The welterweight division at the moment is a mess, there are fighters who move between the weight classes, accusations of cheating in one form or another against nearly all of the top fighters, and bickering promoters limiting the progression and unification of the title holders.
Added to that already heady mix are a slew of up and coming fighters, old hands returning to the division hoping to recapture their former glories, and potentially the biggest fight in the sport between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
Welterweight and light welterweight perhaps more than any other two divisions in the sport right now has a lot of cross overs to and from either class.
The semi retirement of Ricky Hatton has breathed life into a light welterweight division he previously dominated, and many of the emerging stars are now all looking for a piece of each other.
The cold war between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, and in the bigger picture Top Rank and Golden Boy has also seen fighters flocking for a piece of the attention these two world beaters attract.
In the returning in search of former glories category we have Nate Campbell, Ricky Hatton and Zab Judah, all past their respective primes and looking for a few more big money fights before they hang up the gloves once and for all.
At this stage, none of the three will probably be able to hang with the divisions best, and instead might provide interesting stepping stone bouts against some of the rising stars.
There are also couple of wild cards to look out for in the future, namely Miguel Cotto, Kermit Cintron, Amir Khan and Juan Manuel Marquez. Cotto has moved up for the time being, but for the right money or opportunities might consider dropping back down after taking Yuri Foreman’s title.
Cintron had a quiet year in 2009, but with only two losses (both arguably dubious coming from the perhaps loaded hands of Margarito) Cintron should be back in the mix among the division’s best this year. Rematches between either him or Miguel Cotto against Margarito make a lot of sense.
Marquez is a real old school fighter, ready to take on anyone at pretty much any weight, and looks set to net himself several high profile fights over the next few years as young fighters try to make their name from him.
Khan is currently a light welterweight champion, but will probably fill out fairly soon and make the move into the more lucrative division. He’s a Golden Boy fighter now, but won’t fight his teammate Manny Pacquiao, which tends to lend itself to an eventual showdown with Floyd Mayweather should he continue winning.
For the time being Khan is still somewhat untested against the major players of either division, but a few more decent wins he will no doubt be gunning for one of the big names.
At the top of the tree we have the usual suspects of Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley and probably soon Antonio Margarito. By the looks of it Mayweather and Mosley will fight (*still unsigned today, but nearly there) and Pacquiao vs. Margarito will come soon after.
Mosley is 38, but has said he will continue into his forties supposing he stays at least competitive, and there doesn’t seem to be any danger of that for the time being.
Mayweather is 34, but might actually be the first of the four to retire, given his reactions and reflexes will start to deteriorate before the likes of punching power or stamina that others at the top rely on.
Margarito is fresh from a suspension for having loaded gloves against Mosley, and seems to be in the process of grooming for a Pacquiao bout down the line.
Manny Pacquiao was intending to retire after two more fights, but now seems to have decided to extend this for a few more.
The political aspirations of Pacquiao in his native Philippines might have more of an effect on his fighting career than his actual opponents do, and he looks untouchable by the latter at the moment.
His next opponent Joshua Clottey is something of a gatekeeper in the division, and provides a tough test without being quite good enough to win or keep titles consistently. The best solution to the whole mess isn’t something that will come about easily, but there needs to be some kind of cohesion and cooperation between promoters before much progress can be made.
If the Top Rank-Golden Boy feud gets much worse, there might as well be Top Rank champions and Golden Boy champions, because at the moment the idea of two opposing fighters actually meeting seems a long way off.
