Results Are In: ESB Official Rankings

Starting now, ESB has its own official rankings!

After lots of discussion about rules and taking nominations for the initial Committee, then voting and crunching the numbers, here's a look at results.

You'll see a lot of familiar names, but there also were some surprises. Clearly, I believe the heavier international flavor of the ESB community shines through in these rankings.

Additionally, congratulations to the following posters, who were voted onto the Committee: Emmanuel Augustus, Calabrese, Brickhaus, Pimp C and Dekkers.

Those posters who came up short, please feel free to apply again in six months.

Thanks to everyone for participating in one form or another, whether you nominated another poster or offered feedback on rankings or the entire process itself.

Enjoy!



Pound for Pound:

1. Floyd Mayweather
2. Manny Pacquiao
3. Juan Manuel Marquez
4. Bernard Hopkins
5. Joe Calzaghe
6. Israel Vazquez
7. Ricky Hatton
8. Miguel Cotto
9. Rafael Marquez
10. Ivan Calderon



Heavyweight:

1. Wladimir Klitschko
2. Ruslan Chagaev
3. Samuel Peter
4. Sultan Ibragimov
5. Oleg Maskaev
6. Nicolay Valuev
7. Tony Thompson
8. Sergei Lyakhovich
9. Vladimir Virchis
10. Alexander Povetkin



Cruiserweight:

CHAMPION: Jean-Marc Mormeck

1. O'Neil Bell
2. David Haye
3. Steve Cunningham
4. Enzo Maccarinelli
5. Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
6. Darnell Wilson
7. Marco Huck
8. Vadim Tokarev
9. Firat Arslan
10. Tomasz Adamek


Light Heavyweight:

1. Bernard Hopkins
2. Chad Dawson
3. Clinton Woods
4. Zsolt Erdei
5. Antonio Tarver
6. Glen Johnson
7. Paul Briggs
8. Adrian Diaconu
9. Stipe Drews
10. Roy Jones


Super Middlweight:

1. Joe Calzaghe
2. Mikkel Kessler
3. Anthony Mundine
4. Lucian Bute
5. Jeff Lacy
6. Carl Froch
7. Librado Andrade
8. Allan Green
9. Markus Beyer
10. Alejandro Berrio

At No. 1 and No. 2, Calzaghe and Kessler will be fighting for the vacant title.



Middleweight:

CHAMPION: Kelly Pavlik

1. Arthur Abraham
2. Jermain Taylor
3. Winky Wright
4. Felix Sturm
5. Sebastian Sylvester
6. Javier Castillejo
7. Edison Miranda
8. John Duddy
9. Amin Asikainen (tie)
9. Mariano Carrera (tie)

Note: Roman Karmazin was voted 8th in this division, but he ranks higher at 154 and thus is excluded from these rankings. Kassim Ouma tied for 8th with Duddy, but he is listed higher at 154 and thus cannot be ranked at 160. We need to decide in the next month at which division these guys truly belong.


Junior Middleweight

1. Cory Spinks
2. Vernon Forrest
3. Oscar De La Hoya
4. Sergei Dzindziruk
5. Roman Karmazin
6. Joachim Alcine
7. Travis Simms
8. Kassim Ouma
9. Ike Quartey
10. Daniel Santos


Welterweight

CHAMPION: Floyd Mayweather

1. Miguel Cotto
2. Shane Mosley
3. Paul Williams
4. Kermit Cintron
5. Antonio Margarito
6. Luis Collazo
7. Joshua Clottey
8. Andre Berto
9. Zab Judah
10. Oktay Urkal


Junior Welterweight:

CHAMPION: Ricky Hatton

1. Junior Witter
2. Paulie Malignaggi
3. Ricardo Torres
4. Vivian Harris
5. Gavin Rees
6. Kendall Holt
7. Andreas Kotelnik
8. Jose Luis Castillo
9. Souleymane M'Baye
10. Herman Ngoudjo


Lightweight:

1. Joel Casamayor
2. Juan Diaz
3. Julio Diaz
4. David Diaz
5. Nate Campbell
6. Michael Katsidis
7. Zahir Raheem
8. Almazbek Raiymkulov
9. Yuri Romanov
10. Jose Armando Santa Cruz


Junior Lightweight:

1. Manny Pacquiao
2. Juan Manuel Marquez
3. Joan Guzman
4. Humberto Soto
5. Marco Antonio Barrera
6. Edwin Valero
7. Jorge Barrios
8. Alex Arthur
9. Mzonke Fana
10. Manuel Medina


Note: Rocky Juarez was voted 10th in this division but was ranked higher at 126, and thus was excluded from the rankings. He's another one we need to decide for certain which is his best class.

Featherweight:

1. Chris John
2. Jorge Linares
3. Robert Guerrero
4. Steven Luevano
5. Jorge Solis
6. Rocky Juarez
7. Injin Chi
8. Hiroyuki Enoki
9. Martin Honorio
10. Naoki Matsuda


Junior Featherweight:

1. Israel Vazquez
2. Rafael Marquez
3. Daniel Ponce de Leon
4. Celestino Caballero
5. Steve Molitor
6. Somsak Sithchatchawal
7. Kiko Martinez
8. Mike Oliver
9. Ricardo Cordoba
10. Sergio Manuel Medina


Note: Vazquez was one vote short of being named champion. Of course, a third showdown against Marquez could settle that issue for good.

Bantamweight:

1. Hozumi Hasegawa
2. Gerry Penalosa
3. Silence Mabuza
4. Wladimir Sidorenko
5. Jhonny Gonzalez
6. Joseph Agbeko
7. Simone Maludrottu
8. Ricardo Cordoba
9. Jorge Arce
10. Veerapol Sahaprom

Note: Starting with this class, where were numerous fighters who received votes in two different divisions. If there is confusion over where any specific fighter belongs, we need to determine that within the next month.


Junior Bantamweight:

1. Cristian Mijares
2. Fernando Montiel
3. Martin Castillo
4. Alexander Munoz
5. Nobuo Nashiro


Flyweight:

1. Nonito Donaire
2. Vic Darchiniyan
3. Daisuke Naito
4. Takefumi Sakata
5. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam


Junior Flyweight:

1. Ivan Calderon
2. Hugo Cazares
3. Ulises Solis
4. Edgar Sosa
5. Omar Nino

Note: Calderon was one vote short of being named champion.


Strawweight:

1. Florante Condes
2. Yutaka Niida
3. Eagle Kyowa
4. Muhammad Rachman
5. Donnie Nietes

 

Thank you for catching that. For whatever reason, Excel did not sort Spinks correctly. (Maybe Excel hates his style, too.) His totals were there, but he didn't rise to the top as he should have.

Anyway, fixed now.

 

I thinks these rankings are very representative, with the understanding that we need work on the little guys.

The nice thing is that everyone busted it to prepare this first wave of rankings, so from here on out they'll be able to concentrate on specific areas. It's just a matter of making little adjustments from month to month, plus adding to the skill set.

The Spinks omission confuses me, but I'll figure it out.