Floyd Mayweather is the best pure boxer on the planet. The biggest vacuum created by the Mayweather departure was not in the category of boxing stars or even in the welterweight ranks. What can be truly missed about Mayweather was his ability to emulate those great fighters of yesteryear, the boxers that truly made the sweet science into the sport of Daniel Mendoza. Sugar Ray Robinson and Willie Pep may have better resumes than Mayweather, but he carried their styles and their heritage more capably and strongly than any other fighter alive before the Pound for Pound King retired.
If you don?t believe that, make a list of the best pure fighters on the planet. See if you don?t find Ivan Calderon at the top of that list. Then, tell me with a straight face that Ivan Calderon is not one of boxing?s greatest pure boxers.
If you are still smiling, you?re either pathological or you have never heard of Ivan Calderon.
With absolutely no knowledge of who you put on your list, RSR presents the top ten pure boxers in today?s fight game.
#1 Ivan Calderon, 32-0, 6 KO?s
The record should tell you plenty about Calderon who has managed to claw his way to the top of a little-known but talented division by sticking and moving through fighter after fighter. Many have said that a Calderon UD is the surest bet in the fight game, a nearly automatic occurrence. Calderon hit the mat in the eighth round of his fight with Hugo Cazares, but stood up to survive and continued to land combos throughout the course of the fight to secure a victory. Calderon once went nine fights without a knockout. Some have said that the extra rounds have added mileage to the man, but there is a strong counter argument that his style and his success rate have saved him the damage that would ensue if he were a slugger.
#2 Cristian Mijares, 36-4, 15 KO?s
Mijares is a great fighter, but to say he had a rough evening in his last fight is a monumental understatement. Vic Darchinyan carved him up like Turducken on Thanksgiving, then sold his bones to a glue victory. Had Mijares won that fight, he would have been second on the list for fighter of the year. Instead, he had to settle with a good year that ended disappointingly. Mijares has used his excellent footwork and hand speed to defeat and derail a once highly-touted Jorge Arce and used movement and a mean jab to box past a fellow boxer in Jose Navarro. Mijares boxed his way to one of his best career victories by befuddling Alexander Munoz.
#3 Joe Calzaghe, 46-0, 32 KO?s
Calzaghe is one of the few fighters on this list that is in roughly the same spot on the Pound for Pound List as he is on the pure boxers list. Calzaghe?s mix and match punch arsenal helps him crack from both sides of the plate with machinated efficiency. Calzaghe?s last victory came against one of the most wily fighters in the world in Bernard Hopkins. Learning to telegraph and counter Hopkins is so difficult that it takes incredible boxing ability to neutralize him. Calzaghe is one of the men who have been able to do so. The rest of the list is rounded out by the likes of Jermain Taylor, Ronald ?Winky? Wright, and Roy Jones, JR. There is a definitive trend in those names.
#4 Bernard Hopkins, 49-5, 32 KO?s
Fresh off of his mention in this list, Hopkins deserves to be the second man on this list to fall somewhere near where he does in the Pound for Pound rankings. Hopkins has incredible hand speed and is one of the craftiest punchers around. So crafty is he that a better description than ?puncher? might be ?combination architect?. Hopkins? latest victory was more than just a pure sign of his superiority to the younger, more inexperienced Kelly Pavlik. Rather, Hopkins proved that he knows as much or more about the art of fighting and the war that comes with it than any other man on the planet.
#5 Ronald ?Winky? Wright, 51-4 25 KO?s
Some might punish Wright on this list for inactivity. I would counter by arguing that this list is not meant to rank men in order of overall ability, but rather aims to rank them according to their ability to box. Wright is a hell of a boxer, a fact evidenced by his long term survival and his lack of pop. His jab is a laser. His movement is good, but his defensive coverage is world class. The statement ?Winky Wright is had to hit? carries about the same weight as ?The sky is blue.? Wright has boxed his way past Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley and Sam Soliman, and he boxed to a draw with Jermain Taylor (who is also a good boxer). The world will (hopefully) get to see if Wright keeps this spot or if his speed has left him when he faces Paul Williams on March 14th on HBO. The fight, one of the most interesting that can be made, is very close to signed, sealed, and delivered.
#6 Juan Manuel Marquez, 49-4, 36 KO?s
Marquez might be the best counter puncher in the sport (with the possible exception of Bernard Hopkins). Marquez knows how and when to get in range and stay out of range. He has the chin to take punches, but would rather duck them then absorb them. Marquez is the only man on the planet that has arguably boxed his way around Pound for Pound Champ Manny Pacquiao. The only other man to turn in a solid performance against Pacquiao in this current decade was Erik Morales. No one that saw that fight would suggest that Morales out boxed him. Marquez stands alone in his accomplishment.
#7 Chad Dawson, 27-0, 17 KO?s
Dawson is part of the new school of fighters, a group that many of us hope will take over the sport before boxing becomes a cat and mouse game of rivalries that started in the late twentieth century. So far, he has done well. Dawson had one of the best years in the sport last year by boxing past Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver. Now, he will again box past Tarver in their rematch on March 14th. The good news about that date is that we will get to see two of the best pure boxers on the planet in different fights. The bad news is that we will probably have a hard time telling the difference between Dawson-Tarver I and Dawson-Tarver II. Nevertheless, Dawson has the speed, ring generalship and combinations to create a work of art against any man that stands opposite him in the ring.
#8 Felix Sturm, 31-2, 13 KO?s
Sturm may not be the most exciting fighter in the world and he is nowhere near this high on a Pound for Pound listing. Aside from Calderon, he has the worst KO percentage on this list. However, his boxing ability is just shy of uncanny. Sturm has only two career losses on his ledger. One was an undeserved decision that was unjustly handed to Oscar De La Hoya. The other came against Javier Castillejo in July of 2006. In that fight, Sturm was far ahead on all three score cards when he made a stupid decision that was likely influenced by negative criticism from big-mouthed Boxing enthusiasts. Sturm abandoned the Boxing skills that had brought him to the elite levels of the sport and opted instead to slug with Castillejo, who promptly took out the slick German with a tenth round stoppage. Since then Sturm has stuck to the movement, jab work and counter attacks that brought him to the elite levels in the first place, compiling a record of 6-0, 2 KO?s, in his last seven fights.
#9 Vernon Forrest, 41-3, 29 KO?s
Forrest is another man who, like Sturm, has relied on his boxing ability to survive and thrive in the fight game. Forrest used his long arms and awkward punch angles to score his best victories, smoking Shane Mosley twice in 2002, out foxing Carlos Baldomir in 2007 and avenging his June loss to Sergio Mora by outthinking Mora three months later. Forrest relies on a good jab, footwork and head movement, all staples of a great boxer.
#10 Steve Cunningham, 21-2, 11 KO?s
Cunningham has a little pop, but he relies mostly on movement and combination work in the ring. While Cunningham was dropped three times in his most recent (and thrilling) fight against Tomasz Adamek, he boxed well in that fight and was very close to walking away with a victory in spite of the knockdowns.
Cunningham is one of the few truly exciting fighters on this list in terms of action inside the ring.
Honorable Mention:
Jermain Taylor, Lucian Bute, Andre Dirrell, Amir Khan, Roy Jones, JR., Shane Mosley, Chris John, Sergio Mora, Adrian Diaconu, Kendall Holt, Timothy Bradley.
