The Ring 100 - top 100 fighters today

[revs1227]

Not a bad list @ all stop crying
maidanas only iwn is against a green victor ortiz

[street bully]

51. CORY SPINKS
IBF Junior Middleweight Titleholder 37-5 (11)
Last Year’s Ranking: 42
Status Report: Just when you thought the market had completely dried up for fighters who are dull, can’t punch, and when they win a big fight cry like bipolar menopausal housewives, back comes our favorite subject case. Spinks didn’t do much in 2009, but he did manage a razor-thin win over Deandre Latimore (W 12) to claim an alphabet title. If Don King had juice anymore we’d credit him with keeping Spinks in the title picture, but DK runs boxing the days like Queen Elizabeth II runs the United Kingdom. The thing is, Spinks can fight.
Future: Every time we think it’s the last time we’ll read Spinks’ name before a “W,” he surprises us. So who the hell knows anymore?

52. DEVON ALEXANDER
WBC Junior Welterweight Titleholder 19-0 (12)
Last Year’s Ranking: Unranked
Status Report: Alexander crashes the top 50 in his first appearance in this analysis, largely on the weight of his win over Junior Witter in August (KO 9). The kid can punch, he’s got good fundamental skills, and in Kevin Cunningham, a trainer who seems a constant threat to bust a cap in his ass if he doesn’t do as he’s told. Sounds to us like a recipe for a long, successful career. And brace yourself, fogies: Alexander is just 22 years old. He’s got all the time in the world.
Future: We anticipate Alexander will take things slowly, so look for a defense against some anonymous WBC mandatory.

53. DENKAOSAN KAOVICHIT
WBA Flyweight Titleholder 48-1-1 (20)
Last Year’s Ranking: 96
Status Report: Kaovichit finally fulfilled early promise with a trio of meaningful wins in ’09, including a rematch stoppage of Takefumi Sakata (KO 2). Close wins over Hiroyuki Hisataka (W 12) and Daiki Kameda (W 12) in Thailand and Japan, respectively, followed, bringing Kaovichit a significantly higher rating this year. See what a little gumption will do?
Future: A rematch with Kameda, scheduled for February 7 in Japan.

54. DAISUKE NAITO
WBC Flyweight Titleholder 35-3-3 (22)
Last Year’s Ranking: 32
Status Report: Naito drops a long way after getting his head handed to him by Koki Kameda in a huge event in Japan in November (L 12). Prior to that, it was another year, another couple alphabet title defenses. Wins over Shingo Yamaguchi (KO 11) and Xiong Zhao Zhong (W 12) got him up a couple notches from the previous year when he struggled a bit more than usual, but the loss to Kameda hurts.
Future: Naito is 35 years old and on the slide. You can see where things are headed and it’s not North.

55. NOBUO NASHIRO
Junior Bantamweight WBA Titleholder 13-1-1 (8)
Last Year’s Ranking: 52
Status Report: The curious case of Nashiro continues. Just when we thought everyone agreed he had been rushed, he was, well, rushed again and ended up doing pretty well, anyway. A win over Konosuke Tomiyama (KO 8) netted him a WBA title, and ordinarily that would be no big deal (you can get them at Walmart for $11.99 with a coupon). But then he went and held the established Hugo Cazares to a draw in Osaka (D 12). What the hell?
Future: Nashiro holds the coveted WBA “world” title, so he’s only got to beat six other WBA junior bantamweight champions to be recognized as the undisputed WBA champ. Go Nashiro!

56. YOHNNY PEREZ
IBF Bantamweight Titleholder 20-0 (14)
Last Year’s Ranking: Unranked
Status Report: Perez’ thrilling win over Joseph Agbeko in October (W 12) was a candidate for Fight of the Year and put the icing on a year that produced a great deal of quality, if not quantity. In his only other ring appearance of the year, Perez stopped Silence Mabuza in May (KO 12). Still, we’ll take two big wins over five little ones any day.
Future: A rematch with Agbeko is a no-brainer.

57. JOSEPH AGBEKO
IBF Bantamweight Titleholder 27-2 (22)
Last Year’s Ranking: 92
Status Report: Agbeko’s loss to Perez is nothing to be embarrassed about and hurts his standing hardly a wit. Other meaningful wins during the year include his alphabet mandatory against William Gonzalez (W 12) and then the big one: a shellacking of the heretofore resurgent Vic Darchinyan (W 12), which sent Darchinyan scrambling right back down to 115.
Future: See above. We could watch Agbeko and Perez every week.

58. VIC DARCHINYAN
WBC/WBA Junior Bantamweight Titleholder 33-2-1 (27)
Last Year’s Ranking: 53
Status Report: You could make the argument that Darchinyan should have been promoted. His wins over Cristian Mijares (KO 9) and Jorge Arce (KO 11) were little short of masterful. But he got greedy against Joseph Agbeko and paid the price (L 12). That’s not a terrible thing; at least he took the shot. His win over journeyman Tomas Rojas (KO 2) prove little.
Future: Promoter Gary Shaw says he’s trying to get Nonito Donaire or Agbeko again. Don’t believe it.

59. LUIS COLLAZO
Welterweight 30-4 (15)
Last Year’s Ranking: 72
Status Report: Collazo got a chance to prove he’s not the Joshua Clottey of the welterweights (yeah, we know) when he faced Andre Berto in Mississippi. He couldn’t pull it off (L 12), but made some fans in the process, hurting Berto early and comporting himself well enough to convince a minority that the decision should have gone his way. Only other action of the year was a win over human speed bag David Gogichaishvili.
Future: Nothing scheduled when we went to press, which is a damn shame. Collazo is too good to be sitting on his couch getting fat.

60. ZSOLT ERDEI
WBC Cruiserweight Titleholder 31-0 (17)
Last Year’s Ranking: 45
Status Report: If Sven Ottke were reincarnated and came back as a pasty, 200-pound, slightly harder-hitting, Southside Johnny Lyon look-alike, he’d be Erdei. That’s not entirely bad. Erdei boxes well enough to still be undefeated against a collection of guys none of us has ever heard of, including Giacobbe Fragomeni, who he beat for the title (W 12) in Germany.
Future: Um, who cares?

61. JUAN DIAZ
Junior Welterweight 35-3 (17)
Last Year’s Ranking: 22
Status Report: Not the best year for “The Baby Bull,” hence his descent from last year. The loss to Juan Manuel Marquez (KO 9) was damaging enough, but not fatal, Marquez being Marquez. But when you add in Diaz’ highly controversial win over Paul Malignaggi (W 12) in Houston, and then the spanking Malignaggi gave him in the rematch, well, you have all the ingredients for a major demotion.
Future: A return to lightweight and a new trainer.

Darchinyan 58? Wtf he was a P4Per a few months ago.

[1SILVA]

1. MANNY PACQUIAO
World Junior Welterweight Champion 50-3-2 (38)
Last Year’s Ranking: 1
Status Report: Pacquiao’s virtually flawless destruction of Miguel Cotto (KO 12) cemented his status as the best fighter in the world and extended his winning streak to 11 straight. It also rounded out a Hall of Fame year in which Pacquiao also beat Ricky Hatton (KO 2), scoring a knockout so resounding many have named it their Knockout of the Year. It’s hard to name any fighter who enjoyed a better year than Pacquiao did in 2009.
Future: If all this steroids nonsense gets straightened out, Pacquiao will meet Floyd Mayweather in one of the richest fights ever.

2. FLOYD MAYWEATHER
Welterweight 40-0-0 (25)
Last Year’s Ranking: Unranked
Status Report: If there was any su****ion that Mayweather would be rusty following his 21-month retirement, he eradicated it during his flawless win over Juan Manuel Marquez (W 12). It was all there—the speed, the defense, the reflexes, the confidence. “Money” never looked better, which is bad news for whatever higher-profile fighter he meets next, maybe including Manny Pacquiao.
Future: No matter how the steroid controversy resolves, as long as the fight goes on Mayweather has already landed the first blow.

3. SHANE MOSLEY
WBA Welterweight Titleholder 46-5-0 (39) with 1 no-contest
Last Year’s Ranking: 14
Status Report: Breathed new life into his career—and jumped up 11 spots in this ranking compared to last year—with a surprising and brutal beat down of former pound-for-pound entrant Antonio Margarito (KO 9). At 37 years old looked as fast and powerful as ever and in fact probably looked too good for his own good. Repeated and public overtures to Mayweather and Pacquiao fell on deaf ears.
Future: Is scheduled to face Andre Berto January 30 in Las Vegas.

4. BERNARD HOPKINS
Light Heavyweight 50-5-1 (32) 1 no-contest
Last Year’s Ranking: 4
Status Report: In his first fight since his masterpiece against Kelly Pavlik, Hopkins outpointed Enrique Ornelas over 10 rounds in Philadelphia. That was supposed to be his tune-up for Roy Jones, but you know what happened there. At any rate, after a slow start Hopkins displayed his usual intelligence and mastery, hurting Ornelas down the stretch and winning by a large margin. He is giving Archie Moore competition as the best 44-year-old fighter ever.
Future: From the way he goes about negotiations, you’d think Hopkins is a 24-year-old kid with all the time in the world. A proposed fight with Roy Jones conqueror Danny Green fell apart over money, as did a fight with Tomas Adamek before that. Just pick a guy already, Bernard.

5. JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ
World Lightweight Champion 50-5-1 (37)
Last Year’s Ranking: 2
Status Report: Pay little attention to Marquez’s stunningly one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather; Mayweather would have beaten 99.999% of humans on the planet 160 pounds and under that night. Instead, recall his masterful and inspired win over the 10-years younger Juan Diaz (KO 9) as proof that against mortals, he remains one of the best in the world. He’s not in his prime anymore, but a just past-it Marquez is better than anyone at lightweight.
Future: The rumor is Marquez will face Ricky Hatton in 2010.

6. NONITO DONAIRE
WBA Junior Bantamweight titleholder 22-1-0 (14)
Last Year’s Ranking: 21
Status Report: Donaire has been riding high since his July 2007 kayo of Vic Darchinyan, but fought just once on ‘08. A change in promoters from Gary Shaw to Top Rank resulted in the busier schedule he’d hoped for and he took advantage, beating Moruti Mthalane (KO 6) and Raul Martinez (KO 4) in flyweight title defenses, and then taking an interim title at 115 against Rafael Concepcion (W 12). And listen: The kid’s just 26 years old.
Future: Scheduled to meet Gerson Guerrero in Las Vegas on February 13.

7. MIGUEL COTTO
Welterweight 34-1-0 (27)
Last Year’s Ranking: 9
Status Report: Cotto‘s brave but losing stand against Pacquiao (KO by 12) probably won him more fans but couldn’t have done him any good in the long run. He took a great deal of punishment and no one would have protested if the fight had been stopped any time after about the eighth round. He also took heavy punishment against Joshua Clottey (W 12), with only Michael Jennings (KO 5) going easy. It’s hard to name anyone who has faced tougher competition over the last several years than has Cotto, which speaks volumes about where he is - and where he‘s going.
Future: A long and deserved rest, an easy comeback fight, and then, if Bob Arum can swing it, a rematch with Antonio Margarito.

8. CELESTINO CABALLERO
IBF/WBA Junior Featherweight Titleholder 33-2-0 (23)
Last Year’s Ranking: 24
Status Report: Just when you thought Caballero couldn’t make yet another drastic jump in these rankings—last year he leapt from 53 to 24—this year he breaks the top 10. Why? Simple. Three straight wins, one an absolute rout of heretofore undefeated and well regarded Steve Molitor (KO 4). The others, over Jeffrey Mathebula (W 12) and Francisco Leal (KO 8) underscore how powerful this beanpole is and why a lot of other 122-pounders want no part of him.
Future: We’d love to see him against Poonsawat Kratingaenggym or Juan Manuel Lopez.

9. CHAD DAWSON
IBF Lightweight Titleholder 29-0-0 (17)
Last Year’s Ranking: 25
Status Report: Shame on all of us for haranguing Dawson into meeting Glen Johnson a second time. Dawson schooled him in the rematch in November (W 12) and it wasn’t close, which nets Dawson a significant promotion in this analysis. Dawson isn’t the most exciting guy or the most charismatic, but since when is that germane to how well a guy fights? Pernell Whitaker was the same way. Dawson can fight. Period. Ask Antonio Tarver, who Dawson also beat (W 12) in a 2009 rematch.
Future: There’s been a lot of talk about Dawson meeting this or that super middleweight or cruiserweight. There’s one fight to make at 175: Dawson-Hopkins.

10. PAUL WILLIAMS
Paul Williams
Middleweight/Junior Middleweight 38-1-0 (27)
Last Year’s ranking: 12
Status Report: You can look at Williams’ life-and-death struggle with Sergio Martinez (W 12) as either a failure of technique or a victory of will. Did he get hit and hurt? Absolutely. He also bit down and gritted out a hard win against one of the better fighters between 160 and 170 pounds. It proved even more than did his other wins in 2009, over
Winky Wright (W 12) and Verno Phillips (KO 8). But those were good too.
Future: Williams is ranked at both 154 and 160 pounds, and with THE RING there is no prohibition against a fighter claiming world titles in multiple weight divisions. This guy could do it.

Like the top 10. Amir doesn't belong in the top 50

[street bully]

I respect the time it took to make this, but horrible list.

[MOTHER DUCKER]

Like the top 10. Amir doesn't belong in the top 50

Why the **** not?

Froch being so low is a total joke as well..

He beat 3 very legit top guys this year (can argue all you want about Dirrel)

[Eric Holder]

Kessler has a better resume but after the way Ward completly handled him, I think Andre should be ranked higher than Mikkel

[Junito-Rulez]

Froch, Diaz, Quintana and Haye should be higher. I agree with the top 10 though.

[PinoyPower]

the list are the opinions of ring magazine, so not all of you will like it...I agree with the top 10 tho...

and if any of you guys are gonna continue to whine, ill leave you with this...opinions are like ***holes, everyone has one and they usually full of ****

[al22tec]

margarito at 22? He should be out of the list. He hasn't fought as he is suspended.

[steeluv]

Haye 68 and Froch 64 whilst wait for it, the likes of Pauli Malignaggi is at 41. Can a yank ever be trusted to create a list of any kind that is unbiased against euro fighters?

the ****** thing is Amir Khan is rated above these two? I'm not a amir hater but out of logic

Amir who went to find the weakest champion in the possible weight classes where he could fight , also he fought a shot Barrera and a nobody who was hyped up.

David Haye was a undisputed Cruiserweight Champion not mickey mouse champion before his start in the heavyweights, he did beat a giant who only got beat once before and has never been floored, with a broken hand.

and froch did beat real opponents in Pascal, Taylor.

After Haye sorts out the Klitscho sisters they will find it impossible to ignore him and stop using american biased for ppl like chad dawson the dude who beats up the grandads of boxing yeah right hes should be ahead of chris john someone who aint lost and beat JM Marquez at his proper weight class.