Ranking the Best Undefeated Fighters in Boxing Today
Boxing fans tend to make too much of undefeated records, even as they are also dismissive of them. On one hand, fighters with even a single loss often sink unfairly under the radar. On the other hand, a lot of fans fail to properly appreciate how hard it is to keep winning fights against trained opponents who are all trying to beat you.
Still, it can't be denied that when a fighter is undefeated, it adds an extra layer of intrigue. A big part of Floyd Mayweather's ability to sell pay-per-views rests on the fact that he's never lost.
Most of the fighters on this list will lose. Even Mayweather might, as unlikely as it seems. But right now, these are the best 12 undefeated fighters in the world.
12. Keith Thurman
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Keith Thurman is one of the hottest fighters in the sport. For that reason, many fans would expect to see him higher here.
I think Thurman is a future superstar. He's a great athlete with explosive power and intelligence. He has the power to end a bout in a hurry and the savvy to make adjustments in the middle of the fight.
But a ranking like this has to be based as much on resume as individual opinion. Thurman would beat most of the fighters who are ranked ahead of him here, but they all have bigger wins on their resumes.
Still, he will quickly climb all rankings in the year ahead.
11. Kell Brook
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When you pick multiple fights per month, you are inevitably going to get some wrong. But usually when I end up picking against the winner, it's a fight where I was on the fence.
That wasn't the case with Kell Brook's defeat of Shawn Porter last summer. Although I thought Brook had legitimate talent, I was very surprised when he captured the IBF welterweight title. It was a competitive bout but ultimately not that close.
Brook has improved his conditioning substantially, and against Porter, he boxed with intelligence and guts. The victory should put him in the mix for some of the biggest fights in boxing's most competitive division.
I'd love to see him matched with fellow Brit Amir Khan. The winner of that would make sense as an opponent for Floyd Mayweather.
10. Takashi Uchiyama
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It's possible I'm rating Takashi Uchiyama a bit too low here, due to the fact that he fights in Japan and I've only been able to watch videos of him. I've seen all the recent fights of all the fighters who are ranked above him here, and it's easier to be impressed by the fighters you are more familiar with.
Uchiyama is clearly a serious talent. The WBA super featherweight champ is an explosive, all-action fighter, having stopped 17 of the 21 men he's faced.
His title-winning stoppage of Jorge Solis and TKO of Bryan Vazquez clearly show Uchiyama is for real. Hopefully, he'll match up against more Western fighters in the next couple of years.
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9. Danny Garcia
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2014 has not been Danny Garcia's year. In March, the WBA and WBC light welterweight champion escaped with a contested majority decision against tough veteran Mauricio Herrera.
In August, Garcia smashed Rod Salka by Round 2 KO. But it was a tough performance to get enthusiastic about, considering that Salka wasn't even rated as a lightweight. Fans were justified in criticizing Garcia for taking that kind of fight.
In earlier eras, when a champ fought five or six times per year, an opponent like Salka would be more than acceptable. But if you're going to hold two of the major belts in a division and fight just twice per year, more is expected. Fans aren't subscribing to Showtime to watch Garcia fight unranked opponents from a lower division.
Still, Garcia's pre-2014 resume speaks for itself. His Round 4 stoppage of Amir Khan was spectacular. His unanimous decision over the ferocious Lucas Matthysse proved he was a legitimate champion.
But in 2015, fans are going to expect to see him back in the mix against worthy opponents.
8. Sergey Kovalev
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In November, WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev will face WBA and IBF champion Bernard Hopkins in a unification bout. Although he will be two months shy of turning 50, Hopkins should be the toughest opponent yet for Kovalev.
So far Kovalev has walked through everybody else he's faced. The Russian is 25-0-1 with 23 KOs. His draw was a technical draw that only lasted two rounds.
Kovalev took the title from previously unbeaten Nathan Cleverly by brutal Round 4 TKO. Kovalev is an extremely dangerous puncher, but he's also a patient, methodical fighter.
Hopkins is one of my favorite athletes of all time, but I don't feel good about his chances against Kovalev.
7. Terence Crawford
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Terence Crawford is both the breakout fighter of 2014 and one of the leading candidates for outright Fighter of the Year. He entered the year as a highly regarded but still somewhat unknown contender. He's become one of the sport's fastest-rising stars.
In March he traveled to Scotland and captured the WBO lightweight belt from veteran champion Ricky Burns. For his first defense, Crawford went home to his native Omaha, Nebraska, and faced fellow unbeaten Yuriorkis Gamboa.
Gamboa was a former world champion at featherweight. He's an explosive athlete with a stellar Cuban amateur pedigree and has been one of the most well-regarded fighters of recent years.
Early in the fight, it looked like Gamboa's speed and experience were going to be tough for Crawford to overcome. But he made some brilliant adjustments and completely turned the fight around, hammering Gamboa and dropping him in the fifth and the eighth and finishing him for good in the ninth.
Crawford will finish the year in late November against tough veteran Raymundo Beltran. It will not be an easy fight, but I expect Crawford to win.
6. Mikey Garcia
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After a brilliant 2013 campaign that saw him capture world titles in two divisions, Mikey Garcia has been inactive for almost all of this year. Since nearly shutting out Juan Carlos Burgos in a unanimous-decision win in January, Garcia has been out of action.
But his resume before this year demands that he rank high on a list like this. Garcia has been a methodical but highly destructive technician, compiling a record of 34-0 with 28 KOs.
Garcia has pounded veteran champions like Orlando Salido and Juan Manuel Lopez, along with tough younger fighters like Roman Martinez. His next trip to the ring will likely happen at 135 pounds.
So long as Terence Crawford can get by Raymundo Beltran this year, he'd make for a highly anticipated superfight against Garcia.
5. Gennady Golovkin
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Entering his defense this weekend against Marco Antonio Rubio, WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is the hottest fighter in the sport. Currently 30-0 with 27 KOs, GGG is riding a knockout streak of 17 straight fights.
Golovkin has walked through very tough former champions and contenders. The Olympic silver medalist has formidable boxing skills. But he generally finds it more efficient to simply walk opponents down and smash them.
To truly reach the top levels of stardom, Golovkin is going to need to find other big names willing to face him in the ring. Ultimately, that might mean climbing to 168 to face Andre Ward.
4. Guillermo Rigondeaux
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Guillermo Rigondeaux is an amateur boxing legend. As a member of the famed Cuban national team, he won two Olympic gold medals.
His ascent to the top of the professional game was stunningly quick. In just his ninth professional fight he blew through Rico Ramos, knocking him out within six rounds to capture the WBA super bantamweight title.
That was a nice win, but Ramos was an inexperienced fighter with limited ability. The fight that really established Rigo's place in the boxing world was his April 2013 unanimous-decision win over Nonito Donaire.
At the time, Donaire was coming off Fighter of the Year honors and was ranked top five in every pound-for-pound ranking. Rigondeaux gave him a boxing lesson.
Top Rank and HBO have tragically dropped the ball in promoting Rigondeaux since that huge win. But his remarkable talent cannot be denied, and with fellow unbeaten champions Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton holding belts at 122, worthy fights should come for Rigondeaux.
3. Roman Gonzalez
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In September, undefeated Nicaraguan star Roman Gonzalez became a three-division world champion when he travelled to Tokyo and beat lineal flyweight champion Akira Yaegashi by TKO in a thrilling war. It improved his record to 40-0 with 34 KOs.
Even in a weight class sport like boxing, fighters in the lowest weight classes tend to fly far under the radar. But Gonzalez is the best fighter flyweight or below since Ricard Lopez.
Hopefully Gonzalez will eventually get some of the recognition he deserves in North America. For now, he's gained a popular following in Japan, which is never easy for a foreign fighter. He faces experienced veteran Rocky Fuentes there in November.
2. Andre Ward
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Andre Ward has yet to fight in 2014, and it's unlikely he will. His most recent bout was last November against Edwin Rodriguez, an exciting but very inexperienced contender.
It's a shame that one of the sport's top fighters has been so inactive, but Ward's place here at No. 2 cannot be denied. Between 2009 and 2012, Ward had the most impressive run of any fighter in recent years, beating multiple world champions with complete ease.
Since stopping Chad Dawson in September 2012, Ward has seriously lacked for worthy opponents. I can see a few finally emerging for him now, including middleweight star Gennady Golovkin and light heavyweight monster Sergey Kovalev.
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
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Despite what Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his most passionate fans like to claim, his perfect 47-0 record hardly proves that he is the greatest pound-for-pound boxer who ever lived. I would also never accept that Rocky Marciano's 49-0 record makes him the best heavyweight of all time or that Joe Calzaghe's 46-0 even puts him in the top 50.
But all three of those perfect records are remarkable achievements—Mayweather's most of all. In his career, he has beaten top-ranked champions from super featherweight to light middleweight. And he's rarely even had a close fight.
When I'm an old man on my last legs, I expect to still be having debates with people about where Mayweather stands among the all-time greats. His perfect record so far at least earns him a place in the conversation.
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