BoxRec

1. Bernard Hopkins
2. Erik Morales
3. Winky Wright
4. Diego Corrales
5. Floyd Mayweather
6. Jose Luis Castillo
7. Marco Antonio Barrera
8. Ricky Hatton
9. Antonio Tarver
10. Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez
12. Rafael Marquez
13. Glen Johnson
14. Zab Judah
15. Kostya Tszyu
16. Joel Casamayor
17. Shane Mosley
18. James Toney
19. Jean-Marc Mormeck
20. Martin Castillo
21. Joe Calzaghe
22. Jorge Arce
23. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
24. Antonio Margarito
25. Kassim Ouma

I top 25 is hard to do, nice to see Calzaghe out of the top 20 (where I have him currently).

Resondo Alvarez is again cruelly left out of it, I appreciate he is not a belt holder in his new weight but he hasn't lost for a long time.

Shane Moseley is a little high, I don't think he would be in my top 20.

Putting Corrales above Mayweather is not justified in my opinion.

Southpaw Stylist wrote:Putting Corrales above Mayweather is not justified in my opinion.

I missed that one, yes that is rediculous.

This list has started a big old debate over at Max, especially amongst the people who think Mayweather is the greatest thing ever following his win over a slow and reticent slugger.


Seems that Doug just doesn't rate Mayweather that highly and doesn't rate his recent opposition. It's not an argument I think holds much water when you see what the lad's capable of, but it's got people chattering.




Edit - it's also paid-for content, I think...

I think he rates Mayweather, just not the recent competition. Which makes Hopkins continued reign at the top seem strange.

I think what Doug is saying is that don't rate someone too highly for annihilating poor opposition, Gatti fought a poor fight, and Mayweather's opposition is not right up there with some other fighters in that list.

Once he does a number like that one someone like Hatton, he'll be right up there.

Gatti may of fought a poor fight but Mayweather certainly didn't let him fight a better one, he did his job against a guy who most thought could be beaten but not easily and not without getting hurt, he made Gatti look like a punching bag, it's not the fact that he beat Gatti, it's the way he did it and Gatti is considered a good name on anyones record and Mayweather did a more convincing job beating him than all the rest.

Edit: Also, I'd have Barerra above Morales. I'd suppose Barerra would have to beat Paquiao to reclaim that spot above his rival despite beating him twice.

The counterpoint to that, is that other fighters have given Mayweather a far harder night's work already, Gatti's tactics were abysmal, he didn't have to be a punchbag, he could have actually pressed forward and thrown shots of his own, but he tried to outbox floyd from range, which was incredibly stupid.