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Ralph Rimpell's P4P List By Ralph Rimpell PhilBoxing.com Thu, 21 Jun 2018  Over the weekend I went to the ESPN website to look at the fight schedule for the summer as it is a very reliable site in regards to fight dates. I then took a look at their recent ?Pound for Pound? (P4P) listing of the best fighters in boxing today. After viewing it, I respectfully couldn?t disagree more with their rankings. I then took a look at other prominent Boxing websites and I disagreed with their P4P rankings as well. Its seems as though media exposure and fighter momentum in terms of a couple recent good performances on Saturday night television is good enough to get a high ranking on certain P4P lists on boxing websites. Boxing longevity (how long a fighter has been dominant and/or champion) coupled with ability (how talented the fighter) is not a heavy factor on many P4P lists. It?s kind of like the expression, ?what have you done lately?, as opposed to, ?this is what I have done in the past?. So once again it?s time to write who I believe, based on resume and longevity, are the best fighters P4P in boxing today. Then of course there will be readers and critics who will ask, ?WTF is Ralph Rimpell??* Please read Bio after the rankings for information on this writer. The best fighters P4P in my opinion are: 1. Gennady ?GGG? Golovkin (38-0-1, 22KOs): The man has been middleweight champion for 7 years! He and Bernard Hopkins hold the record for most middleweight defenses, which is 19. He has consistently proven himself. He is aging and may have lost a step or two. The hungry younger contenders want to knock this King off the top of the hill. Before that happens GGG has to defeat Canelo in rematch this September. This writer doesn?t see Canelo making adjustments to beat GGG. Unless Canelo proves this writer wrong, GGG stays at number one until he is defeated or permanently retires. 2. Terrance ?Bud? Crawford (33-0, 23KOs) ? His Promoter Bob Arum says newly crowned WBO champ Crawford may be as good or better than boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard. It may be a little too early for that comparison, but this writer believes Crawford is the best welterweight in the world today ?hands down?. He sent Jeff Horn packing back to Australia while lifting the WBO welterweight title Horn was given via a gift decision from Manny Pacquiao. Bud beat the best lightweights (135lbs) and unified the 140lbs division. The only other 140lbs fighter who could have presented a challenge to Bud at 140lbs would have been the late great Aaron ?The Hawk? Pryor, in his prime. Look at all the current welterweight champions record?s/resume and look at Bud?s. This is why he ranks #2 on this list. 3. Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30KOs) ? He is the WBC lightweight champion. Since his return to boxing after a promotional dispute that kept him out of boxing 18 months he has shown he is better than ever by capturing two more world titles in two higher weight classes making him a 4 division champion. Look as his resume and he is also an active fighter. His next fight is a unification match against IBF lightweight champ Robert Easter. His ultimate prize appears to be fellow top 10 P4P ranked and WBA lightweight champ Vasyl Lomachenko. 4. Floyd ?Money? Mayweather (50-0, 27KOs) ? Retired or not retired? He last fought nearly 10 months ago defeating MMA fighter Connor McGregor. Who really knows except for Mayweather and his inner circle if he will fight again? His resume speaks for itself. There are always rumors he will fight again if it?s the right fight and for another guaranteed 100 million dollar purse because this boxing great stays close to the gym and always appears to be in shape. Many say he can still compete and beat the top welterweights in the world. They may be right as Mayweather has not abused his body. He comes in at #4 due to inactivity. 5. Manny ?Pac Man? Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38KOs) - Pacquiao lost of his WBO title when it was given to Jeff Horn of Australia in a horrible decision! Many have written Pacquiao off saying he is a ?washed up fighter?. Pacquiao is scheduled to fight WBA ?regular welterweight champion? Lucas Matthysse. Should Pacquiao win he will begin to silence his critics showing that he is still a top 10 P4P fighter. 6. Whanheng Meynayothin (50-0, 17KOs) for those of you who so not know him, He is undefeated in 50 fights in the mini flyweight division and is the WBC champion. He is on the threshold of breaking the 50-0 mark. Why is he not on other top P4P list? Those who follow boxing know the reason why. This writer knows any true writer or boxing journalist can?t leave this fighter off the list for whatever reason. 7. Vasyl Lomachenko (11-1, 9KOs) Slow this train down in terms of ranking him # 1 or 2 P4P! I?m sure when this fighter retires he will go down as one of the greatest fighters ever. Can?t take away his accomplishments, thus far. He is proving himself to be a great fighter! However, before he surpasses all the great fighters ranked ahead of him, let?s see him defeat Mikey Garcia. Is that a fair assessment? 8. Errol Spence, Jr (24-0, 21KOs) ? He is the IBF welterweight champion. Many say he is the future of the division. His best victories are against Kell Brook whom he defeated for the IBF title and against Lamont Peterson a former Jr. Welterweight champion and welterweight champion. He has been calling out WBA champ Keith Thurmond. Spence moves up this list if he can defeat Thurman, Crawford, Garcia, or Porter. 9. Keith Thurman (28-0-0-1, 22K0s) Thurman has been sidelined due to injuries and surgery. He drops down to # 9 because of that. He was on pace making a case as the best welterweight in the world by defeating Danny Garcia and unifying 2 of the 4 major welterweight titles (WBA and WBC). This writer believes Thurman and Spence equally want to fight each other. Whoever is victorious will move up this list. 10. Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez (49-1-2, 34KOs) ? A Pay Per View Superstar! Also a seasoned veteran at the age of 28 having defeated great fighters and is a former world champion. He was ranked as high as 4th on this writer?s previous P4P list. He is coming of a boxing suspension for 2 failed drug test for PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs) which he attributes to eating ?contaminated meat.? He has his chance for redemption rematching with GGG in September after a controversial draw which many thought GGG won. If he can defeat GGG in the September rematch all that will all be in rear view mirror as he reclaims his supremacy as one of boxing elite fighters and moves significantly on this list. Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com ***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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