By Dan Ambrose: In an example of a rating system that appears to be behind what many boxing fans think, The Ring’s ratings still have WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) as their champion in the division.
The Ring has Cotto ranked above WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin despite the fact that many boxing fans have seen Golovkin as the best fighter in the division for well over two years.
You can make an argument that The Ring middleweight champion belt should be vacant right now until Cotto faces Golovkin, because there’s no way that you can rank Cotto above Golovkin without it making your rankings look totally off. It’s nice that Cotto beat Sergio Martinez, but the victory proved nothing due to Martinez’s advanced age.
Cotto has only fought once at middleweight in beating former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez by a 10th round stoppage last June in their catch-weight fight. Cotto didn’t face Golovkin for his title, and he’s not shown any signs that he plans on fighting him in the future.
Cotto’s win over the 39-year-old Martinez, who was coming off of two surgeries on his right knee and a 14 month layoff, really proved very little other than the fact that Cotto can beat an old rusty fighter with knee problems.
The real test of Cotto’s skills will come if he chooses to defend his WBC title against Golovkin later this year. Cotto has to make a decision whether he wants to take that fight or not, because the World Boxing Council has made Golovkin the mandatory challenger for Cotto.
Here are The Ring’s current ratings for the 160 pound division:
Champion: Miguel Cotto
1. Gennady Golovkin
2. Peter Quillin
3. Sergio Martinez
4. Daniel Geale
5. Hassan N’Dam
6. Andy Lee
7. Martin Murray
8. Jermain Taylor
9. Billy Joe Saunders
10. Daniel Jacobs
I think the ratings need to be adjusted due to Cotto and Golovkin not having fought each other.
You have to assume that we won’t be seeing Jermain Taylor back in the ring anytime soon, if ever. His name probably needs to be removed from the top 10. Sergio Martinez needs to be pushed way down in the rankings because he doesn’t look good enough to beat any of those guys at this point in his career due to the way his surgically repaired knee looked in his last fight.
I can’t see Martinez beating any of the current top 10 fighters, including Jermain Taylor.
Here are what I see the middleweight rankings should be:
Champion: vacant
1. Gennady Golokvin
2. Miguel Cotto
3. Peter Quillin
4. Hassan N’Dam
5. Andy Lee
6. Billy Joe Saunders
7. Tureano Johnson
8. Daniel Jacobs
9. Marco Antonio Rubio
10. Jorge Sebastian Heiland
Until Cotto and Golovkin face each other to iron out who the best is in the middleweight division, I think you have to see The Ring champion title being vacant. You certainly can’t pick Cotto as The Ring champion off of his win over Sergio Martinez. That fight didn’t prove anything other than Martinez being very old and looking like he had no business in the ring. I no longer rank Martinez as being in the top 10 in The Ring’s rankings. There are too many younger and better fighters there.
“I don’t see Cotto going more than 5 rounds. I don’t see [Saul] Canelo [Alvarez] going more than 8,” said Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez in him predicting how long those fighters would last against Golovkin if they ever agreed to fight him. Getting Cotto and Canelo to agree to a fight against Golovkin may prove to be difficult.
Sanchez sees fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Carl Froch and Andre Ward as being the only guys around that could potentially go the full 12 round distance against Golovkin.
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