BoxingScene Third Quarter Divisional Ratings

[Crold1]

I'll post the divisions people probably care about; feel free to click for the rest.

BoxingScene’s Third Quarter Divisional Ratings

By Cliff Rold

The Boxing Scene divisional ratings are based in spirit on the concepts at play in College Football’s Bowl Championship Series rankings and the ratings found here reflect a cross section of:

Historical lineage (which often but not always lines up with Ring Magazine’s designated champions);

Press ratings from Ring Magazine, ESPN, SecondsOut.com, and the U.K.’s Boxing Monthly;

The ratings of the four major sanctioning bodies: the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF;

The computer ratings of the IBO and boxrec.com; and

Quality components based on career winning percentage and results against current top ten contenders and/or a division’s champion where there is one.

The following provides a detailed list of results from April-July based on the second quarter ratings; the affects can be found directly below. Readers will note that some swings occur at the bottom of divisions not based on losses by rated fighters. This is largely a variable factor of using the sanctioning bodies as a component...

World Middleweight Champion: Kelly Pavlik (33-0, 29 KO, Lineal/Ring/WBC/WBO)
Lineage Descends From: Hopkins TKO12 Trinidad 09/29/2001

Top Ten Contenders
1. Arthur Abraham (27-0, 22 KO, IBF) - 7
2. Felix Sturm (30-2-1, 13 KO, WBA) - 14.076
3. Sebastian Sylvester (29-2, 14 KO) - 33.101
4. Ronald "Winky" Wright (51-4-1, 25 KO) - 44.08
5. Randy Griffin (24-2-3, 12 KO) - 65.121
6. John Duddy (25-0, 17 KO) - 67
7. Raul Marquez (41-3-1, 29 KO) - 75.078
8. Amin Asikainen (24-1, 16 KO) - 76.04
9. Sebastian Zbik (23-0, 9 KO) - 78.000
10. Javier Castillejo (62-8, 42 KO) - 79.114

Rating Notes…Still no big changes in the division, speaking highly of the quality up top…Abraham destroyed Edison Miranda at Super Middleweight and verified the obvious: Pavlik-Abraham is a potential Fight of the Year…After settling matters with #5 Griffin in their July 5 rematch, winning a clear unanimous decision, Sturm now looks poised for a mandatory against #3 Sylvester…Wright slips to fourth and, really, should he even be rated? He’s going to cruise past one year without fighting at all and hasn’t fought at 160 since December 2006 (against Jr. Middleweight Ike Quartey)…Marquez crashes in at #7 off of a game upset of the previously rated Giovanni Lorenzo. His reward is a mandatory date with the intimidating Abraham.

World Welterweight Champion: Vacant
Vacant Since: Floyd Mayweather Retirement 6/6/2008

1. Miguel Cotto (32-0, 26 KO, WBA) - 1.000
2. Antonio Margarito (36-5, 26 KO, IBF) - 13.125
3. Paul Williams (34-1, 25 KO, WBO) - 15.029
4. Sugar Shane Mosley (44-5, 37 KO) - 29.102
5. Andre Berto (22-0, 19 KO, WBC) - 36.000
6. Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 KO) - 56.056
7. Luis Collazo (28-3, 13 KO) - 66.097
8. Zab Judah (36-5, 25 KO) - 69.122
9. Carlos Quintana (25-2, 19 KO) - 74.038
10. Jackson Bonsu (28-1, 23 KO) - 77.034

Rating Notes…Any big fights coming up at 147? Oh, yeah, Cotto-Margarito. Floyd who?…If Cotto wins this fight clean, there is no really good reason not to recognize the Puerto Rican star as the outright Welterweight champion. There is also no good reason for any objective ratings to have Margarito listed lower than third, even though a Margarito win would mean a necessary second showdown with Paul Williams to clear up the who of divisional king. So be it. Williams-Margarito I was excellent stuff…In the meantime, Cotto has his hands full with the most consistent member of the Welterweight upper class this decade…#3 Williams showed that losing is learning by decimating #9 Quintana in one round of their rematch. The winner of Cotto-Margarito versus Williams is a reason to wake up in the morning…Former champion Judah gets another chance to represent the IBF against #6 Clottey in October…#4 Mosley fighting Ricardo Mayorga in October is money well saved.

World Lightweight Champion: Joel Casamayor (36-3-1, 22 KO, Lineal/Ring/WBC Interim)
Lineage Descends From: Castillo UD12 Lazcano 06/05/2004

Top Ten Contenders
1. Nate Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KO, WBA/WBO/IBF) - 4.145
2. Manny Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KO, WBC) - 13.077
3. Juan Diaz (33-1, 17 KO) - 20.029
4. Julio Diaz (35-4, 26 KO) - 53.103
5. Ali Funeka (30-1-2, 25 KO) - 60.061
6. Amir Khan (18-0, 14 KO) - 66.000
7. Joan Guzman (28-0, 17 KO) - 69.000
8. Michael Katsidis (23-1, 20 KO) - 69.056
9. Yuri Romanov (21-2, 14 KO) - 69.087
10. Jose Armando Santa Cruz (25-3, 14 KO) - 69.107

Rating Notes…Lightweight is on one hell of a run and it could get better. Much depends on whether or not Manny Pacquiao is serious about the division and fighting its best fighters. David Diaz followed by a proposed fight with virtually untested Jr. Lightweight titlist Edwin Valero is a little bit of smoke and mirrors…Campbell and Casamayor didn’t come to terms for a needed rematch, but fans get two toss-up matches instead. Campbell has his ends full with Guzman, who cracks the ratings at #7 after vacating his belt at Jr. Lightweight…That fight will air on 9/13 opposite Casamayor and Jr. Lightweight Juan Manuel Marquez. Of the two, Campbell-Guzman is a much better bargain at free than what could a style nightmare for payola…#3 Juan Diaz may or may not be headed towards Katsidis in a can’t miss thriller...Ali Funeka sneaks in only days into the third quarter, replacing a Zahir Raheem who he iced in four on July 5…And no, it is not forgotten that Santa Cruz got jobbed last November against Casamayor and still deserves his rematch.

World Jr. Bantamweight Champion: Vacant
Vacant Since: Masamori Tokuyama Retired 03/14/2007

Top Ten Contenders
1. Cristian Mijares (35-3-2, 14 KO, WBC/WBA) - 2.100
2. Fernando Montiel (37-2-1, 28 KO, WBO) - 9.062
3. Dimitri Kirilov (29-3-1, 9 KO, IBF) - 30.106
4. Alexander Munoz (32-3, 27 KO) - 44.075
5. Jorge Arce (49-4-1, 37 KO) - 45.083
6. Nobuo Nashiro (11-1, 7 KO) - 58.083
7. Vic Darchinyan (29-1-1, 23 KO) - 59.048
8. Z Gorres (27-2-2, 15 KO) - 64.094
9. Kohei Kono (21-3, 7 KO) - 75.125
10. AJ Banal (17-0-1, 14 KO) - 79.028

Ratings Notes…The awesome that has been the year to date at 115 sees no end in sight...Mijares and Montiel remain the top two with big recent wins, and the only question that matters is when…as in when are they gonna’ get in the ring together? Some speculation about a show this Fall is reason to smile…Also reason to smile is the likely rise in weight of IBF Flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire, perhaps for a fight with Arce. It should be a highly winnable fight for Donaire and could set up a big fight with Montiel or Mijares next year…Kirilov is already in preparation for a tough assignment with Darchinyan and the winner of that one can look for bigger fights as well, particularly if it’s the sellable Darchinyan…Not to be outdone, the Asia-based Nashiro and Kono will also face in September…What is not to love about this weight class?

Read the Rest of the list at: http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/vi...boxing-ratings

[mike casey]

Boxing Scene has just annexed Russia and China - a fellow journalist of mine in Beijing has just confirmed this.

Man the forts, boys!

[Crold1]

I'm not even sure I get the joke, but I laughed anyways. Gor asked me to post these when I did them last quarter so I figured I would again.

[mike casey]

I tell you,Crold, Boxing Scene is buying up every writer you can imagine - they're a subsidiary of Fox Sports.

They recently purloineed the editor of Max Boxing - forgive me, I can't recall hgis name right now.

CBZ will fight them in the beaches, we will fight them in the hills... by God, sir, we shall never surrender!!

[Crold1]

Actually, Max and BoxingScene have a merger arrangement and share writers now. The editors you're thinking of are Kim and Fischer but both have, to now, only had Scene articles posted that were already on Max (and only partials with links back to Max).

No need to hold the beach; no one else does what CBZ does.

[mike casey]

Glad to hear it, Crold! I'll tell our boys to stand down!

[hagler04]

Amazing to see how Lightweight in the span of about 6 months went from being a dead zone to arguably being the most exciting division in boxing.

[Crold1]

It doesn't take much for divisions to go hot and cold any more with two fights a year and 17 to choose from.

[GorDoom]

Cliff/Crold:

Not only do I very much appreciate you posting the rankings - even though in our many conversations, as you know, I'm personally not a rankings kinda guy - But I realise it's very important to a lot of aficionados as a way of knowing what is currently going on in the sport & a way to quantify it.

Also ... I want to let all you fellow CBZ'ers know how much Cliff/Crold means to me personally as well as the CBZ. I of course met Cliff on the board as a poster & he intrigued me. Then he PM'd me & we started a dialogue. This is a few years ago ... Anyways I helped him get his first paying boxing writer gig with my pal Pedro Fernandez.

& yeah, I know most of you hate Pedro & I can understand why ... The guy writes with a 'tude. But ... Both Pedro & I are from the San Francisco Bay Area & we've been pals for almost 20 years & Cliff was looking for a writing gig & I recommended him to Pedro.

Of course since then, Cliff has gone on to become a VERY recognised boxing writer & I'm proud as hell of that. But the cool thing about him is while he's moved on to high profile paying boxing sites he has NEVER forgotten the CBZ.

Anything I've ever asked him to do whether it was an article or covering a big time fight, he's ALWAYS done it. & nobody at the CBZ including me gets paid.

But he's a loyal dude & he's come through for us everytime I've asked.

That's what I call a REAL stand up guy ...

GorDoom