By Andreas Hale
Boxing’s fictional pound for pound rankings are in shambles after this past weekend’s event that saw Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez suffer his first defeat in controversial fashion at the hands of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin narrowly escape his bout with Daniel Jacobs with a decision that had the boxing community up in arms.
Although both of these fights had major implications on the pound for pound list, this thing has been a bit of a mess since November when Andre Ward narrowly edged out Sergey Kovalev in a fight that saw Ward have to dig himself out of a significant hole to get his hand raised.
So who the heck is the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world?
Well, it depends on how you look at it.
If you look at it in black and white terms, Andre Ward should sit atop the rankings. With Chocolatito falling to a virtually unknown opponent, Golovkin beating a solid Jacobs who was not ranked on the P4P lists and both Terence Crawford and Vasyl Lomachenko not quite having the marquee victories to boost their rankings, the honor should belong to Ward considering that he is the only fighter among the aforementioned names who defeated a fellow pound for pound fighter.
But that’s not how things work in this fictionalized world of P4P, does it?
There are a significant chunk of people who thought Ward lost to Kovalev, GGG lost to Jacobs and Chocolatito beat Rungvisai. But you have to align your views with all three to keep Chocolatito on top of the list. Even if you subscribe to this notion, the fact remains that Gonzalez struggled mightily with his Thai opponent and was put on the canvas early. The fight exposed a lot of issues with the Nicaraguan moving forward.
For one, it’s evident that Gonzalez is too small for 115 pounds. The power that allowed him to ravage his opposition with a furious all out assault has leveled off and has proven to be a challenge. Which leads to the second point, which might be the most important: his style. At the smaller weights, Gonzalez’ approach of plowing forward with relentless pressure suited him just fine. His conditioning was top notch, his chin solid and his power devastating. But it has also led him to being hit more than necessary. While it wasn’t a problem before, if Chocolatito decided to stay at junior bantamweight, he’d likely absorb a lot more punishment than he has in his career. That quickly changes his 29-year-old body to that of a bit more weather worn 34-year-old veteran whose body has been more battles than it should have.
This simply won’t allow for him to remain at the top of this list for very long. His inability to switch styles will certainly be to his detriment as his career progresses. Even if he were to get past Rungvisai in the rematch, the daunting challenge of WBO champion Naoya Inoue could prove to be one that is simply too dangerous.
Golovkin had the opportunity to stake his claim as the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world but had his hands full with Jacobs. While this may speak more to Jacobs being underrated by the masses than GGG being overrated, the fact remains that Golovkin’s resume still has some question marks that will prevent him from capturing the top spot. He shouldn’t be penalized for seeing his knockout streak end against a fully capable opponent but he can’t climb the ranks, either. Golovkin will have to rack up a few more victories against quality opposition and a superfight with Canelo just might do the trick.
While Lomachenko and Crawford certainly pass the eye test, both just need a little more time to have a legitimate argument for the top spot. Which means that you have to give it to Andre Ward by the narrowest of margins.
Yes, his decision victory over Kovalev was heavily disputed. However, there is no doubt that Ward made the proper adjustments in that fight to close the gap after suffering an early knockdown to one of the heaviest punchers in all of boxing. Unlike Gonzalez having to battle back from an early knockdown, Ward was in there with one of the top fighters in the sport. The outcome will be debated but it’s not considered a robbery. No matter how many ways you slice it the fight was close. And the prevailing thought is that Ward’s superior boxing IQ will lead to him having an easier time if and when they decide to dance again. Obviously, that is extrapolative and things could change drastically in the rematch. However, the concept of a pound for pound list is hypothetical in its own right.
The other difference maker is that Ward has managed to fare well after moving up in weight. Despite the closely contested decision, nobody is suggesting that Ward move back down to super middleweight. He appears able to handle himself just fine as a light heavyweight.
Without Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao around, the fictional list is the most wide open that it has been in over a decade. The way it stands right now, there will be quite a bit of movement over the next couple of years as the younger fighters (Canelo, Crawford, Thurman, Spence, etc) look to establish themselves as boxing’s best with some challenging matchups.
No matter how many ways you slice it, boxing is in for an exciting time as everyone will have to be at their best n an effort to claim the fictional title as the sport’s best fighter.
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