Rankings: Then and now

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boxer01Last Week Kevin lole from Yahoo sports wrote interesting article.  Athletes in nearly every sport are superior today than those of the past. Athletes are, as a whole, stronger, faster, better conditioned and are able to use science and technology like never before to enhance their performance (and don’t get started with the snide jokes about chemistry).

I began to wonder how boxing’s best fighters would compare to the best fighters of 25 years ago. So what I did was to get the Ring Magazine rankings from 1984 and then go down the current Yahoo! Sports rankings and pick a fight.

I chose fighters who were in the same weight class and matched them, always striving to pick the highest-ranked fighter from a class in 1984.

The April Yahoo! Sports rankings had very little change from last month. Paul Williams, fresh off his sensational performance in a decision over Winky Wright, flip-flopped the Nos. 4 and 5 spots with Shane Mosley.

Williams is now fourth and Mosley fifth.

Manny Pacquiao remained a unanimous first, getting all 31 votes cast. He’s followed by Juan Manuel Marquez, Bernard Hopkins, Williams, Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Ivan Calderon, Vic Darchinyan, Chad Dawson and Ricky Hatton.

Before I get into details on the April rankings, here is a look at my mythical matches, comparing the best of today to the best of 1984.

Mythical bout 1: This will be fought at 140 pounds and will pit Pacquiao against Aaron Pryor in a super lightweight bout. Ring’s 140-pound title was vacant in 1984, but Pryor was the top-ranked challenger.

Who wins and why: I’ll go with Pryor by a late-round stoppage. Pryor was so strong and so powerful, the great Sugar Ray Leonard wanted nothing to do with him. Pryor was unbeaten for the bulk of his career and his only loss came after he was out for 2½ years. Pacquiao’s speed would have caused Pryor some problems early, but Pryor was too strong and would have stopped him somewhere in the second half of the fight. Pryor by 10th round TKO.

Mythical bout 2: Marquez holds most of the lightweight belts, so he’ll meet Livingstone Bramble, the No. 1 Ring lightweight in 1984.

Who wins and why: Marquez would win a close, but unanimous decision. Marquez is a more complete fighter than Bramble and would have found a way to win the fight. Bramble’s most notable win was over Ray Mancini, but he never defeated a truly great fighter in his prime.

Mythical bout 3: Hopkins was a middleweight for most of his career, but is campaigning as a light heavyweight now. That results in a match between Hopkins and Michael Spinks, the Ring champion 25 years ago.

Who wins and why: It would be perhaps the best fight on this list, but Spinks would pull it out. He’s the naturally bigger man and he’s just as crafty as Hopkins. Spinks by decision.

Mythical bout 4: Williams is hard to place in a division, because he fights all over. But since he holds a version of the super welterweight belt, I’ll consider him a 154-pounder for the purposes of this match and will place him against 1984 Ring super welterweight champion Thomas Hearns.

Who wins and why: I think very highly of Williams and he was impressive in his win over Wright, but he would have had no chance – none, nada, zip, zero, zilch – in a fight against Hearns. I’ll take Hearns by eighth-round TKO.

Mythical bout 5: Mosley is another fighter who jumps around in weight, but he’s campaigning as a welterweight now. The result is a fight against top-ranked 1984 welterweight Donald Curry.

Who wins and why: Tough fight to call, since Curry at his best was phenomenal, but he had a very short period of excellence. I’ll give Mosley a slight edge here and say he would have been able to outwork and pressure Curry to win a split decision.

Mythical bout 6: Cotto gets a break because he’s the second welterweight in the Yahoo! Top 10, so he gets to face the second-ranked welterweight by Ring in 1984, Milton McCrory.

Who wins and why: Cotto drew a tough match, as the 6-foot-1 McCrory would have had a six-inch height advantage and a decided edge in punching power. Cotto’s body assault would have had an impact on McCrory, but I’ll say McCrory would have eventually caught him with something big. Say McCrory, TKO 10.

Mythical bout 7: Calderon, arguably the best boxer active today, gets a tough break, because Ring doesn’t rank light flyweights in 1984. As a result, he’ll have to face a flyweight, the 1984 Ring champion, Sot Chitalada.

Who wins and why: Chitalada wasn’t well known in the U.S., but he was a very good boxer and had a long, successful run at flyweight. He fought for the light flyweight title in his fifth pro fight and won the WBC flyweight belt in his ninth fight. He would have found a way to overcome “Iron Boy” and won a unanimous decision.

Mythical bout 8: Darchinyan is going to fight at bantamweight in July and, since Ring didn’t rank super flyweights in 1984, we’ll match him with 1984 Ring bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval.

Who wins and why: Sandoval was a good boxer with good power. He has a knockout win in a title fight over the great Jeff Chandler. That’s enough to convince me he would have taken out Darchinyan in nine rounds.

Mythical bout 9: Dawson gets the second-ranked 1984 light heavyweight, so he must face Dwight Muhammad Qawi, given that we’ve matched Hopkins against top-ranked Spinks.

Who wins and why: Qawi was a buzzsaw and Dawson would not have been able to keep him off of him. Qawi would have found a way to get inside and broken Dawson down. Qawi by TKO 11.

Mythical bout 10: Hatton has fought nearly his entire career at 140 pounds, so he’ll get the No. 2 ranked Ring super lightweight in 1984, Billy Costello.

Who wins and why: Costello was a well-rounded fighter who punched well even if he didn’t have overwhelming power. He would have been able to take advantage of Hatton’s defensive deficiencies and won a unanimous decision.

How it breaks down: In my 10 fights, I gave two, both by decision to fighters from 2009. I had eight going to fighters from 1984, with five of those by knockout.

What it means: Nothing, because the only place the fights matter is in the ring. Not bad for bar room debates, though.

With that, let’s take a look at the results of the current Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound poll. Voters were forbidden from voting for either Israel Vazquez or Rafael Marquez, because they’ve been inactive for more than a year. They also weren’t allowed to vote for Antonio Margarito, who is being punished by the California Athletic Commission.

12344181771. Manny Pacquiao
Points: 310 (31 of 31 first-place votes)
Record: 48-3-2 (37 KOs)
Title: None
Last outing: TKO8 over Oscar De La Hoya on Dec. 6
Previous ranking: 1
Up next: May 2 in Las Vegas vs. No. 10 Ricky Hatton for super lightweight title
Analysis: Win will give him a world title in sixth weight class (112, 122, 126, 130, 135)

12344185172. Juan Manuel Marquez
Points: 273
Record: 50-4-1 (36 KOs)
Title: WBA, WBO, Ring lightweight champion
Last outing: TKO9 over Juan Diaz on Feb. 28
Previous ranking: 2
Up next: Discussing a bout to lure Floyd Mayweather Jr. out of retirement
Analysis: Arguably the smartest fighter in the sport

12344254743. Bernard Hopkins
Points: 205
Record: 49-5 (32 KOs)
Title: None
Last outing: W12 over Kelly Pavlik on Oct. 18
Previous ranking: 3
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Crafty veteran has few big-fight options

12344208054. Paul Williams
Points: 194
Record: 37-1 (27 KOs)
Title: Interim WBO junior middleweight champion
Last outing: W12 over Winky Wright on April 11
Previous ranking: 5
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Has the range of a heavyweight, quickness of a welterweight

12344196105. Shane Mosley
Points: 188
Record: 46-5 (39 KOs)
Title: WBA welterweight champion
Last outing: TKO9 over Antonio Margarito on Jan. 24
Previous ranking: 4
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Still a dangerous combination of speed and power

12344215606. Miguel Cotto
Points: 141
Record: 33-1 (27 KOs)
Title: WBO welterweight champion
Last outing: TKO5 over Michael Jennings on Feb. 21
Previous ranking: 6
Up next: June 13 in New York against Joshua Clottey for IBF, WBO belts
Analysis: Split with uncle/trainer Evangelista could be a distraction

12344218727. Ivan Calderon
Points: 113
Record: 32-0 (6 KOs)
Title: WBO light flyweight champion
Last outing: TD7 over Hugo Cazares on Aug. 30
Previous ranking: 7
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Quickest fighter in lower weights

12344216758. Vic Darchinyan
Points: 102
Record: 32-1-1 (26 KOs)
Title: WBA, WBC, IBF super flyweight champion
Last outing: TKO11 over Jorge Arce on Feb. 7
Previous ranking: 8
Up next: July 11 vs. Joseph Agbeko for IBF bantamweight title
Analysis: Powerful southpaw hoping to hold titles in three weight classes in 2009

1236921202

9. Chad Dawson
Points: 87
Record: 27-0 (17 KOs)
Title: IBF light heavyweight champion
Last outing: W12 over Antonio Tarver on Oct. 11
Previous ranking: 9
Up next: May 9 in Las Vegas against Tarver
Analysis: Forced to accept rematch because of clause in contract

123692202910. Ricky Hatton
Points: 25
Record: 45-1 (32 KOs)
Title: Ring super lightweight champion
Last outing: TKO11 over Paulie Malignaggi on Nov. 22
Previous ranking: 10
Up next: May 2 in Las Vegas vs. No. 1 Manny Pacquiao
Analysis: Could cause Pacquiao problems with his size and power

kevin_ioleOthers receiving votes: Arthur Abraham 21, Kelly Pavlik 19, Chris John 18, Wladimir Klitschko 10, Mikkel Kessler 10, Juan Manuel Lopez 8, Fernando Montiel 4, Celestino Caballero 4, Tomasz Adamek 2, Timothy Bradley 1, David Haye 1.

Article by Kevin lole from Yahoo sports.

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