Now that 2009 is getting close to wrapping up, it means this decade is almost over. Before the end of the year, I hope to get through all the weight classes, presenting to you some choices for the best fighter in a given weight class in the decade. I’m not going in any particular order here, but we’ll get through all 17 weight classes.
When voting, please only consider the time that the fighter was in the specified weight class during this decade. Also, I’m not going to count obvious ballot stuffing when I tally these up at the end of the year.
The junior welterweight division is an interesting one, because there really are only two top candidates, and they did fight each other, but it was a crossroads fight where one was ending his career and the other was becoming a star. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the results would have been the same every time they fought. Plus, there are a few other wild cards that these two guys with the top records didn’t face, and could have an argument of their own. And the nominees are…
Miguel Cotto – It’s difficult to say that Cotto was ducking guys at 140, as he seemed to face everyone he could, but he just wasn’t a big enough name at the time to get fights with any of the higher profile fighters in the weight class. Cotto went 27-0 at 140, including six title defenses. Key victories include Carlos Maussa, Lovemore N’Dou, Randall Bailey, DeMarcus Corley, RIcardo Torres and Paulie Malignaggi. The amazing thing is that everyone on that list won a belt at some point or another, but half of them seemed to be nobodies at the time they faced Cotto, but went on to experience success after he beat them.
Ricky Hatton – There’s only one…. Hitman went 29-1 in the weight class in the 2000s. His true marquis win was a victory over Kotsya Tszyu, in which he won the lineal title. However, he did have a number of other good victories against future and former titlists Freddie Pendleton, Vince Phillips, Carlos Maussa, Juan Urango, Jose Luis Castillo, Juan Lazcano and Paulie Malignaggi, and that’s not even including wins over other solid fighters like Michael Stewart and Ben Tackie. While he struggled each time he moved up to welterweight, the sole blemish on his record at 140 was a recent loss to Manny Pacquiao, the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world by whom Hatton got demolished in 2.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. – This one’s really borderline, but I know a lot of people vote purely on a head to head basis, so here he is. Pretty Boy’s reign at 140 is the weakest of anyone on this list, and this is the weight class where he’s fought that his own personal resume is the weakest. There were only three fights at this class: DeMarcus Corley, Henry Bruseles and Arturo Gatti. While Floyd did eventually face Ricky Hatton, he did so at 147 and not at 140.
Kostya Tszyu – As the lineal titlist from 2001 – 2005, Tszyu was clearly the head of the class for the first half of the decade. Tszyu went 9-1 in the decade, facing almost exclusively top shelf competition. Victories include Julio Cesar Chavez, Sharmba Mitchell, Oktay Urkal, Sharmba Mitchell, Zab Judah (who he made do the famous “chicken dance”) and Jesse James Leija. Tszyu could both box like a champ and knock em out like a champ. His lone loss came to Hatton, a closely contested bout that turned out to be the last of his career.
Junior Witter – Witter makes the list almost by default, as every other top fighter in the weight class was beaten at some point by one or two of the guys above, taking them out of contention. Witter went 16-3 in the weight class, continuously calling out Hatton, never to be heard. While he had three title defenses, his most impressive run was as the European champ. Key wins included Lovemore N’dou, Andriy Kotelnik, Vivian Harris and Guiseppe Lauri. His three losses came to Zab Judah (12 fights into his career, and he managed to keep it close with a reigning top titlist) and late career losses to Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander.
