Ever since the mythical pound-for-pound designation was created, there has been controversy over what, exactly, qualifies a fighter for Top 10 inclusion. Ideally, consideration should be based on both professional accomplishment and overall ability, but everybody seems to have their own criteria.
Here are five fighters who, based on most criteria, definitely deserve P4P consideration, but probably won’t make many lists.
Brian Viloria (32-3, 19 KOs)
The Filipino-American just became unified WBO & WBA flyweight champ with a win Saturday over now-former WBA titlist, Hernan “Tyson” Marquez. The two-division world champ was also a two-time junior flyweight champion and has been a fixture on the 108-112 lb. world class scene since 2004. Now 8-3 in world title fights, Viloria has been on a killer run over the last two years, displaying a vastly improved and matured skill-set in one-sided victories over Hernan Marquez, Omar Ni?o Romero, Giovani Segura, and Julio Cesar Miranda. Now, at 31 years of age, “Hawaiian Punch” has reached the prime of his career and will be looking to further solidify his status as the world’s best flyweight.
Abner Mares (25-0-1, 13 KOs)
Mares recently showed his class in a relatively one-sided unanimous decision over the well-regarded, long-time bantamweight champion, Anselmo Moreno. Before that, the two-division world champ and current WBC junior featherweight titlist scored a pair of victories over Joseph Agbeko as well as wins over Vic Darchinyan and Eric Morel. Despite a troubling penchant for throwing low blows, the 26-year-old Mares has been developing nicely as a fighter and has already established himself as one of the elite three of the top-heavy 122 lb. division, alongside Nonito Donaire and Guillermo Rigondeaux. Talented and tough, Mares has to be considered among the sport’s very best competitors and, hopefully, will get a chance to prove himself against the two other junior featherweight elites.
Danny Garcia (25-0, 16 KOs)
Two years ago, the 24-year-old Philadelphia native was considered a young prospect just taking his first tentative steps up from a steady diet of journeymen and no-hopers. Now, after a stellar two-year run, Garcia sits atop the stacked junior welterweight division and should start getting some consideration for fringe pound-for-pound Top 10 placement. The rough and tough battler has scored recent victories over Amir Khan (TKO 4), Erik Morales (KO 4, UD 12), Kendall Holt (SD 12), and Nate Campbell (UD 10).
Mikkel Kessler (45-2, 34 KOs)
The 33-year-old “Viking Warrior” is looking to become a four-time super middleweight champ this December in a bout for the WBA belt against Brian Magee. Kessler has been part of the elite super middleweight scene for more than a decade and is still counted among the division’s very best. While his two losses have come at the hands of elite-level talents, Joe Calzaghe and Andre Ward, Kessler has performed exceptionally well against all of the other top talent he has faced. Victories over the likes of Carl Froch, Librado Andrade, Markus Beyer, and Anthony Mundine place him firmly at the high end of any all-time great super middleweight list.
Kazuto Ioka (10-0, 6 KOs)
It’s not often that a strawweight earns pound-for-pound consideration. And, in many eyes, a 23-year-old ten-fight veteran would be excluded from P4P placement on principle, alone. However, Japan’s wunderkind former eight-time Japanese amateur champion has done some truly phenomenal things in his short ten-fight, forty-three month professional career. In just his seventh pro fight, Ioka went from Japanese champ to WBC 105 lb. titlist when he beat veteran, Oleydong Sithsamerchai. After two quality, high-end defenses, the young star went and unified strawweight titles with a win over then-WBA titlist, Akira Yaegashi. While not yet on the level of many of the sport’s biggest and best, Ioka is getting there fast and has plenty of time to get even better.
