Sure Showtime has put a spotlight on the super middleweight division but it’s clear that the junior welterweight division is the premier division in boxing — and a tournament would solve all of our questions.
Last weekend the 140 pound weight class got another shot in the arm. Amir Khan took the trip across the pond from England and made his grand debut at the Ballroom at Madison Square Garden to much fanfare and rave reviews. After an 11th round stoppage of former champion Paulie Malignaggi, Khan has staked his own claim for the distinction of being the very best fighter at 140 pounds.
It feels like I’ve written this column four times this year ? and that might be the case but it’s less a product of my own laziness and more a product of the fact that I feel as if the 140 pound weight class in professional boxing is right now, the most competitive, deepest and most interesting division in the sport.
The Way I See It: The events of this past Saturday have thrown some new wrinkles into the junior welterweight (or super lightweight) division. While the focus of the “mainstream” boxing press may stay firmly solidified on the welterweights ? the true boxing aficionados amongst us realize that the deepest division in boxing right now is not with the Pacquiao and Mayweather group but is instead one weight class down.
Forget about how you rank the fighters for a moment and just think about the top tier of the division, the titleholders ? Timothy Bradley (WBO), Devon Alexander (WBC/IBF), and Amir Khan (WBA). Combined the three (major) title holders in the division are a ridiculous 68-1-0 with 40 knockouts. The only loss in the group is Khan’s somewhat shocking (even more so at this point) first round KO at the hands of Breidis Prescott.
Each of the champions in the division can make an argument for being considered the top junior welterweight in the world ? and even that has to take into consideration that Manny Pacquiao never decides to drop back down and try his hand at 140 pounds. Bradley (25-0, 11KO) has been christened as the default #1 by most standard ranking systems and with victories over Miguel Vazquez, Junior Witter, Edner Cherry, Kendall Holt and Lamont Peterson there is no doubt that Bradley has been taking on difficult competition since at least the middle of 2007. It seems increasingly likely that Bradley’s next bout will come against the always entertaining Carlos Abregu ? a fight Bradley should win handily though he will have to deal with the fact that Abregu has the ability to come off the mat once, twice, three times ? hell even four times and still deliver a knockout of his own. Abregu is a good opponent for Bradley but it’s not as good as the originally planned opponent Marcos Maidana would have been as the heavy handed Argentine would have provided a good foil for the lightning fast “Desert Storm.”
Of all the champions none may have more raw, untapped potential as Devon Alexander (20-0, 13KO) who is coming off a unification bout with Juan Urango that saw Alexander “The Great” record one of the highlight knockouts of this year to date, and notch a victory over a name opponent that immediately made him a threat to anyone at 140 pounds. Alexander has over 200 amateur bouts under his belt, plus professional wins over Urango, Junior Witter and DeMarcus Corley though outside of that his record is a little thin. Alexander looks to be slated for an August date in St. Louis against an opponent to be named later though I’d be surprised if it wasn’t Zab Judah who should prove little to no problem for Alexander (when have I said that about a St. Louis fighter and Judah before?) but again will add a name opponent to his resume.
Khan (23-1, 17KO) is the name that everyone is talking about now because of how handily he defeated Paulie Malignaggi ? a fighter who we have almost never seen beaten in a speed/boxing match. The negative factors that everyone will bring up with Khan’s most recent triumph will be that Paulie’s legs were gone, that he obviously wasn’t the same fighter that he was even one year ago and that beating a guy who was standing in front of you with no movement doesn’t prove much of anything. On the flip side a week ago Paulie was considered by some (Ring Magazine) to be a top 5 junior welterweight. In hindsight we might have been over-rating Paulie but the fact is that Khan went into the ring for the first time on American soil and decimated Malignaggi in his backyard that has to count for something. Other then Paulie the resume for Khan is probably more impressive then that of Alexander when you consider the Olympic silver medal, and wins over Dmitry Salita, Andiry Kotelnik and (an admittedly shot) Marco Antonio Barrera.
The beauty (and appeal) of the junior welterweight division comes in the fact that the second tier fighters are equally as compelling and dangerous as the top tier fighters (which separates it from the welterweight division). One group down from the champions you’d have to put Marcos Maidana (28-1, 27KO), Andreas Kotelnik (31-3-1, 13KO), Lamont Peterson (28-1, 14KO), Mike Alvarado (27-0, 19KO), Victor Ortiz (27-2-1, 21KO) and the elder statesmen who would still pose a threat in the likes of Juan Urango (22-2-1, 17KO) and Zab Judah (38-6-2, 26KO) ? not that I realistically think Zab will fight at junior welterweight again.
Look at the list of fighters available in this division and then think about guys like Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5, 37KO), Ali Funeka (30-3-3, 25KO) and Robert Guerrero (25-1-1, 17KO) who may all move up from lightweight to battle it out at 140 pounds ? and you’ve got a pool of talent that could all upset one another for years to come.
After seeing Victor Ortiz decimate Nate Campbell on Saturday night before Khan’s coming out party I think I might bump him up to the second tier with Lamont Peterson (who fought valiantly against Timothy Bradley), and Marcos Maidana (who beat Ortiz even though he was knocked down thirty two times). If you took those three second tier fighters and the top three champions in the division and threw a boat load of money at them wouldn’t HBO be able to put together a more compelling version of the Super Six Tournament that Showtime is brilliantly making work right now?
In a Super Six style round robin format I think you’d produce one of the most amazing tournaments in boxing history. Put Bradley and Alexander as the top two seeds, and throw Maidana at Bradley, Peterson at Alexander and then you’d have Khan and Ortiz as your Stage One bouts ? now tell me that all three of those bouts wouldn’t be must see TV for HBO?
At the end of the tournament you’d have easily the top two junior welterweights in the world (something that Showtime can’t necessarily proclaim in the super middleweight division). There’d be a lot of people who would want to see Bradley and Alexander in the finals so HBO would have to do everything in their power to keep them away from each other ? that’s your money fight but if we’ve learned one thing from Showtime and the Super Six it’s that losing doesn’t matter as much if you’re doing it against top tier competition (which is why Khan’s loss is so devastating). A junior welterweight tournament would have more interesting characters, better bouts, and more drama then anything else in boxing right now and if we want to keep the sweet science in the mainstream well after Pacquiao and Mayweather have settled their differences then I believe this would be the best way to go about doing that.
Here’s the thought I’ll leave you with and it’s a two part question ? (1) which six junior welterweights would you put in a Super Six style tournament?; and (2) how would your tournament shake out. If you want to take part in next week’s column you can post your answers in the comment section or email me xjdrochex[at]gmail.com.
