Photo by Esther Lin/Showtime Sports
Last year, I compiled the greatest list in the history of lists, naming the top five active fighters from the U.S. in honor of Independence Day.
Guess what? I’m doing it again. And while in some sports a year doesn’t make a whole lot of difference, boxing is secluded away in its own bizarro world, where weird is normal, normal doesn’t exist, and Laurence Cole still has a job.
So, we’ve had a few changes at the bottom. Let’s take a look, and Happy July 4th from everyone at RBR Boxing. Have a cold one for us.
5.Bernard Hopkins
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
One gets the feeling that Hopkins could climb out of bed on his 75th birthday, run five miles, school some guys in chess, and then win a close unanimous decision against a top-ten Light Heavyweight before slipping an alien mask over his head and staring daggers through press row for doubting his abilities.
He’s certainly lost several steps, and he suffered the most one-sided loss of his career last November to Sergey Kovalev.
But Sergey Kovalev is a monster, and at 50 years old, many people actually picked Hopkins to beat him. He didn’t, but it wasn’t because he suddenly looked shot. Kovalev is an elite, fantastic fighter, and Hopkins took him the distance for the first time in years.
“B-Hop” may no longer be a dominant fighter, but he’s still a nightmare match-up for damn-near anybody out there.
4.Terence Crawford
Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
The truth is, I think Crawford would defeat our number three fighter should they meet in the ring, and they certainly should.
The ambidextrous fighter is brilliant from both the southpaw and orthodox stance, and he seems to have brought his power with him from the Lightweight division.
He smashed the hell out of Thomas Dulorme this past April, and he’d make a fantastic fight with Lucas Matthysse if they can make it happen. But Crawford just has the look of a Welterweight. He seems like he’d be a wrecking ball at 147, and there are a ton of fascinating options for him there.
He’s quickly shooting up the ranks, and it should surprise no one if he’s sitting in the top spot next year at this time…
3.Tim Bradley
Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank
Timmy Boy is one helluva fighter, though he seems to enjoy making things as difficult for himself as possible.
He makes up for his lack of punching pop with an aggressive, swarming style and stones the size of half kegs. The dude is relentless in his attack, and he’s deterred by nothing.
He had a rough 2014, dropping a wide decision to Manny Pacquiao before Julie Lederman did this to him in a draw against Diego Chaves, but he rebounded nicely last week with a solid win over previously undefeated Jessie Vargas.
The last 20 seconds of the fight showcased what we love about Bradley–even when badly rocked, he’s nearly impossible to put down. Still, he won a wide decision and set himself up for another big fight, hopefully soon.
We’d love to see a rematch with Provodnikov, and though a fight with Floyd Mayweather seems highly unlikely, he certainly deserves a shot as much as anyone else.
2.Andre Ward
Photo by Alexis Cuarezma/Getty Images
Ward almost didn’t make the list at all, not because of his lack of fighting prowess–he’s brilliant in the ring–but because he had been shelved for the better part of two years before he easily wiped out Paul “Diets Are For Pussies” Smith.
Now Smith, even in shape, is far from a top level fighter, but Ward’s resume earns him the benefit of the doubt. He’s not only cleaned out the Super Middleweight division, he really hasn’t even been in a competitive fight yet.
Hopefully he actually fights somewhat regularly now that his promotional mess has been worked out. And hopefully he’ll be fighting quality opponents on normal boxing networks instead of BET, or VH1, or the Cooking Channel.
We’d love to see a showdown between Ward and Middleweight king Gennady Golovkin. They’ve been going back-and-forth in the media, with Golovkin finally declaring that Ward was “dead” to him. Could you imagine what an angry Golovkin looks like? I picture it looking a lot like this.
It would be fun to see how Ward handles him.
1.Floyd Mayweather
Photo by Esther Lin/Showtime Sports
After years of dodging, ducking, dipping, diving, and dodging a fight with Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather settled the raging debate like he settles everything in the ring–easily, and with a sleep-inducing effect more lethal than a dozen Ambien with a Johnny Walker chaser.
But hey, he’s the best. Masterful defensive, deadly accurate punching, and an other-wordly knowledge of the sport make him the top dog, even at 38-years-old.
Will he really retire after one last fight in September? If so, hopefully he goes out fighting a hungry youngster like Keith Thurman and not a frequently concussed veteran like Andre Berto.
Chances are quite high that whoever he fights, he’ll be 49-0 after the battle. As dislikable as he is outside the ring, there’s no denying that he’s an all-time-great with the gloves on.
