By Dallas Orysiuk: The Ring Magazine is highly regarded and is widely considered “The Bible of Boxing”. The Ring is known for its ratings of boxers, in particular their Pound for Pound lisg. This magazine company has been highly regarded and influential, but in recent months The Ring has begun to slip.
First off, recently The Ring website published an article stating that Lamont Peterson tested positive for a banned substance. This created quite a stir in the boxing world… until the story was revoked. The article was changed, stating Peterson “allegedly” tested positive. The boxing world was taken by a for a brief few hours, why would Lamont Peterson take a banned substance for such a big fight coming up, especially when he was caught once before? But then the Ring did a complete 360, saying that it was Kendall Holt that tested positive. Since then there has been no other information released.
The Ring Magazine is currently owned by Golden Boy Promotions and it has some highly disputed ratings, especially in the Pound 4 Pound rankings. It is a wonder if fighters that are promoted by Golden Boy receive an inflated rating.
Here are the Ring Magazines pound for pound rankings:
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr. – 44-0-0 (26 KOs) – Welterweight
2. Andre Ward – 26-0-0 (14 KOs) – Super middleweight
3. Juan Manuel Marquez – 55-6-1 (40 KOs) – Welterweight
4. Wladimir Klitschko – 60-3-0 (51 KOs) – Heavyweight
5. Abner Mares – 26-0-1 (14 KOs) – Featherweight
6. Adrien Broner – 26-0-0 (22 KOs) – Lightweight/Welterweight
7. Sergio Martinez – 51-2-2 (28 KOs) – Middleweight
8. Manny Pacquiao – 54-5-2 (38 KOs) – Welterweight
9. Timothy Bradley – 29-0-0 (12 KOs) – Welterweight
10. Saul Alvarez – 42-0-1 (30 KOs) – Jr. Middleweight
There is no doubt that Floyd Mayweather is rightwhere he belongs, at the top of the throne in the number one spot. Andre Ward, the winner of the super 6 tournament, holds victories over Chad Dawson, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, and Mikkel Kessler. Despite his boring and non-fan friendly fighting style, Andre Ward deserves a top 5 ranking definitely. There is no question that Marquez deserves such a high ranking, especially with his spectacular KO of Manny Pacquiao in his most recent fight. With a record of 60-3-0 (51 KOs), RING, IBF, WBO and WBA Heavyweight titles, and the domination of the Heavyweight Division since 2005 there is no question that Klitschko deserves an extremely high record, despite the weakness of opposition as of late. Timothy Bradley has impressive victories, was once the king of the Jr. Welterweight division, and holds a controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao, so there is no question that he should be rated in the bottom half of the Pound 4 Pound ratings.
Issues with These Ratings
But apart from Mayweather, Ward, Marquez, and Klitschko, there are some problems with these ratings; starting with the fact that it seems Golden Boy fighters rankings seem to be boosted.
Let’s start with Adrien Broner. Apart from a questionable decision over Daniel Ponce De Leon, Broner has looked impressive in the destruction of virtually all the opponents he has faced. However, saying Broner has faced sub-par opposition is being generous. His opponents have been one dimensional fighters, tomato cans, shrimps, and cocaine users. Broners best win was against Antonio Demarco, whom is similar to Margarito, with a style tailor-made for Broner. Demarco has no head movement or defense and constantly plods forward. There is no way Adrien Broner should have made the Ring Magazine cut for the Pound 4 Pound list, especially at spot six.
Saul Alvarez ranked in the top ten is a complete joke. Canelo has one good win against Austin Trout but that win was not even decisive. It is a wonder how he secured a big money showdown with Mayweather in September, I guess Mayweathers decision was strictly based on his fan base and not his resume. Canelo has potential, but with such a weak resume there is no question that The Rings rankings are far too generous on their prized and pampered possession.
Abner Mares has victories over Daniel Ponce De Leon, Anselmo Moreno, Eric Morel and Vic Darchinyan and deserves to be in the top ten, however number 5 is generous. Ranked higher than Pacquiao and Martinez? No way.
Pacquiao is too low regardless of his 2 most recent defeats. The decision was highly controversial and a flat out robbery against Bradley and before the knockout to Marquez, Pacman looked good, showing speed, aggression and punching power. Although his best days are behind him, Pacquiao will still beat most guys in or around his weight class. He is an eight division world champion, he was named fighter of the decade for the 2000s and has beaten the likes of Marquez, Hatton, Cotto, De La Hoya, Barrera, and Morales. It is absurd that the Ring Magazine has Adrien Broner ranked above Pacquiao, although not entirely surprising given that Pacquiao is promoted by Top Rank and Broner promoted by the Ring Magazines owners, Golden Boy.
Sergio Martinez who has looked impressive since 2010 is ranked way too low.
What I wonder is how can guys with padded resumes like Saul Alvarez and Adrien Broner are rated in the top ten Pound for Pound while Carl Froch, Danny Garcia, and Lucas Matthysse are not present. Even Miguel Cotto and Chad Dawson deserve higher ratings than these two divas.
Carl Froch has an outstanding resume with impressive victories over Jean Pascal, Andre Dirrell, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson and Lucian Bute. Froch has only two blemishes on his record, and one of them was avenged in an exciting and impressive fashion with a victory over Mikkel Kessler last weekend. The fact that Adrien Broner and Saul Alvarez are rated in the top ten Pound for Pound over Froch is horrible atrocity.
Here are my top ten Pound 4 Pound ratings:
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
2. Juan Manuel Marquez
3. Andre Ward
4. Sergio Martinez
5. Manny Pacquiao
6. Wladamir Klitschko
7. Carl Froch
8. Timothy Bradley
9. Abner Mares
10. Toss-up between Danny Garcia/Lucas Matthysse (If they fight it’ll be the winner and I would elevate his ranking even further)
The Future
This is boxing and we know things change overnight; fighters can be exposed while others stocks can rise following an impressive victory. Although Adrien Broner and Saul Alvarez do not deserve to be ranked with the elite fighters at the moment, I can see both being in the top 5 in years to come. After his fight against Juan Manuel Lopez, I’m sure Mikey Garcia will make a case for Pound 4 Pound status, and I’m sure in years to come he will cement his spot in the top ten.
He has tremendous talent, and after a couple more solid wins the Cuban gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux will make his way into the top ten Pound 4 Pound list. Another Cuban with Pound 4 Pound potential, is Erislandy Lara. His biggest concern is staying active and finding opposition willing to fight him. Finally, hard hitters like Gennady Golovkin and Lucas Matthysse will KO their way into the top, even if they have to do it in brutal fashion.
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