Ch-ch-changes- BoxingScene’s Pound for Pound Top Ten
By Cliff Rold
Two members of the top ten found the heat of August, combined with heat in the ring, too much to bear, leaving them with first career losses. Their options, and room for optimism, going forward couldn’t be more different.
For now former Jr. Flyweight champion Ivan Calderon (34-1-1, 6 KO), aged 35, an eighth round knockout loss to Giovanni Segura (25-1-1, 21 KO) on August 28th may have signaled the end of his long run as the cream of the sub-Flyweight crop. Long considered one of the game’s best pure boxers, Calderon’s legs ran out on him in a classic encounter. Only time will tell if he can summon one last master effort should a rematch come his way; for now, he exits from a ten spot he was holding onto gingerly after some shaky recent outings.
Light Heavyweight Chad Dawson (29-1, 17 KO) found out what it’s like to be the slower man for the first time on a major stage on August 14th against WBC titlist Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KO). Despite some strong rallies, Dawson never really appeared to catch up until late in the fight. An accidental clash of heads brought matters to an early close in the eleventh during Dawson’s best rally of the night. Maybe a rematch turns out different; maybe not. It will be compelling should it occur and Dawson’s regard shouldn’t suffer too much given previous wins against Tomasz Adamek and the always tough, and seemingly ageless, Glen Johnson. For now, he exits from his previous number four slot.
Given not only defeat but also the nature of the defeats, it leaves two slots to fill and a question to answer from a number of BoxingScene readers: what about the Heavyweights?
Given the disparity in skill and depth of competition between the lower weight classes and the Heavyweights (both generally and, outside of some notable eras, historically), Heavyweights are tougher to rate in pound-for-pound terms. The whole pound-for-pound concept assumes a size advantage to skill set relativity. An example could be Muhammad Ali once citing the difference between his touts of being “The Greatest” and Sugar Ray Robinson’s being the greatest ‘pound for pound.’
Wladimir Klitschko, currently, is the best fighter in the world in a literal sense. At 6’6, close to 250 lbs., and with a mastery of his style, Klitschko has dominated Heavyweight over the last five years. That is weighed against three really bad losses, both in terms of being stopped and the middling level of opposition which did the stopping, prior to that.
It’s become increasingly hard to take those losses more seriously than a 12 fight win streak while still remaining difficult to overlook how soft the Heavyweight field remains.
Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO) got serious consideration here for the first time. Was it enough? This is the BoxingScene Pound for Pound Top Ten with changes in more than just new arrivals below the clear top two.