Best Cruiserweights from various countries

[Dennis]

The cruiserweight division has a lot of talented fighters with a lot of parity. Who do boxing fans think is the best boxer from each of the various countries?

Here is my list:
Russia (the top country since they have two of the champions and 3 more top contenders:
1. Grigory Drozd
2. Dmitry Kudryashov
3. Denis Lebedev
4. Rakhim Chakhkiev
5. Murat Gassiev

Cuba:
1. Yoan Pablo Hernandez
2. Yunier Dorticos
3. Juan Carlos Gomez

Germany:
1. Marco Huck
2. Noel Gevor
3. Firat Arslan
4. Kai Kurzawa
5. Dennis Ronert (majority decision loss recently to Kurzawa)

U.K. (these guys seem to all be at the same level and on any given day one guy can defeat another on the list)
1. Tony Bellew
2. Ola Afolabi
3. Ovill McKenzie
4. Matty Askin
5. Jon-Lewis Dickinson
6. Nathan Cleverly
7. Stephen Simmons
8. Tony Conquest
9. Courtney Fry

Africa (the whole continent as there are only a handful of quality cruisers):
1. Ilunga Makabu
2. Thabiso Mchunu
3. Lateef Kayode
4. Youri Kalenga
5. Danie Venter
6. Olanrewaju Durodola
7. Johnny Muller

U.S. (top 10):
1. Jordan Shimmell
2. BJ Flores
3. Alex Guerrero
4. Isiah Thomas
5. Stiven Bujaj
6. Paul Parker
7. Quantis Graves
8. Roy Jones Jr
9. Junior Wright
10. Phil Williams
Honorable Mention (guys who all are right around #11 - Felix Cora Jr, Carlos Reyes, Al Sands, Garrett Wilson, Dimar Ortuz)

Ukraine:
1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Dimtro Kucher
3. Iago Kiladze

Poland:
1. Krzysztof Glowacki
2. Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
3. Mateusz Masternak
4. Pawel Kolodziej
5. Lukasz Janik

Kzakhstan:
1. Beibut Shumenov
2. Isa Akberbayev

Australia and New Zealand (similar to ranking the U.K. boxers where they are very competitive with each other):
1. Anthony McCracken
2. Daniel Aloua
3. Daniel Ammann
4. Brad Pitt
5. Mark Flanagan
(You could switch these 5 around any way you like as on any given day they will have a win or loss against each other)

The best from the rest of the world (South America and a few remaining European and North American Countries)
1. Victor Emilio Ramirez
2. Mirko Larghetti
3. Imre Szello
4. Damir Beljo
5. Mairis Briedis
6. Giacobbe Fragomeni
7. William Fernando Souza Bezerra
8. Micki Nielsen
9. Denton Daley
10. Bilal Laggoune

[Bobbyptsd]

I would put Kudryashov down to 5 on your Russian list. I would probably keep Wlod at #1 in Poland. I'd swap Afolabi with Mackenzie in the U.K.. The rest I would agree with pretty much.

[Dennis]

I would put Kudryashov down to 5 on your Russian list. I would probably keep Wlod at #1 in Poland. I'd swap Afolabi with Mackenzie in the U.K.. The rest I would agree with pretty much.

I can understand your switch in the rankings for the UK and Poland, but I'm surprised that you would rank Kudryashov below Gassiev.

[crusader]

Why should Kud be below Gassiev? I can certainly see cases for the others being ahead of him, but Gassiev? Not seeing that...Kud has clearly beaten better opposition and has done it more impressively to me; you haven't just seen Kud's fight against Meroro have you Bobby?

I'd rank Russia:

1. Drozd
2. Lebedev
3. Kud (very close with Chak)
4. Chak
5. Gassiev (clearly below all the others)

I'd also have Kalenga above Kayode in Africa, Wlod ahead of Glowacki in Poland, and Arslan ahead of Gevor in Germany.

[Dennis]

Why should Kud be below Gassiev? I can certainly see cases for the others being ahead of him, but Gassiev? Not seeing that...Kud has clearly beaten better opposition and has done it more impressively to me.

I'd rank Russia:

1. Drozd
2. Lebedev
3. Kud (very close with Chak)
4. Chak
5. Gassiev (clearly below all the others)

I'd also have Kalenga above Kayode in Africa, Wlod ahead of Glowacki in Poland, and Arslan ahead of Gevor in Germany.

I can see Lebedev, a champ, being ranked ahead of Kud but I think Kud is very good and has better boxing skills than Leb with equal or slightly better power. Arslan is getting old but I'm not totally sold on Gevor so maybe you are correct to switch them. Kalenga/Kayode was a tough choice and would love to see them fight to find out who is better. Wlod hasn't impressed me in the last few fights and I believed him to be the most vulnerable of the champs when he had a belt. Glowacki isn't top 5 in the world and probably isn't going to be, but he might just be good enough to beat Wlod.

[crusader]

I think Kud may well be better than Lebedev, but Lebedev has been operating at a significantly higher level so I give him the benefit of the doubt in the rankings. I'm hoping that Kud's next opponent is top 15 or so, then we can get a more precise idea of how good he is.

Kayode has never impressed me, hasn't really proved much, and seems to be in a slump. I'd rank Kalenga ahead of him both on resume and on ability.

Arslan fought to a close SD with Hernandez not too long ago, and to me that suggests that he, at least at that time, was still better than Gevor, who like Kayode hasn't impressed me. Arslan is getting up there though and has been in several tough fights, so he could regress quickly.

Wlod is somewhat similar to Arslan in that he's had some good performances but has taken quite a bit of punishment and may quickly be on the slide, but I think it's too early to start putting fighters like Glowacki ahead of him and I suspect that Drozd would beat up Glowacki too.

[Tarkus]

Kudryashov has a limited skills set and has only operated at a very low level. There is no way he should be rated above Lebedev. having Kud higher then Chakhkiev is a stretch IMO.

Does not Ismayl Silakh operate at CW now? Glass chin but otherwise a very good boxer.

You need The Rest of The World group for couple of South Americans, the one that beat Afolabi recently for example and others.

[crusader]

There isn't a great deal to split Chak's opposition from Kud's aside from the fighter who stopped Chak. Kud isn't the most skillful, but I don't think he needs to be given his impressive power and in my view he's not as limited as I believe that you've previously suggested. I would back him in a fight with Chak even though the latter has beaten somewhat better opposition, and I don't consider this a stretch.

Now if we were strictly ranking quality of opposition Chak would be ahead on my list.

[Tarkus]

No I am not saying Kudryashov is too limited but he is somewhat limited. You could see in his last fight it was power that carried him. And when power is the main thing you relay on at this level on a higher level it wont be enough. Chakhkiev on the other hand is classier boxer of the two and seems more settled after his defeat, uses more brain and less brute force. I back Chakh to beat Kud today as well as to go further in their carriers.

[Dennis]

Kudryashov has a limited skills set and has only operated at a very low level. There is no way he should be rated above Lebedev. having Kud higher then Chakhkiev is a stretch IMO.

Does not Ismayl Silakh operate at CW now? Glass chin but otherwise a very good boxer.

You need The Rest of The World group for couple of South Americans, the one that beat Afolabi recently for example and others.

I added Australia/NZ and the rest of the world. I edited the original post.

[Bobbyptsd]

I would put Kudryashov down to 5 on your Russian list. I would probably keep Wlod at #1 in Poland. I'd swap Afolabi with Mackenzie in the U.K.. The rest I would agree with pretty much.

I can understand your switch in the rankings for the UK and Poland, but I'm surprised that you would rank Kudryashov below Gassiev.

To be honest, I haven't seen Gassiev (that I can recall), so I have no knowledge to rank him on. What I meant by my comment was that I would certainly have Kudryashov below Chahkiev, Lebvedev and Drzozd at least. I should have been clearer there.

[Dennis]

I think the top 4 Russians are all very good but they have some noticeable flaws too. It is hard to distinguish between therm.

[Tarkus]

I added Australia/NZ and the rest of the world. I edited the original post.

Well done mate. Thats the most complete CW list on the planet. :)

Kiladze an Silakh are in action today in Ukraine and Gassiev in the USA. All against a very poor opposition.

[Dennis]

I added Australia/NZ and the rest of the world. I edited the original post.

Well done mate. Thats the most complete CW list on the planet. :)

Kiladze an Silakh are in action today in Ukraine and Gassiev in the USA. All against a very poor opposition.

It is hard to judge how good they are when they fight weak opposition.

[tiny_acres]

U.S. (top 10):
1. Jordan Shimmell
2. BJ Flores
3. Alex Guerrero
4. Isiah Thomas
5. Stiven Bujaj
6. Paul Parker
7. Quantis Graves
8. Roy Jones Jr
9. Junior Wright
10. Phil Williams
Honorable Mention (guys who all are right around #11 - Felix Cora Jr, Carlos Reyes, Al Sands, Garrett Wilson, Dimar Ortuz)

I agree Jordan is the #1 American cruiser.He is one to watch in the future.

[Dennis]

Still didn't learn anything new about Gassiev yesterday.

[Dennis]

Does anyone else look at Gassiev and question the accuracy of his date of birth. The guy does not look 21. To me he looks like a bigger version of Vic Darchinyan and Vic is 39.

[Dennis]

This Friday we have undefeated Craig Kennedy, 11-0, vs Courtney Fry, 19-6. It might show what Kennedy has and whether he should replace Fry in my rankings list.

[Dennis]

Saturday Micki Nielsen fights Ismail Abdoul. Nielsen like most decent cruiserweights should defeat Abdoul. The only way this fight tells us anything about Nielsen is if he is a pretender instead of a contender. If so, then he will lose. I am not convinced Nielsen is a top contender but I don't think he is a pretender as evidenced by his last few wins. He should dominate Abdoul and win an easy UD. Now a stoppage would be impressive since Abdoul hasn't been stopped in over 12 years since being stopped by Wlodarczyk in the 12th round.

[Dennis]

Does anyone have any different rankings for the list of the best from the rest of the world? I don't know that much about a couple of the guys and am not impressed by Bezerra or Nielsen even though both are undefeated.

[digzee]

Afolabi against McKenzie July 24th (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkoFikntLJQ). I love McKenzie he's a nice guy but I think Ola wins this. Who you picking Dennis?

[Boxing Writer]

I think Kalenga should be ranked ahead of Kayode

[dagilechia]

i dont think Kolodziej is better than Janik. he lost KO 2 Lebedev after full camp and Janik lost KO 9 to Drozd annouced one week before fight. and Kolodziej beat only bums. i dont even think he is better than Michal Cieslak. btw Kolodziej is a HW now but his HW debut is cancelled becuse some medical problems with Kolozdiej's eyes

[Dennis]

Afolabi against McKenzie July 24th (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkoFikntLJQ). I love McKenzie he's a nice guy but I think Ola wins this. Who you picking Dennis?

I think Ola wins the fight. McKenzie has done better recently but not against the top opposition like Ola has faced. It should be an entertaining fight.

[Re-up Gang]

been sparring with durodola for his upcoming fight. the guy is good very strong big and hits hard and fights both ways.
lost to mchunu in an awkarwd fight .
has beat kayoed twice in amateurs one via stoppage.
also believe challenge should definitely be above kayode. he has proved it better higher level opposition, i thought kayode is a heavyweight now though.

very good effort with your list keep it up.