It was a tough year for some of boxing's icons of the 1990s while another may have seen his finest hour.
We hopefully have seen the last of Roy Jones Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. Jones won just one round against Joe Calzaghe and De La Hoya didn't win any against Manny Pacquiao.
Evander Holyfield took yet another shot at a fifth world title and probably defeated Nikolai Valuev but didn't get the decision. He fared well enough though that he'll most likely keep fighting out of stubborness and a need for the money.
Bernard Hopkins on the other hand showed he remains a threat. He narrowly lost to Calzaghe early in the year and then schooled Kelly Pavlik late.
There was a lot of shuffling in my rankings of the top 100 fighters, including Pacquiao finally climbing into the top 100.
It's taken Manny a while to get on the list because a lot of his title fights were for "international" belts. He's now beaten four fighters likely to make the International Boxing Hall of Fame so Manny someday will be a top 40 fighter. For now, he's well down on the list, but if he fights and beats Hatton next year and can somehow lure Floyd Mayweather into the ring and hand him his first defeat, well Manny could be a top 20 champion.
Here's my updated list:
Rank, boxer, years, country, points, change from '07 if any
1. Muhammad Ali, 1960-81, U.S., 83.918
2. Joe Louis, 1934-51, U.S., 83.381
3. Henry Armstrong, 1931-45, U.S., 79.003
4. Sugar Ray Robinson, 1940-65, U.S., 74.937
5. Rocky Marciano, 1947-55, U.S., 62.826
6. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, Puerto Rico, 61.101
7. Carlos Monzon, 1963-77, Argentina, 60.739
8. Joe Gans, 1891-09, U.S., 59.866
9. Archie Moore, 1936-63, U.S., 59.182 (+2)
10. Larry Holmes, 1973-02, U.S., 59.142
11. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, Nicaragua, 58.754 (-2)
12. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, U.S., 58.499 (+3)
13. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, U.S., 58.417 (-1)
14. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, Puerto Rico, 58.407 (+2)
15. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, U.S., 58.095 (+2)
16. Roy Jones Jr., 1989-08, U.S., 57.818 (+1)
17. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, U.S., 57.740 (-5)
18. Barney Ross, 1929-38, U.S., 57.273
19. Willie Pep, 1940-66, U.S., 56.750 (+1)
20. Michael Spinks, 1977-88, U.S., 56.058 (+1)
21. Tommy Ryan, 1887-07, U.S., 55.302 (+14)
(Ryan was the beneficiary of Mysterious Billy Smith's induction into the Hall of Fame. Ryan went 3-0 against Smith with three draws. All those fights gained points for Ryan)
22. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, Cuba, 55.084 (-1)
23. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, Mexico, 54.701
24. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, Mexico, 54.458 (-2)
25. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, Brazil, 54.130
26. Bernard Hopkins, 1988-08, U.S., 53.982 (-2)
27. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, Mexico, 53.310
28. Roberto Duran, 1968-01, Panama, 53.273
29. Oscar De La Hoya, 1992-08, U.S., 52.790 (+23)
(De La Hoya's leap simply is because he was misscored last year. I had not given him the correct point totals for his wins over Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell Whitaker)
30. Felix Trinidad, 1990-08, Puerto Rico, 52.788 (-4)
31. Thomas Hearns, 1977-06, U.S., 52.397 (-2)
32. Antonio Cervantes, 1964-83, Colombia, 52.356 (+3)
33. Abe Attell, 1900-17, U.S., 52.353 (-3)
34. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-08, United Kingdom, 52.208 (+28)
(Calzaghe's wins over Hopkins and Jones Jr. gave him the biggest boost of anyone, even if he fought both well past their primes. The question now is will he really stay retired?)
35. Sandy Saddler, 1944-56, U.S., 51.845 (-3)
36. Sugar Ray Leonard, 1977-97, U.S., 51.664 (-3)
37. Azumah Nelson, 1979-98, Ghana, 51.619 (+1)
38. Khaosai Galaxy, 1980-91, Thailand, 51.594 (-7)
39. Floyd Mayweather Jr., 1996-07, U.S., 51.336 (+4)
40. Mike Tyson, 1985-05, U.S., 51.276 (-1)
41. Eusebio Pedroza, 1973-92, Panama, 51.174 (+5)
42. Yoko Gushiken, 1974-81, Japan, 51.083 (+3)
43. George Foreman, 1969-97, U.S., 51.079 (-9)
44. Terry McGovern, 1897-08, U.S., 51.046
45. Gene Tunney, 1915-28, U.S., 51.018 (-4)
46. Flash Elorde, 1951-71, Phillippines, 51.013 (+3)
47. Evander Holyfield, 1984-08, U.S., 50.904
48. James Jeffries, 1896-10, U.S., 50.875 (-8)
49. Carlos Zarate, 1970-88, Mexico, 50.760 (-12)
50. Jimmy McLarnin, 1923-36, U.S., 50.695
51. Joe Frazier, 1965-81, U.S., 50.669 (-9)
52. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.202 (+8)
53. Jack Johnson, 1897-28, U.S., 50.188 (-5)
54. Pascual Perez, 1952-64, Argentina, 49.632 (-1)
55. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.558 (+8)
56. Harry Greb, 1913-26, U.S., 49.489 (+5)
57. Floyd Patterson, 1952-72, U.S., 49.437 (-1)
58. Bob Foster, 1961-78, U.S., 49.435 (-3)
59. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, United Kingdom, 49.427 (-5)
60. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.282 (+4)
61. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 49.188 (-10)
62. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 49.180 (-5)
63. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 49.095 (-5)
64. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 48.970 (-5)
65. Dariusz Michalczewski, 1991-05, Poland, 48.147 (+2)
66. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 48.120 (-1)
67. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, Italy, 48.082 (+5)
68. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 47.940 (+1)
69. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 47.931 (+2)
70. Jackie "Kid" Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 47.913 (+3)
71. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 47.772 (-1)
72. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 47.695 (+6)
73. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 47.555 (-7)
74. Pernell Whitaker, 1984-01, U.S., 47.467 (+1)
75. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 47.396 (+1)
76. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-08, U.S., 47.307 (+1)
77. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.282 (-3)
78. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.103 (+2)
79. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.096 (+3)
80. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 46.852 (+9)
81. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 46.750 (+2)
82. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.653 (+8)
83. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 46.623 (-2)
84. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 46.469
85. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-08, Cuba, 46.440 (-6)
86. Jorge Arce, 1996-08, Mexico, 46.420 (+1)
87. Arthur Abraham, 2003-08, Germany, 46.398 (+9)
88. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 46.370
89. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.315 (+6)
90. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-08, Puerto Rico, 46.172 (-22)
(Cotto's loss to Antonio Margarito sent him tumbling down the rankings because fighters are very closely bunched at this level)
91. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 46.162
92. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-08, Thailand, 46.162
93. Ratanapol Sor Vorapin, 1990-08, Thailand, 45.970
94. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 45.941
95. Fabrice Tiozzo, 1988-06, France, 45.823
96. Manny Pacquiao, 1995-08, Phillippines, 45.702
97. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 45.668
98. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 45.531
99. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 45.531
100. Johnny Kilbane, 1907-23, U.S., 45.464
