Boxing: Buying or Selling the Top 10 Middleweights as Future Champs

Middleweight King Sergio Martinez currently appears to have his division as thoroughly locked down as any champion in the sport. While there is considerable debate about where the Argentinian champ might rank among the all-time greats, one rarely hears much discussion about who among his current peers might give him a good fight.

Ever since his highlight reel, second-round, one-punch knock out of Paul Williams, the popular consensus among boxing people has been that Martinez stands alone at the top of the mountain at 160, with not a single other soul in sight. 

At 36 years of age, Martinez's time remaining in the division is probably limited. He is scheduled to fight undefeated and unheralded Brit Darren Barker this weekend in Atlantic City. Beyond that there is talk of him possibly turning himself into a wrung-out, 150 pound skeleton to fight Manny Pacquiao for a big payday, or else going up in weight to challenge Lucian Bute in Montreal. 

If Maravilla should chose to vacate The Ring middleweight crown, do not expect to see anybody else claiming it any time soon.

Instead, expect the division to descend into an anarchic state of alphabet soup lunacy, with several talented fighters making somewhat convincing claims to being the man, while their promoters do everything possible to make sure that the matter is never decided decisively in the ring.

10: Marco Antonio Rubio

Marco Antonio Rubio is the kind of guy who could provide the dictionary picture to go along with the definition of "contender." Just 31-years-old, he has already fought 58 times, going 52(45)-5-1 for his career. 

He had his chance at all the marbles back in 2009, when he fought Kelly Pavlick for the undisputed, lineal, Ring recognized middleweight championship, but his corner threw in the towel on his behalf after nine. 

He has not lost since then, and has surprised some people by continuing to stay relevant at 160 pounds. He was an underdog against the undefeated David Lemieux, in front of Lemieux's hometown Montreal crowd. Instead Rubio turned in a cagey performance and knocked Lemieux out for his 50th career win.

I'm not buying on Rubio as a future middleweight champ. But I would not be surprised if whoever does become the next champ has to beat Rubio at some point along the way.  

9: H'ssan N'Dam N'Jikam

H'ssan N'Dam N'Jikam is an undefeated French-Cameroon fighter, with 17 of his 26 victories coming by way of stoppage. 

The WBA is calling him their "interim" world middleweight champion. This is another one of those idiotic cases of the WBA designating their reigning world champion (Felix Sturm) a "super" world champion, and thereby vacating their "regular" world title, so that they can use it to promote fights between fighters who probably aren't good enough to beat the current world champion. 

So am I buying on N'Jikam as a future world champ? Well, I'm certainly buying the fact that he's going to wear some sort of promotional belt around his waist. I mean, the WBA was so anxious to see it happen, they made themselves look stupid just so that it could be so. 

N'Jikam is a good athlete with an extensive, international amateur record (77-4-3). He is explosive and has nice footwork. He is a boxer-brawler who can fight well from outside, utilizing his length, though he's not afraid to slug at close range. 

Do I buy him as a guy who could lock down the division and reign as the undisputed, lineal, Ring champ? It's tough for me to say based on his WBA "interim" championship victory against Avtandil Khurtsidze, who he clearly outclassed physically.

I would love to see him go at it with a big brute like Julio Casear Chavez Jr. Unfortunately, I doubt Bob Arum would share my enthusiasm.

I'm not ready to buy on N'Jikam just yet. But it's fair to say that he is a stock worth watching.  

8: Paul Williams

With over 40 professional fights, Paul Williams appears very much to be a fighter in decline. In July he won a majority decision at jr. middleweight against Cuban Erislandry Lara. It is possible that nobody who watched that fight, aside from the three blind mice who scored it, actually believes Lara didn't win.

Last November he was knocked out by Sergio Martinez in spectacular fashion: A one punch, second round bomb sent Williams crashing to the canvas as if he had been shot. It was the kind of brutal knockout that some fighters never fully recover from.

Still, Williams is only 30-years-old, and with his resume it would be crazy to write him off entirely at this point. He has enough of a name to continue getting fights offered to him, and the lanky southpaw may yet prove to be a major factor at 160 pounds.

But as a future, undisputed, lineal middleweight champion of the world, I am ultimately going to sell.  

7: Dimitry Pirog

The undefeated 31-year-old Pirog is the WBO middleweight title holder, a strap he picked up with a shocking one-punch stoppage of Daniel Jacobs. 

A former chess player with over 230 amateur bouts, Pirog fights like a kind of intellectual brute. He mixes a studied and measured control of distance with a willingness to close and bang. I have a knee-jerk impulse to say that he holds his hands too low, but his head and shoulder movement is first rate and he counter-punches extremely well. 

I think he is two heaping handfuls of trouble for anybody in the middleweight division. He might be the fighter at 160 I would be most interested in seeing matched up with Martinez.

I might be willing to buy on him as a future undisputed, lineal world middleweight champion, if I thought he would be able to get the necessary fights. Given the way that boxing works, I'm not sure that happens. Bob Arum is not sticking Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. in front of this guy unless he absolutely has to.

At 31 years of age, one has to wonder how much longer his window will remain open.

A nice fight for Pirog might be somebody like N'Jikam—a match up of European-based fighters where "somebody's O is going to go." Another fellow European that would be a terrific opportunity for Pirog would be the WBA "super" champion, Felix Sturm of Germany.  

6: Sebastian Zbik

Last June Sebastian Zbik lost his first professional fight, when he dropped a majority decision, and his newly awarded WBC middleweight strap, to Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. It is not quite accurate to say that the fight was controversial, but plenty of people watching scored the fight for Zbik and probably quite a few more scored it a draw. 

In a fair world, Zbik would be in line for a rematch. But this is boxing, so don't hold your breath. 

At the very least, though, Zbik raised his profile and stature in defeat. Still, for reasons that were clear in the Chavez fight, it is really hard to view Zbik as a future undisputed world champ at middleweight. 

The 30-1 Zbik has just ten knockouts, and his lack of power was the reason he lost to Chavez, who simply walked through Zbik's quick and accurate artillery in order to reach the trenches where he could attack Zbik's body. 

Zbik is a skilled  and exciting fighter and I would love to see more of him. But as a future world champ, I have to sell. 

5: Julio Caesar Chavez Jr

Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. has become boxing's current Rodney Dangerfield, the man who gets no respect. The conventional wisdom is that he has been among the most coddled and protected fighters of all time, and that just because he has now collected the WBC promotional trinket is no reason to expect that the cautious handling will now stop. 

But one more thing Chavez Jr. has in common with the late, great comedian: Entertainment-wise, he is going to give you your money's worth every time. 

And that, along with the legendary name, is why the promoters love him and the fans warm up  to him more and more with every passing fight.

Against Zbik Chavez he demonstrated a strong body attack, a lot of heart and a willingness to eat punches. That willingness to eat leather is going to cause him serious problems against the division's heavier hitters, if Freddy Roach can't instill some better defensive habits in him first. 

Chavez has already surprised a lot of people by climbing all the way to number five in the middleweight rankings. He has the hottest trainer in boxing and the most powerful promoter. 

Add to that a genuine ability to bang and it is not impossible to imagine Chavez someday standing atop the division as the undisputed, lineal champ-although, of course, this could only happen in a post-Martinez universe.

He's got a terrific back story, and as a fan who grew up on his old man, I personally love to write about him.

But until I see some improvements in his defense, I've still got to sell.  

4: Sebastian Sylvester

Sebastian Sylvester, 34-4-1, of Germany is the former IBF middleweight champion. He dropped the belt to Daniel Geale last May in a split decision, with two judges scoring by wide margins for Geale and one judge 118-110 for Sylvester.

In 2008 Sylvester lost a one-sided unanimous decision to fellow countryman Felix Sturm.

With 40 professional fights, the 31-year-old Sylvester is a skilled and experienced ring veteran. He fights behind a very tight guard, delivering quick and accurate straight punches. With only 16 of his 34 wins coming by way of knockout, it seems safe to speculate that a lack of punching power has hurt him on the elite level.

Sylvester would likely represent a tough night's work for any 160 pounder, including Martinez, but I just can't buy him as a future, undisputed middleweight champ. Three years removed from his loss to Sturm, he appears to be a fighter who has leveled out as a gatekeeper.

On Saturday night he fights undefeated prospect Grzegorz Proksa in Germany. 

3: Matthew Macklin

"The Tipperary Tornado" Matthew Macklin is a Irish-English fighter with a professional record of 28(19)-3. In June he lost an exciting split decision to WBA "super" champion Felix Sturm, in front of Sturm's hometown crowd in Cologne, Germany. 

There has been some cries of controversy about the decision (Macklin protested vigorously in the post-fight interview) but I don't really see it. It was a close fight with many close rounds. Sturm started slowly but took charge down the stretch and landed more significant punches throughout the fight.

I scored it 115-113 and suspect I would not have scored it that close if i had been watching it live rather than on television (Sky TV, to boot). Macklin was a very busy fighter, but Sturm blocked and deflected him skillfully, and much of Macklin's action had little real effect.

Macklin is among the most exciting fighters in the middleweight top ten. If fights were made for the benefit of the fans rather than the long term investment yield of promoters, we would get to see a Chavez-Macklin bout.

As much as I like Macklin's style, I'm not buying him as a future undisputed champion. I think Sturm beats him more decisively in a re-match. I suspect Chavez might be able to walk through him and beat him up. 

2: Daniel Geale

Daniel Geale, who represented his native Australia at welterweight during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, is the IBF world middleweight champion, a title he won by split decision over Sebastian Sylvester in front of Sylvester's home crowd in Germany last May. In August he defended successfully, winning a unanimous decision against Eromosele Albert.

Geale is 26-1 with 15 knockouts. A veteran of the Australian club-fighting scene, his bout with Sylvester was thought to represent a significant step up in competition for him.

He handled it well. In front of a partisan German crowd he won two score cards by wide margins. The third judge scored 118-110 for Sylvester; make of that what you will.

I have not seen enough from Geale to buy on him as a future world, undisputed, lineal champion just yet. Of course, if Martinez were to vacate his spot atop middleweight by moving up, Geale could theoretically take the top spot by beating the only man in front of him, Felix Sturm.

I have my doubts about that fight ever being made. If it was, I would favor Sturm, but not by a wide margin. 

1: Felix Sturm

At 36(15)-2-1, Felix Sturm is the WBA "super" middleweight champion and ranked number one in the division behind The Ring and lineal champion, Sergio Martinez. He lost a unanimous decision (that some people think he won) to Oscar De La Hoya in 2004. His only other loss was by TKO to Javier Castillejo in 2006 and was avenged within the year.

In a healthier boxing universe, there would be enough interest in a Sturm-Martinez match up to make it worthwhile for both men. Martinez would be a prohibitive favorite, but Sturm has fought at an elite level for the better part of a decade and is nobody's walk-over.

If Martinez were to vacate his status as The Ring and lineal champion, Sturm would be in the best position to take his place. I would favor him in a matchup with number two, Daniel Geale, and favor him heavily in a rematch against number three, Matthew Macklin.

Whether either of those two fights ever gets made remains to be seen. I have to think most fighters in the middleweight top ten would prefer to fight Julio Caesar Chavez Jr., who would represent a more high profile opportunity, a better payday and most likely a less daunting foe. 

Right now he is scheduled to fight undefeated British prospect Martin Murray on December 2.