MATT YANOFSKY’S LATEST POUND FOR POUND COMPILATION
Posted on | June 26, 2007 | No Comments
Pound for Pound List {As Of 6/24/07}
By Matt Yanofsky
1. Floyd Mayweather {Junior Middleweight}
Floyd Mayweather’s once again becomes the clear number one pound for pound fighter after defeating the legendary Oscar De La Hoya. All of the Mayweather critics must give him respect for not only taking the fight at too high of a weight, but also using Oscar’s gloves and winning in Vegas where he is a favorite. I was surprised to see it be a split decision as I felt Floyd clearly won the contest. De La Hoya has stated their will be no rematch. If Floyd elects to fight again, it would most likely come against Miguel Cotto in what would be another mega fight.
2. Manny Pacquiao {Junior Lightweight}
Although he got off to a slow start and needed 8 rounds to dispose the tall awkward and undefeated Jorge Solis, Pacman got the job done. He also had an excellent 2006 where he twice knocked out Erik Morales and battered former champion Oscar Larios. Pacquaio appears en route to challenging the rejuvenated Humberto Soto who just dominated his brother Bobby on the Miguel Cotto Zab Judah Undercard
3. Winky Wright {Middleweight}
After a disputed draw with champion Jermain Taylor in June, Wright returned to dominate former champion Ike Quartey who moved up from junior middleweight. Wright will now be facing Bernard Hopkins at a catch weight of 170 on July 21st pay per view that few fans will order. It will also be interesting where the winner and loser both end up after this fight.
4. Rafael Marquez {Super Bantamweight}
Marquez successfully moved up from Bantamweight to stop WBC and Ring Magazine Champion Israel Vazquez in a thriller. Marquez’ used his incredible punching power to break down Vazquez. Vazquez retired on his stool after the 7th round claiming he couldn’t breathe due to a nose injury. Marquez also showed the heart of a champion when he recovering from a third round knockdown to ultimately come back to stop the fight. Lucky for us boxing fans, we will get to see a rematch August 4th in what will probably be another candidate for fight of the year.
5. Juan Manuel Marquez {Junior Lightweight}
Jus like his brother Rafael, Juan Manuel successfully moved up in weight to win the WBC championship. Marquez out pointed the legendary Macro Antonio Barrera. Ironically, one year ago Marquez was thought to as being in no mans land after taking $30,000 in losing to Chris John instead of a potential rematch with Pacquaio which at the time Marquez priced himself out of. Marquez will be fighting the always entertaining Jorge Barrios on a September 16th pay per view card.
6. Ricky Hatton {Junior Welterweight}
Hatton surprisingly dominated legendary warrior Jose Luis Castillo en route to a 4th round KO. Hatton floored Castillo for the first time in his career with a picture perfect body shot ala Roy Jones/Virgil Hill. Hatton now has many options for his next fight which potentially include Paulie Malignaggi, and Joel Casamayor.
7. Joe Calzaghe {Super Middleweight}
Calzaghe had a controversial stoppage win over Manfredo but regardless of the controversy, Calzaghe was dominating as expected and it would have not lasted much longer then it did. Joe had a tougher time than expected in his prior fight. Calzaghe recovered from the first cut of his career against Sakio Bika to earn a unanimous decision. Calzaghe is successful, he will have some options. To the delight of the entire boxing world, Calzaghe appears to be heading over to Denmark to face undefeated WBA/WBC Champion Mikkel Kessler in September in which may be the biggest fight in Super Middleweight History
8. Jermain Taylor {Middleweight}
Taylor earned an extremely lackluster and what some felt controversial decision over sprinter/Junior Middleweight Cory Spinks. This was the third straight Junior Middleweight titlist {Kassim Ouma and Winky Wright} that he had faced. Taylor is now set to challenge undefeated #1 Middleweight contender Kelly Pavlik on September 29th.
9. Marco Antonio Barrera {Super Featherweight}
Barrera dropped a decision to the great Juan Manuel Marquez in a fight some saw as a robbery. I disagree that the fight was a robbery but I do belive Barrera is still a top 10 lb for lb fighter and can rebound as he has in the past from his prior losses. Barerra has elected to take some time out of the ring before choosing his next fight. Also on the bright side, all 5 of Barrera’s losses have come to multiple division world champions in Junior Jones, Erik Morales, Manny Pacquiao, and Juan Manuel Marquez.
10. Ivan Calderon {Strawweight}
Calderon may perhaps be the best pure boxer in the world today. Unfortunately, to most boxing fans he is an unknown because he is fighting at the lowest weight class and receives little publicity. Calderon has been dominant for most of his career by using his ability to hit and not get hit. In his last fight, Calderon surprisingly struggled with Ronald Barrera needing a split decision victory after getting cut up for the first time in his career during a late rally by Barrera. Calderon, who made 11 defenses of his WBO Strawweight title, is moving up to 108 to face WBO Champion Hugo Cazares in August on a DirecTV Pay Per View.
Honorable Mention: Chris John, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Joel Casamayor, Wladimir Klitchko, Shane Mosley, Juan Diaz, Mikkel Kessler, Jean Marc Mormeck, Miguel Cotto, Joan Guzman