Boxing P4P List – TnS Podcast #56 – This weekend sees Vasyl Lomachenko and Guillermo Rigondeaux face off in a battle of two of everybody’s top 10 Pound for Pound boxers. The two duel on December 9th at the Madison Square Garden Theater and on ESPN in a fight that will certainly have an effect on the pound for pound lists out there.
https://soundcloud.com/getmoresports/talk-n-shoot-podcast-episode-56
Here in this latest TalknShoot Podcast, we review three of the P4P lists that are out there (Boxrec, Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and RING Magazine). The bottom line is that there are big differences between all three of the lists reviewed. A wider look at the P4P lists out there on the internet would show even more variance. There is also a consistent group of boxers that are acknowledged by every existing list and in this latest P4P list we come up with TnS’ own list.
The TALKnSHOOT Boxing P4P List:
#1 Terence Crawford
#2 Vasyl Lomachenko
#3 Jorge Linares
#4 Guillermo Rigondeaux
#5 Mikey Garcia
#6 Leo Santa Cruz
#7 Gary Russell Jr
#8 Carl Frampton
#9 Sor Rungvisai
#10 Gennady Golovkin
The super lightweight kingpin Crawford recently moved up to the talent-laden welterweight division, so he will be facing a whole new set of challenges. Crawford is promoted by Top Rank as is WBO world welterweight champion Jeff Horn, so Crawford has the inside track on a shot at the WBO belt as long as Horn wins his December 13th fight with Gary Corcoran. A belt would line Crawford up for unification bouts with the other welterweight titlists, Keith Thurman (WBA, WBC) and Errol Spence Jr (IBF).
The number two spot on our pound for pound list is held by the most controversial choice in the top 10. As a two time Olympic gold medalist with over 400 amateur fights, Lomachenko entered the pro ranks ready to move fast. He did that too, as he quickly won a world title in just his third pro fight. Lomachenko moved up in weight class and he won another world title, all of this in less than ten professional fights. The bottom line with “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko is that he looks to be a special athlete so he makes the list with just 10 pro fights.
Beating the man has to mean something, and beating him a second time in more convincing fashion should mean even more. At the start of 2017, most lists out there had Nicaragua’s undefeated super flyweight Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez as the #1 P4P fighter in the world. Then along came Rungvisai, whose real name is Wisaksil Wangek, as he beat Gonzalez for the WBC world 115 pound title in March. That win alone should have left Rungvisai in the conversations for the P4P list but the majority decision win was considered controversial by some. The rugged fighter from Thailand was asked to do it again and he entered his September rematch with Gonzalez highly focused. The result was a resounding fourth round knock out that sent a clear message to the super flyweights out there – Rungvisai is for real.
Featherweights Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton have fought twice already, going 1-1 in those bouts and setting up an inevitable trilogy. The pair have both been hovering near the top 10 and the pair of fights the two fought were fought at an extremely high level. We should get the third bout between santa Cruz and Frampton here by the end of 2018.
Want more pound for pound talk? Check out TnS Boxing Podcast #35….
Boxing P4P List – TnS Podcast #56 / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science.
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