Slacking. That's what we've been doing on the site this week, and that's what I've been doing for several months with our power rankings (patent pending).
If you're new here, you're going to look at these and go, "Whoa! Hold up! Where's Money Mayweather?"
Yes, Floyd would likely be on top if this was a pound-for-pound list, but it's not. We only do one of those at the end of each year.
The power rankings are a mathematical way to show who's been staying active, winning and winning decisively against opponents with good records over the past three years. Boxers like Mayweather (since he retired for about two years) just haven't fought enough in that time period to qualify. A "perfect" score is 36, but anything over 17 is pretty impressive.
Now that that's out of the way, here's our list for the beginning of October:
1. Arthur Abraham - 24.13 - It's always easy to criticize fighters who build up gaudy records staying close to home, but King Arthur has begun taking on more challenges. He should get tested big time in the Super Six World Boxing Classic, where he'll not only face top fighters but he'll do it while stepping up in weight.
2. Wladimir Klitschko - 21.07 - Speaking of challenges, this guy could use one. It's hard to recall the last time Wlad was in any danger during a fight.
3. Juan Manuel Lopez - 20.59 - Over the last three years, JuanMa is 9-0 with 9 KOs. He'd have a truly monstrous score in these rankings except for the fact that two or three of his victims fall into the "highly questionable" category.
4. Nonito Donaire - 17.60 - The Filipino Flash is likely to stay somewhat in the very large shadow of countryman Manny Pacquiao for the next few years, but he's been doing some impressive work of his own. He should squeeze in one more fight before the end of the year.
5. Manny Pacquiao - 17.49 - Pac-Man has made it to the point where every time he steps in the ring, it's an event. Beating Miguel Cotto won't be an easy task, but you know Freddie Roach will have his man ready to go.
6. Celestino Caballero - 17.08 - Pelenchin wasn't exactly in tough his last time out against Francisco Leal. It's tough to see who may be on the horizon for him to fight that would get fans excited.
7. Kelly Pavlik - 16.97 - After several stops and starts related to a staph infection, The Ghost has finally been given the okay to fight Paul Williams on December 5. At least that's how it looks right now. That should be an entertaining bout.
8. Felix Sturm - 15.75 - The obvious fight between Sturm and Abraham is out of the question now that Abraham has departed middleweight for bigger (literally) and better things. Maybe he'll get a shot at the Pavlik-Williams winner, but I kind of doubt it.
9. Lucian Bute - 14.36 - He's possibly the most glaring omission from the World Boxing Classic, so he'll content himself with a rematch against Librado Andrade in November. You may recall he was lucky to avoid becoming a late KO victim the first time.
10. Carl Froch - 13.60 - Since he's also part of the Super Six, The Cobra could go soaring up this list over the next year. And he could just as easily be all the way out, too.
The next 10: Miguel Cotto, Fernando Montiel, Tomasz Adamek, Vitali Klitschko, Chris John, Juan Manuel Marquez, Mikkel Kessler, Robert Guerrero, Paul Williams, Chad Dawson
Posted by The Franchise
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