There was little movement in the SportsRatings Heavyweight Top 100 this month; in fact, the top 21 positions stayed the same, and the top 25 would have been the same if not for Lennox Lewis slipping out due to inactivity.
Wlad Klitchko, Ruslan Chagaev, Samuel Peter, Nicolay Valuev, and Alexander Povetkin remain the top 5 fighters. The rest of the top 10 remains the same, as none of the fighters fought in April. On May 31st, Chagaev and Valuev are scheduled to meet in a rematch.
last mo. | Rank | Fighter | Rating |
Rated Record | Recent Results |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | WLAD KLITSCHKO | 57.24 |
34-3-0 |
|
2 | 2 | RUSLAN CHAGAEV | 46.09 |
10-0-0 |
|
3 | 3 | SAMUEL PETER | 38.07 |
16-1-0 |
|
4 | 4 | NICOLAY VALUEV | 35.12 |
20-1-0 |
|
5 | 5 | ALEX POVETKIN | 32.88 |
10-0-0 |
|
6 | 6 | TONY THOMPSON | 26.25 |
14-0-0 |
|
7 | 7 | DAVID TUA | 25.63 |
28-3-1 |
|
8 | 8 | VLADIMIR VIRCHIS | 24.61 |
12-1-0 |
|
9 | 9 | VITALI KLITSCHKO | 23.75 |
20-2-0 |
inactive 40 months. |
10 | 10 | CHRIS ARREOLA | 23.20 |
9-0-0 |
The rest of the top 100 sees a bit more activity. Kevin Johnson moves up a few spots to #27 by beating former #224 Terry Smith, while undefeated Chazz Witherspoon's win over #113 Domonic Jenkins puts him right behind Johnson, up 9 notches. In June, Witherspoon takes on #10 Chris Arreola in what should consecrate one of the two as a legitimate title contender.
Two other fighters making leaps are #51 Albert Sosnowski, up from #73 after a fifth round KO of previous #108 Terrell Nelson. Seb Koeber makes a smaller jump from 71 to 55, defeating #121 Zinedine Benmakhouf for only his second win over a registered fighter. Sosnowski has 10 'registered' wins.
Martin Rogan makes his debut in the top 100, flying in from #117 to land at #64 after winning the 'Prizefighter' tournament as documented in a previous post. Ola Afolabi jumps in at #66 after beating fellow cruiserweight Eric Fields in the 1st round [correction: the fight was a 10th round KO, not 1st round]. Cruiserweights can be ranked if they beat a registered heavyweight, or another cruiserweight who has previously beaten a heavyweight. For example, David Haye, a prospective heavyweight fighter himself, has been in the top 100 for a while since beating Tomasz Benin, and is currently right behind Afolabi at #67.
Denis Boytsov, Mark De Mori, and Jason Estrada all move up the lower reaches of the charts for their victories, while Brian Minto wins but still slides three spots; Minto was sliding down due to inactivity, and beating the 321st ranked heavy doesn't give him very many points. It will, however, stop him from falling out of the top 100 altogether.
Another fighter, Evgeny Orlov, makes his debut on the ranking system, jumping in at #93 by decisioning Humberto Evora in the sixth round. As a "Russian giant" at 6' 9" and 280 pounds, comparisons with Nicolay Valuev are inevitable; Ruslan Chagaev and Sergei Lyakhovich both used Orlov as a sparring partner to prepare for their bouts with Valuev. Though he's already lost twice and drawn once in ten fights, those blemishes came in his early 20s. After seven years of competing in kickboxing, Orlov returned to boxing last year and is 6-0 since.
Ola Afolabi beat Eric Fields in the 10th round, not the first
Posted by: Fact | May 05, 2008 at 11:35 AM
Thanks Fact, i'll fix that.
Posted by: SportsRatings | May 05, 2008 at 11:58 AM