Could Johnson challenge the King?

It was a tough year for Cale Yarborough. Not only did Jimmie Johnson tie his mark of three straight NASCAR top series titles, in my system Jeff Gordon's seventh place finish in this year's series gave him enough career points to pass Yarborough for fourth place all-time.

Gordon easily is close enough to Darrell Waltrip to pass him for third with a couple more top-shelf seasons and considering he races for Hendrick, he should have some wins left in him.

But Gordon is no longer the week-to-week force and looks unlikely to challenge Dale Earnhardt for second.

Now, you have to wonder how long Johnson can dominate and how high can he climb. It's not just the titles, Johnson has finished in the top five for seven straight years. He moved up three places at the end of this year to No. 8. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards appear to be the biggest threats to making it four in a row, but right now who is going to bet against him? Perhaps it's Johnson who can advance to No. 2 and make a run at Richard Petty. He'll need another 10 years at the top level to have a chance.

Farther down in the rankings, Jeff Burton moved up two spots to No. 26. Kevin Harvick climbed five spots to move into the ultimate race at No. 40. But even Harvick was passed by this year's rocket rise of Carl Edwards. Edwards enters the race at No. 38, a jump of 12 spots.

Harvick and Edwards knocked this year's Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman and Ernie Irvan out of the top 43.

Pole pos., Racer, Total
1. Richard Petty, 119.68
2. Dale Earnhardt, 91.83
3. Darell Waltrip, 84.33
4. Jeff Gordon, 83.62
5. Cale Yarborough, 83.52
6. David Pearson, 76.66
7. Bobby Allison, 72.36
8. Jimmie Johnson, 70.10
9. Lee Petty, 67.11
10. Bill Elliott, 66.64
11. Herb Thomas, 65.13
12. Dale Jarrett, 60.94
13. Buck Baker, 58.67
14. Ned Jarrett, 57.72
15. Tim Flock, 57.47
16. Tony Stewart, 52.83
17. Terry Labonte, 50.50
18. Mark Martin, 49.90
19. Benny Parsons, 49.75
20. Joe Weatherly, 42.90
21. Bobby Labonte, 41.53
22. Bobby Isaac, 39.26
23. Rex White, 38.27
24. Fireball Roberts, 38.00
25. Matt Kenseth, 37.64
26. Jeff Burton, 37.21
27. Harry Gant, 36.29
28. Fonty Flock, 36.23
29. James Hylton, 35.22
30. Kurt Busch, 35.21
31. Ricky Rudd, 33.77
32. Curtis Turner, 33.56
33. Junior Johnson, 33.16
34. Sterling Marlin, 31.51
35. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 30.89
36. Davey Allison, 30.29
37. Speedy Thompson, 28.54
38. Carl Edwards, 26.42
39. Dave Marcis, 26.25
40. Kevin Harvick, 25.99
41. Jim Paschal, 25.79
42. Ken Schrader, 24.63
43. Buddy Baker, 23.88

The curtain falls

Finally on Roy Jones Jr. I paid $49.99 for the Jones-Calzaghe fight and was shocked at how badly Calzaghe beat up on Jones.

I was hoping to see the Roy Jones Jr. who won every round against James Toney. Instead, I saw a fighter who couldn't throw combinations or put up much defense when crowded or use his legs to stay out of a corner.

But one thing should be noted. Jones was only three years older than Calzaghe. You really have to wonder if Calzaghe would have beaten Jones in the late 90s, early 2000s. His smothering style really bothered Jones. There were lots of big Jones punches that whistled by and maybe that would have been the difference. A younger Jones may have done a lot more damage.

Still, I felt like I was watching Muhammad Ali versus Larry Holmes or Mike Tyson against any number of guys at the end of his career.

The fight was big in my system to determine the all-time top 100 fighters. Jones slipped a few notches and Calzaghe climbed 20 spots. If Calzaghe indeed retires, he may climb into the top 25 some day.

My new No. 11 to No. 40:
Rank, fighter, years, country, points
11. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, Nicaragua, 58.770
12. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, U.S., 58.499
13. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, Puerto Rico, 58.440
14. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, U.S., 58.417
15. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, U.S., 58.112
16. Roy Jones Jr., 1989-08, U.S., 57.901
17. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, U.S., 57.740
18. Barney Ross, 1929-38, U.S., 57.306
19. Willie Pep, 1940-66, U.S., 56.766
20. Michael Spinks, 1977-88, U.S., 56.058
21. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, Cuba, 55.100
22. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, Mexico, 54.851
23. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, Mexico, 54.474
24. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, Brazil, 54.147
25. Bernard Hopkins, 1988-08, U.S., 53.532
26. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, Mexico, 53.310
27. Roberto Duran, 1968-01, Panama, 53.273
28. Thomas Hearns, 1977-06, U.S., 52.430
29. Felix Trinidad, 1990-08, Puerto Rico, 52.372
30. Antonio Cervantes, 1964-83, Colombia, 52.356
31. Abe Attell, 1900-17, U.S., 52.353
32. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-08, United Kingdom, 52.058
33. Sandy Saddler, 1944-56, U.S., 51.878
34. Sugar Ray Leonard, 1977-97, U.S., 51.697
35. Azumah Nelson, 1979-98, Ghana, 51.619
36. Khaosai Galaxy, 1980-91, Thailand, 51.594
37. Tommy Ryan, 1887-07, U.S., 51.296
38. Eusebio Pedroza, 1973-92, Panama, 51.191
39. Evander Holyfield, 1984-07, U.S., 51.133
40. George Foreman, 1969-97, U.S., 51.096

Jones vs. Calzaghe, pre fight measurements

Of the two fighters entering the ring tonight, a win is much more crucial to Joe Calzaghe's place in history. Jones has titles from middleweight to heavyweight and wins over fighters like Virgil Hill, Mike McCallum, Bernard Hopkins and James Toney.

Calzaghe has the perfect record, but the only real names on his resume are Jeff Lacy, Mikkel Kessler and Hopkins. Lacy is no Hall of Famer, Kessler has a ways to go and many people believe Hopkins beat Calzaghe.

Going into tonight, I have Roy Jones Jr. ranked 12th all time and Calzaghe at No. 50.

How did they get to those positions? I'll break it down.

Joe Calzaghe:

* He has no title fight wins over Hall of Famers -- 0 points

*He has no wins over Hall of Famers in lesser or non-title fights -- 0 points
(This will change when Hopkins is inducted)

* He has one win as a unified champion (in this era I consider 3 of 4 of the major titles to be unified), that was against Kessler -- 65 points

* He has two other wins in WBA, WBC or IBF title fights and none by knockout -- 70 points.

* He has a 19-0 record with 11 KOs in WBO title fights. I grade WBO wins lower than WBA, WBC and IBF -- 543.75 points.

* He has a 2-0, 2 KO record in stepping stone title fights. 37.5 points.

* Since my system ranks fighters on their best 60 fight record. His non-title fight record was adjusted to 36-0 with 31.1 knockouts -- 437.7 points.

* I do another career ranking and Calzaghe's undefeated record helps here -- 1,766.7 points.

That's a total of 2920.6 points.

Where Calzaghe is hurt and where a win tonight would really help is his top 125 bonus points. He's two fighters in the all-time top 125 -- Bernard Hopkins and Kessler. Those are worth 107 bonus points (94 for Hopkins and 13 for Kessler).

So Calzaghe's final total is 3027.6, which I divide by 60 and get 50.46.

Roy Jones Jr.

* He is 1-0 with a KO in Hall of Fame title fights (Mike McCallum) -- 100 points.
(This will grow as Hill, Toney and Hopkins are inducted)

* Jones is 8-0 with 5 KOs in unified title fights -- 601.25 points.

* Jones is 14-4 with 8 KOs and 2 KO losses in 18 WBA, WBC or IBF title fights -- 517.5 points
(This is where the Tarver and Johnson knockouts hurt, points are deducted for KO losses)

* Jones has no WBO title fights and is 3-0 with a KO in stepping stone title fights -- 48.75 points.

* That's 30 title fights. So his non-title fight record is adjusted to 30-0 with 27.7 KOs -- 369.2 points.

* His career record of 52-4 with the 38 KOs and 2 KO losses -- 1626.6 points.

That's a total of 3265.3 points. Well ahead of Calzaghe. Once you add in top 125 bonus points the gap grows even more.

Jones has beaten Virgil Hill (18 points), Mike McCallum (10 points), James Toney (41 points), Felix Trinidad (88 points) and Bernard Hopkins (94 points). That's 251 points.

That gives him a total of 3516.3. Divide that by 60 and you have 58.6 points.

A win tonight would tack on about 60 more bonus points for Jones (after factoring in Calzaghe's loss) and that would lift Jones to No. 9 all time ahead of Archie Moore.

If Calzaghe wins, Jones would be worth about 110 points and that would lift him up to around No. 31 Abe Attell and No. 32 Sandy Saddler.

On the outside looking in

Vic Darchinyan's dominant win over Cristian Mijares Saturday night was surprising for how easy it looked. I had the Armenian pitching a shutout and Mijares never really looked effective.

What made the win so surprising was that Darchinyan was beaten so badly by Nonito Donaire last year. Donaire showed Darchinyan could be had by a slick boxer.

That desriptino seemed to fit Mijares, but he had the wrong fight plan from the start.

Darchinyan's win gives him three of the four major super flyweight/junior bantamweight titles and makes him a factor again in my all-time top 100 fighters. He sits just outside the top 100.

Here is the updated No. 90 to No. 110:

90. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-08, Thailand, 46.162
91. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-08, Puerto Rico, 46.156
92. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 45.975
93. Ratanapol Sor Vorapin, 1990-08, Thailand, 45.970
94. Fabrice Tiozzo, 1988-06, France, 45.873
95. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 45.701
96. Arthur Abraham, 2003-08, Germany, 45.627
97. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 45.531
98. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 45.531
99. Johnny Kilbane, 1907-23, U.S., 45.464
100. Miguel Canto, 1969-82, Mexico, 45.406
101. Vic Darchinyan, 2000-08, Armenia, 45.245
102. Kid Gavilan, 1943-58, Cuba, 45.226
103. Edwin Valero, 2003-08, Venezuela, 45.208
104. Orlando Canizales, 1984-99, U.S., 45.167
105. Sung Kil Moon, 1987-93, South Korea, 45.146
106. Ricky Hatton, 1997-08, United Kingdom, 45.140
107. Yuri Arbachakov, 1990-97, Russia, 45.016
108. Orzubek Nazarov, 1990-98, Kyrgyzstan, 45.014
109. Les Darcy, 1910-16, Australia, 44.987
110. Jimmy Wilde, 1910-23, United Kingdom, 44.777