There isn't much of interest in this months Top 100 Heavyweight Boxing Rankings. Tyson Fury is still #1, since no one in the top 10 competed. #11 Efe Ajagba got a win, Frank Sanchez moved up to #14 and the big news was probably Robert Helenius' upset over #13 Adam Kownacki, which catapulted Helenius from #112 to #17.
And with every scheduled fight in April pushed back several months due to the Coronavirus, there's not much to look ahead to.
So the most significant things about this month's Top 100 is not what's in it; it's what is NOT in it.
Specifically, WHO is not in it:
Dropped out of SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing Top 100 for April, 2020:
#92 WLAD KLITSCHKO (42-5-0) --last rated win -59 months. #98 ROBERT ALFONSO (2-1-1) L TKO 1 #162 CARLOS NEGRON #99 JOEY DAWEJKO (3-5-2) L UD 10 #17 FRANK SANCHEZ
We're not talking about Robert Alfonso, who lost to Carlos Negron and dropped out. Nor Joey Dawejko, who fell from #99 after losing to Sanchez.
No, we're talking about Wladimir Klitschko, who is one month shy of 5 straight years without a win, and finally drops out of our Top 100 after spending more than two decades here.
Klitschko debuted at #64 in our December 1996 rankings after beating journeyman Exum Speight in a 2nd round KO. Speight was no world-beater; in fact, it was his second loss in the month of November. It was Wlad's 2nd pro fight after winning Olympic gold in 1996.
As everyone knows, Wlad had a rollercoaster early career and it's reflected in our rankings. He rose to #26 at 19-0 (5-0 in significant fights) before a stunning TKO upset to #106 Ross Purity dropped him to #83.
From there, though, Wlad rattled off 16 straight wins, including some major ones: he beat Monte Barrett to enter our Top 10 for the first time in July of 2000, and in October of the same year he beat Chris Byrd and made the top 5. He beat Jameel McCline, then ranked #5, and peaked at #3 before he suffered another upset TKO loss, this time to #97 Corrie Sanders in March of 2003.
That loss only dropped Wlad to #4—he was 35-2 with 18 significant wins, and bounced back with two wins before disaster struck YET AGAIN. Wlad lost to Lamon Brewster, and Wlad was knocked out of the top 10. Few figured he would rebound after his third setback. Almost no one thought he'd become one of the most dominant heavyweight champions of all-time.
But that's what happened. Klitschko needed just one win to get back in the top 10. Then came what might have been the pivotal fight of his career when he faced #5 Sam Peter, survived three knockdowns and won clearly on points. Once again in the top 5, by April of 2006 he trailed only #1 Lennox Lewis (retired), #2 Chris Byrd, and #3 Nicolay Valuev. He faced interim champion Byrd on the 21st and beat him in a 7th round TKO, becoming interim SportsRatings Heavyweight champion.
| Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May 2006 |
Fighter |
Rating
|
Rated Record | April 2006 results |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | LENNOX LEWIS | 42.69 | 33-2-1 | --last rated win -34 months. |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | WLAD KLITSCHKO | 39.97 | 24-3-0 | KO 7 #2 CHRIS BYRD [interim HW Champion] |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | NICOLAY VALUEV | 31.80 | 14-0-0 | |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | VITALI KLITSCHKO | 27.94 | 17-2-0 | --last rated win -16 months. |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | CHRIS BYRD | 26.23 | 16-3-1 | L KO 7 #4 WLAD KLITSCHKO |
Just a few months later, Klitschko would take over at #1 from the retired Lewis, in our September 2006 rankings. He would not relinquish the title for over 9 years!
His first defense was against #8 Calvin Brock; his 3rd was a revenge match against Lamon Brewster. In his 7th, he beat Ruslan Chagaev, who was #2 at the time, and this put brother Vitali Klitschko—who had retired and then come back strong—at #2 behind him. Amazingly, the Klitschko brothers ranked #1 and #2 for over six straight years!
| Mar |
Apr |
May |
June |
July 2009 |
Fighter |
Rating
|
Rated Record | June 2009 results |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | WLAD KLITSCHKO | 59.12 | 31-3-0 |  KO 9 #2 RUSLAN CHAGAEV |
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | VITALI KLITSCHKO | 32.19 | 19-2-0 | |
| 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | NICOLAY VALUEV | 29.43 | 21-1-0 | |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | ALEX POVETKIN | 29.08 | 12-0-0 | |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | RUSLAN CHAGAEV | 26.50 | 11-1-0 | L KO 9 #1 WLAD KLITSCHKO |
Eleven more defenses followed, and Wlad won them all, most of them with ease. Finally, in November of 2015 he lost to Tyson Fury and fell to #2, after an incredible 111 months at #1. He waited for a rematch that never came, and decided to take on up-and-coming undefeated #5 challenger Anthony Joshua. After a back-and-forth affair Klitschko was stopped in the 11th round.
That was three years ago. Since then, Klitschko has of course been inactive, and therefore losing points, dropping down our ratings slowly but surely, until exiting this month.
After several comeback rumors never came to fruition, it looks like Wlad has called it a day for sure. Could he still compete today? Who's to say. He keeps himself in great shape, and who would you bet on against him? Not many people—the two men who beat him at the end of his career are #1 and #2 in this month's rankings!
Wladimir Klitschko was rarely an exciting fighter, but he was an all-time great as his long stint at #1 proves. Below is a summary of his significant fights, with opponent rank at the time included.
11/1996: Win by TKO over #140 EXUM SPEIGHT 02/1997: Win by DQ over # 93 CARLOS MONROE 09/1997: Win by TKO over #161 JAMES PRITCHARD 03/1998: Win by UD over #252 EVERETT MARTIN 05/1998: Win by KO over # 94 CODY KOCH 12/1998: LOSS by TKO to #106 ROSS PURITTY 05/1999: Win by TKO over #128 TONY LAROSA 09/1999: Win by TKO over # 94 AXEL SCHULZ 11/1999: Win by KO over #226 PHIL JACKSON 12/1999: Win by KO over # 71 LAJOS EROS 03/2000: Win by KO over # 50 PAEA WOLFGRAMM 04/2000: Win by TKO over # 48 DAVID BOSTICE 07/2000: Win by TKO over # 50 MONTE BARRETT 10/2000: Win by UD over # 8 CHRIS BYRD 03/2001: Win by TKO over #128 DERRICK JEFFERSON #3 08/2001: Win by TKO over # 67 CHARLES SHUFFORD 03/2002: Win by TKO over # 98 FRANS BOTHA 06/2002: Win by TKO over #103 RAY MERCER 12/2002: Win by RET over # 5 JAMEEL MCCLINE 03/2003: LOSS by TKO to # 97 CORRIE SANDERS 08/2003: Win by KO over # 45 FABIO MOLI 12/2003: Win by TKO over #124 DANELL NICHOLSON 04/2004: LOSS by TKO to # 89 LAMON BREWSTER 10/2004: Win by TD over # 16 DAVARL WILLIAMSON 04/2005: Win by TKO over # 47 ELISEO CASTILLO 09/2005: Win by UD over # 5 SAMUEL PETER 04/2006: Win by TKO over # 2 CHRIS BYRD 11/2006: Win by TKO over # 8 CALVIN BROCK 03/2007: Win by KO over # 29 RAY AUSTIN 07/2007: Win by RET over # 17 LAMON BREWSTER 02/2008: Win by UD over # 10 SULTAN IBRAGIMOV 07/2008: Win by TKO over # 6 TONY THOMPSON 12/2008: Win by TKO over # 14 HASIM RAHMAN 06/2009: Win by RET over # 2 RUSLAN CHAGAEV 03/2010: Win by KO over # 4 EDDIE CHAMBERS 09/2010: Win by KO over # 13 SAMUEL PETER 07/2011: Win by UD over # 4 DAVID HAYE 03/2012: Win by KO over # 12 JEAN MARC MORMECK 07/2012: Win by KO over # 10 TONY THOMPSON 11/2012: Win by UD over # 43 MARIUSZ WACH 05/2013: Win by TKO over # 14 FRANCESCO PIANETA 10/2013: Win by UD over # 3 ALEX POVETKIN 04/2014: Win by TKO over # 32 ALEX LEAPAI 11/2014: Win by KO over # 4 KUBRAT PULEV 04/2015: Win by UD over # 9 BRYANT JENNINGS 11/2015: LOSS by UD to # 4 TYSON FURY 04/2017: LOSS by TKO to # 5 ANTHONY JOSHUA
Comments