Sunday, November 11, 2007

Cotto, Mosley flip-flop positions in boxing's greatest list

Miguel Angel Cotto, the 27-year-old Puerto Rican, moved up 11 spots on my all-time greatest boxer rankings with a unanimous decision over the fading Sugar Shane Mosley.

Mosley is Cotto's second big name victim this year, following his win this summer over Zab Judah. Mosley, though, thanks to his past wins over Fernando Vargas and Oscar De La Hoya, is Cotto's first win over a fighter ranked in my 125.

The fight was close with the AP scoring it 114-114. So it'll be interesting to see who Cotto fights next. Mosley, who dropped from No. 67 to No. 75 on my list, hinted at retirement.

Here is the updated rankings for No. 60 through No. 79.

60. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, United Kingdom, 50.511
61. Harry Greb, 1913-26, U.S., 50.445
62. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-07, United Kingdom, 50.066
63. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.526
64. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 49.407
65. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.393
66. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 49.162
67. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-07, Puerto Rico, 49.019
68. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 48.874
69. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 48.866
70. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 48.733
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, 48.241
75. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 48.211
76. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 48.159
77. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-07, Cuba, 48.011
78. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 47.989
79. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.827

We're less than a month from the next big fight that will scramble the rankings. On Dec. 8, Floyd Mayweather (No. 46) takes on Ricky Hatton (No. 84) in Las Vegas. Although Mayweather is undefeated, he needs wins over a few more greats if he wants to get in the territory of Felix Trinidad (No. 26), Jose Napoles (No. 24) or Barney Ross (No. 18) not to mention Henry Armstrong (No. 3) or Sugar Ray Robinson (No. 4).

After Hatton-Armstrong, which is the last big fight of 2007, I'll republish the entire 100.

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