Avila’s Pound for Pound List 2012

Published

13 years ago

January 25, 2012

MayweatherOrtizFinalPC Blevins2 Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have been in the news lately, mostly regarding a possible mega showdown.

It doesn’t appear the top fighters pound for pound will meet in the ring this year but we can tabulate this year’s current and best prizefighters pound for pound. A number of changes have taken place down near the bottom of the Top 12 list.

Toward the end of the year Giovani Segura was beaten soundly by Brian Viloria and Amir Khan was beaten controversially by Lamont Peterson. The new addition to the list is a heavyweight.

Here is the list:

1.) Floyd Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) – The Las Vegas prizefighter known as “Money” may not engage in the ring very often but, in those moments he jumps in, the arenas fill up and it becomes a real prizefight. As a pay-per-view attraction Mayweather, 34, attracts more than 1 million buys and as an actual boxer he’s a defensive wizard. When it comes to winning a fight he knows the moment to fire rapid combinations and how to set up opponents. The knockout win against a very strong Victor Ortiz and the dominating win over a fellow boxing wizard Juan Manuel Marquez two years ago prove he’s number one.

2.) Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KOs) – Pacman had extreme difficulty against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez and Mayweather had a rather easy time. That’s the difference between Pacquiao and Mayweather and it’s the reason they won’t be fighting each other very soon. Not that Pacman would try to avoid Money, it’s mostly his promoter that doesn’t want to risk his marketability with a possible loss. It makes more sense for Pacman to fight Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Brandon Rios or even Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for sure wins. But the world wants the Filipino superstar to fight Mayweather and that’s a long shot for 2012.

3.) Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KOs) – The “Executioner” just turned 47 years old and most consider him the light heavyweight champion of the world. Though his last fight ended bizarrely as a technical knockout loss against Chad Dawson, it was overturned and ruled a No Contest. That still leaves some questions for Hopkins and what he plans to do next. During the last press conference he mentioned several times the end is near. Just who will he fight remains the big question. Boxing has been his whole life and his technical prowess in the ring will be talked about long after he retires.

4.) Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KOs) – Just when most experts were saying “Dinamita” was going to get smoked he surprised them all and actually gathered their backing after losing controversially against Manny Pacquiao. The Mexico City boxing wizard proved perplexing in his last fight and though he moved up in weight he showed he could carry it well and not lose quickness. At most Marquez is a lightweight or junior welterweight, but the pure intelligence he shows in the ring allows him to compete against bigger and stronger guys. He’s a marvel.

5.) Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KOs) – Now that “Desert Storm” has left his contract problems behind he can tend to his business as one of the most under-rated prizefighters in the world today. If there is anyone who can challenge Mayweather or Pacquiao it’s Bradley. He’s strong enough to move up to junior middleweight and fast enough to hit and not get hit in return. Most opponents look at his knockout numbers and scoff before exchanging punches. But once they feel what he can do they shrink away. Bradley can do it all. Now who will be the one to step up against the junior welterweight champion?

6.) Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27 KOs) – The southpaw middleweight has it all: speed, cunning, power and intelligence. What he doesn’t possess is a large following. Outside of boxing and some female fans who’ve seen his photos, Martinez flies under the radar of popularity mostly because of his recent opponents. Sure, the European middleweights are ranked, but Darren Barker, Serhiy Dzinziruk and Matthew Macklin are not going to gain a fighter many fans in the United States. He’d be better off fighting former champion Sergio Mora or moving up in weight and tackling Lucian Bute. If Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. doesn’t want to tangle there are others.

7.) Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KOs) – Guerrero, 28, is the best choice to make a competitive fight Floyd Mayweather. Sure, you could put Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in there but he doesn’t have the technical know-how of Guerrero. Not at the moment. The best fight that the fans deserve is Guerrero versus Mayweather. The Gilroy prizefighter has all of the tools including youth and a southpaw stance. He’s captured world titles as a featherweight, junior lightweight and was interim lightweight champion.

8.) Nonito Donaire (27-1, 18 KOs) – Very few prizefighters have the entire package like “The Filipino Flash.” Donaire, 29, can show dazzling speed, super ring intelligence and awkward but effective boxing skills. What sets him apart from anyone on this list is his crackling knockout power. When Donaire cracks somebody clean they’re not getting up without assistance. Next for the former flyweight, junior bantamweight and bantamweight world champion is a test at junior featherweight. Don’t be surprised if he blows past his next opponent and meets new WBA titleholder Guillermo Rigondeaux.

9.) Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KOs) – The super middleweight world champion has all of the boxing tools necessary for a long run as an elite fighter, especially in the intelligence department. That’s where he separates himself from the others. Once upon a time Ward, 27, was strictly an at-arms-length kind of boxer who ran around the ring and seldom punched and never fought inside. Those days are long gone. Now Ward can fight inside even more effectively than from the outside. He’s a beast at 168-pounds.

10.) Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KOs) – “Dr. Steelhammer” will never fight his older brother Vitali Klitschko so we’ll never know the true heavyweight world champion. This aside, Wladimir has the technical prowess and is younger so if any Klitschko deserves to be on this list it’s him. Because he seldom fights in the U.S. the heavyweight division has been ruined for the past several years as a gate attraction. That should end this year when rumors persist that Klitschko, 35, will be meeting Southern California’s Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola.

11.) Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) – Though “King Khan” was deemed the loser by decision last December it was atrocious scoring and refereeing that gave the fight to Lamont Peterson. Khan drops a bit on this list because he could have ended the fight earlier but just didn’t finish the job. With his amazing speed and surprising power Khan can rebound very quickly. A match against Mayweather seems like a good course of action for this year if Guerrero or Alvarez doesn’t materialize.

12.) Paul Williams (40-2, 27 KOs) – The tall left-handed Williams has only two losses yet the boxing world has deemed him over and done. With his height and reach the prizefighter known as “the Punisher” still deserves an opportunity to show what he can do on the big stage. Fighting other southpaws has proven to be a major weakness in his game, but let’s see what happens against a right-hander. Williams next match comes against Nobuhiro Ishida from Japan. That’s the guy who knocked out James Kirkland in Las Vegas. Good test.

Honorable mention:

Vitali Klitschko, Lucian Bute, Abner Mares, Chad Dawson, Miguel Cotto, Brandon Rios, Chad Dawson.

Fights on television

Fri. ESPN2, 6 p.m., Ruslan Provodnikov (20-1) vs. David Torres (21-2-2).

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David A. Avila

Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez

Published

2 days ago

March 8, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez

March 7 was an unusually heavy Friday for professional boxing. The show that warranted the most ink was the all-female card in London, a tour-de-force for the super-talented Lauren Price, but there were important fights on other continents.

Brighton

Michael Conlan, who sat out all of 2024 on the heels of being stopped in three of his previous five, returned to the ring in the British seaside resort city of Brighton in a shake-off-the-rust, 8-rounder against Asad Asif Khan, a 31-year-old Indian from Calcutta making his first appearance in a British ring.

Conlan, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist who famously signed with Top Rank coming out of the amateur ranks, is now 33 years old. Against Khan, he was far from impressive, but did enough to win by a 78-74 score and lock in a match with Spain’s Cristobal Lorente, the European featherweight champion.

Conlan, who improved to 19-3 (9), absorbed a lot of punishment in those three matches that he lost. With his deep amateur background, Michael has a lot of mileage on him and he would have been smart to call it quits after his embarrassingly one-sided defeat to Luis Alberto Lopez. His frayed reflexes speak to something more than ring rust. Heading in, Khan brought a 19-5-1 record but had scored only five wins inside the distance.

Conlan vs Khan was the co-feature. In the main event, Brighton welterweight Harlem Eubank, the cousin of Chris Eubank Jr, improved to 21-0 (9 KOs) with a dominant performance over Conlan’s Belfast homie Tyrone McKenna. Eubank was credited with three knockdowns, all the result of body punches, before referee John Latham had seen enough and pulled the plug at the 2:09 mark of round 10. It was the fourth loss in his last six outings for the 35-year-old McKenna (24-6-1).

Harlem Eubank wants to fight Conor Benn next and says he is willing to wait until after his cousin “wipes Benn out.” Chris Eubank Jr vs Benn is slated for April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The North London facility, which has a retractable roof, is the third-largest soccer stadium in England.

Toronto

Local fan favorite Lucas Bahdi and his stablemate Sara Bailey were the headliners on last night’s card at the Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto. The event marked the first incursion of Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions into Canada.

Bahdi, who is from Niagara Falls but trains in Toronto, burst out of obscurity in July of last year in Tampa, Florida, with a spectacular one-punch knockout of heavily-hyped Ashton “H2O” Sylva. His next fight, on the undercard of Jake Paul’s match with Mike Tyson, was less “noisy” and the same could be said of his homecoming fight with Ryan James Racaza, an undefeated (15-0) but obscure southpaw from the Philippines who was making his North American debut.

Bahdi vs Racaza was a technical fight that didn’t warm up until Bahdi produced a knockdown in round seven with a sweeping left hook, a glancing blow that appeared to land behind Racaza’s ear. The Filipino was up in a jiff, looking at the referee as if to say, “this dude just hit me with a rabbit punch.”

The judges had it 99-90, 97-92, and 96-93 for the victorious Bahdi (19-0) who was the subject of a recent profile on these pages.

Sara Bailey, a decorated amateur who competed around the world under her maiden name Sara Haghighat Joo and now holds the WBA light flyweight title, successfully defended that trinket with a lopsided decision over Cristina Navarro (6-3), a 35-year-old Spaniard who “earned” this assignment by winning a 6-round decision over an opponent with a 1-4-3 record. The judges scored the monotonous fight 99-91 across the board for Bailey who improved to 6-0 and then returned to the ring to assist her husband in Lucas Bahdi’s corner.

Also

Twenty-two-year-old super bantamweight Angel Barrientes, a Las Vegas-based Hawaii native, delivered the best performance of the night with a one-sided beatdown of Alexander Castellano whose corner mercifully stopped the contest after the seventh round as the ring doctor stood in a neutral corner chatting with the referee.

The gritty Castellano, who hails from Tonawanda, New York, brought an 11-1-2 record and hadn’t previously been stopped. A glutton for punishment, he appeared to suffer a broken orbital bone. Barrientes improved to 13-1 (8 KOs).

The show was marred by an excessive amount of fluffy gobbledygook by the TV talking heads which slowed down the action and made the promotion almost unwatchable.

Cartago, Costa Rica

Fighting in his hometown, super flyweight David Jimenez scored a lopsided 12-round decision over Nicaragua’s Keyvin Lara. The judges had it 120-108, 119-109, and 116-112.

Jimenez, now 17-1, came to the fore in July of 2022 when he upset Ricardo Sandoval in Los Angeles, winning a well-earned majority decision over a 20/1 favorite riding a 16-fight winning streak. That boosted him into a title fight with the formidable Artem Dalakian who saddled him with his lone defeat.

Jimenez’s victory over Lara was his fifth since that setback. It sets up the Costa Rican for another title fight, this time against Argentina’s Fernando Martinez who acquired the WBA 115-pound title in July with an upset of Kazuto Ioka in Japan. Lara, who unsuccessfully challenged Ioka for a belt in 2016, falls to 32-7-1.

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Price Conquers Jonas on an All-Female Card at Royal Albert Hall

Published

3 days ago

March 7, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Price-Conquers-Jonas-on-an-All-Female-Card-at-Royal-Albert-Hall

Ben Shalom’s BOXXER Promotions was at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall tonight with an all-female card topped by a welterweight unification fight between WBC/IBF belt-holder Natasha Jonas and WBA champion Lauren Price.

Liverpool’s Jonas, who turns 41 in June, has had a sterling career, but Father Time has caught up with her. The 30-year-old Price, an Olympic gold medalist, had faster hands, faster feet, and hit harder. The classy Jonas (16-3-1) acknowledged as much in her post-fight interview: “She beat me to the punch every time.”

The scores were 100-90, 98-92, and 98-93.

In advancing her record to 9-0 (2), Price built a strong case that she is the best fighter to come down the pike from Wales since Joe Calzaghe. As for her next bout, she hopes to fight the winner of the March 29 rematch in Las Vegas between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan. That match, with all of the meaningful welterweight hardware at stake, would be a hot ticket item if potted in Cardiff.

Semi-wind-up

Caroline Dubois staved off a late rally to successfully defend her WBC lightweight title with a majority decision over South Korea’s spunky Bo Mi Re Shin. The judges had it 98-92, 98-93, and 95-95. Although the 95-95 tally by the Korean judge was quite a stretch, Shin performed far better than the odds – Dubois was a consensus 35/1 favorite — portended.

Dubois, a 24-year-old Londoner trained by Shane McGuigan, is the sister of IBF heavyweight title-holder Daniel Dubois. Reportedly 36-3 as an amateur, she advanced her pro record to 11-0-1 (5). Heading in, Shin (18-3-3) had won nine of her previous 10 with the lone setback coming via split decision in a robust fight with Belgium’s Delfine Persoon in Belgium.

Other Bouts of Note

Kariss Artingstall returned to the ring after a 14-month absence and scored a unanimous decision over former amateur rival Raven Chapman. The scores were 98-91, 97-92, 96-93.

The prize for Artingstall, who happens to be Lauren Price’s partner, was the inaugural British female featherweight title and a potential rematch with Skye Nicolson who would relish the chance to avenge her last defeat, a loss by split decision to Attingstall in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. Nicolson, who was part of tonight’s broadcast team, defends her title later this month in Sydney against Florida’s Tiara Brown.

It was the first 10-rounder for Artingstall (7-0). Chapman (9-2) had an uphill battle after Artingstall decked her in the second round with a straight left hand.

In a mild upset, Jasmina Zopotoczna, a UK-based Pole, won a split decision over Chloe Watson, adding Watson’s European flyweight title to her own regional trinket. One of the judges favored Watson 97-93, but each of his colleagues had it 96-95 for the Pole. Although there was no great furor, the verdict was unpopular.

Zapotoczna, who fought off her back foot, improved to 9-1. It was the first pro loss for Watson who is trained by Ricky Hatton.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 316: Art of the Deal in Boxing and More

Published

4 days ago

March 6, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-316-Art-of-the-Deal-in-Boxing-and-More

So, they want to save boxing?

A group of guys with recent ties to the sport of boxing and bags of money suddenly believe they can save a sport that is older than any other sport since the dawn of mankind.

Boxing is the oldest sport.

When cavemen roamed the planet, you can believe one tribe bet another tribe their guy could whip the other guy. Thus began the sport of boxing. There was no baseball, soccer or horse racing.

Even the invention of the wheel was still a few generations away when men were duking it out with other men for sport.

Throughout history mentions of one man fighting another man without arms are written in the Tales of Ulysses and other literary references.

Boxing will never die. Period.

Here is the reason why.

Boxing requires only two men in their underwear with no weapons and no requirement of classes in jujitsu, kickboxing, wrestling or advance training facilities. You can prepare in your backyard with one heavy bag and a pair of boxing gloves. It’s simple.

MMA, on the other hand, requires money.

Boxing is for the poor. Any kid can walk into a gym and begin training. When they become adults, then they start paying to use the gym.

Don’t let people fool you and tell you “boxing is dying.”

People have been saying those same words since John L. Sullivan in the late 1800s. You can look it up.

The phrase “boxing is dying,” is said by people who want you to pay them money to save it. Kind of sounds like the guy currently sitting in the White House who is going to save America by firing Americans from their jobs and allowing Russia to take over Ukraine.

Don’t believe these people.

Boxing does not need saving.

Why would Dana White, who has stated for decades that MMA is bigger than boxing, though no MMA fighter can equal the purses of a Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Tyson Fury, why is he involved in boxing?

There is big money to be made in boxing, especially with internet gambling sites being allowed all over the world. And boxing is popular worldwide. MMA is not.

More people know who Canelo is than UFC’s Alex Pereira.

I respect the UFC fighters. They put in hard work and battle injuries throughout their careers. But MMA is simply not as big as boxing. The purses of MMA fighters at the top level don’t come close to boxing’s top money earners.

Why did Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and others quickly switch to boxing when called?

The money in boxing is much bigger.

Follow the money.

NYC

A rumble is planned for Times Square in New York City.

Vatos from Southern California are fighting dudes from Nevada and Brooklyn. Sounds like a script from the Gangs of New York.

Where is Leonardo DiCaprio when you need him?

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) will meet Rollie Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) in a welterweight match set for May 2, on Times Square in mid-Manhattan. This is one of three marquee bouts planned to be streamed on DAZN.

Others matched will be Arnold Barboza (32-0, 11 KOs) versus super lightweight titlist Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs), and Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) against Jose Carlos Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) in a welterweight contest.

This is the proposed match by The Ring magazine backed by Turki Alalshikh who, along with Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing, is sponsoring this fight card.

It was also announced that Alalshikh, TKO Group Holdings, and Sela are forming a promotion company.

TKO owns UFC and WWE.

SoCal Fights

Southern California will be busy with boxing cards this weekend.

This Thursday, March 6, is Golden Boy Promotions with a boxing card featuring Manny Flores (19-1, 15 KOs) versus Jorge Leyva (18-3, 13 KOs) in a super bantamweight match at Fantasy Springs Casino. DAZN will stream the boxing card from Indio, California.

On Saturday, March 8, the Fox Theater in Pomona, California hosts a boxing card featuring super middleweights Ruben Cazales (10-0) vs Adam Diu Abdulhamid (18-16). Also, super featherweights Michael Bracamontes (10-2-1) meets Eugene Lagos (16-9-3) at the historic venue promoted by House of Pain Boxing.

On Saturday March 8, Elite Boxing hosts a boxing card at Salesian High in East Los Angeles featuring East L.A. native Merari Vivar (8-0) against Sarah Click (2-8-1) and several other fights.

On Saturday, March 8, an event hosted by House of Champions features top contenders Joet Gonzalez (26-4) vs Arnold Khegai (22-1-1) in a featherweight main event at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, Calif.

A Big All-Female Card in London

On Friday, March 7, the historic Royal Albert Hall in the Kensington borough of London will host an all-female card with two world title fights including a unification fight in the welterweight division.

Natasha Jonas (16-2-1) and Lauren Price (8-0) meet 10 rounds for the IBF, WBC, and WBA belts.

Jonas, 40, the current WBC and IBF titlist, recently defeated Ivana Habazin and before that edged past Mikaela Mayer in a win that could have gone the other way very easily. She will be facing Price, an Olympic gold medalist and current WBA and IBO titlist.

Price, 30, hails from Wales and has an aggressive pressure style that saw her win a battle between punchers with a third-round knockout of Colombia’s Bexcy Mateus this past December in Liverpool. Before that she defeated the always tough Jessica McCaskill.

In the co-main event, lightweights Caroline Dubois (10-0-1) and Bo Mi Re Shin (18-2-3) meet for the WBC world title.

Me Re Shin, 30, fights out of South Korea and has knockout power. She was one of only two fighters to stop Venezuela’s Ana Maria Lozano who has 38 pro fights. That says something. She lost a split decision to Delfine Persoon in Belgium. That really says something.

Dubois had two competitive fights, first, against Jessica Camara that ended in a technical draw due to a clash of heads. Before that she defeated Maira Moneo. Dubois has very good talent and is still young at 24. Is she ready for Mi Re Shin?

Times Square photo credit: JP Yim

Fights to watch:

Thurs., March 6: DAZN, Manny Flores (19-1) vs. Jorge Leyva (18-3)

Fri., March 7: free on DAZN, Lucas Bahdi (18-0) vs. Ryan James Racaza (15-0)

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