Sunday, April 13, 2008

Cotto, Dawson wins should mean bigger fights


Miguel Angel Cotto, as expected, outclassed Alfonso Gomez in a WBA welterweight title match and moved up three spots on my list of the 100 greatest boxers ever.

Light heavyweight Chad Dawson also easily outpointed former champ Glenn Johnson.

Cotto, who already has beaten fighters such as Sugar Shane Mosley and Zab Judah, now will get a shot at Antonio Margarito, who knocked out Kermit Cintron.

Should Cotto win that fight, it will increase the public clamor for fellow welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather (No. 43 on my list) to take him on. The undefeated Mayweather's lone legitimate criticism is that he hasn't really taken on a top fighter in his prime.

Dawson can't even get a Margarito-level fight as the top light heavys continue to duck him. Antonio Tarver, who knocked off Clinton Woods Saturday on the same card, has shown no interest in taking on Dawson.

At 39, Tarver seems to be more interested in talking about how great he is than proving it against the 25-year-old Dawson. Dawson is going to have trouble in general proving his ability. Five of the six top light heavyweights in the world are age 35 or above. Fighters like Tarver, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr. are taking on hand-picked opponents to build their legacies.

Dawson is No. 143 on my list.

Here is the updated No. 60 through No. 69 standings:

60. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.429
61. Harry Greb, 1913-26, U.S., 50.428
62. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-07, United Kingdom, 50.066
63. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.893
64. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.476
65. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-08, Puerto Rico, 49.470
66. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 49.407
67. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 49.112
68. Dariusz Michalczewski, 1991-05, Poland, 49.014
69. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 48.883

Next week Calzaghe gets his chance to significantly move up the list when he takes on Bernard Hopkins (No. 25). Should Hopkins win, he could move into the top 20.

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