Next to challenge the Mayweather record

By Boxing News - 11/10/2022 - Comments

By Gav Duthie: The 50-0 undefeated record of Floyd Mayweather still stands. Another challenger to the throne ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez fell after his 44-0 record was halted after a dominating performance from Dimitrii Bivol last weekend. Ramirez was the most credible threat to the record so this article looks to the next contenders for the prize. We analyse 5 possible fighters who could dethrone Floyd and the likelihood of them doing so.

The Record

I should clarify my position on this before going into detail about who might go past this record Floyd has claimed. I don’t really regard this this as an actual record at all. Floyd’s last official professional fight against Conor McGregor gave him an official record of 50-0. He stated this put him ahead of record holder Rocky Marciano who retired undefeated at 49-0. It needs to be noted for clarity that many fighters have surpassed 50-0. Unfortunately unlike Floyd Mayweather not all of them make up to $300 million a fight so continue boxing until they eventually lose. Most recently Chayaphon Moonsri retired in 2019 at 54-0 only to be lured back by the promise of televised fights in America. His record now stands at 55-3 fighting beyond his prime years. Ricardo Lopez retired 51-0-1 with his only blemish a technical draw after an accidental head but in round 7 against Rosendo Alvarez. He lost a point for that which had he not he would be 52-0. Yori Boy Campos a far from elite talent was 56-0 before Felix Trinidad stopped him and Julio Cesar Chavez was 87-0 when he drew with Pernell Whitaker. As a result of these examples I always felt uneasy calling this a record but it has to be said of retired fighters Mayweather’s 50-0 has not been beaten so its hard to argue with.

Who can beat it?

Anyway for a hit of fun lets look at who else can match this. In order of top 5 that may surpass 50-0. Before I get right into it I will just mention that although supreme talents I feel the likes of Naoya Inoue, Errol Spence Jnr, Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk are too old to fight that many times. Although the may all retire undefeated they won’t fight 50 times. Ryan Garcia is too inactive and plans to retire young and with the competition in his weight class its unlikely which is why I also didn’t pick Gervonta Davis.

(5) Shakur Stevenson 19-0

Age 25

He is already a 2 weight world champion and fighting at the highest level. He didn’t make weight for his last defence so now steps into a division with Tank David, Ryan Garcia, Vasyl Lomachenko and Devin Haney. Stevenson’s skills are immense but he is in the lions den now and he’s only 19-0. He is also 25 so although young the likelihood of him fighting another 32 times winning at this level would be surprising. The WBC have ordered a manadatory fight between him and Isaac Cruz at lightweight so he could be fighting Haney soon.

(4) Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez 17-0

Age 22

A little younger but similar to Shakur in that he is already fighting at elite level defeating two of the greatest lower weight fighters of this generation in Carlos Cuadras and Sor Rungvisai. He has fought 3 times in 2022 and at his age he has a long time to go in the sport. He has already jumped up in weight to win a world title and will even move back down to win another. Who knows how his body will grow and where he will end up fighting. Like above he is already working at elite level. He has vacated his WBC Super Flyweight title which will be contested by Roman Gonzalez and Estrada for their trilogy match up. He could fight the winner or if he does move down he would likely target Julio Cesar Martinez or Sunny Edwards. These are all tough fights so despite his immense talent it will be tough for him to stay undefeated.

(3) Devin Haney 29-0

Age 23

Undisputed world champion in the toughest weight class in boxing at the age of 23. It speaks volumes that he has achieved so much already and racked up 29 straight wins without coming close to defeat. He is huge at the weight and could easily end up at welterweight or above in his career. He could also surpass 50 fights given his age. I hope though that this generation involving the likes of Haney, Tank Davis, Ryan Garcia, Vasyl Lomachenko, George Kambosos, William Zepeda, Michel Rivera, Frank Martin and Teofimo Lopez is remembered for these men fighting each other rather than continuing to pad their records. The likes of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard are remembered for their trilogies with Frazier, Norton and Duran so even though they lost fights they put their records on the line.

(2) Jaron Ennis 29-0

Age 25

‘Boots’ Ennis is seen by many as the most talented fighter in boxing. He is yet to step up the competition but is dismantling fighters at contender level. How easily he dominated the likes of Sergey Lipinets and destroyed Thomas Dulorme raised eyebrows. He has been compared to Roy Jones Jnr which doesn’t happen often. He has a huge chance in my opinion to beat 50-0. He is starting to lobby for big fights. His team have petitioned to the IBF to order the Errol Spence fight and he also said he would have been willing to face Terence Crawford if he had asked. I think with the age of Spence and particularly Crawford that Ennis is in prime position to take over welterweight with Vergil Ortiz.

(1) Jaime Manguia 40-0

Age 26

Definitely not the most talented of the 5 I have picked but he has already won 40 and is the most active top level fighter in the sport. He is fighting in his 4th contest of the year against Gonzalo Coria (21-5) which is likely another easy win. Despite being a successful world champion at 154lbs his next fight will be his 7th non title fight at middleweight. Whether he just isn’t getting the fights or just wants to keep active he isn’t stepping up. There seems to be very little talk of him fighting Janibek, Golovkin or Charlo so he could just keep racking up the wins. Manguia will probably fight more than 60 fights in his career easily so it depends on his competition level whether he beats 50-0 or not.