It's a little late in the month but since I just started this blog, I'm posting the October (1st) list of the Top 100 Heavyweight fighters covering fights through the end of September.
The purpose of the computer rankings is, of course, to offer a purely unbiased, non-political alternative to the belt organizations that have done such an injustice to the sport. I'll have a number of posts along the way explaining the system; for now, a few important notes:
it's a "reward" system rather than a "predictive" system. It doesn't contend to say which fighter would win a contest between two ranked fighters, but rather gives points for success in the ring and deducts points for losing.
Winning and losing is all that is taken into account; whether a fighter wins by KO in the 1st, controversial split decision in 12, or by his opponent's disqualification, the end result is the same. The winner always ends up ranked above the loser, so it's strongly "lineal" in nature.
No fighters are ever removed from the list; instead, inactivity is punished slowly but surely, and some retired fighters take years to move down the charts.
- The listed record counts only the fighters' major fights, which I'll explain when I explain the system in more detail.
Some highlights from the top 100:
lm num Fighter record rating recent results
1 1. WLAD KLITSCHKO (34-3-0) 53.81
2 2. RUSLAN CHAGAEV (12-0-0) 42.25
4 3. CHRIS BYRD (24-3-1) 33.26
6 4. NICOLAY VALUEV (21-1-0) 32.79 W12 #37 JEAN BERGERON
3 5. LENNOX LEWIS (34-2-1) 32.31 inactive 51 months.
5 6. SAMUEL PETER (14-1-0) 31.46
7 7. OLEG MASKAEV (21-5-0) 29.08
8 8. VITALI KLITSCHKO (22-2-0) 27.62 inactive 33 months.
9 9. DAVID TUA (28-3-1) 26.60
10 10. MATT SKELTON (13-1-0) 25.83
11 11. SULTAN IBRAGIMOV ( 9-0-1) 25.41
12 12. TONY THOMPSON (16-1-0) 25.23 W2 #149 CLIFF COUSER
13 13. VLADIMIR VIRCHIS ( 9-1-0) 23.14
14 14. CHRIS ARREOLA ( 8-0-0) 22.94 W10 #162 THOMAS HAYES
15 15. EDDIE CHAMBERS (11-0-0) 22.01
16 16. SERGEI LYAKHOVICH (11-2-0) 21.23
18 17. HASIM RAHMAN (20-6-2) 21.17 W2 #331 DICKY RYAN
17 18. OLIVER MCCALL (27-7-0) 21.15
19 19. TYE FIELDS (11-1-0) 20.83
20 20. JOE MESI (16-0-0) 20.69
Nicolay Valuev's win over Jean Bergeron moves him past Sam Peter (this is prior to Peter's October win over Jameel McCline) as well as Lennox Lewis, who after all these years is still in the top 5. Fighters who retire at or near their peak hang around a long time in this system; it's a trade-off, as many fighters are inactive for long periods then "un-retire", and the system is designed to penalize inactivity while allowing for long breaks without removing and adding fighters back. Vitali Klitschko, who recently threatened to come back, is also on a downward trajectory, but should he unretire again he'll be considered a top 10 contender for at least a few more months.
Tony Thompson, Chris Arreola, and Hasim Rahman all won in September but only Rahman moved up one spot. In the top 25 of the chart it's difficult to move up by beating opponents outside of the top 100, as all these men faced.
This chart is through the fights in September and therefore doesn't include #11 Sultan Ibragimov's win over #35 Evander Holyfield. I will have weekly updates to the rankings, sometimes top 10 or 25, based on the important fights that have occurred since the last official rankings.
One last interesting note about the Top 100 is #99 - Mike Tyson. He'll soon fall off the ratings for the first time since 1985.
Comments