Ranking the 10 Coolest Names in Boxing Today

What's in a name?

Boxing has been the home for many of the sports world's most entertaining characters, and the current batch of fighters has quite a few that stand out from the pack.

Picking and ranking the 10 coolest names in boxing is not an easy task. It's a subjective activity at best.

But all the guys here have names that are interesting, cool or both.

These are the 10 coolest names in the sport today.

Disagree? Feel free to add your own in the comments section.

10. Guillermo Rigondeaux

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Guillermo Rigondeaux has the perfect name.

When you think of the name Guillermo, what comes to mind?

Do you think slick, dashing figure? Someone cut from the Zorro mold? Slicing and dicing with a keen sense of style?

Has this gone too far?

Rigondeaux is one of the slickest operators in the sport. His defensive acumen is borderline ridiculous, and you view it as textbook demonstration of the nuances of the sport or immensely boring.

A lot of debate goes on about that particular subject.

You don’t need to be aesthetically pleasing to win, but Rigo has certainly found out the harsh business realities that come with being a superb technical specimen who struggles to keep mainstream fans interested.

Maybe if he started coming to the ring in a Zorro mask and carrying a sword? Or zipping into the ring from the ceiling?

Anything to get him into the type of fights he deserves would work for me.

9. Christian Hammer

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Christian Hammer has a chance to, well, drop the hammer on Tyson Fury’s world championship hopes when the two meet in February at the O2 Arena in London. It’s a big risk for the British top contender, as he's putting up his mandatory status in a fight that serves as nothing more than a stay-busy affair.

Is it likely that Hammer pulls the upset?

No, probably not, but in boxing, particularly heavyweight boxing, all it takes is one perfectly timed shot to turn out the lights and end the game.

Hammer was born Cristian Ciocan, but no offense meant, Hammer sounds much, much better.

Still, you can’t help but think that he’s missing out on the chance to cash in on all sorts of potentially interesting and oh-so-boxing-sounding nicknames.

Christian “Drop The” Hammer, anyone?

Don’t laugh too hard.

8. Caleb Truax

Caleb Truax is probably best known for being the only somewhat identifiable name on Jermain Taylor’s resume when the former undisputed middleweight king was rising through the ranks toward a ludicrous title shot.

Truax even scored a knockdown in the fight, eventually losing by a fairly wide unanimous decision.

Let me float this one by you, and you tell me what you think.

Doesn’t Caleb Truax sound like the type of name you’d find in a Mortal Kombat video game? 

Maybe not, but that’s the bell his name set off in my head. I could definitely see him slicing and dicing or launching ridiculous 45-kick combinations for a flawless victory. 

Truax is a decent fighter, but he’s probably never going to advance much beyond the good-but-not-great level.

The 31-year-old Minnesotan has beaten a few decent, if not spectacular, fighters, but nobody on the level that you’d need to consider him more than a fringe contender. 

7. Adonis Stevenson

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Adonis is the Greek god of beauty and desire.

You might find it hard to fit lineal and WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson into that particular mold, but the power-punching champion certainly sticks out from the pack. His title has made him hotly desired, but he’s not exactly done a good job of giving the fans the fights they want.

He captured the recognized light heavyweight championship from “Bad” Chad Dawson with a spectacular first-round blowout in 2013, bursting on the scene with one perfectly timed shot to the jaw.

Stevenson has had trouble cashing in on his newfound success, developing a reputation as a fighter who is more apt to find his way out of big fights than into them.

Sergey Kovalev, Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal have all desired fights with the champion who cut his teeth in the late, great Emanuel Steward’s famed Kronk Gym, but for various reasons—some say ducking—Stevenson has passed.

Where’s the beauty in that?

6. McJoe Arroyo

Look, if you know who McJoe Arroyo is, you’re either way ahead of the game or need to find a new hobby to occupy your copious amounts of free time.

That said, I’m in the market for a new hobby.

McJoe and his brother McWilliams Arroyo—are you sensing a trend here—were both decorated amateur fighters who qualified to represent their native Puerto Rico at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Neither medaled, and they soon turned pro in different weight divisions to avoid having to face each other.

Arroyo isn’t just an interesting name. He’s a pretty good fighter who scored his most impressive professional win with a four-knockdown performance against former world champion Hernan Marquez last year.

The win made Arroyo the IBF’s mandatory challenger for its junior bantamweight championship, a position he also holds with the WBO.

A world title opportunity should be coming his way in short order, and hopefully, more of you will know him soon.

His name certainly sticks out.

5. Canelo Alvarez

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Some of the greatest fighters in history have been known, not by their given names but by the nicknames that came to define them.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez appears to be destined for that type of recognition, should his career trajectory continue toward the top of the sport.

You almost never hear anyone refer to him as anything other than Canelo, the Spanish word for cinnamon that was given to the former world champion because of his fiery red hair.

He has made it crystal clear that he intends to duck nobody, no matter how big or dangerous the challenge.

He lost a wide majority decision to pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather in September 2013, but he followed up that deflating defeat with a pair of hard-fought victories over dangerous opponents.

Instead of taking it easy, Canelo battered and stopped Alfredo Angulo in March before taking a decision from Erislandy Lara in July. The latter is a fight that many fans and observers felt would never happen, given the Cuban’s high-risk, low-reward style,

Canelo attempted to follow his rebound 2014 by starting out the new year with a bang by facing Puerto Rican legend and middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, but that fight fell through.

The cinnamon-haired sensation will instead face knockout artist James Kirkland on May 2 in either Las Vegas or San Antonio, Texas.

4. Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson is one of the most iconic fighters in boxing history, and most observers would tell you that he’s pound-for-pound the best to ever lace up the gloves and step through the ropes.

“The New” Ray Robinson, not so much.

The 29-year-old fringe welterweight contender isn’t a household name, even though his name is known to all serious boxing fans. He doesn't do anything that will knock your socks off and isn’t likely to achieve mainstream recognition anytime soon.

But, you have to admit, having a Ray Robinson running around the game is pretty cool.

Robinson hails from Philadelphia, a city that hosted many huge fights involving his legendary namesake. He has a professional record of 19-2, with nine wins coming inside the distance.

He hasn’t beaten much in the way of a notable fighter, but he did get wiped out by former welterweight champion Shawn Porter in 2010.

3. Badou Jack

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Badou Jack has a bunch of things going for him.

He’s a part of Mayweather Promotions, which gives him the promotional and name recognition wind of Floyd Mayweather at his back, and he has a killer nickname.

Literally.

Badou Jack “The Ripper.”

The 31-year-old super middleweight contender rebounded well from a stunning first-round knockout loss against the underwhelming Derek Edwards with a pair of decent wins to regain his contender status.

He has a pretty interesting background story too.

Jack was born to a Gambian father and Swedish mother, born in Stockholm but representing The Gambia at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he was the country’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony.

He's entering his sixth year as a professional fighter, so the pressure is on to progress to the championship level.

2. Tyson Fury

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Call me a sucker, but is there a better name for a heavyweight fighter than Tyson Fury?

Come on.

You don’t have to like him, but what a name!

He brings back memories of legendary heavyweight champion “Iron” Mike Tyson, who he was named after, and Fury just sounds cool.

Makes me think of Nick Fury from Marvel Comics.

Put it together and you really have something.

The Brit is a big man, and he’s known for being one of the best and most vulgar trash-talkers in the entire sport. He’s done a pretty good job of getting things done in the ring too, winning all 23 of his fights, including a pair of grudge matches over rival Dereck Chisora.

The latter of those fights made the 6’9” Manchester native the WBO’s mandatory challenger for Wladimir Klitschko’s heavyweight championship, and he’s also recently been linked to a possible fight with newly crowned WBC titlist Deontay Wilder, according to the Daily Mail.

It must be the name.

1. Knockout CP Freshmart

Thammanoon Niyomtrong.

Newlukrak Pagonponsurin.

Knockout CP Freshmart.

What do all these people have in common?

Well, for one thing, they’re not people but one person. I'm not sure what else we can add here.

Freshmart, or Pagonponsurin, or whatever you want to call him, is an undefeated Thai fighter who recently captured an interim WBA title in the minimumweight division.

It’s an accomplishment for a fighter to achieve that level of success in one combat sport, but Niyomtrong is also a decorated muay thai champion, winning all three of his country’s most important championships in that discipline.

Does that necessitate three wholly separate names?

That’s not really for us to judge, but any guy whose name begins with Knockout—it is boxing after all—contains a pair of random letters and ends with Freshmart is pretty cool in my book.

In fact, he’s the coolest.