By Dan Ambrose: IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) and WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman’s recent victories have given them a push up the Ring’s rankings at welterweight. Porter destroyed Paulie Malignaggi in 4 rounds on April 19th of this month in an impressive performance at the DC Armory in Washington, DC. Boxing fans expected Porter to beat Malignaggi, but few thought that it would be in such a brutal manner.
Malignaggi was beaten badly in a fight that he was never competitive in for even an instant. He ended up with a bad concussion, and he even had to sit out his regular Showtime analyst job last weekend to have more time to recover from the beating. Thurman (23-0, 21 KO’s) obliterated a very good fighter in Julio Diaz in 3 rounds last Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. The punching power that Thurman showed off in that fight was very impressive to say the least.
Here are the new Ring ranking for welterweight:
Champion: Floyd Mayweather Jr
1. Manny Pacquiao
2. Tim Bradley
3. Juan Manuel Marquez
4. Shawn Porter
5. Kell Brook
6. Keith Thurman
7. Robert Guerrero
8. Marcos Maidana
9. Adrien Broner
10. Paulie Malignaggi
I don’t agree with the Ring’s order of how they have the fighters ranked. Brook, Marquez and Bradley are ranked far too high in my view, and I think they should be moved downward a tad. Having Marquez and Bradley near the top seems more like wishful thinking rather than reality. The fact is the younger fighters with more power are taking over with Porter and Thurman moving up and showing their class. Bradley can’t punch, and is very sloppy. He would be destroyed by Thurman and Porter. Marquez isn’t busy enough, and he would lose to Porter and Thurman as well.
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This is my ranking for the welterweight division:
Champion: Floyd Mayweather Jr
1. Manny Pacquiao
2. Shawn Porter
3. Keith Thurman
4. Marcos Maidana
5. Kell Brook
6. Adrien Broner
7. Juan Manuel Marquez
8. Robert Guerrero
9. Tim Bradley
10. Devon Alexander
I don’t believe that Malignaggi deserves to be rated in the top 10 after how he looked in his losses to Broner and Porter. I also feel that Thurman and Porter are better fighters than Marquez and Bradley at 147. Marquez was a great fighter in his day, but he’s getting up there in age and he doesn’t belong at 147. Bradley would be smothered by Porter and knocked out. Thurman would be way too strong for Bradley. I rate Broner over Marquez, Guerrero, Bradley and Alexander based on his punching power and defense.
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