Honorable Mentions
Photo by Richard Wolowicz
Darnell Boone II
Adonis Stevenson laid claim to the lineal light heavyweight championship in 2013 when he stiffened up Chad Dawson with a murderous overhand left in just 76 seconds. He holds 26 wins to his name and one lone loss, a second-round KO defeat to Darnell Boone, boxing’s journeyman extraordinaire.
Boone (21-22-4) is an enigma. On one-week’s notice Boone went tooth and nail with current pound-for-pound claimant Andre Ward. Boone showed off why they call him “Deezol” and dropped Ward in the fourth round, the super middleweight champion’s only knockdown to date. Boone is also the only man outside of Gennady Golovkin to defeat Willie Monroe Jr.
In 2010, Boone battled Sergey Kovalev to a split-decision loss. It was a sluggish performance from the Russian and the Krusher looked to pick up a more decisive victory in the return match two years later.
Kovalev zeroed in on Boone early, stuffing rights and lefts into his face, but not before eating a heavy left hand that rattled the Russian in Round 1. The second round would see Kovalev conquer Boone for good putting him away via a merciful referee stoppage.
The fight was not only a win over a tough rival but was also marked Kovalev’s first fight back from knocking out Roman Simakov who never regained consciousness.
TKO 3 Gabriel Campillo
If you want to be a star in the light heavyweight division, you have to go through Gabriel Campillo. A perennial top-10 light heavyweight, Campillo’s sound (albeit frustrating) boxing ability has made him the division’s premier gatekeeper. His losses to Karo Murat, Beibut Shimenov, and Tavoris Cloud are widely considered robberies.
Andrzej Fonfara and Artur Beterbiev both recently proved their worth knocking out Campillo. But the Krusher got his hands on him first.
The fight did not last long. Kovalev hit him to the body, he hit him to the head and he hit him hard. Campillo touched the canvas three times in the fateful third round and that was enough for referee Mike Ortega to stop the fight.
Reports of Campillo suffering from jet lag seemed to tarnish the Russian’s victory but it doesn’t change the fact that Campillo was one of the five best light heavyweights in the world and Kovalev beat him handily.
