MOSLEY BREAKS INTO THE TOP TEN POUND-FOR-POUND
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 02 Feb 2009
Sugar Shane Mosley broke into the top ten rankings of The Ring Magazine list of fighters pound-for-pound. From nowhere, Mosley now ranks number 6 after beating Mexican Antonio Margarito last week. Sugar now sports a record 46-5-0 (39 KOs) after the big upset which erased Margarito from the top ten list.
Mosley was back as world champion having snatched the World Boxing Association welterweight title. He was a clear underdog of the said title fight, but he reverted the odds to score a big upset.
The top five rankings remained the same with Manny Pacquiao maintaining his position at the top after staying for 269 successive weeks on the list. Second is Juan Manuel Marquez who stayed on the list for 9 weeks. Number three is Welshman Joe Calzaghe with an immaculate record 46-0-0 (32 KOs) and 152 weeks on the list.
At number four is Bernard Hopkins, 138 weeks on the list and at number five is Mexican Israel Vasquez who lingered for 78 weeks on the top ten roster. Rounding up the top ten were: 7. Rafael Marquez, 36 weeks; 8. Ivan Calderon, 86 weeks; 9. Ricky Hatton, 15 weeks; and 10. Celestino Caballero of Panama who is new on the list.
For more than five years now, Pacquiao stayed at the top ten of the pound-for-pound list of The Bible of Boxing. He broke into the list with an upset win over Marco Antonio Barrera.
Hatton raised his ranking from number ten last week. This could make Hatton more marketable in preparation for the date with Pacquiao on May 2, 2009. The Briton is poised to rake in the biggest purse of his professional career.
Gone from the top ten like Margarito was Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto. Cotto will return to the ring on February 21, 2009 to face Michael Jennings for the vacant WBO welterweight championship.
Margarito won an 11th round TKO over Cotto on July 26, 2008. Margarito lost the fight and his WBA title by 9th round TKO by Mosley. He and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, had their licenses temporarily suspended by the California State Athletic Commission, pending the result of an investigation of a "plaster-like substance" which was found inside Margarito's hand wraps before the Mosley fight.
Caballero is the WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion. He fought against WBA world champion Somsak Sithchatchawal in Thailand on October 4, 2006 in order to win the WBA title.
He won by TKO by knocking the Thai boxer down three times in the third round causing the referee to stop the bout. Caballero has defended the title five times and the last one, he knocked out Elvis Meija in one round.
On November 21, 2008, Caballero knocked out the unbeaten IBF superbantamweight champion Steve Molitor in the 4th round at the Casino Rama, Ontario.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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