The Pound for Pound List analyzed; Swiftly

By Boxing News - 05/18/2016 - Comments

garcia55By The Sandman: With Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. now retired, the sport speculates who will be the next best pound for pound fighter. He is already here; Danny “Swift” Garcia.

There is no other fighter that has a better resume than Danny Garcia. Danny Garcia started his career fighting tough opponents on a moment’s notice. Imagine the Errol Spence and Phil Le Greco fight, where Phil Le Greco was given 2 weeks to prepare. Danny Garcia was Phil Le Greco, fighting difficult fighters like Nate Campbell, on a short notice. The difference is that Danny Garcia continued winning.

The winning streak continued with his first high profile fight was against the Mexican legend, Erik Morales. The fight went to a decision and Garcia picked up the WBC Super Lightweight title. In Garcia’s next fight, he filled in for Lamont Peterson in the fight against Amir Khan. The odds were heavily in Khan’s favor. Sure, Khan was winning the fight, but Garcia adjusted and knocked Khan out. The list goes on, Morales, Khan, Judah, Matthysse, Peterson, and Guerrero.

These victories were not without challenges. In all the fights listed, Garcia struggled. However, Danny Garcia has shown that he can adjust, no matter how difficult a fight, and exploit flaws in his opponents. We must not confuse Garcia’s ability to adjust with weakness. Most recently, Thurman highlighted the idea that many fighters see a weakness in Danny Garcia and that has led many to believe that a victory is possible. There is not one fighter who has been able to successfully dominate Garcia for more than 6 rounds.

GGG has not fought an elite level fighter, mainly because he has priced himself out. He attempts to dictate terms without any leverage power, especially after his failed attempt at a PPV with less than 130k purchases. He points out that he will only fight at the 160 division and Canelo should defend his belt at 160. 160 is not a division. The middleweight division is between 155-160. Even if Canelo vacated the WBC middleweight title, GGG cannot be considered a pound for pound champion. His refusal to chase important opponents in different weight classes will keep him undefeated, but most importantly, untested.

Sergey Kovalev cannot be a pound for pound great. Defeating a 50 year old past his prime fighter does not qualify a boxer to be great.

There are only 3 fighters who are worthy of being on the pound for pound list:

1. Danny Garcia

2. Canelo Alvarez

3. Terence Crawford

Notable mentions: Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao.

Potential contenders for top 10: Mikey Garcia (inactive), Andre Ward (inactive), Tim Bradley, Kell Brook (low quality opponents), Chocolatito, Sergey Kovalev.