New Ring Rankings: Vitali Klitschko enters top ten P4P

[The Hammer]

Nice to see Vitali finally getting some P4P recognition.

From The Ring website:

The easy decision was to remove Giovani Segura from THE RING pound-for-pound Top 10 after his eighth-round knockout loss to Brian Viloria on Sunday in the Philippines.

The difficult decision was to determine a replacement on the list.

Members of the Ratings Advisory Panel had a number of ideas:

-- Viloria. The Hawaiian flyweight had a big year, outpointing Julio Cesar Miranda to win a third major title and then stopping the former junior flyweight champion.

-- Carl Froch. The rugged Briton has gone 5-1 against an unheard-of gauntlet of big-name opponents since 2008, beating Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Arthur Abraham and Glen Johnson while losing only a disputed decision to Mikkel Kessler.

-- Lucian Bute. No fighter has had a more-dominating stretch than the gifted Romanian-born Canadian the past few years.

-- Yuriorkis Gamboa. The Cuban defector has profound all-around ability and seems to be blossoming.

-- And Vitali Klitschko. Some believe the elder brother of Wladimir Klitschko is the better of the two. He has barely lost a round since his TKO loss to Lennox Lewis in 2003.

And, after a lot of back-and-forth discussion, the winner is …

Klitschko, who enters at No. 10.

Viloria probably is another big victory or two away from cracking the Top 10.

Froch is worthy of consideration now but has his fate in his own hands: If he beats No. 9 Andre Ward on Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J., it will be difficult to keep him out of the Top 10.

Bute’s one-sided decision over Johnson on Dec. 5 was the biggest of his career. He needs at least one more important vicotry on his resume, which could come if he faces the Ward-Froch winner.

Gamboa has the tools but also needs a defining victory or two.

That leaves us with Klitschko, who has been untouchable for years against the best a relatively weak division has to offer. Absolutely no one has been as consistent as he has been.

One could argue that his inclusion on the list is long overdue.

Ward, No. 10 last week, moves up to No. 9.

RING RATINGS UPDATE

Cruiserweight: Troy Ross (No. 6 last week) drops out of the ratings because he hasn’t fought since October of last year and has no fight scheduled. He is replaced by unbeaten Lateef Kayode, who enters at No. 10.

Middleweight: We felt we needed to find a place in the Top 10 for unbeaten Gennady Golovkin, a huge puncher with unlimited potential. The Kazakastani stopped Lajuan Simon in one round Friday, his ninth straight KO.

The question was: Who drops out?

The answer is Marco Antonio Rubio (No. 9 last week), although the decision wasn’t easy. The hard-punching Mexican entered the ratings because of his upset of then-rated David Lemieux, who now appears to have been overrated.

The Canadian lost a majority decision to Joachim Alcine on Saturday, giving him two consecutive losses.

Golovkin enters at No. 10. That pushes Martin Murray (No. 10 last week) up one notch.

Junior welterweight: Lamont Peterson’s upset split-decision victory over Amir Khan (No. 1 last week) on Saturday in Washington, D.C., shook up the top of the division.

Timothy Bradley (No. 2 last week) moves up to No. 1, Peterson leaps from No. 6 to No. 2 and Khan drops to No. 3. That pushes Marcos Maidana (No. 3 last week), Devon Alexander (No. 4 last week) and Lucas Matthysse (No. 5 last week) down one position each.

Matthysse stopped Sergio Omar Priotti in four rounds Friday in Buenos Aires in nothing more than a stay-busy fight.

Junior bantamweight: Tepparith Kokietgym (No. 7 last week) jumps to No. 5 after his unanimous decision over Daiki Kameda (No. 9 last week) on Wednesday in Japan.

Kameda drops out of the ratings, making room for Rodrigo Guerrero to enter at No. 10.

Flyweight: Viloria (No. 3 last week) changes places with Moruti Mthalane (No. 2 last week) after his impressive victory.

[Boxing Scene]

Get ready for a 100 page thread about how much he sucks. Just a prediction.

[Money Shot]

All the haters have against him is a cut over an eye and a dislocated shoulder. Has barely lost a round since he came back.

[IRISH LULLABY]

Wladimir No.6 with Vitali No.10, that's a pretty neat achievement by the brothers Klitschko. It's good seeing heavyweights receiving P4P recognition.

[-Deal With It-]

Disgusting.

I would rather they throw that fraud Bute on there instead of Vitali. He's been beating on a slightly higher caliber of tomato can over the past 5 years or so and pretending like they're "title defenses". And at least his competition aren't grossly out of shape, sporting man **** and luv handles.

[The Hammer]

Disgusting.

I would rather they throw that fraud Bute on there instead Vitali. He's been beating on a slightly higher caliber of tomato can over the past 5 years or so and pretending like they're "title defenses". And at least his competition aren't grossly out of shape, sporting man **** and luv handles.

I've never seen Glen Johnson called a tomato can before.

[-Deal With It-]

I've never seen Glen Johnson called a tomato can before.

And when they're not tomato cans they have to be like 59 years old.

Illustrates my point perfectly.

[Die Antwoord]

Any p4p list that doesnt have Vitali number 1 is **** in my opinion.

[Boxing Scene]

Disgusting.

I would rather they throw that fraud Bute on there instead of Vitali. He's been beating on a slightly higher caliber of tomato can over the past 5 years or so and pretending like they're "title defenses". And at least his competition aren't grossly out of shape, sporting man **** and luv handles.

Don't know much about changing your IP address when you re-register do you.

[Alx.]

well deserved