By Cliff Rold

Contrary to some big money trends of late, boxing is a sport of lines.  Specifically, it is a sport of lines between weight divisions whether it be the old days of eight or this day’s seventeen.  The majority of fights, the bulk of aspiration, is tied to single weight divisions at a time.

Inside the confines of those classes, we find champions.  The numbers vary.  Usually in the old days, there was one man up top.  In this day there can be four or more depending on how many interim (ad nausea) type belts the likes of the WBC or WBA felt like charging for in a given week.  This calculus doesn’t include lineal or Ring Magazine championship distinctions which can further clarify, or cloud, a field.

Obviously, the concept of a World Champion is significantly watered down.  It doesn’t mean there are not fighters who exemplify the label.  In April 2008, during the short lived cooperative between this site and Maxboxing, the idea of evaluating the sports best champions took center stage. 

It is not a question asked often enough. 

A champion isn’t just a guy who holds a belt.  A real champion is a fighter who holds his crown for a while, matching at least semi-regularly with real top ten contenders, and leaving the ring still buckling the strap around his waist. 

This is where more focus should lie.

Instead, much of the attention on the sport focuses on the pound for pound debate.  As noted last year, there is far too much attention in modern Boxing to a title that is, by definition, based almost entirely on the imagination of the audience.  Arguing about who would win a contest between Bernard Hopkins and Ivan Calderon, if they were the same size, might be fun but the end product isn’t a fight so, ultimately, who cares? 

Not to mention, pound for pound can makes folks lazy.  It allows for the make believe of in-depth monitoring of the sport when, really, all it shows off is the ability to pick out the best of the same pool most everyone follows.

Author’s Note: Don’t forget to check out BoxingScene’s most recent pound-for-pound list through the link at the top of this page!

Last time this exercise was trotted out, the list focused only on lineal champions.  Regardless of how one feels about the often ridiculous sanctioning bodies, their titlists have no less pressure in defense of their crowns than any other fighter who wears the label of champion so this timeall were considered.  After all, in an era of two-fight a year stars, lineal champions don’t always make for great champions.  It’s a case by case thing. 

In his heyday, Roy Jones won titles in four weight classes and managed a stand-out title reign at Light Heavyweight.  Floyd Mayweather defined himself as one of the great Jr. Lightweight champions before skipping around the scale.  In contrast, Manny Pacquiao deservedly tops almost every pound-for-pound list today but almost none of his many title reigns have been particularly lengthy or memorable.  He’s been better at winning titles than defending them.

So the question is posed: across seventeen weight divisions, who are the ten men who stand out from the crowd as the best reigning champions in the sport?

10) Kelly Pavlik – World Middleweight – 2 Defenses

While his appeal has waned in 2009, the expectation that Pavlik (35-1, 31 KO) will find a way to make the fight with dangerous contender Paul Williams by year’s end provides some grace.  Since knocking out Jermain Taylor in 2007 for the crown, Pavlik’s biggest win (the Taylor rematch) and sole loss (to Bernard Hopkins) have come in non-title affairs while his title defenses have left much to be desired.  Mandatory Gary Lockett was woeful and no one cared about Marco Antonio Rubio even if he was a legitimate top ten contender.  Still, Hopkins was a chance to measure himself against the last great Middleweight and Williams is the sort of challenge the king of one of boxing’s most storied classes should take.  Win and Pavlik can restore much of the shine on his crown dimmed in recent months.

9) Edgar Sosa - WBC Jr. Flyweight – 9 Defenses

Since upsetting Brian Viloria in 2007, Mexico’s 30-year old Sosa (36-5, 20 KO) has been poof of the old adage about a title making a fighter better.  In nine title defenses, he’s scored six knockouts with wins over the respectable Sonny Boy Jaro, Juanito Rubillar, and Takashi Kunishige.  There have been no split or majority decisions to water down the reign but, unfortunately, there has also been no unification.  In a division topped off by the ultra talented, but less active, lineal champion Ivan Calderon, it is Sosa who is doing the heaviest lifting when it comes to being a champion.  He made four title defenses in 2008 alone.  A lack of unification, which could change if Sosa can lure the now IBF-reigning Viloria towards a rematch, would further stamp the credentials Sosa is building.

8) Omar Narvaez – WBO Flyweight – 16 Defenses

While the quality of his competition has been occasionally spotty, the 34-year old Narvaez (30-0-2, 19 KO) continues to do his native Argentina proud.  There are strikes against Narvaez, notably a failure to make a unification bout suggested during the IBF Flyweight reign of Vic Darchinyan.  It is also a little silly that he is two defenses away from breaking the overall consecutive title defense record now held by the still-active former lineal and WBC champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam; something is wrong when geography can keep two record setters apart.  There are enough high points to merit attention though.  Since 2002, he has held a spot near the top of the Flyweight class and it has not been by accident.  While there have been lesser foes, Andrea Sarritzu, Bernard Inom, Brahim Asloum, and Rayonta Whitfield were all dangerous contenders.  Only Sarritzu, in a split decision and a draw, got close to unseating him.

7) Timothy Bradley – WBO Jr. Welterweight – 1 Defense

Pacquiao might be the real Jr. Welterweight champion but, for understandable reason$, the business of being champion at 140 lbs. isn’t what he is about right now.  In a more sane world, California’s Bradley (24-0, 11 KO) would hold two titles today with only a year and change into his championship days.  Forced to give up the WBC belt he won first against long time division standout Junior Witter in 2008, he’s made the most of his time.  After the requisite soft first defense against Edner Cherry, Bradley pursued a unification bout with Kendall Holt in April, rising from the deck for the workmanlike win.  Not resting on the laurels, he then came back to accept the challenge of former tri-belted Lightweight titlist Nate Campbell last month.  Their bout ended in controversy, a head butt induced TKO since reversed to a no-contest, but Bradley taking the challenge spoke to his willingness to behave as a champion.  He’s not shrinking from challenges and a dangerous mandatory, undefeated Lamont Peterson, looms.  If he can win there, and settle issues with Campbell, it would be hard to imagine his appeal as a champion not rising even more in the next year or so.

6) Chris John – WBA Featherweight – 11 Defenses

The 29-year old from Indonesia struggled with credibility early in a title reign which began in 2004.  John (42-0-2, 22 KO) picked up his belt as a product of the WBA’s Super/regular champion confusion while Juan Manuel Marquez was a unified titlist.  Then, in 2006, he faced Marquez on his home turf and got what many felt was a hometown decision.  And yet, heading into the fall of 2009, here he still is.  Finally debuting in the U.S. in February, John impressed even as he was held to a draw by Rocky Juarez.  He was, for the global stage, finally a champion in focus.  Juarez and Marquez are not the only bouts which stand out; John’s defenses over Osamu Sato, former titlist Derrick Gainer, and a then-undefeated Hiroyuki Enoki all displayed his speed, skill, and ring intelligence.  While there was never a Marquez rematch, John is addressing his most recent controversy the way a champion should: John-Juarez II will happen on September 19th.

5) Vic Darchinyan – World Jr. Bantamweight – 1 Defense

Even coming off a loss at Bantamweight, there is little to be taken away from Darchinyan (32-2-1, 26 KO) in regard to his qualities as a champion at 115 lbs.  It doesn’t hurt that he behaved like a champion at Flyweight previously, making six defenses largely against real contenders.  In consecutive knockouts over Dmitri Kirilov and Cristian Mijares last year, the 33-year old Australia-based Armenian became the first man ever to unify the WBC, WBA, and IBF belts at Jr. Bantam.  He followed those wins with a pummeling of top ten contender Jorge Arce.  After being narrowly defeated in an effort to wrest the IBF belt at 118 lbs. from Joseph Agbeko over the summer, Darchinyan was forced into a position which led to his vacating the IBF belt but, given a WBA field of contenders which features Nobuo Nashiro and the man who beat him for his belt at Flyweight, Nonito Donaire, it’s only a matter of time before Darchinyan is again facing some of the best in the world.  His career to date says he’ll have no problem with that.

4) Hozumi Hasegawa – WBC Bantamweight – 9 Defenses

While unification opportunities are nakedly absent from his resume, Japan’s 28-year old Hasegawa (27-2, 11 KO) meets almost every other prerequisite of championship behavior.  He began his reign in 2005, holding two-time titlist Veraphol Sahaprom’s consecutive title defenses at 14.  Defeating one of the best Bantamweights of the twenty years for a title belt lends itself to the honorable rematch and Hasegawa met the obligation in 2006, stopping Sahaprom in seven rounds.  In his defenses since, he’s halted an eight-fight win streak from veteran Genaro Garcia and managed an easy decision over the tough Simone Maludrottu.  In his last four defenses, Hasegawa has shown a new wrinkle in his game with a power explosion his previous knockout numbers would not have suggested.  Consecutive second round stops were followed by consecutive first round blasts of Cristian Faccio, Alex Valdez, Vusi Malinga, and Nestor Rocha.  Both Valdez and Malinga were Ring Magazine rated top ten contenders going in.  There is no champion in the sport hotter right now than Hasegawa.

3) Juan Manuel Marquez – World Lightweight – 1 Defense

While he won’t be defending his crown in his next fight, a Welterweight-ish contest with Floyd Mayweather, Mexico’s 34-year old Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KO) has fulfilled the obligations of a champion in three weight divisions.  In his latest, Marquez moved up to become the first man to stop lineal World Light champion Joel Casamayor.  In his first defense, he took on the top contender available after Nate Campbell grew out of the division, Juan Diaz.  Their epic still stands out as the best fight of 2009.  This is not aberrant behavior for Marquez.  It took until 2003 for Marquez to win a major belt, the vacant IBF crown, with a stoppage of Manuel Medina.  He wasted no time seeking out the best.  Marquez made his first defense later in the year and added the IBF crown versus Derrick Gainer.  One fight later, he challenged lineal champion Manny Pacquiao and rose from the floor three times in the first round to earn a draw before outscoring future titlist and longtime contender Orlando Salido.  While the John loss would come two fights later, Marquez picked up a WBO belt on his way to 130 lbs. where he knocked off the division’s top titlist, Marco Antonio Barrera, for the WBC belt.  In his sole successful defense, he dominated former Olympian Rocky Juarez before losing the title, and the chance to fill the vacant lineal crown, in a rematch with Pacquiao.  Marquez doesn’t always win but, as a champion, it’s hard to point to many weak spots in his choices for defenses.  Without the close failures to win over Pacquiao and John, Marquez is likely even higher here.

2) Miguel Cotto – WBO Welterweight – 1 Defense

One defense of a single strap at 147 lbs. might not seem like much but Cotto (34-1, 27 KO) is more than just this reign.  Through his belt holding tenures at 140 lbs. and 147 lbs., the 28-year old Cotto has become a Puerto Rican idol by facing arguably the deepest pool of competition since Oscar De La Hoya’s 1995-99 run.  While Michael Jennings wasn’t much of an obstacle to the then-vacant WBO belt in February of this year, Cotto’s June challenger, Joshua Clottey, was recognized by all as one of the four or five best in the class.  Cotto endured through a pitched battle, pulling out the decision late.  He’s had a tendency to teeter on the brink before.  In six WBO 140 lb. defenses between 2004-06, Cotto faced four men who had or would hold Jr. Welterweight gold.  Among those men, he battled through near knockout losses to stop DeMarcus Corley and Ricardo Torres to win by knockout, mangled Randall Bailey, and outmanned a game Paulie Maliganggi over the distance.  Rising to Welterweight, he destroyed an undefeated Carlos Quintana for a vacant WBA belt and then defended against former lineal champions Zab Judah (TKO11) and Shane Mosley (UD12) in two of his next four defenses.  His fifth defense, at the hands of the oft-avoided Antonio Margarito, ended with Cotto submitting in eleven.  Losing is never fun, but champions who consistently take on the best will lose eventually.  In fairness to Cotto, it must be asked: given the controversy about whether Margarito may have been loading his gloves before being caught prior to his own loss to Mosley earlier this year, might Cotto be on the verge of double digit defenses at Welterweight right now?  Cotto takes yet another major challenge in the fall, facing the pound-for-pound king in Pacquiao.

1) Wladimir Klitschko – World Heavyweight

It used to be that pound-for-pound was a way to differentiate from the best of the little men and the sport’s real boss.  Then the 2000s came along and being Heavyweight champion is, well, less bossy.  It didn’t start that way.  Lennox Lewis opened the decade as the clear king of the fistic jungle, the man who on his best day could beat any other.  We probably don’t have a Heavyweight like that right now, but the 33-year old Ukrainian Klitshcko (53-3, 47 KO) is doing his best.  His best has been very good for the better part of four years.  While he had previously reigned as a WBO titlist in the early part of the decade, embarrassing knockout losses to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster (the latter in a fight where he was hardly even punched) left him lagging well behind brother Vitali in public regard.  Wladimir looked ready for the scrap yard.

He chose otherwise.

Beginning with a title eliminator win against Samuel Peter where Klitschko rose from the floor three times to earn the points nod, Klitschko has faced down his top ten in fight after fight.  He ripped the IBF belt from Chris Byrd in seven rounds to begin a run that has recently culminated with almost universal recognition as champion.  In seven fights since Byrd, Klitschko has stopped Ring rated contenders Calvin Brock and Tony Thompson, unified with an easy decision over then-WBO beltholder Sultan Ibragimov, avenged his loss to Brewster by knockout, and walked through former lineal champion Hasim Rahman.  In his last contest, he was supposed to defend against recent Cruiserweight king David Haye.  When it fell out, Klitschko replaced Haye not with a chump but with the next highest regarded Heavyweight in the world not related to him, Ruslan Chagaev.  It took nine rounds before Chagaev, in front of 60,000 paying fans, decided his stool was a better place for him than mid-ring.  Klitschko is expected to make his next two defenses against mandatories, and real contenders, Eddie Chambers and Alexander Povetkin.

Heavyweight is not a great division these days and Klitschko might not be a great fighter.  Many of the fights noted above were less than thrilling.  Regardless, Klitschko has taken all of the fights he should have and plans to keep doing so.  When speaking of champions, Klitschko meets every criterion and stands out as the exemplary divisional champion in the game.

Cliff’s Notes…

Will be back next week.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com