|
Philippines, 02 May 2024 |
Home >> News |  |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
Ralph Rimpell?s Boxing P4P List By Ralph Rimpell PhilBoxing.com Tue, 30 Jan 2018  It?s been 10 months since I wrote a P4P list (last list published on Philboxing 3/26/17). The time has come once again for me to rate who I feel are the current 10 best fighters in the sport of boxing ?Pound for Pound? (P4P). For those of you who will rudely say: WTFI Ralph Rimpell? Read my biography or email me after you read who is on my P4P list if you want a friendly response. I don?t take it personal, rather it motivates me. The current P4P best fighters in the world are: 1. Floyd ?Money? Mayweather ? The man is a perfect 50-0, 27 K0s. Rumors swirl to this day that he is considering making a return to boxing. Why not? He still is functioning on an elite level. His boxing career spans over 21 years! Fans are still willing to pay a premium to watch his fights making him currently the highest paid athlete in the world. Until he permanently retires or is defeated by one of the new emerging stars such as Thurman, Spence, or Crawford, no one can lay claim to Mayweather?s throne. 2 Manny ?Pac Man? Pacquiao ? Pacquiao (59-7-2, 38K0s) comes in at number two. Why not? No, Pacquiao is not rated a number two because this a ?Filipino website? as some will email me or post on blogs whenever I write something flattering regarding Pacquiao. I don?t know why this ?Living Legend? is not on other Boxing writer?s P4P list. Most agree that his last opponent (Horn) was awarded a gift decision along with Pacquiao?s WBO title. Prior to that, Pacquiao?s last defeat was to Mayweather. That fight holds the current PPV record in history in sales for a boxing match. Similar to Mayweather, until Pacquiao retires or one of the new emerging stars such as Thurman, Spence, or Crawford defeats him, he stays at number two. 3. Gennady ?GGG? Golovkin ? His record is 37-0-1, 22KOs and is a unified middleweight champion. He?s been middleweight champion for 7 years! In case you all don?t know, he ranks #2 in middleweight defenses at 19. He is 1 defense short of equaling Bernard Hopkins 20 defenses. Golovkin broke Hagler and Monzon?s middleweight defense records. Give this man his ?props?! The road to 20 defenses and breaking Hopkins?s record will get even tougher. He has to get past Canelo in a rematch, Daniel Jacobs wants a rematch, Jermall Charlo will be tough, and fellow WBO Champ Billy Joe Saunders has a point to prove that he belongs in the elite. Middleweight division will come close to rivaling welterweights in excitement in 2018 and 2019. 4. Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez - (49-1-2,34KOs) This man turned professional at 15. That?s not unusual for Latin fighters. He 27 and is already a seasoned veteran of 12 world title fights which he is 10-1-1. The loss to Mayweather and draw to Golovkin. He has a scheduled rematch with Golovkin in May of this year. He has to convincingly defeat Golovkin and then brave through the storm that?s brewing in the middleweight division with all the top contenders to move up on this P4P list. 5. Terrance ?Bud? Crawford ? (32-0, 23KOs) A two division champion. Was World Lightweight Champion and Undisputed Junior welterweight champion. The first 4 belt champion (WBA, WBC, WBO, & IBF) at 140lbs. The last champion to unify 140lbs division was Kostya Tszyu who held 3 belts WBA/WBC/IBF titles. ?Bud? vacated is unified undisputed crown for greener pastures in welterweight division. No ?tune up? fights for Crawford. He is jumping right into the mix by fighting WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn. The Buzz in the streets is a Crawford-Spence fight if he defeats Horn. ?Bud? can write his own ticket if he keeps winning. 6. Vasyl Lomachenko ? (10-1, 8KOs) In only 11 professional fights 10 fights were world title bout in which he is 9-1. He has won two world titles in two divisions. His last 4 opponents quit instead of going the distance with him. Two of those opponents (Rigondeaux and Walters) were respected former and current world champions. Lomachenko is reportedly moving up to 135lbs since he is unable to secure unifications with the other belt holders. *Lomachenko may want to call fitness expert, Mackie Shilstone the way former Undisputed Light heavyweight King Michael Spinks did. In 1985 Shilstone helped Spinks add 25lbs of muscle to his 175lbs pound frame to challenge Larry Holmes for the Heavyweight Crown, which Spinks won. He also helped Roy Jones Jr. due the same to beat John Ruiz in 2003. Superstardom would be synonymous with Lomachenko if he can do what he is doing at 130lbs in the 147lbs division. 7. Keith Thurman ? (28-0, 22KOs) Still ranked at number 7. He is the ?Super? WBA and WBC welterweight champion. An excellent fighter with a lot of heart. We last saw him defeat Danny Garcia to unify the title. He is recovering from arm surgery and is scheduled to return in May of this year. According to recent reports, he wants two fights before he fights Spence. This writer believer the boxing public can?t wait that long considering Spence is calling out Thurman. The longer he waits to fight one of his fellow champions or a top contender will cause him to slip on this list. 8. Mikey Garcia (37-0, 30KOs) If not for inactivity due to Promotional issues, Garcia may have been ranked higher on this list. Ironically, Garcia thinks his period of inactivity helped and may have prolonged his career. Looks like he?s right. He is hotter than ever! Since returning to boxing he has defeated 4 division world champion Adrian Broner, won a third world title, and goes for his 4 title at 140lbs next month. This writer sees Garcia moving all the way up to 147lbs before it?s all over. 9. Whanheng Meynayothin ? Who?s that?!!! He?s only 49-0, 17KOs and has been the WBC minimum weight champion since 2014. That?s right, 49-0! So tell me he doesn?t belong on this list and explain. ?because he fights at minimum weight?, I don?t think so. So what he fights in the minimum weight division. P4P rankings consider ALL FIGHTERS IN BOXING AND THE MINIMUMWEIGHT DIVISION WILL BE NO EXCEPTION. He has made 8 defenses of the title since winning his crown and is one win away from tying Mayweather. If Meynayothin wins his next two fights doesn?t he deserve to be ranked higher on this list? 10. Errol Spence, Jr ? He is 23-0, 20KOs and cracks this list. He defeated Kell Brook to win the IBF title in hostile territory in England and he destroyed Lamont Peterson in spectacular fashion in the first defense of his IBF title. Some say he is the heir to Floyd ?Money? Mayweather Jr. The talent pool runs deep in the welterweight division. Spence will have every opportunity to prove he is the real deal against his peers. *This initial piece of advice to the Lomachenko camp is for free. These are the current 10 best fighters P4P. Can?t wait to see how this list changes within the next six months to a year. Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com 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.  |
|
|
PhilBoxing.com has been created to support every aspiring Filipino boxer and the Philippine boxing scene in general. Please send comments to feedback@philboxing.com |
PRIVATE POLICY | LEGAL DISCLAIMER
developed and maintained by dong secuya © 2024 philboxing.com. |
