By Joe Harrison

Change is something that frequently takes place in everything, especially in the world of boxing. The result of a single fight can change a boxer’s reputation, change the ownership of a title and reconstruct the rankings in a weight division. A great example of is Oleg Maskaev stopped Hasim Rahman in the 12th round on August 12th. Maskaev became the new WBC heavyweight champion, people everywhere found a new hero, and Maskaev’s name would instantly rise in the rankings. Rahman would experience the opposite.

While there’s no arguing of which boxer holds a heavyweight title, there will always be that dispute of who is the better fighter. Some boxing fans would like to believe that the four heavyweight champions are the division’s best. Others feel that one or more of the titleholders are nothing more than lucky, especially in a division that lacks the talent it once possessed.

Shown below are my rankings of today’s top heavyweights, mainly based on their previous bouts, their reputation, and most importantly – their level of skill.  

1. Wladimir Klitschko (IBF) – As if the old Wladimir wasn’t dominant enough, now we have Emanuel Steward’s Wladimir. He still has the heart of the old Wladimir, still has the power of the old Wladimir, but now there’s a little extra defense and skill added to the mix. Keeping knockout losses to Corrie “The Sniper” Sanders and Lamon Brewster in the past, Klitschko went on to outclass Samuel Peter and dominate Chris Byrd. So is Klitschko the next Lennox Lewis? Who will he make his first title defense against, Shannon Briggs?

2. James Toney – “Lights Out” brings pure skill and talent to the ring. The worst fight shown on his resume of heavyweight bouts is the draw he earned against Hasim Rahman when he challenged for the WBC title last March. Although he couldn’t do what Maskaev has done twice, defeating Rahman, we are all aware of his potential. Besides, Rahman can be pretty incredible once every few big fights. Typical that Toney had to deal with that particular Rahman. But he still remained undefeated, despite being horribly out of shape. If he defeats Samuel Peter on September 2nd, he will have a mandatory shot toward Maskaev’s title. But age may be a strong factor.

3. John Ruiz – I don’t like having Ruiz this high either, but he’s done what it takes to make it here. If he wasn’t screwed in his decision loss to Nikolai Valuev, he would still be the WBA champion. Perhaps he was lucky to get his title back after losing to James Toney and Roy Jones Jr, but that’s why Toney is above, and Jones isn’t a heavyweight anymore. Then there’s that lucky decision he got over Andrew Golota, but it is rare that Golota makes it through twelve rounds without quitting, getting disqualified, or even getting knocked out. So that’s irrelevant. As far as the first round knockout Ruiz suffered by David Tua, that’s ancient history now, and lots of people were knocked out by Tua back then. Everything else is pretty good, including wins over Fres Oquendo and Hasim Rahman, which is why Ruiz is in the top three (even if we don’t want him to be).
 
4. Oleg Maskaev (WBC) – To think of how upset people were last year when Vitali Klitschko considered the possibility of defending his title against Oleg Maskaev. It was outrageous, the fans wouldn’t tolerate it, nor would the WBC. Now, one year later, Maskaev is the WBC champion. Perhaps his upset win over Hasim Rahman shouldn’t necessarily make him a number 4, but considering what the other top heavyweights have done in their careers, beating Rahman says enough. Rahman was Ring Magazine’s number 2 heavyweight, the only heavyweight to survive James Toney, and was also the WBC champion. Defeating Rahman for the title just goes to show you how much Maskaev was underestimated, even at the age of 37. Best of luck to Maskaev on his first defense.

5. Hasim Rahman – This former 2-time heavyweight champion has accomplished quite a bit in his professional career. Unfortunately, his inconsistency would cause problems for him over and over again. He had negative results against David Tua and Oleg Maskaev, but was able to get knockout wins against Corrie “The Sniper” Sanders and Lennox Lewis. His rematch with Lewis was a disaster and then he also lost to Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz. He had great fights against Rob Calloway and Kali Meehan, but then a boring win against Monte Barrett. A good fight against James Toney and then another bad fight against Oleg Maskaev. Overall, he’s a decent boxer and can handle the big time once or twice, but isn’t consistent enough to be among the top three.
 
6. Chris Byrd – This man was the IBF champion for quite some time. He was smart enough and defensive enough to fight with the big boys. He was also one of the few people to decision David Tua (others were Lennox Lewis and Ike Ibeabuchi). However, “luck” is the reason why he was champion for so long. He was lucky to get the decision wins over Fres Oquendo and Jameel McCline, lucky to get the draw over Andrew Golota, and lucky to still be alive after fighting Wladimir Klitschko. Still though, throughout most of his bouts, he displayed mass amounts of skill, heart, and courage. These ingredients are enough to keep him above the boxers shown below, for now.

7. Sergei Liakhovich (WBO) – Props to this man for upsetting Lamon Brewster to win the WBO title. Only problem is, he hasn’t beaten any other top-ranked opponents, and his previous best win was against Dominick Guinn. So Liakhovich is more of a mystery than anything else. After defeating Brewster, we would have to decide whether or not Liakhovich is really that good, or if Brewster was overrated from the start. Judging by the looks of these rankings, Brewster was probably overrated.

8. Lamon Brewster – People had high hopes for Brewster. While he was the WBO champion, people wanted to believe that he would be the next dominant undisputed heavyweight champion. Although he had lost to Clifford Etienne and Charles Shufford, he eventually scored a 5th round technical knockout over Wladimir Klitschko and then a 1st round technical knockout over Andrew Golota. He also defeated Kali Meehan by split decision and then overpowered Luan Krasniqi with a 9th round technical knockout while being behind on the scorecards. There was no questioning of Brewster’s power or heart, but his skills clearly had room for improvement. Otherwise, he would still be the WBO champion.

9. Luan Krasniqi – This man could’ve been the new WBO champion when he faces Lamon Brewster last year. He was winning the fight, and appeared to be the better boxer, but when he tried going toe to toe with Brewster in the middle rounds, it was all downhill from there. Before that evening, Krasniqi’s biggest win was a 6th round knockout over Lance Whitaker. So Krasniqi’s resume isn’t anything special, especially with his mediocre performance against Timo Hoffmann which ended in a draw. In Krasniqi’s last match, he won by decision over David Bostice. He didn’t look very impressive, and turning down an eliminator against Tony Thompson didn’t improve matters either. At the age of 35, Krasniqi is quickly running out of time.

10. Sultan Ibragimov – Here is another conqueror of Lance Whitaker. Only this man failed to win his eliminator against Ray Austin, a fight that resulted in a draw. Still undefeated, if this man can’t get past Austin, how far will he get? People saw him as another example of the east European invasion, but he may have reached his peak in the division.

11. Ray Austin – When can he get a big win? Each of his biggest fights have ended in a draw. Those big fights include Zuri Lawrence, Larry Donald, Lance Whitaker, and most recently Sultan Ibragimov. It seems that his most important win was a split decision over Owen Beck. On the bright side, it was stunning to see Austin gain the upper hand after going down in the 4th round and knocking down Ibragimov in the 10th round. Unfortunately, it’s doubtful that he will pull off another miracle against any of the better heavyweights.

12. Larry Donald – At the age of 39, Donald is still doing pretty well for himself. He beat up Evander Holyfield nicely in a fight that should have ended Evander’s career two years ago. Since then, he has earned a draw against Ray Austin and lost a controversial decision to Nikolai Valuev. Not bad for a guy who was previously knocked out by Vitali Klitachko, and suffered decision losses to Kirk Johnson and Riddick Bowe. Fact of the matter is; it’s too late for Donald to become a world-class fighter.
   
13. Nikolay Valuev (WBA) – It’s pretty ironic that WBA champ gets number 13, even though he is the luckiest man in the world. When Valuev fought Larry Donald, the judges gave the majority decision to Valuev, even though Donald appeared to be the better man that evening. On top of that, Valuev’s next fight was against John Ruiz for the WBA title, and once again, Valuev was ruled the victor by a majority decision even though Ruiz was clearly the true winner. Therefore, Valuev is the luckiest man in the world, being recognized as the WBA champion. It is once thing to knock out Owen Beck, a fighter who had no business being in the ring with a world champion. Will Valuev be as successful against Monte Barrett on October 7th? 

14. Samuel Peter – Getting knockout wins over Gilbert Martinez and Taurus Sykes doesn’t exactly justify Peter’s participation in the IBF and WBO eliminator against Wladimir Klitschko last year. But still, even though he was totally out of his league, he was able to knock down the Ukrainian three times en route to a loss by unanimous decision. With some improvement, Peter can be the most dangerous heavyweight in the world. It will be interesting to see if he’s learned anything new when he faces the most skilled heavyweight in the world, James Toney, on September 2nd.
   
15. Calvin Brock – Boxing fans had high hopes for this top heavyweight prospect. But his decision victory over Timur Ibragimov was far from convincing. Other than that, he has wins over Jameel McCline and Zuri Lawrence. With exceptional skills and decent punching power, Brock will need to do more to draw fear into the division’s best boxers.

Other hopefuls –

Monte Barrett – “Two Gunz” clearly lost to Hasim Rahman last year for the WBC interim heavyweight title. Now, he’s getting a shot at Valuev’s WBA title. If you saw the difficulty Valuev had against John Ruiz as well as Larry Donald, then you know that Barrett has a fair chance at pulling off an upset.

Shannon Briggs – Since losing to Jameel McCline back in 2002, Briggs has beaten every ‘C’ class fighter he could get his fists on. Now if his fists can find Klitschko’s jaw, he very well could be the new WBC champion.

Ruslan Chagaev – As another member of eastern European invasion, “White Tyson” may have landed in a WBA eliminator against the former WBA champ John Ruiz. If this is the case, it will not be an easy fight for Chagaev.

Oliver McCall – At the age of 41, “The Atomic Bull” is looking to climb back into the championship picture. His next opponent is Darroll Wilson on September 9th.
 
Jameel McCline – McCline has rebounded well since losing to Chris Byrd, Calvin Brock, and Zuri Lawrence. But if he steps back in the ring with a top ten competitor, it will probably be his last chance, and the odds are against him.

DaVarryl Williamson – He won his last bout against undefeated Mike Mollo in May. It was his first appearance since his loss to Chris Byrd last year. There’s no word on what his next move will be.