MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (UP TO 160 POUNDS)
1. Canelo Alvarez (47-1-1)
With the retirements of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao,
Alvarez, the 2015 ESPN.com fighter of the year, is the new face of boxing. He
won the lineal title in a decision victory against Miguel Cotto in November in
the year's most anticipated fight other than Mayweather-Pacquiao. Unlike that
fight, Alvarez-Cotto delivered fans a quality HBO PPV main event that added
another chapter to the rich history of the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry. Alvarez
returned May 7 (on Cinco de Mayo weekend) to open the new T-Mobile Arena in Las
Vegas to make his first defense in which he knocked Amir Khan cold in the sixth
round for the leading KO of the year candidate. Then all attention turned to
whether Alvarez will take on Gennady Golovkin in September. Let's hope Alvarez
does the right thing and accepts the mandatory fight the world wants to see.
2. Gennady Golovkin (35-0)
After selling out New York's Madison Square Garden and
putting on a flawless performance in a one-sided eighth-round knockout of David
Lemieux to unify to titles in October, GGG hoped to fight Canelo Alvarez, for
whom he is a mandatory challenger, in a mega fight. Alvarez and his team begged
to put it off while they took interim fights, which Golovkin did on April 23.
He faced unworthy mandatory challenger Dominic Wade and did as expected,
blowing him away in a second-round knockout at the sold-out Forum in Inglewood,
California, to retain his title for the 16th time (second-most in division
history) and notch his 22nd KO in a row. Now bring on Alvarez (47-1-1)!
3. Miguel Cotto (40-5)
In the most brilliant performance of his career in June
2014, Cotto moved up in weight and thrilled the heavily Puerto Rican crowd at
Madison Square Garden in New York by dropping Sergio Martinez four times (three
times in the first round). Cotto stopped Martinez in the 10th round to win the
legitimate middleweight championship and seal his Hall of Fame legacy, as he
became the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four weight
divisions. After a year off and a change of promoters -- he left Top Rank to
sign with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports -- Cotto returned last June 6 and crushed
former unified titlist Daniel Geale in a one-sided, fourth-round annihilation
to set up a mega HBO PPV fight against Mexican star Canelo Alvarez on Nov. 21.
Cotto gave a great account but lost a unanimous decision to the bigger,
stronger man. A return to junior middleweight is likely for his return, but a
proposed June 18 fight is off as Cotto will wait until the fall.
4. Daniel Jacobs (31-1)
Since suffering his only loss in 2010 by knockout against
Dmitry Pirog in a vacant title bout, Jacobs has won 11 fights in a row -- all
by knockout -- overcome cancer and won a secondary title. He made his third
defense on Dec. 5 in the much-anticipated battle of Brooklyn as he faced his
longtime pal and former titleholder Peter Quillin at the Barclays Center in
their hometown. Rather than a classic fight, Jacobs crushed Quillin, stopping
him in 85 violent seconds in a brief, but exciting performance that is by far
the biggest win of his career. A potential May 21 fight against former titlist
Andy Lee (34-3-1) was discussed but it's dead. Jacobs could face fellow
titleholder Billy Joe Saunders (23-0) or former titlist Andy Lee (34-3-1) this
summer.
5. Billy Joe Saunders (23-0)
After two postponements, England's Saunders got his
mandatory title shot against Ireland's Andy Lee on Dec. 19 in England. In an
otherwise dreadful fight, Saunders dropped Lee twice in the third round and
then spent the rest of the fight jabbing a passive Lee to win a majority
decision. There were discussions about Saunders next facing Gennady Golovkin in
a unification fight, but Saunders eventually turned down the career-high money
and took a much easier fight against unaccomplished Ukrainian Max Bursak
(34-4-1), who is 3-3 in his last six fights. However, that April 30 bout was
called off because Saunders suffered a left hand injury.
6. Andy Lee (34-3-1)
In December 2014, Ireland's Lee was trailing on all three
scorecards -- two by shutout scores -- when he landed a huge right hook and
stopped Matt Korobov to win a vacant title, fulfilling the prophecy of the
late, great Emanuel Steward, Lee's longtime trainer, that he would win a world
title. On April 11, Lee was supposed to make his first defense against former
titlist Peter Quillin, but Quillin didn't make weight, so a title was not at
stake in their excellent fight that saw both guys get knocked down (Lee twice)
and end in a draw. In his second defense, Lee met England's Billy Joe Saunders,
the mandatory challenger, on Dec. 19 and lost a majority decision and his belt
in a horrible fight that was devoid of action other than Lee getting knocked
down twice in the third round.
7. David Lemieux (35-3)
Lemieux, a big slugger from Montreal, met fellow big hitter
Gennady Golovkin on HBO PPV on Oct. 17 at New York's Madison Square Garden in a
title unification fight and it did not work out well for Lemieux, who took a
beating en route to a one-sided, eighth-round knockout loss. Although HBO owes
him a comeback fight, Lemieux's next bout was supposed to come in Montreal
against James De La Rosa (23-4) at 163 pounds on March 12. However, Lemieux was
165.8 pounds and the fight was canceled. He returned (and made 160 pounds) on
May 7 on the Alvarez-Khan HBO PPV undercard and destroyed Glen Tapia in a one-sided
fourth-round knockout victory.
Next: TBA
8. "Kid Chocolate" Peter Quillin (32-1-1)
After giving up his world title in September 2014, Quillin
was supposed to challenge Andy Lee (who had won it) in April 2015 on NBC in
prime time. However, Quillin failed to make weight and couldn't win the belt in
what wound up as a draw in which both fighters were knocked down. Quillin
returned Sept. 6 on NBC against obscure Australian Michael Zerafa in a terrible
mismatch/tune-up for a big fight against titlist and Brooklyn, New York, rival
Daniel Jacobs. Quillin blew away Zerafa in the fifth round and then faced
Jacobs on Dec. 5 in the battle for borough bragging rights. It didn't go well
for Quillin, who was stopped in 85 seconds in a massively disappointing performance.
9. Chris Eubank Jr. (22-1)
England's Eubank Jr., son of the former two-division world
titleholder, suffered his first loss to countryman Billy Joe Saunders by split
decision in November 2014 in a high-stakes grudge match, but he has won four fights
in a row since, including the British title on March 26. That was when he
engaged in a brutal fight with Nick Blackwell, whom he stopped in the
10th-round, after which Blackwell wound up in a medically induced coma, which
he thankfully came out of.
10. Hassan N'Dam (32-2)
Former titleholder N'Dam went to David Lemieux's turf in
Montreal to face him for a vacant belt on June 20. It was a terrific fight, but
Lemieux knocked him down four times in an otherwise competitive bout, but all
the knockdowns were too much to overcome, and N'Dam lost a clear decision. He
made his return on March 12 and won a lopsided eight-round decision -- 80-71,
79-72 and 79-72 -- against French countryman Patrick Mendy in Paris.
Author: Dan Rafael
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