5. Crawford
6. Inoue
7. Mikey Garcia
8. Gonzalez
9. Kovalev
10. Estrada
11. Golovkin
12. Spence
13. Lara
14. Usyk
15. Gvozdyk
16. Jacobs
17. Canelo
18. Degale
19. Brook
20. Nietes
21. Beterbiev
22. Derevyanchenko
23. Thurman
24. Linares
25. Yamanaka
26. Jermall Charlo
27. Cuadras
28. Russell
29. Ioka
30. Santa Cruz

 

I have to put Roman Gonzalez above Mikey Garcia. I rewatched Gonzalez-Cuadras, and that was no setback of a performance. On the contrary, Gonzalez has to be given props for moving up and beating a bigger, stronger guy, and for beating the style that most troubled him. And more importantly: Gonzalez has more technique and there's more to him as a boxer. Amazingly creative combination punching, punching on the move, shifting and positioning inside, better defence as he attacks. While Mikey as impressive as he is doesn't like fighting inside and is more just a classic counter power puncher. Looking at their opposition, I have to think Mikey has as much trouble against styles like Cuadras and Estrada, which he hasn't yet had to face.

Putting Gonzalez higher also implies my predictions of their next fights: I think Mikey takes a while to find his range and comfort-zone with Broner, has some difficulty, and while he likely beats him up late won't knock him out. While I think Gonzalez after getting robbed adjusts to utterly dominate Sor Rungvisai, and avoids the knockdown and cuts that gave the judges a reason to rob him the first time.


1. Lomachenko
2. Rigondeaux
3. Mayweather
4. Ward
5. Crawford
6. Inoue
7. Gonzalez
8. Mikey Garcia
9. Kovalev
10. Estrada
11. Golovkin
12. Spence
13. Lara
14. Usyk
15. Gvozdyk
16. Jacobs
17. Canelo
18. Degale
19. Brook
20. Nietes
21. Beterbiev
22. Derevyanchenko
23. Thurman
24. Linares
25. Yamanaka
26. Jermall Charlo
27. Cuadras
28. Russell
29. Ioka
30. Santa Cruz

 

Was going to wait till after Floyd's confirms reretirement to update, but with talk of Crawford's p4p level I'll update and bump this. Well, not updating much. Since last month, Mikey looked great, but I want to see Gonzalez against Rungvisai again before I move Mikey up. I got questioned having Yamanaka no higher than 25, but he showed in losing to Neary he's sure not close to the top 10 Ring and others had him. In fact I shouldn't have had him in my top 30. Frampton cracks my list. Tanaka probably next up.

Crawford was a destructive killer tonight, he's won his last three fights in completely different fashion, he's the ultimate versatile stylist. But above Ward? Not ready to demote Ward.

1. Lomachenko
2. Rigondeaux
3. Mayweather
4. Ward
5. Crawford
6. Inoue
7. Gonzalez
8. Mikey Garcia
9. Kovalev
10. Estrada
11. Golovkin
12. Spence
13. Lara
14. Usyk
15. Gvozdyk
16. Jacobs
17. Canelo
18. Degale
19. Brook
20. Nietes
21. Beterbiev
22. Derevyanchenko
23. Thurman
24. Linares
25. Jermall Charlo
26. Cuadras
27. Russell
28. Ioka
29. Santa Cruz
30. Frampton

 

Mayweather after temporarily returning to beat a UFC guy is out. Tanaka is in. This kid is for real, I might have him too low.

1. Lomachenko
2. Rigondeaux
3. Ward
4. Crawford
5. Inoue
6. Gonzalez
7. Mikey Garcia
8. Kovalev
9. Estrada
10. Golovkin
11. Spence
12. Lara
13. Usyk
14. Gvozdyk
15. Jacobs
16. Canelo
17. Degale
18. Brook
19. Nietes
20. Beterbiev
21. Derevyanchenko
22. Thurman
23. Linares
24. Jermall Charlo
25. Cuadras
26. Russell
27. Ioka
28. Santa Cruz
29. Frampton
30. Tanaka

 

I mention earlier that I don't think after their fight Jack should have to be rated close to Degale. I think Degale's better than that performance, and is one of the most skilled, versatile boxers in the world. But Jack deserves consideration after last week. He looked really good, better than we've seen him before. Added more angles to his attack, and smartly broke Cleverly down. I think he beats Stevenson. But light heavy's loaded and I don't see him beating the four light heavies I have higher, and in fact probably not Bivol who he's supposed to be mandated to fight next either. I can't say he's definitely better than the guys at the bottom of my list. Bivol, Danny Garcia, Briedis, and Jack, then Joshua are probably on the bubble for me.

 

Roman Gonzalez goes not just down but out of my p4p list. This doesn't mean I think he was never great, he sure was, but means I think at this stage the top super flies all beat him, and that he's not coming back from a brutal knockout like that. Moving beyond flyweight was a problem for him too, and he says he can no longer make 112. It looks like the end of the road. I did underrate Sor Rungvisai and he proves he definitely deserves to be in a top 30 p4p. I think Estrada will be nowhere near the fight Gonzalez was and favour Estrada, but not so confidently and that now looks every bit as exciting as a Roman-Estrada rematch would've been.

Estrada also looked really good beating Cuadras. I think the close fight in rounds obscures that Estrada showed he's better overall and would win every time.

Inoue was in against a guy just trying to survive, I don't think we can come away thinking more or less of him. Just because he didn't look his best doesn't mean Estrada or SSR should be favoured to beat him.

Usyk put on a career best performance against Huck. He's shown he's too good to be below Lara. The stamina and tactical control of fights as much as his movement and speed is what makes him great. I really like Estrada and Spence, they're both sharper technically and more patient so I can't push Usyk too far up. If Kovalev doesn't look good his next fight I might drop him.

I am super psyched for GGG-Canelo, but I guess I'm the only person who thinks it's nothing close to a fight for p4p number 1, and is more like a fight for p4p number 9.

1. Lomachenko
2. Rigondeaux
3. Ward
4. Crawford
5. Inoue
6. Mikey Garcia
7. Kovalev
8. Estrada
9. Golovkin
10. Spence
11. Usyk
12. Lara
13. Gvozdyk
14. Jacobs
15. Canelo
16. Degale
17. Brook
18. Nietes
19. Beterbiev
20. Derevyanchenko
21. Thurman
22. Linares
23. Sor Rungvisai
24. Jermall Charlo
25. Cuadras
26. Russell
27. Ioka
28. Santa Cruz
29. Frampton
30. Tanaka