All-time top 100 boxers, end of 2007

The newest members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame were announced this week and since my ranking depends on who is in the Hall, the new inductees -- especially Larry Holmes -- shake up the rankings a bit.

That plus the fact the next major fight is not until Jan. 19 when Felix Trinidad and Roy Jones Jr. try to recapture their youth against other and I've decided to publish my all-time 100 top boxers in history a couple of weeks early.

That allows me to concentrate on finishing my next project. The greatest pro football players of all time. The offensive players should be ready by Jan. 1 but defense is going to take me well into the spring.

Back to boxing. Below is the updated list with an additional category -- how much a fighter rose or dropped in the ranking. I made two significant revisions to the list this year -- adding a bonus category for defeating all-time greats and a unified champion category for fighters after 1983 with more points -- so there was a lot of shuffling. Way more than what will happen in the coming years.

The top 10 were unchanged:

1. Muhammad Ali, 1960-81, U.S., 84.955, +0
2. Joe Louis, 1934-51, U.S., 84.312, +0
3. Henry Armstrong, 1931-45, U.S., 79.434, +0
4. Sugar Ray Robinson, 1940-65, U.S., 75.299, +0
5. Rocky Marciano, 1947-55, U.S., 62.776, +0
6. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, Puerto Rico, 62.665, +0
7. Carlos Monzon, 1963-77, Argentina, 61.514, +0
8. Joe Gans, 1891-09, U.S., 60.829, +0
9. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, Nicaragua, 60.008, +0
10. Larry Holmes, 1973-02, U.S., 60.004, +0

There were some real climbers at 11 through 19.

11. Archie Moore, 1936-63, U.S., 59.812, +4
12. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, U.S., 59.526, +0
13. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, U.S., 59.440, +5
14. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, U.S., 59.078, -3
15. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, U.S., 59.017, -2
16. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, Puerto Rico, 58.838, -2
17. Roy Jones Jr., 1989-07, U.S., 58.473, +8
18. Barney Ross, 1929-38, U.S., 57.821, -2
19. Michael Spinks, 1977-88, U.S., 57.381, +11

Hagler and Jones benefitted from the unified champion category as did Spinks. Spinks also gained a lot of points with Holmes' induction into the Hall of Fame courtesy of his two controversial decisions that ended Larry's unbeaten streak.

20. Willie Pep, 1940-66, U.S., 57.220, -3
21. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, Cuba, 56.234, +1
22. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, Mexico, 56.016, -3
23. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, Mexico, 55.570, -3
24. Bernard Hopkins, 1988-07, U.S., 55.444, +21
25. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, Brazil, 55.341, -4
26. Felix Trinidad, 1990-05, Puerto Rico, 54.589, +0
27. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, Mexico, 54.110, -3
28. Roberto Duran, 1968-01, Panama, 54.076, -5
29. Thomas Hearns, 1977-06, U.S., 53.432, -2

30. Abe Attell, 1900-17, U.S., 53.115, +1
31. Khaosai Galaxy, 1980-91, Thailand, 53.056, +3
32. Sandy Saddler, 1944-56, U.S., 53.025, +1
33. Sugar Ray Leonard, 1977-97, U.S., 52.986, +2
34. George Foreman, 1969-97, U.S., 52.962, -6
35. Antonio Cervantes, 1964-83, Colombia, 52.905, +3
36. Tommy Ryan, 1887-07, U.S., 52.803, +0
37. Carlos Zarate, 1970-88, Mexico, 52.574, +1
38. Azumah Nelson, 1979-98, Ghana, 52.548, +2
39. Mike Tyson, 1985-05, U.S., 52.547, +27

Tyson had a remarkable year without actually winning a fight. Adding the unified title fight category really added a lot of points. He also gained points on the Holmes Hall of Fame induction and even picked up some bonus points because of the rapid rise of Michael Spinks, whom Tyson destroyed in about 1 minute.



40. James Jeffries, 1896-10, U.S., 52.475, +1
41. Gene Tunney, 1915-28, U.S., 52.352, -2
42. Joe Frazier, 1965-81, U.S., 52.302, -13
43. Floyd Mayweather Jr., 1996-07, U.S., 52.236, +5
44. Terry McGovern, 1897-08, U.S., 52.224, -2
45. Yoko Gushiken, 1974-81, Japan, 52.167, -2
46. Eusebio Pedroza, 1973-92, Panama, 52.145, -2
47. Evander Holyfield, 1984-07, U.S., 52.053, +20
48. Jack Johnson, 1897-28, U.S., 51.430, -11
49. Flash Elorde, 1951-71, Phillippines, 51.315, -2

50. Jimmy McLarnin, 1923-36, U.S., 51.251, -4
51. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 51.021, +4
52. Oscar De La Hoya, 1992-07, U.S., 50.954, +6
53. Pascual Perez, 1952-64, Argentina, 50.932, -4
54. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, United Kingdom, 50.711, +16
55. Bob Foster, 1961-78, U.S., 50.704, -5
56. Floyd Patterson, 1952-72, U.S., 50.664, -3
57. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 50.623, -5
58. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 50.605, +5
59. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 50.579, -8


Lennox Lewis is going to climb quite a bit in the coming years. He has wins over both Holyfield and Tyson, sure Hall of Famers, and even may gain from Vitali Klitschko, if he somehow sneaks in. Eventually, he'll end up higher than Tyson and Holyfield.



60. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.429, -6
61. Harry Greb, 1913-26, U.S., 50.428, -5
62. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-07, United Kingdom, 50.083, +14
63. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.893, -3
64. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.476, -5
65. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 49.407, +7
66. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 49.112, -9
67. Dariusz Michalczewski, 1991-05, Poland, 49.014, NR
68. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-07, Puerto Rico, 48.936, +16
69. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 48.890, -8

I simply hadn't rated Michalczewski before. He's a sure Hall of Famer. Cotto flew up the charts with the win over Mosley. I'm hoping a Cotto/Mayweather fight comes in 2008. Calzaghe jumped with the win over Kessler, but he also needs some more big name wins.

70. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 48.883, -6
71. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 48.733, -5
72. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, Italy, 48.617, -7
73. Jackie Kid Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 48.427, -5
74. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 48.376, +6
75. Pernell Whitaker, 1984-01, U.S., 48.308, NR
76. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 48.191, -7
77. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 48.178, -15
78. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 48.142, -8
79. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-07, Cuba, 48.011, -6

Mosley took a tumble because of the Cotto loss. Whitaker's initial ranking was why I added the unified title fight category. He ranked No. 102 because of his low rate of knockouts. But he dominated his weight class for five years and deserved more points.

80. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.995, -6
81. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 47.989, -7
82. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.827, -7
83. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 47.797, -4
84. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 47.350, +3
85. Fabrice Tiozzo, 1988-06, France, 47.326, NR
86. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 47.300, -5
87. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, Mexico, 47.260, +5
88. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 47.195, -5
89. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 47.071, -4

Tiozzo is another fighter I didn't rank until just recently.

90. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.932, -4
91. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-07, Thailand, 46.803, -3
92. William Joppy, 1993-07, U.S., 46.681, -2
93. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 46.653, -4
94. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 46.542, -3
95. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.465, -1
96. Arthur Abraham, 2003-07, Germany, 46.436, NR
97. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 46.395, -2
98. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 46.395, -3
99. Orlando Canizales, 1984-99, U.S., 46.371, -2

100. Jimmy Wilde, 1910-23, United Kingdom, 46.333, -2

Ottke retired as an undefeated champ but didn't fight anyone of note. Abraham hopefully will start fighting some better competition -- Kelly Pavlik? William Joppy seems high but he held various titles for nine years.

Mayweather more than a mouth

It's getting harder to dismiss Floyd Mayweather's claims that he's an all-time great. His 10 round TKO over previously undefeated Ricky Hatton proves much more than his decision over the now part-time fighter Oscar De La Hoya.


Now, I'm not agreeing with Mayweather's assertions that he ranks up there with Sugar Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong, but he is climbing my list of the top 100 fighters in modern history.

Mayweather climbed four spots to No. 42 on the all-time list and undoubtedly will go higher. Both of the fighters he beat this year likely will be Hall of Famers after their careers, which means his wins will become worth more in my scoring system, and eventually will move him into the top 35.

What will be interesting now is to see who is next. Miguel Angel Cotto (No. 68) has expressed interest.

As for Hatton, he tumbled all the from No. 84 out of the top 100. But Hatton is only 29 and will have several more title fights.

With Hatton dropping out, a new fighter moved in. Germany's 27-year-old Arthur Abraham won a yawner in Switzerland to move to 25-0 and into No. 96.

Here's the new No. 40-49:

40. Gene Tunney, 1915-28, U.S., 52.402
41. Joe Frazier, 1965-81, U.S., 52.319
42. Floyd Mayweather Jr., 1996-07, U.S., 52.269
43. Terry McGovern, 1897-08, U.S., 52.224
44. Yoko Gushiken, 1974-81, Japan, 52.167
45. Eusebio Pedroza, 1973-92, Panama, 52.128
46. Mike Tyson, 1985-05, U.S., 51.734
47. Evander Holyfield, 1984-07, U.S., 51.337
48. Jack Johnson, 1897-28, U.S., 51.330
49. Flash Elorde, 1951-71, Phillippines, 51.315

And the new No. 80-100

80. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.827
81. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 47.647
82. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.645
83. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.400
84. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 47.366
85. Fabrice Tiozzo, 1988-06, France, 47.309
86. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 47.300
87. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, Mexico, 47.260
88. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 47.195
89. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 47.004
90. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.932
91. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-07, Thailand, 46.803
92. William Joppy, 1993-07, U.S., 46.681

93. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 46.669
94. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 46.542
95. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.465
96. Arthur Abraham, 2003-07, Germany, 46.436
97. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 46.378
98. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 46.378
99. Orlando Canizales, 1984-99, U.S., 46.371
100. Jimmy Wilde, 1910-23, United Kingdom, 46.333

A new entry and one moves up

There have been hundreds of boxing champions since the beginning of the 20th century. Although I hope to someday have put every single one into my rankings, so far I've gone through the careers of 298.

Every once in a while I come across a true great that I missed. I wasn't watching a lot of boxing from 1995 through 2005 so there were some guys in that era that I'm unaware of.

I was updating Virgil Hill's score after his loss a couple of weeks ago and I found Dariusz "The Tiger" Michalczewski. The Polish light heavy and cruiserweight was 25-2 in world title fights. These were mainly WBO battles where he was 24-1 with 20 knockouts. He held the WBO light heavyweight title from 1994 to 2003.

Hill was his biggest victory. In 1997 Michalczewski won a unanimous decision to win the WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles. Michalczewski never defended the WBA and IBF titles, though because of the silly rules by sanctioning bodies that continue to screw up the sport.

According to Wikipedia, "the WBA stripped him for displaying its belt along with that of the WBO, an organization it didn't recognize. The IBF did so a few weeks later, when Michalczewski refused to defend his title against mandatory challenger William Guthrie within 30 days."

In any case, once I ran Michalczewski's career through my system, he came in a solid 67th. Just after Chiquita Gonzalez and just before Miguel Angel Cotto.

Jorge Arce also picked up a win over the weekend. It was a non-title bout but enough to maintain his 88th ranking since everyone below Michalczewski dropped a spot.

Here is the updated all-time ranking from No. 60 through No. 100. I'll publish the whole list on Jan. 1.

Rank, fighter, years, country, points
60. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.462
61. Harry Greb, 1913-26, U.S., 50.428
62. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-07, United Kingdom, 50.066
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. Dariusz Michalczewski, 1991-05, Poland, 49.014
68. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-07, Puerto Rico, 48.953
69. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 48.949

70. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 48.874
71. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 48.733
72. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, Italy, 48.634
73. Jackie Kid Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 48.427
74. Pernell Whitaker, 1984-01, U.S., 48.342
75. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 48.225
76. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 48.194
77. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 48.142
78. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-07, Cuba, 48.011
79. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 47.989

80. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.827
81. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 47.664
82. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.645
83. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.400
84. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 47.366
85. Ricky Hatton, 1997-07, United Kingdom, 47.348
86. Fabrice Tiozzo, 1988-06, France, 47.309
87. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 47.300
88. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, Mexico, 47.260
89. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 47.195

90. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 47.021
91. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.932
92. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-07, Thailand, 46.803
93. William Joppy, 1993-07, U.S., 46.681
94. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 46.669
95. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 46.542
96. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.465
97. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 46.378
98. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 46.378
99. Orlando Canizales, 1984-99, U.S., 46.371

100. Jimmy Wilde, 1910-23, United Kingdom, 46.333

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.

Why isn't Calzaghe higher?

With a perfect 44-0 record and 21 title defenses, you'd assume England's Joe Calzaghe would be higher than No. 62 on a list of the 100 greatest fighters pound-for-pound in history. Even his win over Mikkel Kessler didn't push him any higher.

A couple of things are working against Calzaghe.

First, of his 21 defenses, 18 are WBO defenses only and the WBO is given slightly less weight in my ranking than the WBA, WBC and IBF.

Second, he doesn't have any unified title fights. He's worked around it. He's had the WBO crown since October of 1997. He held the IBF title for two fights in 2006 and now he has the WBA and WBC crowns from Kessler. Still, in my system, you need the IBF, WBA and WBC titles to be considered unified. I may have to revisit that at some point because of the alphabet soup of championships today.

Third, Calzaghe only has one win over a fighter in the top 125 bonus point system and that was Kessler, which earns him 14 extra points. If Kessler rebounds and wins more titles, he would move up and Calzaghe's bonus points would increase. If Kessler heads south and loses more fights, then Calzaghe would lose all bonus points.

To really move up the list, Calzaghe needs some mega fights. So far Chris Eubank, Jeff Lacy and Kessler are his big wins, and I'm not sure any of those fighters will make it into the Hall of Fame, which would elevate those wins to 100 point contests.

Of course, Calzaghe at 35 may get a shot against a Bernard Hopkins or even Roy Jones Jr. Perhaps Kelly Pavlik will move up and take him on if he can beat Jermaine Taylor again. If Taylor wins, he's committed to fighting at 166 so that could be an option. The current IBF champion is Lucian Bute, which wouldn't excite anyone, but it would give Calzaghe a chance to have all four titles.

Here are the the No. 60-69 all-time greatest boxers:

60. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.512
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., 49.510
64. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 49.407
65. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.393
66. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 49.162
67. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 49.035
68. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 48.874
69. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 48.866

At least it isn't long to the next big fight. Saturday, Nov. 10, Sugar Shane Mosley (No. 67) takes on Miguel Angel Cotto (No. 78).

Holyfield slips up, slips back

I've been an Evander Holyfield fan for 15 years now and he even had me believing that this last comeback was real. In reality, though, he barely showed up against Sultan Ibragimov and everyone around him wants him to retire.

Each loss diminishes what he used to be. This setback dropped him two spots in my list of boxing's 100 greatest fighters. Iron Mike Tyson, a fighter he beat twice, and Floyd Mayweather passed him.

Here is the newest No. 45 through No. 60.


45. Mike Tyson, 1985-05, U.S., 51.734
46. Floyd Mayweather Jr., 1996-07, U.S., 51.464
47. Evander Holyfield, 1984-07, U.S., 51.403
48. Jack Johnson, 1897-28, U.S., 51.380
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., 50.971
52. Pascual Perez, 1952-64, Argentina, 50.932
53. Bob Foster, 1961-78, U.S., 50.704
54. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 50.623
55. Floyd Patterson, 1952-72, U.S., 50.614
56. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 50.605
57. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 50.595
58. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, United Kingdom, 50.527
59. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 50.521
60. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.512

Sultan Ibragimov is well out of the top 100 at No. 143 -- which is incomplete, I haven't ranked every single champion ever -- and he'll need to collect some more titles before he even challenges Wladimer Klitschko, No. 120.

Another fighter to watch is Juan Diaz, the lightweight champion. Juan now holds the WBA, WBO and IBF lightweight titles after beating Julio Diaz for the WBO title the same night Holyfield lost to Ibragimov. Just David Diaz is in his way for the WBC title and a very rare -- in this day and age -- unified championship.

Despite this, Juan Diaz is still a rather pedestrian No. 130. He wants to fight Manny Pacquiao, No. 134, instead of David Diaz. If he fights and wins both, he'll threaten the top 100.

There are two fights coming up that will change the standings.

Nov. 3: Mikkel Kessler (No. 104) vs. Joe Calzaghe (No. 62)
Nov. 10: Shane Mosley (No. 67) vs. Miguel Angel Cotto (No. 78)

Barrera tumbles in all-time boxing standings

If Marco Antonio Barrera is true to his word and retires, he goes out as one of the best 100 pound-for-pound fighters in history.

His decision loss to Manny Pacquiao knocked him back five spots to No. 83 and he remains the eighth best Mexican native in my listing.

Because moving up and down in the rankings affects those who beat those fighters, Erik Morales also slipped a spot, falling behind Sam Langford at No. 69.

Here are the updated No. 65 to No. 85 fighters.

Rank, name, years, country, points, moved up or down
65. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.393
66. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 49.145
67. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 49.035
68. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 48.866
69. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 48.857, +1
70. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 48.733, -1
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. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-07, Puerto Rico, 47.938, +1
79. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.827, +1
80. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 47.797, +1
81. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.645, +1
82. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.400, +1
83. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 47.383, -5
84. Ricky Hatton, 1997-07, United Kingdom, 47.348
85. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 47.300

Manny Pacquiao moved up to No. 136. The win over Barrera was for a lesser "international" title and not worth that much, although it will gain status later when Barrera makes the Hall of Fame. Still, Pacquiao has to fight several more world title fights before he threatens the top 100.

Less than a week to go to see if Evander Holyfield can win another heavyweight title and improve upon his ranking of No. 45.

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.

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

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

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

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

The 61 greatest pro basketball players ever

If you have looked at the top players at each of the positions, you may have pieced together the top 61 players -- which is one player for every year there has been a top professional league. But I adjust the overall rankings by position. I take the top five scores of each position, average them out and then add points to positions that are lower than the leading average.

The top five centers easily outscore the top five shooting guards. Centers collect more rebounds and blocked shots and score more on inside baskets, all things that give them a natural advantage in my scoring system.

Since we are in a lull for great centers, the scoring gap is narrowing every year, especially at power forward.

Here are the top 61 players in pro hoops history starting from the bottom and the active players are in bold:

Rank, player, years, raw score, adjusted, total
61. Kevin Johnson, 1987-2000, 13653.7 + 525.9 = 14179.6

60. Gus Williams, 1975-1987, 13733.0 + 525.9 = 14258.9
59. Robert Parish, 1976-1997, 14340.4 + 0 = 14340.4
58. Dennis Johnson, 1976-1990, 13731.9 + 630.9 = 14362.8
57. Hal Greer, 1958-1973, 13769.2 + 630.9 = 14400.1
56. Bill Sharman, 1950-1961, 13802.7 + 630.9 = 14433.6
55. Mo Cheeks, 1978-1993, 13909.0 + 525.9 = 14434.9
54. Willis Reed, 1964-1974, 14458.4 + 0 = 14458.4
53. Tim Hardaway, 1989-2003, 13990.9 + 525.9 = 14516.8
52. Mel Daniels, 1967-1977, 14557.3 + 0 = 14557.3
51. Bob Lanier, 1970-1984, 14649 + 0 = 14649.0

50. Chris Webber, 1993-2007, 14324.4 + 386.2 = 14710.6
49. Dan Issel, 1970-1985, 14331.7 + 386.2 = 14717.9
48. Alex English, 1976-1991, 14486.0 + 507.1 = 14993.1
47. Dominique Wilkins, 1982-1999, 14542.8 + 507.1 = 15049.9
46. Steve Nash, 1996-2007, 14707.9 + 525.9 = 15233.8
45. Dave Cowens, 1970-1983, 15258.6 + 0 = 15258.6
44. Billy Cunningham, 1965-1976, 14869.1 + 507.1 = 15376.2
43. Paul Arizin, 1950-1962, 14906.3 + 507.1 = 15413.4
42. Connie Hawkins, 1967-1976, 14956.0 + 507.1 = 15463.1
41. Tracey McGrady, 1997-2007, 14877.8 + 630.9 = 15508.7

40. Bob McAdoo, 1972-1986, 15574 + 0 = 15574.0
39. Walt Frazier, 1967-1980, 15210.5 + 525.9 = 15736.4
38. Dirk Nowitzki, 1998-2007, 15511.3 + 386.2 = 15897.5
37. George McGinnis, 1971-1982, 15661.4 + 386.2 = 16047.6
36. Clyde Drexler, 1983-1998, 15594.0 + 630.9 = 16224.9
35. Isiah Thomas, 1981-1993, 15847.2 + 525.9 = 16373.1
34. Allen Iverson, 1996-2007, 15950.0 + 525.9 = 16475.9
33. Pat Ewing, 1985-2002, 16609.2 + 0 = 16609.2
32. John Havlicek, 1962-1978, 16248.4 + 507.1 = 16755.5
31. Jason Kidd, 1994-2007, 16302.3 + 525.9 = 16828.2

30. George Gervin, 1972-1986, 16304.3 + 630.9 = 16935.2
29. Scottie Pippen, 1987-2004, 16536.3 + 507.1 = 17043.4
28. Rick Barry, 1965-1980, 16677.6 + 507.1 = 17184.7
27. Kobe Bryant, 1996-2007, 16652.3 + 630.9 = 17283.2
26. Artis Gilmore, 1971-1988, 17375.7 + 0 = 17375.7
25. Gary Payton, 1990-2007, 16925.2 + 525.9 = 17451.1
24. Charles Barkley, 1984-2000, 17139.1 + 386.2 = 17525.3
23. John Stockton, 1984-2003, 17006.1 + 525.9 = 17532.0
22. Elvin Hayes, 1968-1984, 17347.0 + 386.2 = 17733.2
21. Elgin Baylor, 1958-1972, 17552.2 + 507.1 = 18059.3

20. Dolph Schayes, 1949-1964, 17694.8 + 386.2 = 18081.0
19. George Mikan, 1948-1956, 18123.1 + 0 = 18123.1
18. Moses Malone, 1974-1995, 18246.1 + 0 = 18246.1
17. David Robinson, 1989-2003, 18490.3 + 0 = 18490.3
16. Jerry West, 1960-1974, 17946.0 + 630.9 = 18576.9
15. Bob Pettit, 1954-1965, 18297.2 + 386.2 = 18683.4
14. Kevin Garnett, 1996-2007, 18560.1 + 386.2 = 18946.3
13. Shaquille O'Neal, 1992-2007, 18958.9 + 0 = 18958.9
12. Bob Cousy, 1950-1970, 18554.9 + 525.9 = 19080.8
11. Magic Johnson, 1979-1996, 18692.0 + 525.9 = 19217.9

10. Oscar Robertson, 1960-1974, 18753.0 + 525.9 = 19278.9
9. Bill Russell, 1956-1969, 19765.2 + 0 = 19765.2
8. Karl Malone, 1985-2004, 19407.7 + 386.2 = 19793.9
7. Tim Duncan, 1997-2007, 19462.6 + 386.2 = 19848.8
6. Larry Bird, 1979-1992, 19386.9 + 507.1 = 19894.0
5. Hakeem Olajuwon, 1984-2002, 19935.7 + 0 = 19935.7
4. Julius Erving, 1971-1987, 20247.8 + 507.1 = 20754.9
3. Michael Jordan, 1984-2003, 20809.7 + 630.9 = 21440.6
2. Wilt Chamberlain, 1959-1973, 21697.2 + 0 = 21697.2
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1969-1989, 22721.5 + 0 = 22721.5

Nash and McGradey made the leaps onto the list. Again, in McGrady's case, I just ommitted him last year. Duncan jumped past several people to hit third on the list and may get up to Dr. J's level.

Shaq is winding down and may not climb much further. He even could be passed by Kevin Garnett. For many, that would be a crime considering he's taken teams to four titles and Garnett has gotten the Timberwolves out of the first round once. But Shaq has played along side Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade. Kevin Garnett's best teammate was Stephan Marbury.

The other player in the top 61 who may make the top 10? Kobe Bryant -- love him or hate him.

The top 10 centers -- no change

After dominating the NBA landscape for four decades, the role of the center has dramatically declined since the heyday of Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Pat Ewing.

Only one of the centers on my list of 10 greatest is still active, Shaquille O'Neal, and he's on his way out.

Of course, the center position isn't totally dead. Yao Ming, if he can stay healthy, perhaps could work his way on to the list, and Dwight Howard is the next big thing for the pivot.

For now, here are the 10 best:

Player, years, points
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1969-1989, 22721.5
2. Wilt Chamberlain, 1959-1973, 21697.2
3. Hakeem Olajuwon, 1984-2002, 19935.7
4. Bill Russell, 1956-1969, 19765.2
5. Shaquille O'Neal, 1992-2007, 18958.9
6. David Robinson, 1989-2003, 18490.3
7. Moses Malone, 1974-1995, 18246.1
8. George Mikan, 1948-1956, 18123.1
9. Artis Gilmore, 1971-1988, 17375.7
10. Pat Ewing, 1985-2002, 16609.2

Wilt was a colossus but there is truth to the critics who say he didn't deliver in the playoffs. He rarely met his season averages in the postseason. Abdul-Jabbar on the other hand routinely exceeded his regular season stats in the playoffs. When you are as close as these two, that was enough to tip the equation in Kareem's favor.

There are still those that choose Russell as the greatest player ever. He is the greatest winner, but his teams were loaded and he was very limited offensively. The more rounded Olajuwon outscored him in a variety of ways.

Both Russell and Chamberlain were hurt by the fact the NBA didn't keep stats on blocks and steals in their careers. I had to use estimated numbers based on their first-time All-NBA finishes of the centers that came after them. If Russell was as good as people say, his block numbers most likely were off the charts and could have pushed him ahead of Hakeem. We'll never know for sure.

David Robinson and Moses Malone illustrate how your eyes can lie. I saw Moses in his prime when he took the Rockets and 76ers to the finals and absolutely dominated Abdul-Jabbar. I would never have picked Robinson ahead of Moses.

But Robinson played at his peak much longer than Moses, who had five top-shelf seasons and then dropped down a tier. Also, Moses didn't block shots or have many steals. Robinson filled up a boxscore in a lot more ways.

Top 10 power forwards -- a new No. 1

This is the golden age of the No. 4 position and the best to ever play the position is active right now. Here are the 10 best power forwards in pro basketball history.

1. Tim Duncan, 1997-2007, 19462.6
2. Karl Malone, 1985-2004, 19407.7
3. Kevin Garnett, 1996-2007, 18560.1
4. Bob Pettit, 1954-1965, 18297.2
5. Dolph Schayes, 1949-1964, 17694.8
6. Elvin Hayes, 1968-1984, 17347.0
7. Charles Barkley, 1984-2000, 17139.1
8. George McGinnis, 1971-1982, 15661.4
9. Dirk Nowitzki, 1998-2007, 15511.3
10. Dan Issel, 1970-1985, 14331.7

Not only are three of the top 10 playing right now but three more are among the top 17 (Chris Webber, Shawn Marion and Elton Brand). There was a shuffling at the top and the bottom of the top 10.

Duncan, fresh off his fourth world title, passed Malone, the ultimate workhorse. In terms of filling a boxscore, Duncan doesn't do that as well as No. 3 Kevin Garnett, but he's helped tremendously by his play in the playoffs, where he consistently performs above his season averages, and the Spurs' team success.

I write this even though I'm one who puts a mental asterisk by title No. 4. I didn't agree with the suspensions that essentially handed the Spurs the series this year against the Suns and now the whole Tim Donaghy mess brings game four into doubt.

That being said, Duncan is THE player of the late 90s-2000s. Even Shaq fans are having trouble arguing against that.

At the bottom end, Chris Webber played so poorly this year, he actually lost career points and fell behind Dan Issel. It's clear to everyone but Webber that it's time to retire.

Marion at No. 14 seems to be the next best bet to get on this list. He's really a small forward but he's a 4 in the Suns system and that's where he's had his best years.

Top 10 small forwards unchanged

The last decade has been the decade of the power forward and point guard. The only great small forward to come along since Larry Bird retired has been Grant Hill and his ankle injury has kept him out of the top 10.

Here are the 10 greatest small forwards:

1. Julius Erving, 1971-1987, 20247.8
2. Larry Bird, 1979-1992, 19386.9
3. Elgin Baylor, 1958-1972, 17552.2
4. Rick Barry, 1965-1980, 16677.6
5. Scottie Pippen, 1987-2004, 16536.3
6. John Havlicek, 1962-1978, 16248.4
7. Connie Hawkins, 1967-1976, 14956.0
8. Paul Arizin, 1950-1962, 14906.3
9. Billy Cunningham, 1965-1976, 14869.1
10. Dominique Wilkins, 1982-1999, 14542.8

Hill is at No. 12 and it's possible, if his ankle holds up for a couple more seasons, that he could pass Alex English and Wilkins to get into the top 10. More realisticly is in about three seasons LeBron James will break into the rankings and eventually challenge Bird and Dr. J. James is already ranked No. 20 (ahead of Chris Mullin and Bernard King) with just four seasons played.

Any NBA fan my age (38) or younger believes Bird was better than Erving. They are all missing how dominant Dr. J. was in the ABA. Even putting a 10 percent discount on his stats in that league didn't lower his score to Bird's. When Bird was battling Erving in the 1980s, Dr. J. was already on his way down.

Top 10 shooting guards

Here are the top 10 shooting guards. There is one new player in the rankings and another player climbing fast.

Player, years, points
1. Michael Jordan, 1984-2003, 20809.7
2. Jerry West, 1960-1974, 17946.0
3. Kobe Bryant, 1996-2007, 16652.3
4. George Gervin, 1972-1986, 16304.3
5. Clyde Drexler, 1983-1998, 15594.0
6. Tracey McGrady, 1997-2007, 14877.8
7. Bill Sharman, 1950-1961, 13802.7
8. Hal Greer, 1958-1973, 13769.2
9. Dennis Johnson, 1976-1990, 13731.9
10. Walter Davis, 1977-1992, 13313.6

Tracey McGrady knocked Sydney Moncrief from the top 10. I actually forgot to rate McGrady last year so it's possible he was already a top 10 guard. If you look at the list, these are all big shooting guards. The classic spot-up shooter type like Reggie Miller just doesn't fare well (No. 15) because all they do is score. The guys on this list either contributed with rebounds or a little as playmakers. Gervin and McGrady especially because they spent a lot of time as small forwards.

Bryant passed Gervin this year and considering he only is 29 and has several prime years left, he should pass Jerry West and perhaps even challenge Jordan.

Just on the outside of the rankings are Vince Carter at No. 11 -- he passed Moncrief as well -- and Ray Allen at No. 13.

Updated greatest pro basketball players

Who are the best pro basketball players in NBA, ABA and even ABL history? I'll update last year's lists starting by position. There were some major changes in three positions.

First, here are the 10 greatest point guards:

Player, years, points
1. Oscar Robertson, 1960-1974, 18753.0
2. Magic Johnson, 1979-1996, 18692.0
3. Bob Cousy, 1950-1970, 18554.9
4. John Stockton, 1984-2003, 17006.1
5. Gary Payton, 1990-2007, 16925.2
6. Jason Kidd, 1994-2007, 16302.3
7. Allen Iverson, 1996-2007, 15950.0
8. Isiah Thomas, 1981-1993, 15847.2
9. Walt Frazier, 1967-1980, 15210.5
10. Steve Nash, 1996-2007, 14707.9

Nash's third straight near MVP season for Phoenix helped him jump five spots and bumb Tim Hardaway from the top 10. Iverson passed Isaiah Thomas but lost ground to Jason Kidd. Gary Payton is one more good season away from passing John Stockton but Payton actually lost points this season. Stockton seems safe at No. 4.

The march goes on for Woods

Tiger is not be as dominant as he was in 2000 and 2001. But each time you begin to wonder if his goal of passing Jack Nicklaus' haul of 18 professional majors and 20 overall majors he rises up and walks off with another.

The old Tiger would have stepped on the gas and won the PGA by 8 shots. This one just held his ground and let others fall away.

No matter. Woods now has 13 professional majors and the three U.S. amateurs and is just four away from catching Nicklaus.

Since he has won five of the last 12 and he has made several lifestyle adjustments, now the betting is whether he'll catch Nicklaus by the time he is 35.

How good is Woods. He finished first in one major and second in two others in 2007, good for 38.5 points in my system, and that's just his fifth best year.

Like Roger Federer in tennis, Tiger may set marks no one will ever be able to reach.

With just the U.S. Amateur left for 2007, here's the updated Golf's Ultimate Playday:

On the first tee
1. Jack Nicklaus, United States, 1959-1998, 858.59
2. Tiger Woods, United States, 1994-2007, 717.92
3. Ben Hogan, United States, 1939-1967, 583.95
4. Walter Hagen, United States, 1913-1940, 517.29

On the second tee
5. Arnold Palmer, United States, 1954-1977, 515.33
6. Tom Watson, United States, 1974-2000, 493.36
7. Gary Player, South Africa, 1956-1984, 477.43
8. Bobby Jones, United States, 1919-1930, 477.25

On the third tee
9. Sam Snead, United States, 1937-1974, 464.41
10. Gene Sarazen, United States, 1921-1956, 458.63
11. Nick Faldo, England, 1978-2003, 401.50
12. Byron Nelson, United States, 1935-1955, 367.54

On the fourth tee
13. Harry Vardon, England, 1894-1922, 351.50
14. J.H. Taylor, England, 1893-1925, 348.75
15. Lee Trevino, United States, 1967-1986, 334.54
16. Seve Ballesteros, Spain, 1976-1991, 321.08

On the fifth tee
17. Phil Mickelson, United States, 1990-2006, 317.81
18. Greg Norman, Australia, 1979-1999, 316.82
19. Raymond Floyd, United States, 1965-1994, 309.32
20. James Braid, Scotland, 1894-1914, 301.63

On the sixth tee
21. Jim Barnes, Eng/U.S., 1913-1930, 301.11
22. Ernie Els, South Africa, 1992-2007, 300.90
23. Peter Thomson, Australia, 1951-1971, 277.10
24. Nick Price, Zimbabwe, 1982-2005, 267.98

On the seventh tee
25. Jimmy Demaret, United States, 1938-1962, 263.44
26. Bobby Locke, South Africa, 1936-1957, 259.75
27. Julius Boros, United States, 1950-1973, 252.92
28. Cary Middlecoff, United States, 1948-1959, 252.50

On the eighth tee
29. Craig Wood, United States, 1929-1944, 251.94
30. Billy Casper, United States, 1958-1976, 251.21
31. Ben Crenshaw, United States, 1972-1995, 243.52
32. Hale Irwin, United States, 1973-1993, 243.38

On the ninth tee
33. Ralph Guldahl, United States, 1933-1941, 237.13
34. Leo Diegel, United States, 1920-1933, 235.56
35. Willie Anderson Jr., Scot/U.S., 1898-1908, 223.50
36. Vijay Singh, Fiji, 1993-2006, 223.00

37. Tom Weiskopf, United States, 1969-1982, 222.43
38. Lloyd Mangrum, United States, 1940-1956, 221.60
39. Harold Hilton, England, 1892-1913, 221.50
40. Johnny Miller, United States, 1966-1985, 221.38

On the 10th tee
41. Paul Runyan, United States, 1931-1951, 221.13
42. Denny Shute, United States, 1928-1950, 219.25
43. Payne Stewart, United States, 1985-1999, 216.50
44. Henry Cotton, England, 1927-1958, 210.92

On the 11th tee
45. Jock Hutchison, Scot/U.S., 1908-1928, 210.25
46. Bernhard Langer, Germany, 1981-2005, 209.58
47. Ted Ray, England, 1902-1925, 204.88
48. Tommy Armour, Scot/US, 1925-1937, 202.63

On the 12th tee
49. Horton Smith, United States, 1928-1954, 198.31
50. Alex Smith, Scot/US, 1898-1921, 193.69
51. Henry Picard, United States, 1932-1950, 192.44
52. Hubert Green, United States, 1974-1989, 190.00

On the 13th tee
53. Mark O'Meara, United States, 1979-2003, 188.70
54. Tom Kite, United States, 1970-2001, 187.94
55. Fred Couples, United States, 1980-2006, 187.70
56. Lawson Little, United States, 1934-1951, 187.33

On the 14th tee
57. Jose Maria Olazabul, Spain, 1984-2006, 187.10
58. Lanny Wadkins, United States, 1970-1993, 185.50
59. Gene Littler, United States, 1953-1979, 184.00
60. Jim Furyk, United States, 1996-2007, 180.45

On the 15th tee
61. Davis Love III, United States, 1995-2005, 177.89
62. Jim Ferrier, Aus/U.S., 1936-1964, 176.50
63. Larry Nelson, United States, 1979-1991, 173.75
64. Johnny Farrell, United States, 1922-1937, 170.46

On the 16th tee
65. Curtis Strange, United States, 1980-1995, 170.17
66. Jack Burke Jr., United States, 1951-1965, 169.95
67. Harry Cooper, Eng/U.S., 1923-1942, 169.50
68. Doug Ford, United States, 1955-1962, 168.50

69. Tommy Bolt, United States, 1952-1971, 166.63
70. Retief Goosen, South Africa, 1997-2007, 166.50
71. Tony Jacklin, England, 1967-1972, 164.50
72. David Graham, Australia, 1975-1990, 163.70

Boxing's top 100 -- final 25

Here are the No. 100 down to No. 76 on my revised rankings as well as the point totals of some fighters on the outside looking in.

100. Sung Kil Moon, 1987-93, South Korea, 46.248
99. Johnny Kilbane, 1907-23, U.S., 46.288
98. Jimmy Wilde, 1910-23, United Kingdom, 46.333
97. Orlando Canizales, 1984-99, U.S., 46.371

95. (tie) Mickey Walker, 1919-35, U.S., 46.395
95. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, Argentina, 46.395
94. Sven Ottke, 1997-04, Germany, 46.465
93. Tommy Burns, 1900-20, U.S., 46.513
92. Jorge Arce, 1996-07, Mexico, 46.547
91. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, U.S., 46.576

90. William Joppy, 1993-07, U.S., 46.714
89. Bob Montgomery, 1938-50, U.S., 46.769
88. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 1994-07, Thailand, 46.803
87. Marco Antonio Barrera, 1989-07, Mexico, 46.847
86. Myung Woo Yuh, 1982-93, South Korea, 46.932

85. Maxie Rosenbloom, 1923-39, U.S., 47.121
84. Miguel Angel Cotto, 2001-07, Puerto Rico, 47.229
83. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, United Kingdom, 47.245
82. Ricky Hatton, 1997-07, United Kingdom, 47.348
81. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, Puerto Rico, 47.383

80. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, France, 47.400
79. James Toney, 1988-07, U.S., 47.418
78. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, U.S., 47.662
77. Mike Tyson, 1985-05, U.S., 47.784
76. Joe Calzaghe, 1993-07, United Kingdom, 47.789

Tyson's sad ending to his career cost him points at every turn. He will gain some ground when Larry Holmes goes into the Hall and maybe if they elect Trevor Berbick -- hey, there are weaker Hall of Famers, why is Jack Sharkey in?

William Joppy is a curious one. He has lost to Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins and Jermaine Taylor, but he held the WBA Middleweight Title for five years -- along the way beating an ancient Roberto Duran. That's enough to sneak in the top 100 for now.

There are several fighters just outside the top 100 who may fight their way in or move up as people are elected to the Hall.

* Ratanapol Sor Vorapin (No. 101) is just 33 and is fighting again after losing to Ricardo Lopez in 2000 and retiring for five years. He's fighting nobodies though and will need to get back to the championship level to move up.

* Pernell Whitaker (No. 102) will gain some points from his draw with Julio Cesar Chavez when Chavez is inducted.

* Mikkel Kessler (No. 107) takes on No. 76 Joe Calzaghe on Nov. 11.

In fact, there are several fights scheduled this year that will have an impact on the top 100.

Aug. 18, Arthur Abraham (No. 124) vs. Khoren Gevor.
Sept. 22, Vitali Klitschko (No. 126) vs. Jameel McCline.
Oct. 6, Marco Antonio Barrera (No. 87) vs. Manny Pacquiao (No. 164)
Oct. 13, Evander Holyfield (No. 67) vs. Sultan Ibragimov.
Nov. 10, Sugar Shane Mosley (No. 62) vs. Miguel Angel Cotto (No. 84)
Dec. 8, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (No. 48) vs. Ricky Hatton (No. 82).

Top 100 boxers, part 3

Here are the No. 75 down to No. 51 boxers. It contains one major surprise.

75. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, Panama, 47.827
74. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, U.S., 47.989
73. Juan Carlos Gomez, 1995-07, Cuba, 48.011
72. Naseem Hamed, 1992-02, United Kingdom, 48.178
71. Ike Williams, 1940-55, U.S., 48.225

70. Lennox Lewis, 1989-03, United Kingdom, 48.240
69. Hector Camacho, 1980-05, Puerto Rico, 48.423
68. Jackie Kid Berg, 1924-45, U.S., 48.427
67. Evander Holyfield, 1984-07, U.S., 48.532
66. Erik Morales, 1993-07, Mexico, 48.633

65. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, Italy, 48.684
64. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, Canada, 48.812
63. Kostya Tszyu, 1992-05, Australia, 48.855
62. Sugar Shane Mosley, 1993-07, U.S., 48.885
61. Sam Langford, 1902-26, U.S., 48.957

60. Duilio Loi, 1948-62, Italy, 49.393
59. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, U.S., 49.560
58. Oscar De La Hoya, 1992-07, U.S., 49.571
57. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, Mexico, 49.674
56. Harry Greb, 1913-26, U.S., 50.478

55. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, U.S., 50.521
54. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, U.S., 50.612
53. Floyd Patterson, 1952-72, U.S., 50.614
52. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, Mexico, 50.623
51. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, U.S., 50.645

Just about every ranking I've even seen puts Jack Dempsey in the very top tier of heavyweight champions with Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano.

But after looking at his career I'll stand by this ranking. Dempsey had a fine career mark of 61-6-8 with 51 KOs. He was heavyweight champion from 1919 until 1926. That's a long time.

But he rarely defended his title, once going more than three years without fighting.

He also fought very few great fighters. True, he did defeat three Hall of Famers in world title fights. But Jess Willard is one of the weakest Hall of Famers ever. He's in for his defeat of Jack Johnson, which was a 26-round knockout in sweltering Cuba. If it was a 15 rounder -- the standard just a couple of years later -- then Johnson wins all 15 rounds over the lumbering Willard.

The other Hall of Famers he beat in title fights were Tommy Gibbons, a good but not really great fighter, and Georges Carpentier, a light heavyweight.

Really, he spent most of the decade ducking the only other heavyweight at the top of his game, the black Harry Wills, who had to pay for the unpopularity of Jack Johnson.

Finally, Dempsey did face one of the all-time greats in Gene Tunney and Tunney beat him twice easily. Even in the long-count second fight, Tunney essentially won every round other than the one in which he was knocked down.

Dempsey's reputation comes from his demolition of the average Willard, his exciting win over Luis Angel Firpo and the fact he was champion in the roaring twenties. The numbers don't lie, though, he didn't do enough in the ring to warrant being in the top 50.

Someone who did is Lennox Lewis, who will move up as the fighters he defeated are added to the Hall of Fame. Evander Holyfield is a shoe-in, Mike Tyson probably is one as well and Vitaly Klitschko may make the Hall. If they all do, then Lewis will move into the neighborhood of Gene Tunney and James Jeffries at No. 39 and No. 41.

Boxing's top 100, No. 50 down to No. 26

Part two of my revised rankings:

50. Bob Foster, 1961-78, U.S., 50.704
49. Pascual Perez, 1952-64, Argentina, 50.932
48. Floyd Mayweather Jr., 1996-07, U.S., 51.314
47. Flash Elorde, 1951-71, Phillippines, 51.332
46. Jimmy McLarnin, 1923-36, U.S., 51.334

45. Bernard Hopkins, 1988-07, U.S., 51.461
44. Eusebio Pedroza, 1973-92, Panama, 52.145
43. Yoko Gushiken, 1974-81, Japan, 52.167
42. Terry McGovern, 1897-08, U.S., 52.224
41. James Jeffries, 1896-10, U.S., 52.475

40. Azumah Nelson, 1979-98, Ghana, 52.548
39. Gene Tunney, 1915-28, U.S., 52.569
38. Carlos Zarate, 1970-88, Mexico, 52.574
37. Jack Johnson, 1897-28, U.S., 52.621
36. Tommy Ryan, 1887-07, U.S., 52.803

35. Sugar Ray Leonard, 1977-97, U.S., 52.899
34. Khaosai Galaxy, 1980-91, Thailand, 53.056
33. Sandy Saddler, 1944-56, U.S., 53.091
32. Antonio Cervantes, 1964-83, Colombia, 53.093
31. Abe Attell, 1900-17, U.S., 53.165

30. Michael Spinks, 1977-88, U.S., 53.340
29. Joe Frazier, 1965-81, U.S., 53.352
28. George Foreman, 1969-97, U.S., 53.479
27. Thomas Hearns, 1977-06, U.S., 53.540
26. Felix Trinidad, 1990-05, Puerto Rico, 53.848

A few questions in this group. Who is Yoko Gushiken? He was a junior flyweight who fought just 24 times -- 23-1. But 15 of those fights were major title fights and he won all but the last one.

Jack Johnson usually is ranked much higher, but he did lose 13 times, seven by knockout. He also was not a very active champion and that hurt his point total. Johnson's unadjusted score was even lower but he zoomed up the list thanks to the bonus points. He had the most bonus-point victories of anyone, beating James Jeffries, Stanley Ketchel, Tommy Burns, Bob Fitzsimmons, Sam Langford and Joe Jeannette over his career.

Sugar Ray Leonard also seems low at No. 35, which puts him several spots behind Thomas Hearns. The mid-injury eye injury kept Leonard from stringing together a bunch of title defenses. He, like Johnson, benefitted from the bonus point system thanks to his wins over Hearn, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran.

Leonard's score will improve dramatically when Hearns goes into the Hall of Fame. His knockout and draw against Hearns, which is worth about 60 points now will be worth 175 then. Those extra points will move Leonard down around Ricardo Lopez at No. 20.

Michael Spinks also will climb a few slots when Larry Holmes goes into the Hall of Fame.

Lorena makes major move in golf's ultimate playday

After yet another meltdown in a major, I was starting to wonder if Lorena Ochoa would break through. She answered that question in the British Open.

Her win solidified her status as the No. 1 female player in the world and gave her a major boost in the Golf's Women's Ultimate Playday. She moved up 20 spots and seems poised to win a string of these.

A final note. No. 20 on the list, Beth Daniel, retired from competitive golf after the British.

With all the majors in the books, here are the current top 54 professional female players:

On the first tee
1. Mickey Wright, 1958-1973, 575.40
2. Annika Sorenstam, 1995-2006, 541.42
3. Karrie Webb, 1996-2007, 474.80

On the second tee
4. Pat Bradley, 1977-1996, 460.93
5. Julie Inkster, 1984-2006, 458.05
6. Kathy Whitworth, 1963-1984, 453.10

On the third tee
7. Patty Berg, 1937-1965, 441.50
8. Patty Sheehan, 1981-1997, 400.62
9. Louise Suggs, 1946-1969, 377.64

On the fourth tee
10. Amy Alcott, 1976-1994, 358.22
11. Sandra Haynie, 1963-1983, 353.00
12. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 1940-1954, 350.00

On the fifth tee
13. Betsy Rawls, 1951-1969, 329.09
14. JoAnne Carner, 1970-1992, 321.85
15. Meg Mallon, 1990-2004, 321.63

On the sixth tee
16. Laura Davies, 1987-2005, 303.42
17. Nancy Lopez, 1975-1997, 298.88
18. Se Ri Pak, 1998-2007, 293.17

On the seventh tee
19. Donna Caponi, 1969-1982, 266.85
20. Beth Daniel, 1980-2006, 266.30
21. Susan Maxwell Berning, 1965-1979, 242.50

On the eigth tee
22. Mary Mills, 1963-1974, 232.45
23. Clifford-Ann Creed, 1963-1976, 230.20
24. Carol Mann, 1963-1975, 226.50

On the ninth tee
25. Dottie Pepper, 1988-2001, 221.25
26. Sandra Palmer, 1967-1986, 220.00
27. Jan Stephenson, 1976-2000, 216.25

On the 10th tee
28. Marilyn Smith, 1963-1972, 211.45
29. Hollis Stacy, 1976-1996, 207.51
30. Sally Little, 1975-1988, 205.47

On the 11th tee
31. Ayako Okamoto, 1983-1993, 204.93
32. Rosie Jones, 1983-2005, 200.53
33. Liselotte Neumann, 1988-2005, 198.45

On the 12th tee
34. Jane Geddes, 1985-1996, 178.30
35. Lorena Ochoa, 2002-2007, 173.73
36. Tammie Green, 1989-1998, 173.10

On the 13th tee
37. Kelly Robbins, 1994-2004, 158.80
38. Brandie Burton, 1991-2001, 151.00
39. Cristie Kerr, 1999-2007, 150.62

On the 14th tee
40. Grace Park, 1999-2005, 136.60
41. Sherri Steinhauer, 1992-2006, 134.08
42. Jane Blalock, 1971-1980, 132.00

On the 15th tee
43. Judy Rankin, 1964-1979, 130.58
44. Judy Kimball-Simon, 1962-1967, 130.38
45. Beverly Hanson, 1955-1958, 130.00

On the 16th tee
46. Betty Jameson, 1942-1954, 130.00
47. Shirley Englehorn, 1963-1970, 124.25
48. Chris Johnson, 1983-2000, 122.50

On the 17th tee
49. Marlene Hagge, 1956-1972, 122.00
50. Nancy Scranton, 1986-2000, 120.50
51. Donna Andrews, 1992-1998, 116.93

On the 18th tee
52. Pat Hurst, 1996-2006, 116.90
53. Helen Alfreddson, 1992-2006, 116.83
54. Colleen Walker, 1987-1997, 116.80

100 greatest boxers -- revised

A few months ago I posted my choices as the 100 greatest boxers using a system I set up to grade all of the boxers in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

I liked it, but when I ran through some modern boxers they just scored way too high because of all the additional weight classes and sanctioning bodies. There is just a pea soup of champions today.

So I reworked it. Boxers still score points based on wins, but I had to do some additional breakdowns for era.

It's still based on a 60 fight career so fighters who fought more than 60 fights had their point totals divided and fighters who fought less than 60 points had their non-title fights multiplied.

In any era, a world title win against a Hall of Famer was worth 100 points with a knockout being an additional 25. For the 1983 on era a world title fight is one for a WBA, WBC or IBF belt. If they were knocked out they had five points deducted.

The oldtimers who won world title fights before 1963 (fewest divisions and usually only one recognized world title holder) received 80 points. Knockouts were worth an additional 20 points. Getting knocked out was a -10.

Wins over Hall of Famers in non-title bouts or lesser title fights (WBO, IBU, whatnot) earned 70 points. A KO is a plus 17.5 and getting KO'd is a negative 12.5.

Then it gets messy. World title wins in the WBA-WBC only era of 1963-1982 is worth 60. A pre-1963 lesser title fight (European or just one of the N.Y. bodies) is worth 40. The modern 1983 plus title wins are worth 35. The 1963-1982 lesser title fights (NABF etc.) drop to 30. WBO or IBC titles from 1983 on are worth 25 points and the stepping stone titles from 1983 on (WBU, IBU and all the rest are worth 15.

Non title fights -- after they've been adjusted for the 60 fight total -- are worth 10 with a KO an additional 5 points. Getting KO'd in a non-title bout takes 25 points off your score.

You get a career score -- which helps guys like Ricardo Lopez and Rocky Marciano -- where wins are worth 25 points, draws 12.5, KOs 6.25 and getting KOd a negative 8.25.

You take all of those points and then divide by 60 for a score.

Now, at this point a few boxers seemed out of place. Several fighters with less than 30 fights scored awfully high and a few that accomplished major wins over all-time greats seemed low.

So I adjusted points downward for fighters with fewer than 30 fights and created a bonus system based on quality wins.

My original score treated wins over Hall of Famers evenly and truthfully there are a lot of weak hall of famers. Why is Lew Jenkins or Fritzie Zivic in the hall of fame? Without the bonus system, a knockout win over Sammy Mandell in a title fight had the same weight as Joe Frazier's KO of Muhammad Ali.

I took the top 125 scorers on the unadjusted list and gave fighters points for wins over those fighters. So a win over the top ranked golfer in any fight would be an additional 125 points, the second fighter on the list would be worth 124 and so on. The bonus points were one-time additions. You didn't get the points each time you beat the fighter and you just needed one win over a great even if you lost five other times (Jake LaMotta's 1-5 mark against Sugar Ray Robinson).

The bonus points painted a truer picture. Sugar Ray Leonard, who fought relatively few title fights because of a mid-career eye injury but scored victories over Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran, jumped up the rankings considerably.

One thing to remember is boxers can gain or lose points even after they retire. Take Leonard and Hagler for example. Both defeated Thomas Hearns by knockout. Those wins are worth 43.75 points right now (35 for the victory, 8.75 for the knockout). Thanks to Hearns' comeback this decade, he is not in the Hall of Fame. Of course, he's a shoe-in. Once he is elected, the wins by Hagler and Leonard will be worth 125 points (100 for the win and 25 for the knockout).

With the all-time standings so close once you get past the top four boxers, those extra points will be enough for Hagler and Leonard to move past several boxers.

The best part is that I can keep the rankings up to date with each fight. There are several fights in the coming months that will affect the rankings and I'll update the list after each.

This post is long enough. I'm going to post my greatest 100 boxers over the next four days. I'll begin with No. 25 down to No. 1.

Rank, fighter, years, country, points
25. Roy Jones Jr., 1989-07, U.S., 53.998
24. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, Mexico, 54.110
23. Roberto Duran, 1968-01, Panama, 54.210
22. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, Cuba, 55.300
21. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, Brazil, 55.391

20. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, Mexico, 55.620
19. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, Mexico, 56.066
18. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, U.S., 56.382
17. Willie Pep, 1940-66, U.S., 57.253
16. Barney Ross, 1929-38, U.S., 57.954

15. Archie Moore, 1936-63, U.S., 58.743
14. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, Puerto Rico, 58.871
13. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, U.S., 59.017
12. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, U.S., 59.526
11. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, U.S., 59.653

10. Larry Holmes, 1973-02, U.S., 59.879
9. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, Nicaragua, 60.008
8. Joe Gans, 1891-09, U.S., 60.416
7. Carlos Monzon, 1963-77, Argentina, 61.664
6. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, Puerto Rico, 62.715

5. Rocky Marciano, 1947-55, U.S., 62.793
4. Sugar Ray Robinson, 1940-65, U.S., 75.382
3. Henry Armstrong, 1931-45, U.S., 79.451
2. Joe Louis, 1934-51, U.S., 84.329
1. Muhammad Ali, 1960-81, U.S., 85.805

I'll admit there are some head scratchers in here. Ezzard Charles at No. 11? He had 25 losses, but he lost 13 of his last 23 fights at the end of his career after losing to Rocky Marciano. He also was knocked out by Jersey Joe Walcott.

Still, he was a very light heavyweight, usually fighting between 175 and 190 pounds, and he took on the best of his day early and often. He was 15-2 against Hall of Fame fighters in non-title or lesser title fights and he had bonus point wins over Joe Louis and Archie Moore.

Aaron Pryor at No. 12 also seems high. Few mention prior when they talk about the best fighters of the 1980s and 1990s. The conversation usually revolves around Hearns, Leonard and Hagler.

But Pryor had a great career record -- 39-1 with 35 KOs -- and a perfect 12-0 mark with 10 knockouts in title fights. Three of those knockouts were bonus point wins over Antonio Cervantes and Alexis Arguello.

The top two actually changed places after the bonus points were figured in. Joe Louis was well ahead of Muhammad Ali thanks to his 26-1 record in world title fights, but only one of Louis' wins was over a fighter in the top 125 of my unadjusted rankings. And even that fighter, John Henry Lewis, deserves an asterisk. Lewis was at the end of his career, had eye injuries and only fought Louis because Joe knew he needed a final payday before retiring.

Ali, on the other hand, scored wins over Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Floyd Patterson and great light heavyweights Bob Foster and Archie Moore. Ali didn't even get bonus points for his shocking wins over Sonny Liston. Liston is highly regarded but had so few title fights -- four total -- that he didn't make the unadjusted top 125.

Furyk moves up while falling short

Jim Furyk's second straight second place finish helped him jump five spots in the Ultimate Golf Playday. Only the top 72 -- 18 foursomes -- so you won't see U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera. His win pulled him up to No. 177, just behind the immortal Dick Metz.

Tiger Woods' second place finish allowed him to pick up more points, but his mad dash to overtake Jack Nicklaus as the greatest golfer has lost a little steam.

Here are the 72 greatest men golfers ever. Active golfers are in bold.

Rank, player, years, points
1. Jack Nicklaus, United States, 1959-1998, 858.59
2. Tiger Woods, United States, 1994-2007, 693.17
3. Ben Hogan, United States, 1939-1967, 583.95
4. Walter Hagen, United States, 1913-1940, 517.29

5. Arnold Palmer, United States, 1954-1977, 515.33
6. Tom Watson, United States, 1974-2000, 493.36
7. Gary Player, South Africa, 1956-1984, 477.43
8. Bobby Jones, United States, 1919-1930, 477.25

9. Sam Snead, United States, 1937-1974, 464.41
10. Gene Sarazen, United States, 1921-1956, 458.63
11. Nick Faldo, England, 1978-2003, 401.50
12. Byron Nelson, United States, 1935-1955, 367.54

13. Harry Vardon, England, 1894-1922, 351.50
14. J.H. Taylor, England, 1893-1925, 348.75
15. Lee Trevino, United States, 1967-1986, 334.54
16. Seve Ballesteros, Spain, 1976-1991, 321.08

17. Phil Mickelson, United States, 1990-2006, 317.81
18. Greg Norman, Australia, 1979-1999, 316.82
19. Raymond Floyd, United States, 1965-1994, 309.32
20. James Braid, Scotland, 1894-1914, 301.63

21. Jim Barnes, Eng/U.S., 1913-1930, 301.11
22. Ernie Els, South Africa, 1992-2006, 290.15
23. Peter Thomson, Australia, 1951-1971, 277.10
24. Nick Price, Zimbabwe, 1982-2005, 267.98

25. Jimmy Demaret, United States, 1938-1962, 263.44
26. Bobby Locke, South Africa, 1936-1957, 259.75
27. Julius Boros, United States, 1950-1973, 252.92
28. Cary Middlecoff, United States, 1948-1959, 252.50

29. Craig Wood, United States, 1929-1944, 251.94
30. Billy Casper, United States, 1958-1976, 251.21
31. Ben Crenshaw, United States, 1972-1995, 243.52
32. Hale Irwin, United States, 1973-1993, 243.38

33. Ralph Guldahl, United States, 1933-1941, 237.13
34. Leo Diegel, United States, 1920-1933, 235.56
35. Willie Anderson Jr., Scot/U.S., 1898-1908, 223.50
36. Vijay Singh, Fiji, 1993-2006, 223.00

37. Tom Weiskopf, United States, 1969-1982, 222.43
38. Lloyd Mangrum, United States, 1940-1956, 221.60
39. Harold Hilton, England, 1892-1913, 221.50
40. Johnny Miller, United States, 1966-1985, 221.38

41. Paul Runyan, United States, 1931-1951, 221.13
42. Denny Shute, United States, 1928-1950, 219.25
43. Payne Stewart, United States, 1985-1999, 216.50
44. Henry Cotton, England, 1927-1958, 210.92

45. Jock Hutchison, Scot/U.S., 1908-1928, 210.25
46. Bernhard Langer, Germany, 1981-2005, 209.58
47. Ted Ray, England, 1902-1925, 204.88
48. Tommy Armour, Scot/US, 1925-1937, 202.63

49. Horton Smith, United States, 1928-1954, 198.31
50. Alex Smith, Scot/US, 1898-1921, 193.69
51. Henry Picard, United States, 1932-1950, 192.44
52. Hubert Green, United States, 1974-1989, 190.00

53. Mark O'Meara, United States, 1979-2003, 188.70
54. Tom Kite, United States, 1970-2001, 187.94
55. Fred Couples, United States, 1980-2006, 187.70
56. Lawson Little, United States, 1934-1951, 187.33

57. Jose Maria Olazabul, Spain, 1984-2006, 187.10
58. Lanny Wadkins, United States, 1970-1993, 185.50
59. Gene Littler, United States, 1953-1979, 184.00
60. Jim Furyk, United States, 1996-2007, 180.45

61. Davis Love III, United States, 1995-2005, 177.89
62. Jim Ferrier, Aus/U.S., 1936-1964, 176.50
63. Larry Nelson, United States, 1979-1991, 173.75
64. Johnny Farrell, United States, 1922-1937, 170.46

65. Curtis Strange, United States, 1980-1995, 170.17
66. Jack Burke Jr., United States, 1951-1965, 169.95
67. Harry Cooper, Eng/U.S., 1923-1942, 169.50
68. Doug Ford, United States, 1955-1962, 168.50

69. Tommy Bolt, United States, 1952-1971, 166.63
70. Retief Goosen, South Africa, 1997-2007, 166.50
71. Tony Jacklin, England, 1967-1972, 164.50
72. David Graham, Australia, 1975-1990, 163.70

No major movement in women's all-time golf tourney

Suzann Petterson's LPGA title moved her into 80th place in the Ultimate Women's Golf Tournament. She still has a ways to go to move into the top 48 and appear here.

In fact, very few of the big names scored. Karrie Webb finished second but still trails Annika Sorenstam by a large margin for No. 2.

Lorena Ochoa, who is ranked No. 1 but still yet to win a major title, is 61st.

Here are the updated rankings with active players in bold.

Rank, golfer, years, points
1. Mickey Wright, 1958-1973, 575.40
2. Annika Sorenstam, 1995-2006, 541.42
3. Karrie Webb, 1996-2007, 474.80
4. Pat Bradley, 1977-1996, 460.93
5. Julie Inkster, 1984-2006, 458.05
6. Kathy Whitworth, 1963-1984, 453.10
7. Patty Berg, 1937-1965, 441.50
8. Patty Sheehan, 1981-1997, 400.62
9. Louise Suggs, 1946-1969, 377.64
10. Amy Alcott, 1976-1994, 358.22
11. Sandra Haynie, 1963-1983, 353.00
12. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 1940-1954, 350.00

13. Betsy Rawls, 1951-1969, 329.09
14. JoAnne Carner, 1970-1992, 321.85
15. Meg Mallon, 1990-2004, 321.63
16. Laura Davies, 1987-2005, 303.42
17. Nancy Lopez, 1975-1997, 298.88
18. Se Ri Pak, 1998-2007, 285.03
19. Donna Caponi, 1969-1982, 266.85
20. Beth Daniel, 1980-2006, 266.30
21. Susan Maxwell Berning, 1965-1979, 242.50
22. Mary Mills, 1963-1974, 232.45
23. Clifford-Ann Creed, 1963-1976, 230.20
24. Carol Mann, 1963-1975, 226.50

25. Dottie Pepper, 1988-2001, 221.25
26. Sandra Palmer, 1967-1986, 220.00
27. Jan Stephenson, 1976-2000, 216.25
28. Marilyn Smith, 1963-1972, 211.45
29. Hollis Stacy, 1976-1996, 207.51
30. Sally Little, 1975-1988, 205.47
31. Ayako Okamoto, 1983-1993, 204.93
32. Rosie Jones, 1983-2005, 200.53
33. Liselotte Neumann, 1988-2005, 198.45
34. Jane Geddes, 1985-1996, 178.30
35. Tammie Green, 1989-1998, 173.10
36. Kelly Robbins, 1994-2004, 158.80

37. Brandie Burton, 1991-2001, 151.00
38. Grace Park, 1999-2005, 136.60
39. Sherri Steinhauer, 1992-2006, 134.08
40. Jane Blalock, 1971-1980, 132.00
41. Judy Rankin, 1964-1979, 130.58
42. Judy Kimball-Simon, 1962-1967, 130.38
43. Beverly Hanson, 1955-1958, 130.00
44. Betty Jameson, 1942-1954, 130.00
45. Shirley Englehorn, 1963-1970, 124.25
46. Chris Johnson, 1983-2000, 122.50
47. Marlene Hagge, 1956-1972, 122.00
48. Nancy Scranton, 1986-2000, 120.50

Nadal keeps Federer at No. 5

Rafael Nadal jumped six spots in the Men's Ultimate Tournament Standings and kept Roger Federer, momentarily at No. 5, in the rankings.

Still, if Federer were to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, which he's done the past three years, he'll motor all the way to No. 1.

At least for today, though, it was Nadal making the major move. The updated standings after the French. Active players are in bold.


Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 656.50
2. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 648.50
3. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 619.50
4. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974-1984, 597.00
5. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2007, 596.00
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, 231.00
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

Henin closing in on best of her generation

Justin Henin's sixth major title, and fourth French Open, means she's clearly the best clay court player of her generation. While she is closing in on Venus Williams and Martina Hingis, she's still a few titles from moving past Serena Williams in the Ultimate Woman's Tennis Tournament rankings.

Here are the top 32 women players of the Open Era after the French Open. 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, 491.50
9. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-1998, 468.50
10. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 446.50
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2005, 413.50
12. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 380.00
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. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1988-1991, 165.00
19. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 165.00
21. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004-2007, 158.00
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. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 97.00
29. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 94.50
30. Christine O'Neill, Australia, 1978, 85.00
31. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 2004-2006, 82.00
32. Wendy Turnbill, United States, 1977-1980, 80.00

Roger roars past McEnroe

Another major victory, another player passed in the all-time tennis tournament. Roger Federer's 10th major title -- out of 11 finals -- moved him past John McEnroe.

If Federer wins another title this year, he'll pass Connors. Two more this year would move him past Lendl. If he wins the Grand Slam, he'll move to No. 1 and may move the point total so high, no one can reach it.

Here are the updated standings (active players in bold):


Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 656.50
2. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 648.50
3. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 619.50
4. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974-1984, 597.00
5. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2007, 562.50
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. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 228.00
17. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1975, 214.50
18. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 197.00
19. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2001-2005, 192.50
20. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2005, 191.00
21. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 166.00
22. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2006, 163.00
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

So Serena is not done yet

Serena Williams' dismantling of Maria Sharapova may have been the most dominant performance by a woman I've ever seen. This was after Sharapova looked like her power was going to lead her to a dominant run this year.

Instead, Williams blew her right off the court. It makes you wonder how many titles she could have had now had she concentrated more on tennis and how many more she'd like to win. It seems the only thing stopping her is health and dedication.

With the win, Williams moved up one spot in the ultimate women's tennis tournament and widened her lead as the best player of this generation, while Sharapova moved up several despite the disheartening defeat.

Active players (Venus Williams included) 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, 491.50
9. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-1998, 468.50
10. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 446.50
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2005, 411.00
12. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium, 2001-2006, 350.00
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. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1988-1991, 165.00
20. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 160.00
21. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004-2007, 158.00
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. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 97.00
29. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 94.50
30. Christine O'Neill, Australia, 1978, 85.00
31. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 2004-2006, 82.00
32. Wendy Turnbill, United States, 1977-1980, 80.00

Pound for pound, the greatest 100 boxers ever

For my ranking of the greatest boxers in history, I deviated from my systems in the other sports that are set up to incorporate current results. What you'll find below are the 100 greatest boxers inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Boxing today has too many divisions and champions today to keep up with unless you are really a hardcore fan. I plan on updating my standings each year when the newest edition of The Boxing Register is updated. The Register has the records and opponents of the more than 200 fighters in the IBHOF.

So while you will see fighters such as Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler in the rankings, you won't see Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, Evander Holyfield or Bernard Hopkins. Hearns, Holyfield and Hopkins aren't eligible and Duran was just announced as an inductee. His results will be in the next Register and Duran will take his place somewhere in the rankings.

How did I rank the fighters? Weighting their victories and then dividing the points by a set number of fights to take away the advantage fighters who fought relatively few times had in my system over the old timers who stepped into the ring hundreds of times.

Basically, I gave fighters points -- or deducted in cases of when they were KO'd -- for wins over certain level of fighters.

First, a fighter received a score for his overall record, all wins and KOs worth the same, regardless of quality.

Then I broke the wins down in four ways:

Title fights against fellow Hall of Famers
Other title fights
Non title fights against Hall of Famers
All other bouts

Originally, I was going to give 6 points for a title win over Hall of Famers, plus 3 points if won in a knockout, 3 points (+1.5 for knockouts) for other title fight wins as well as non title fights against Hall of Famers and 1 point (+.5 for knockouts) for all other fights.

I had to tweak the original plan because of the growing number of divisions over the years. It is far easier for fighters today to line up championship fights because there are 17 weight divisions today versus the eight of much of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. There are several IBHOF members from the early part of 20th century who never received even one title shot.

Title fight victories in matches before 1950 was increased to 4.5 points with 2.25 points for a knockout. Championship wins from the 1950s through the 1970s was moved up to 3.75 with 1.875 for KOs and title wins from the 1980s and on are worth the 3 points.

I also had to tweak the heavyweight division. Since the growing number of weight classes had zero affect on the heaviest division, title wins for heavyweights has two breakdowns -- 3 points for wins from 1980 on and 3.75 points for wins before 1980. The change there is more a result of the multiple licensing bodies. Before 1980, there generally was just one champion. Today, there are four.

I also created a 4.5 point division in the heavyweight division for Black Heavyweight title fights. In the days of Jim Jeffries, Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey, several great black heavyweights were forced to fight each other time and again because no one would risk the heavyweight title against them. Was Dempsey really better than Harry Wills. We'll never know for sure.

How does it breakdown? Let's look at two Hall of Fame middleweights, Carlos Monzon and Jake LaMotta.

LaMotta ran up a career record of 83-19-4 with 30 KOs and he was knocked out 4 times. I took his winning percentage and converted his record to what it would have looked like with 60 fights. LaMatta would have been 47-11-2 with 17 knockouts while being KO'd twice. That scored him 55.472 points. Monzon's record (87-3-9-59-0) would have boiled down to 53-2-6 with 36 knockouts, giving him 73.3 points. Power punchers, because of the bonus points, are going to have an advantage in my system, as well they should. A KO is always more definitive than even the most dominant decision.

Next, fighters earned points for the quality of competition. LaMotta was 1-1 against Hall of Famers in title fights with 1 KO while getting stopped once. He scored 8.5 points in those matches in my system. Monzon was 5-0 with 4 KOs, giving him 42 points.

LaMotta was 2-0 in his other title fights in the 3.75 a win era, while Monzon was 11-0 with 7 KOs in the same era where each win was worth 3.75 points. LaMotta received 9.375 points while Monzon scored 54.375 for those wins.

In matchups with Hall of Famers in non-title fights, LaMotta went 4-5 with all fights going the distance. He scored 12 points in those fights. In my system, a fighter does not lose points with a loss unless he is knocked out. He just gets zero points, which drives his average down. Fighters with large loss totals generally don't score well unless they had many, many quality wins.

Monzon, as is increasingly common in the modern era, did not face a Hall of Famer in a non-title bout.

Finally, I boiled a fighter's record in all other fights down to the 60 fight average, deducting the quality fights. So Monzon, who fought 16 title fights, had 44 matches against non-Hall of Famers in my system. He was 71-3-9 in those matches in his career and that was whittled down to 38-2-5 with 25 KOs, which earned him 52.747 points in those matches.

LaMotta had 13 fights either for the title or against Hall of Famers leaving him 47 matches out of 60 against "others." His career record in those matches was 76-13-4 and whittling that down to 47 would have given him a 38-7-2 record with 14 knockouts. That was worth 41.946 points.

To come up with a final score, simply add up all those points and divide by 60. LaMotta scored 127.29 points for a 60-fight score of 2.122. You won't see him in my top 100 despite the fact "Raging Bull" is so critically acclaimed.

Monzon scored 222.46 points for a final 60-fight score of 3.708. He is one of the top fighters ever.

Each year, there will be some fluctuations in scores as more fighters are added to the Hall. For example, Marvin Hagler's greatest win -- the knockout of Tommie Hearns -- earned him 4.5 points so far -- 3 points for the post 1980s title fight win and a 1.5 point knockout bonus.

When Hearns is elected to the Hall, Hagler's point total for that fight doubles. He'll get six points for a title fight win over a Hall of Famer and 3 points for the knockout.

Without using further space, here's my top 100 fighters in the International Boxing Hall of Fame:

Rank, Boxer, Years, Total points, Classes
100. Fighting Harada, 1960-70, 2.435, Bantam/Fly
99. Ismael Laguna, 1961-71, 2.438, Lightweight
98. Pancho Villa, 1919-25, 2.442, Flyweight
97. Laszlo Papp, 1957-64, 2.448, Middleweight
96. Lou Ambers, 1932-41, 2.452, Lightweight
95. Sugar Ramos, 1957-72, 2.457, Featherweight
94. Young Stribling, 1921-33, 2.459, Heavyweight
93. Paul Berlenbach, 1923-33, 2.464, Light heavyweight
92. Ken Buchanan, 1965-82, 2.471, Lightweight
91. Harry Wills, 1910-32, 2.473, Heavyweight

90. Jack Dillon, 1908-23, 2.477, Light heavyweight
89. Pipino Cuevas, 1971-89, 2.487, Welterweight
88. Jimmy McLarnin, 1923-36, 2.496, Welterweight
87. Marcel Thil, 1920-37, 2.519, Middleweight
86. Flash Elorde, 1951-71, 2.527, Jr. Lightweight
85. Tony Zale, 1934-48, 2.537, Middleweight
84. Jack Delaney, 1919-32, 2.537, Light heavyweight
83. Tommy Gibbons, 1911-25, 2.555, Heavyweight
82. Freddie Miller, 1927-40, 2.555, Featherweight
81. Bobby Chacon, 1972-88, 2.573, Jr. Light/Feather

80. Jackie "Kid" Berg, 1924-45, 2.578, Jr. Welterweight
79. Charles "Kid" McCoy, 1891-16, 2.583, Middleweight
78. Ingemar Johansson, 1952-63, 2.584, Heavyweight
77. Marcel Cerdan, 1934-49, 2.591, Middleweight
76. Packey McFarland, 1904-15, 2.599, Lightweight
75. Wilfredo Benitez, 1973-90, 2.602, Jr. Mid/Welter/Jr. Welter
74. Kid Chocolate, 1928-38, 2.608, Jr. Light/Feather
73. Freddie Welsh, 1905-22, 2.638, Lightweight
72. Joe Jeannette, 1904-19, 2.643, Heavyweight
71. Mickey Walker, 1919-35, 2.650, Middleweight

70. Victor Galindez, 1969-80, 2.662, Light heavyweight
69. Nino Benvenuti, 1961-71, 2.667, Middle/Jr. Mid
68. Barry McGuigan, 1981-89, 2.674, Featherweight
67. Edwin Rosario, 1979-97, 2.675, Jr. Welter/Light
66. Jose Torres, 1958-69, 2.688, Light heavyweight
65. Carlos Palomino, 1972-98, 2.701, Welterweight
64. Daniel Zaragoza, 1980-97, 2.701, Jr. Feather/Bantam
63. Harry Greb, 1913-26, 2.711, Middleweight
62. Jeff Chandler, 1976-84, 2.716, Bantamweight
61. Freddie Steele, 1928-41, 2.719, Middleweight

60. Sonny Liston, 1953-70, 2.728, Heavyweight
59. John Henry Lewis, 1928-39, 2.731, Light heavyweight
58. Johnny Kilbane, 1907-23, 2.732, Featherweight
57. Jimmy Wilde, 1910-23, 2.756, Flyweight
56. Emile Griffith, 1958-77, 2.761, Middle/Welter
55. Panama Al Brown, 1922-42, 2.766, Bantamweight
54. Gene Fullmer, 1951-63, 2.768, Middleweight
53. Bob Fitzsimmons, 1883-14, 2.800, Heavy/Lt. Heavy/Mid
52. Ruben Olivares, 1965-88, 2.800, Feather/Bantam
51. Jack Johnson, 1897-28, 2.861, Heavyweight

50. Jeff Fenech, 1984-96, 2.862, Feather/Jr. Feather/Bantam
49. Tony Canzoneri, 1925-39, 2.874, Jr. Welter/Light/Feather
48. Ike Williams, 1940-55, 2.903, Lightweight
47. Pascual Perez, 1952-64, 2.915, Flyweight
46. Floyd Patterson, 1952-72, 2.955, Heavyweight
45. Johnny Coulon, 1905-20, 2.965, Bantamweight
44. Abe Attell, 1900-17, 2.978, Featherweight
43. Bob Foster, 1961-78, 2.980, Light heavyweight
42. Terry Norris, 1986-98, 2.986, Jr. Middleweight
41. Jack Dempsey, 1914-27, 2.993, Heavyweight

40. Sandy Saddler, 1944-56, 2.997, Jr. Light/Feather
39. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, 3.013, Heavyweight
38. Tommy Burns, 1900-20, 3.035, Heavyweight
37. Mike McCallum, 1981-97, 3.051, Lt. Heavy/Middle/Jr. Mid
36. Willie Pep, 1940-66, 3.066, Featherweight
35. Eusebio Pedroza, 1973-92, 3.098, Featherweight
34. Vicente Saldivar, 1961-73, 3.119, Featherweight
33. Benny Leonard, 1911-32, 3.136, Lightweight
32. Barney Ross, 1929-38, 3.138, Welter/Jr. Welter/Light
31. Archie Moore, 1936-63, 3.171, Light heavyweight

30. Sugar Ray Leonard, 1977-97, 3.180, Lt. Heavy/Sup. Mid/Middle/Jr. Mid/Welter
29. George Foreman, 1969-97, 3.186, Heavyweight
28. Stanley Ketchel, 1904-10, 3.188, Middleweight
27. Joe Frazier, 1965-81, 3.196, Heavyweight
26. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, 3.201, Featherweight
25. Terry McGovern, 1897-08, 3.205, Feather/Bantam
24. Chiquita Gonzalez, 1984-95, 3.234, Jr. Flyweight
23. Michael Spinks, 1977-88, 3.246, Heavy/Lt. Heavy
22. Gene Tunney, 1915-28, 3.250, Heavy/Lt. Heavy
21. Michael Carbajal, 1989-99, 3.269, Jr. Flyweight

20. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, 3.269, Feather/Bantam
19. Antonio Cervantes, 1964-83, 3.297, Jr. Welterweight
18. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, 3.356, Middleweight
17. Azumah Nelson, 1979-98, 3.360, Jr. Light/Feather
16. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, 3.370, Jr. Welter/Light
15. James Jeffries, 1896-10, 3.371, Heavyweight
14. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, 3.399, Welterweight
13. Carlos Zarate, 1970-88, 3.429, Bantamweight
12. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, 3.470, Jr. Welterweight
11. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, 3.470, Bantamweight

10. Joe Gans, 1891-09, 3.599, Lightweight
9. Rocky Marciano, 1947-55, 3.648, Heavyweight
8. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, 3.650, Light/Jr. Light/Feather
7. Carlos Monzon, 1963-77, 3.708, Middleweight
6. Khaosai Galaxy, 1980-91, 3.723, Jr. Bantamweight
5. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, 3.973, Jr. Light/Feather/Jr. Feather
4. Sugar Ray Robinson, 1940-65, 4.150, Middle/Welter
3. Muhammad Ali, 1960-81, 4.345, Heavyweight
2. Henry Armstrong, 1931-45, 4.346, Welter/Light/Feather
1. Joe Louis, 1934-51, 4.865, Heavyweight

I'll admit there are a few headscratchers in here. Wilfredo Gomez No. 5 all-time. Well, he had a stellar record, 44-3-1 with 42 knockouts and the knockouts pushed his score upward. Plus, he was a remarkable 21-3 with 19 knockouts in title fights.

Henry Armstrong over Sugar Ray Robinson? Armstrong was just 3-3 in Hall of Fame title fights while Robinson was 10-5-1. But Armstrong was 19-0-1 with 16 KOs in his other title fights and 6-2 against Hall of Famers in non-title bouts. Robinson was 7-2 in his other title fights and although he was 11-1 against Hall of Famers in non-title bouts, he had just one KO in those fights.

There were several heavyweight surprises. Liston is below Floyd Patterson, who he crushed twice, because those were his only title fight wins. Patterson had several defenses before running into Liston.

Jack Dempsey is very low at No. 42 (behind Ezzard Charles and Tommy Burns), while Jack Johnson finished even worse at No. 52, while Jim Jeffries was No. 15.

Dempsey held the heavyweight title but defended it few times. He only had 10 fights for titles or against Hall of Famers. Johnson also was hurt by inactivity -- once he won the title he refused to defend it against fellow black Hall of Famers Sam Langford, Harry Wills or Joe Jeannette -- but also a poor overall record. Johnson lost 13 fights and was knocked out seven times, dragging down his score. Some of those may have been dives. In fact, there are lots of curious losses among these fighters that may have been gangster influenced. I can't judge those. I just added up the points.

Burns is a special case. Lightly regarded by most, he was a very active champion -- if only to keep Johnson off his tail -- with a 11-1 record in title fights with nine KOs.

Marciano never lost and he had a fine record in his title fights and fights against Hall of Famers -- 8-0 with 7 KOs. He just didn't fight enough of them. Rocky had the top career score of any figher -- 86.3 with Galaxy next at 84.7 -- but his point total from title fights ranked just 45th. If he had stuck around long enough to beat Patterson and Liston, he would have been able to move into the Ali, Louis point totals.