5 prominent names in the running for Boxing's next 'Pound for Pound' King
With Floyd “Money” Mayweather set to retire in September this year, Boxing will lose not only one of the best ever but it will also have the biggest title it has to offer, the “pound for pound king”, vacant. Mayweather has been sitting at the very top of the rankings for over a decade and he has never looked like being dethroned in anyway but with his retirement imminent, it is only right that we take a look at the fighters who are most likely to take up the throne in future.
5.Gennady Golovkin
32-0 with 29 knockouts which is the highest knockout percentage in middleweight history, has almost cleaned up the middleweight division and is the current WBA and IBO middleweight champion. It’s quite amazing indeed. Golovkin is doing what most others dream of doing which is fighting almost 4 fights a year and knocking out opponents in style which is earning him a big reputation and an even bigger fan base. Currently, Golovkin stands 7th as per the rankings given by the ring magazine and he falls somewhere in that area in every boxing fanatic’s mind. The reason why he is only 5th even though he has sparkling credentials is that he hasn’t fought any big superstar yet and he is 33. The fighters that he wants to fight are either ducking him or are having other commitments. Somehow I feel that in order to be truly recognised in the pound for pound elite section he would have to fight at super middleweight or cut down his weight to fight in divisions below middleweight with the former looking more likely.
4.Andre Ward:
Andre “S.O.G” Ward would have been 1st or 2nd in the list if it hadn’t been for his inactive Boxing career for over 16 months due to issues with his promoter. Ward who was at the time the WBA, WBC and ring Super middleweight champion had his WBC and Ring titles stripped off him by both the governing bodies but “ S.O.G” is back and is he facing Paul Smith on June 20th . Ward came into prominence in the Super Six World Boxing classic tournament when he dismantled world champion Mikkel Kessler in 11 rounds to take his belt. Wins over top 10 middleweights Sakio Bika and Arthur Abraham followed but his career defining performance came against Pound for Pound elite Carl Froch in a match where Froch got schooled by Ward. Ward got a knockout victory over the bigger Chad Dawson and dominated Edwin Rodriguez in his fight before the hiatus. Ward when on song is truly unbeatable. He is versatile, quick, aggressive... to cut the long story short he is the complete package and has a decent fan base too .