New Brizel Editorial: Rating Top Light Heavyweights in 175 Pound Canelo Division 2020
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
With Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez now sitting atop the 175 light heavyweight division as he current World Boxing Organization World Light Heavyweight champion, with his eleventh round technical knockout of Sergey Kovalev at Grand Garden arena at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, 2020 brings a completely different viewpoint of the top rated light heavyweight champions and contenders.
Light Heavyweight Number One: Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 53-1-2 with 36 knockouts, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Canelo remains the top championship-caliber fighter at 160 pounds middleweight, 168 pounds super middleweight, and 175 pounds light heavyweight. Experts still believe Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin got robbed in their first bout, which the judges scored as a draw. Nonetheless, Canelo could also be a factor in the 200 pounds cruiserweight division. Canelo has proved, as always, adaptable to the opponent.
Light Heavyweight Number Two: Artur Beterbiev, 15-0, 15 knockouts, Montreal, Canada. Beterbiev’s eleventh round stoppage of 17-0 Oleksandr Gvozdyk set up a 2020 titular unification bout with WBO champion Canelo. Beterbiev currently holds the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation World Light Heavyweight titles.
Light Heavyweight Number Three: Dmitry Bivol, 17-0, 11 knockouts, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, is the current World Boxing Association World Light Heavyweight champion. Bivol is open to a titular unification bout with Canelo.
Light Heavyweight Number Four: Jean Pascal, 34-6-1 with 20 knockouts, Laval, Quebec, Canada. Pascal currently holds the interim WBA World Light Heavyweight title and the WBC Silver Light Heavyweight title, and could be a future opponent for Canelo in 2020.
Light Heavyweight Number Five: Gilberto Ramirez, 40-0 with 26 knockouts, Matzatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico. Nicknamed ‘Zurdo’, the southpaw WBO World Super Middleweight champion moved up to light heavyweight in April 2019, with a fourth round stoppage of Tommy Karpency.
Light Heavyweight Number Seven: Jesse Hart, 6-2 with 21 knockouts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The super middleweight contender has moved up to light heavyweight, and could be a major factor in the 175 pounds division. Not to be taken lightly.
Light Heavyweight Number Eight: Maksim Vlasov, 44-3 with 26 knockouts, Samara, Russian Federation. The current Eurasian Boxing Parliament Light Heavyweight champion, the title which he won in July 2019 with a 12 round decision over Isaac Chilemba, the first man to have beaten him eight years earlier. A dangerous fighter at light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Light Heavyweight Number Nine: Fanlong Meng, 16-0, 10 knockouts, Chifeng, China.
The IBF Inter-Continental champion and winner of the IBF eliminator bout in Macao in June 2019. Meng could be a factor if he beats Artur Beterbiev in 2020 as the IBF mandatory challenger.
Light Heavyweight Number Ten: Joshua Buatsi, 12-0, ten knockouts, Croydon, London, United Kingdom. The Ghana native fighting out of the UK currently holds the WBA International Light Heavyweight title. Buatsi could be a factor at 175 pounds in 2020 if he beats Dmitry Bivol for the WBA world title.
Honorable Mention Light Heavyweight Name in the Mix: Marcus Browne, Badou Jack, Oleksandr Govzdyk, Sergey Kovalev (a rematch with Canelo is unlikely if and when Kovalev returns, though Kovalev could fight one of the other champions if he records a couple of significant comeback wins), Anthony Yarde, Joe Smith Jr., Igor Mikhalkin, Eleider Alvarez, Leon Bunn, Azizbek Abdugoforov, Dominic Boesel, Umar Salamov, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (currently in controversy in Nevada for refusing VADA drug testing before his scheduled December 2019 bout with Daniel Jacobs), Nick Hannig, Pierre Dibombe, Junior Younan, Steven Ward (the WBO European champion) and Davide Faraci (the Italian Light Heavyweight champion).
COMMENTS
English