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Ralph Rimpell?s Boxing P4P List By Ralph Rimpell PhilBoxing.com Sun, 26 Mar 2017  I just read ESPN P4P list of the 10 best current fighters in boxing by Dan Rafael as of March 23, 2017. While I agree that all ten fighters deservedly belong on the list, I totally disagree with the ranking or order. No disrespect to the voting Panel and their point system. The order or ranking should be: 1. Manny Pacquiao* 59-6-2, 38K0s- Pacquiao at # 1! Why shouldn?t he still be ranked at #1? It was either him or Floyd Mayweather at the #1 spot for years. Remember he is an 8 division world champion and won 11 major titles. Mayweather retired and then unretired. Mayweather will soon make an announcement that he will fight an MMA UFC fighter Connor McGregor who is 0-0, 0KOs as a boxer. Pacquiao fought Mayweather with an injured shoulder and lost by decision, not knockout. Pacquiao?s representatives, Network Executives, People of influence, etc. have done everything humanly possible to secure a rematch for a PPV fight that grossed somewhere between a reported $400-$600 million with no success. Juan Manuel Marquez holds a knockout victory over Pacquiao. His record against Pacquiao is 1-2-1,1KOs. When he was approached about a 5th fight he reportedly stated he wouldn?t give Pacquiao a rematch even if he were offered $100 million! Wow! What does that tell you? Either he took too many punches or It tells us victory against his nemesis, Pacquiao, isn?t a foregone conclusion. Bob Arum, Pacquiao?s Promoter, tried to make a fight with 4 division champion Adrian Broner who out priced himself by asking Arum for a reported 10million. Keith Thurman called out Pacquiao as well. Bob Arum told Thurman to have ?his manager? Al Haymon call him. Top Rank is reportedly still waiting for the call. So what if Pacquiao is 38 years old? He is currently a world welterweight champion (WBO) and didn?t fight like a 38 year old fighter his last fight. He stays at #1 until he retires or loses again! 2. Gennady Golovkin 37-0, 33KOs- It was really a tossup between ranking him at number 2 or 3. He has been champion for 7 years. Along the way he has unified 3 of the 4 major titles (WBA, WBC, and IBF) in boxing. Floyd Mayweather called him ?Easy Work? in reference to fighting him, but calls to make that fight have gone unanswered. Golovkin lost a round or two against Kell Brook before Brook?s corner eventually threw the towel to end the fight in the 5th round. Daniel Jacobs was also able to have a few good rounds against Golovkin. Now all of a sudden Golovkin looks human (beatable). That?s a good think for the fans and Golovkin. Hopefully other fighters will step up to the plate and fight him. 3. Roman Gonzalez 46-1, 38 KOs- He comes in at #3, not because he was robbed of a decision victory, which is not his fault. He should still be undefeated with a record of 47-0, but that?s one reason why boxing isn?t mainstream (on Free Tv weekly). He has won 4 world titles in different weight classes and has fought the toughest and best competition in and around his weight class. He was champion for 9 years and still should be. He is ranked # 3 instead of #2 as silly as it may sound because he isn?t as feared and avoided as Golovkin. 4. Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez 48-1-1,34KOs- This man has fought the best fighters in and around his division and has won all but one, the Mayweather fight. In order to move up this list he has to beat Chavez Jr. and defeat Golovkin if he truly is now campaigning in the 160lbs division. We?ll see what happens. 5. Terrance Crawford 29-0, 20KOs- Proved he was the real deal when he defended his lightweight title by defeating former Cuban Olympic champion and former WBA & IBF world featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa. He moved up to Jr. Welterweight and won a title. He then unified his title by defeating Victor Postal for his WBC title. Can?t wait until he moves up to welterweight. Love to see a fight between him and Angel Garcia (Dad), oops, I mean Danny Garcia. Either way it would be a good fight against either. 6. Sergey Kovalev 30-1-1, 26KOs- Kovalev comes in at # 6. He and WBC light heavyweight King Adonis Stevenson are the two best light heavyweights in the world. Stevenson has refused to fight him. It is asinine for another light heavyweight to be ranked above him. In his last fight, Kovalev lost a controversial decision to Andre Ward and his three title belts (WBA, IBF, and WBO). As of the writing of this list there is still no official word as to whether or not Ward will give Kovalev a contractually agreed rematch. 7. Keith Thurman 28-0, 22KOs- Last time boxing fans saw Thurman he was busy defeating WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia. He is now the unified WBA-WBC welterweight champion. I recall watching Thurman fighting on ESPN in his first or second year as a professional and I was not impressed. However all he seems to do is win his fights and run his mouth. I can honestly say I am impressed now and respect his ability and hard work, not his mouth. The sky is the limit for Thurman; if he can defeat the winner of Brook-Spence should the winner agree to fight him. 8. Andre Ward 31-0, 15KOs- Ward?s resume or record speaks for itself. The last American Olympic Gold medalist to date. He has made good in professional ranks. He won the popular ?Super Six tournament? defeating the best fighters the division offered and picked up two world titles in the 168lbs division. He was unable to entice former undisputed and undefeated super middleweight king Joe Calzaghe out of retirement. His career had such a momentum until a legal dispute with his former Promoter and injury sidelined him. Most fans feel he was given a gift victory against Kovalev. At one time he was ranked as high as # 3 on this writers P4P list. Ward knows what he has to do to be ranked higher. 9. Vasyl Lomachenko 7-1, 5KOs- He is a very, very special fighter! If he weren?t he wouldn?t be fighting for reported 1million purse a fight. Who fights for a world title in his second professional fight? That?s unreal! However, he did lose that fight, right? Had he not, one could make the argument he should be ranked higher on this list. To Lomachenko?s credit he has rebounded and beaten the top fighters in and around his weight class impressively and already captured two world titles in different weight classes. Did you see how he made the tough Nicholas Walters quit? Lightweight world champion Mikey Garcia is calling Lomachenko out. Let?s see if Lomachenko can do what he has done to his last 7 opponents to Garcia before we anoint him heir to Mayweather and Pacquiao, which would make him the face of boxing. 10. Guillermo Rigondeaux 17-0,11KOs- This fighter has an amateur record that rivals Lomachenko?s. After his defection he won a professional World title in his 9th pro fight. He was on top of the world when he defeated Nonito Donaire Capturing his WBO belt to unify with his WBA bantamweight title. It was reported that Freddie Roach has said he is the best athlete he has worked with. It appears Rigondeaux has to unify the bantamweight division or move up in weight to fight Lomachenko to move up this list. Comments are encouraged and welcomed. Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com *Some critics will say that Philboxing is a Filipino website and quite naturally the website will be biased and list Pacquiao as #1. Please note the title of my list is: Ralph Rimpell?s P4P Boxing list, and not Philboxing P4P list. My Editor did not give me this assignment. His criterion is good honest work even if what is being written is not popular. This is why I am proud to be a member of Philboxing and continue to write for them. I submitted this list after reading ESPN?s recent list. My high regard for Pacquiao goes back to July 1, 2006 in a P4P list I submitted to HotboxingNews.com. I had Pacquiao ranked # 3 and Mayweather ranked #4. On October 15, 2007 I submitted another P4P list where I ranked Pacquiao #1 and Mayweather #2 to HotboxingNews.com. Finally, for the record I am not Filipino. There is no bias here. About the Author: Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events. It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history. "I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.  |
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