The Transnational Boxing Rankings

Where do you guys feel Jermaine Taylor deserves to be in the MW top 10?

 

Um, not? Is that an option for a titlist?

I don't think Soliman ought to have been, either, in fairness.

 

You don't think he warranted a spot from taking the title from Sturm, who did score a nice early KO over Barker that nobody saw coming, who had won an almost-war over totally legitimately ranked Geale right before.

I dunno I think he slips in at 9 or 10 myself.

 

Probably a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway:

If GGG wins on Saturday, does he enter the P4P list?

 

Still too many who have achieved more and beaten better fighters more recently...

 

Jermain Taylor entered the TBR rankings at 5 for middleweights. I would for sure rank him behind Geale, who they have at 6, but overall it's such a weak division that he probably does deserve to slot in at 6 or 7.

Don't bother looking at The Ring's middleweight rankings. They have Taylor at 9, which would be perfectly fine if they didn't still rank Soliman at 5! Yes, they rank Soliman 5 and Taylor 9 despite Taylor's multiple KD's and clear decision over Soliman. Not sure how they have Rubio ahead of N'Dam or Murray, also... Ring rankings suck!!!

 

Here's the problem, though, is the buck stops with that Barker vs. Geale almost-war. That was a fine little fight between top on-form middleweights. Unfortunately that is the last IBF middleweight contest about which you can say that. (and before that, you have naught but Geale vs. Sturm before you have to go all the way back to Sylvester vs. Karmazin...as let's face it, and I like Geale, but most of Geale's reign was pretty bad. Sylvester became uselessly shot overnight, meaning Geale became champ virtually by walkover, and three of his five defenses were horrid. Albert, Adama, Mundine? Contending for the world MW title? Ugh...)

Sturm vs. Barker was a farce - I mean, Sturm did show up and do what he needed to do but the man in front of him was unfit to fight. Likewise in Taylor vs. Soliman, though it may well have still been Taylor victorious at the end of the night you can't ignore the role the injury played, casting an unsatisfying pall over the entire contest. (much like Cotto vs. Martinez, speaking of middleweight belts changing hands more because one man's body was too broken down to compete than anything else, although in all three cases the challengers did come game & ready and deserve credit for that, while keeping in perspective how lucky they were. You can't deny there is doubt that Sturm, Taylor and Cotto would have defeated healthy versions of the guys they faced).

Then sandwiched in between those non-fights, you have the ugly rematch between Sturm - who IMO has been shot to **** for a long time, with his only decent performances in the last few years coming in 2012 against Zbik and Geale (and those were his "turn back the clock/last grasp at glory" moments to my eyes) - and Soliman, whose ranking in the first place to even get that championship rematch was beyond questionable. Yes, he earned his first shot in 2013 beating Lorenzo in an eliminator in 2012, and deserved the nod over Sturm - but he tested positive for and even admitted to using methylsynephrine (a banned substance under WADA, but in a ridiculous loophole not specifically mentioned in the IBF's proprietary list of banned substances). At that point it should have been a blank slate for him, as rankings go - that seems fair, as does Sturm vs. Soliman I being a NC in the record books. So all he did for a world title shot after 'starting over' was stop a domestic rival to pick up the Pan Asian title? Uh, that doesn't add up.


Until the belt is vacated (probably when Taylor goes to prison) and two actual top middles square off for it, nobody should be getting too much credit for capturing it. The last person to do so with no asterisk involved, or extenuating circumstances to glaringly diminish the achievement - was Barker, over Geale.

 

Fully on board. McGrain, your arguments made too much sense to me.

 

Does Kovalev enter the top 10 P4P?