Saturday, September 29, 2007

Taylor down, Pavlik up

I was able to watch tonight's middleweight title fight and it was amazing. Taylor looks like a world beater and Pavlik looks like a skateboarder. In the second round, Taylor was one more clean punch from knocking Pavlik out. Pavlik was able to hold on and in the third, Taylor looked to counterpunch rather than run right through Pavlik.

In the end, Taylor's lack of aggression gave Pavlik a second chance and he just took it to Taylor from then on. Pavlik may not look that powerful but he now has 29 KOs in 32 fights. Something must be working.

Taylor could have moved into the top 100 fighters all-time with a win and was looking for a career-defining KO. Instead, he tumbles all the way to No. 134, just behind Julian Jackson.

Pavlik, who now has a world of opportunities open for him, jumps up to No. 135. He still trails Taylor because this was just his fourth title fight of any kind.

The question now is will Pavlik fight Taylor again or go after the other title holders, Arthur Abraham (IBF) and Felix Sturm (WBA). Abraham ranks No. 109 on my list and Sturm isn't in the top 150.

Taylor can move into top 100

Although he's taken criticism for not winning convincingly, Jermaine Taylor can move into the top 100 greatest fighters with a win tonight against Kelly Pavlik.

Taylor already has beaten Bernard Hopkins and William Joppy and earned a draw with Winky Wright. That's a pretty good list of fighters, even if they were cautious fights. Right now, he ranks tied for No. 107 with Miguel Canto.

Of course, Pavlik can take a big step toward becoming a top 100 fighter by winning tonight as well.

HBO, 10:15 p.m. eastern time.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Arce moves up in boxing's top 100

Although rarely discussed, Jorge Arce is one of the greatest Mexican fighters of all time. He has a record of 22-2 in title fights and has held junior flyweight, flyweight and super flyweight world titles in his career.

On Sept. 16, Arce knocked out an overmatched Tomas Rojas to win the WBC Latino bantamweight title as he tries to get a rematch with Cristian Mijares.

Winning a lesser title at this point in Arce's career only helped him pick up a few points, but it was enough to bump him up a couple of spots in my ranking of boxing's 100 greatest fighters. He remains the ninth best fighter in my system to come out of Mexico.

Here are the updated top 100:

Rank, boxer, years, country, points
1. Muhammad Ali, 1960-81, U.S., 84.822
2. Joe Louis, 1934-51, U.S., 84.262
3. Henry Armstrong, 1931-45, U.S., 79.434
4. Sugar Ray Robinson, 1940-65, U.S., 75.315
5. Rocky Marciano, 1947-55, U.S., 62.760
6. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, Puerto Rico, 62.665
7. Carlos Monzon, 1963-77, Argentina, 61.581
8. Joe Gans, 1891-09, U.S., 60.416
9. Larry Holmes, 1973-02, U.S., 60.004
10. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, Nicaragua, 59.975

11. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, U.S., 59.526
12. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, U.S., 59.440
13. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, U.S., 59.028
14. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, U.S., 59.017
15. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, Puerto Rico, 58.805
16. Archie Moore, 1936-63, U.S., 58.743
17. Roy Jones Jr., 1989-07, U.S., 58.657
18. Barney Ross, 1929-38, U.S., 57.838
19. Willie Pep, 1940-66, U.S., 57.236
20. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, Mexico, 56.049

21. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, Mexico, 55.587
22. Bernard Hopkins, 1988-07, U.S., 55.477
23. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, Brazil, 55.374
24. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, Cuba, 55.266
25. Michael Spinks, 1977-88, U.S., 55.215
26. Felix Trinidad, 1990-05, Puerto Rico, 54.623
27. Roberto Duran, 1968-01, Panama, 54.143
28. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, Mexico, 54.110
29. Thomas Hearns, 1977-06, U.S., 53.649
30. Abe Attell, 1900-17, U.S., 53.115

31. Khaosai Galaxy, 1980-91, Thailand, 53.056
32. Sandy Saddler, 1944-56, U.S., 53.041
33. Sugar Ray Leonard, 1977-97, U.S., 52.986
34. George Foreman, 1969-97, U.S., 52.979
35. Antonio Cervantes, 1964-83, Colombia, 52.905
36. Tommy Ryan, 1887-07, U.S., 52.803
37. Carlos Zarate, 1970-88, Mexico, 52.574
38. Azumah Nelson, 1979-98, Ghana, 52.548
39. Gene Tunney, 1915-28, U.S., 52.452
40. James Jeffries, 1896-10, U.S., 52.425

41. Joe Frazier, 1965-81, U.S., 52.336
42. Terry McGovern, 1897-08, U.S., 52.224
43. Yoko Gushiken, 1974-81, Japan, 52.167
44. Eusebio Pedroza, 1973-92, Panama, 52.112
45. Evander Holyfield, 1984-07, U.S., 52.015
46. Mike Tyson, 1985-05, U.S., 51.734
47. Floyd Mayweather Jr., 1996-07, U.S., 51.464
48. Jack Johnson, 1897-28, U.S., 51.363
49. Flash Elorde, 1951-71, Phillippines, 51.315
50. Jimmy McLarnin, 1923-36, U.S., 51.268

51. Oscar De La Hoya, 1992-07, U.S., 50.938
52. Pascual Perez, 1952-64, Argentina, 50.932
53. Bob Foster, 1961-78, U.S., 50.704
54. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, United Kingdom, 50.661
55. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 50.623
56. Floyd Patterson, 1952-72, U.S., 50.614
57. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 50.605
58. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 50.595
59. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 50.521
60. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.479

61. Harry Greb, 1913-26, U.S., 50.428
62. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-07, United Kingdom, 49.601
63. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.510
64. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 49.407
65. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.393
66. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 49.129
67. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 49.035
68. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 48.916
69. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 48.883
70. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 48.840

71. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, Italy, 48.651
72. Jackie Kid Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 48.427
73. Pernell Whitaker, 1984-01, U.S., 48.342
74. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 48.258
75. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 48.159
76. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-07, Cuba, 48.011
77. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 47.989
78. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 47.984
79. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-07, Puerto Rico, 47.938
80. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.827

81. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 47.797
82. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.645
83. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.400
84. Ricky Hatton, 1997-07, United Kingdom, 47.348
85. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 47.300
86. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 47.195
87. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, Mexico, 47.082
88. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 47.021
89. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.932
90. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-07, Thailand, 46.803

91. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 46.703
92. William Joppy, 1993-07, U.S., 46.681
93. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 46.542
94. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.465
95. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 46.378
96. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 46.378
97. Orlando Canizales, 1984-99, U.S., 46.371
98. Jimmy Wilde, 1910-23, United Kingdom, 46.333
99. Sung Kil Moon, 1987-93, South Korea, 46.248
100. Johnny Kilbane, 1907-23, U.S., 46.238

Sunday, September 09, 2007

All hail king Roger, best ever of the open era

Officially, Roger Federer needs to win two more major titles to match Pete Sampras' total of 14. But in my rankings, if Federer decided to walk away from the game today, he is the best player of the open era.

The statistical system I've set up rewards dominance and no one has been more dominant than Federer over the past four seasons. Out of the 10 greatest tennis campaigns in the open era, Federer has the second (2007), third (2006) and sixth best (2004) ever.

Only Rod Laver's grand slam ranks higher and that was back when three of the four majors were played on grass.

Really, the only knock on Federer is that he has not won the French to complete the feat of winning on all three surfaces -- grass, hard court and clay -- like Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors. People forget one of Jimbo's U.S. Open titles was won on clay.

But Federer has made it to the past two French finals -- Sampras didn't make any French finals and John McEnroe made just one -- only to face Nadal, who may go down as the best ever on clay.

Really, Federer has beaten all kinds of players. Roadrunners like Lleyton Hewitt, pure power players like Andy Roddick (three times) and Marat Safin, an all-time great giving it has last big shot in Andre Agassi and young guns like Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Nadal seems to be somewhat closing the gap on other surfaces and Djokovic could develop into a nemesis, so maybe we've seen the best of Federer. It certainly is the best of the open era.

Here are the updated standings for the all-time men's tennis tournament (active players are in bold):

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2007, 688.00
2. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 656.50
3. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 648.50
4. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 619.50

5. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974-1984, 597.00
6. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1985, 558.00
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 472.50
8. Andre Agassi, United States, 1990-2005, 470.00

9. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 423.50
10. Stephan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 409.00
11. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1971, 355.50
12. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1993, 334.50

13. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 323.00
13. John Newcombe, Australia, 1968-1976, 323.00
15. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 295.50
16. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2007, 264.50

17. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 228.00
18. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1975, 214.50
19. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 197.00
20. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2001-2005, 192.50

21. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2005, 191.00
22. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 166.00
23. Stan Smith, United States, 1968-1980, 156.50
24. Pat Rafter, Australia, 1997-2001, 155.50

25. Yevgeny Kafelinikov, Russia, 1996-2000, 145.00
26. Pat Cash, Australia, 1987-1988, 141.00
27. Michael Chang, United States, 1989-1996, 134.00
28. Sergei Bruguera, Spain, 1993-1997, 133.00

29. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1992-2001, 131.00
30. Andy Roddick, United States, 2003-2006, 130.50
31. Michael Stich, Germany, 1991-1996, 121.50
32. Johan Kriek, South Africa, 1981-1982, 113.00

Here are the greatest years in the open era:

1. Rod Laver, Australia, 1969, 55.00
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2007, 44.50
3. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2006, 44.00
4. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974, 42.00
5. John McEnroe, United States, 1984, 41.00
6. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2004, 40.50
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1988, 39.50
8. Pete Sampras, United States, 1995, 37.00
8. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1978, 37.00
10. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1987, 36.00
11. John McEnroe, United States, 1981, 35.00
11. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1980, 35.00
13. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1986, 34.00
13. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1977, 34.00
15. Boris Becker, Germany, 1989, 32.00
16. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1982, 30.50

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Who will be this generation's best women's tennis player?

Justine Henin not only took apart Svetlana Kuznetsova in the U.S. Open, she completed the rare double over Venus and Serena Williams.

No player from this generation is going to threaten the top six players of the Open era. But it should be interesting which of the three will end up as the best of their time.

Serena has the lead right now, but Venus appears to be more motivated, and Henin is at the top of her game. The three players won all four majors this year. Even with the U.S. Open win, Henin remained third among the three. Martina Hingis is between Serena and the other two, but she doesn't appear to have the game anymore to play at the very highest level.

The player who made the largest leap was Kuznetsova. Her second place finish allowed her to jump three places.

Here are the 32 greatest women in the Open era. Active players are in bold:


Rank, Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2006, 1308.50
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1987-1999, 1215.50
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1973-1988, 953.50
4. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1990-1998, 684.00

5. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 675.00
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1979, 650.50
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 579.50
8. Serena Williams, United States, 1999-2007, 503.00

9. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-1998, 468.50
10. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 449.00
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2007, 440.00
12. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 429.00

13. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 334.00
14. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1998-2005, 312.00
15. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 197.00
16. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 194.00

17. Tracy Austin, United States, 1979-1981, 186.50
18. Jennifer Capriati, United States, 2001-2002, 184.00
19. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 170.00
20. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1988-1991, 165.00

21. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004-2007, 162.00
22. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 2001-2005, 151.00
23. Jana Novotna, Czechoslovakia, 1991-1998, 150.00
24. Ann Haydon-Jones, England, 1968-1969, 141.00

25. Conchita Martinez, Spain, 1994-2000, 140.00
26. Virginia Ruzici, Romania, 1978-1980, 107.50
27. Kerry Melville-Reid, Australia, 1970-1977, 103.00
28. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 2004-2007, 101.50

29. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 97.00
30. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 94.50
31. Christine O'Neill, Australia, 1978, 85.00
32. Wendy Turnbill, United States, 1977-1980, 80.00

Monday, September 03, 2007

10 greatest fighters from .....

I saw a thread on CBS Sportsline talking about the greatest Mexican fighters ever. Here are the top 10s of various countries based on my rankings -- which I tweaked again to give a little more weight to WBO champions as well as the rare unified champions of the past 24 years.

So here are the top 10 Mexican fighters:

1. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, 56.049
2. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, 55.587
3. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, 54.110
4. Carlos Zarate, 1970-88, 52.574
5. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, 50.623
6. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, 49.145
7. Erik Morales, 1993-07, 48.883
8. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, 47.984
9. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, 46.902
10. Miguel Canto, 1969-82, 45.789

Here are the five best Puerto Ricans:

1. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, 62.665
2. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, 58.805
3. Felix Trinidad, 1990-05, 54.623
4. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, 48.258
5. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-07, 47.938

The five best from the United Kingdom:

1. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, 50.661
2. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-07, 49.601
3. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, 49.407
4. Ricky Hatton, 1997-07, 47.348
5. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, 47.195