By Scott Gilfoid: In surprising news, Ring Magazine has moved IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (34-0, 23 KOs) to No.1 in their Ring rankings below Ring champion at 147 Floyd Mayweather Jr. and above No.2 Manny Pacquiao.
This is surprising though because Brook hasn’t really cut his teeth yet against the best fighters in the welterweight division during his long 10-year pro career. Brook’s best win was a close/controversial 12 round majority decision victory over Shawn Porter last in August.
Brook did a lot of clinching in that fight, as he had no other way of stopping Porter’s offense other than grabbing him countless times in the fight. I had Porter winning that fight, but never the less, Brook looked terrible from start to finish.
Here are the Ring Magazine’s top 10 rankings for 147:
Champions: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
1. Kell Brook
2. Manny Pacquiao
3. Amir Khan
4. Tim Bradley
5. Keith Thurman
6. Juan Manuel Marquez
7. Shawn Porter
8. Marcos Maidana
9. Robert Guerrero
10. Diego Chaves
I don’t agree with much of any of this ranking, as I don’t see Brook is being anywhere near No.1 in terms of talent and accomplishment. Further, I don’t see Khan as being No.3, and I definitely don’t see Marquez as being a top 10 fighter at 147 anymore, not with his long layoff and knee problems that have plagued him since May of 2014.
For me, Thurman is clearly the No.1 guy below Mayweather right now. The fact that he can’t get either Khan or Brook to fight him right now pretty much tells how much Thurman is respected by the promoters/management of those two guys. Thurman is clearly better than those two guys right now in my book.
Here are my rankings for 147:
Champion: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
1. Keith Thurman
2. Marcos Maidana
3. Manny Pacquiao
4. Shawn Porter
5. Brandon Rios
6. Errol Spence, Jr.]
7. Kell Brook
8. Amir Khan
9. Robert Guerrero
10. Diego Chaves
I personally see Spence Jr. as being better than Khan and Brook by a long shot. Rios looks to be improved so I have him above Brook and Khan as well because I think he’s too tough for those two fighters. Chaves and Guerrero round out the pack. Both have good skills and excellent punching power, especially Chaves. He’s a big puncher. I think he’d have a good chance of beating a lot of the guys ranked above him.
Brook needs to actually start beating some high caliber fighters for him to take the No.1 spot. I don’t care about Ring’s rankings because I don’t see them as reality based. Brook’s only decent win of his career was his controversial clinch-filled win over Porter, and I don’t even count that as a win. Brook needs to prove himself by beating Thurman and Maidana for me to consider him as the No.1 guy. Wins over guys like Jo Jo Dan, Vyacheslav Senchenko, Alvaro Morales, Matthew Hatton and Carson Jones don’t do it for me.
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