| 04 January 2012
Welcome everyone, to the slowest time of the year for boxing fans. I'm talking about the period from mid-December to early January when the sport essentially shuts down, at least at the highest levels.
On the plus side, that barren time is coming to an end. Just as the birds usher in the Spring, the return of Friday Night Fights heralds a brand new year of fisticuffs. And since FNF is coming our way in two days, we've almost made it.
In the meantime, we can debate who's hot and who's not, which is what our Power Rankings are all about (well, the former part anyway). This isn't a pound-for-pound list (we just did one of those, and we only do it once a year), but a pseudo-scientific manner of determining who has impressed the most during the last three years. It's probably heavier on the pseudo than the scientific, but none of us were math or physics majors, so we do the best we can.
Our top four remains intact from December, but there was shuffling around among the other spots thanks to Amir Khan's recent loss and Manny Pacquiao's victory over Oscar De La Hoya now falling outside the three-year rolling window for these rankings. And if that isn't one for the "time flies when you're having fun" file, I don't know what is.
On to the numbers!
Boxer Power Rankings - January 2012
1. Lucian Bute - 20.89 - I think just about everyone wants to see Bute and Andre Ward get it on, but that's not in the cards for the first half of 2012. Bute will no doubt find someone to fight in front of the raucous Canadian fans while everything works itself out.
2. Nonito Donaire - 18.43 - After just three fights at bantamweight, the Filipino Flash is moving up again to batle Wilfredo Vazquez for a vacant super bantamweight belt in February. Donaire certainly has the frame for it, so we'll see if his power and speed remain intact.
3. Vitali Klitschko - 18.36 - Could 2012 be the last campaign for the elder Klitschko brother? He's 40 now, so don't be surprised if he takes care of Dereck Chisora, takes one more fight and hangs up the gloves.
4. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez - 18.10 - Canelo had one of the best years of any top boxer in 2011, going 4-0 with three knockouts. He could certainly move up to middleweight, but there are intriguing possibilities still remaining for him at 154. Here's one: How about James Kirkland?
5. Yuriorkis Gamboa - 16.18 - It will be good to see Gamboa in action again in March. What's not so good? That he'll be fighting Rocky Juarez, whose best days are clearly behind him.
6. Amir Khan - 15.68 - The narrow loss to Lamont Peterson didn't hurt Khan's place on this list too much, but his score took enough of a hit that he lost touch with the leaders. It's easy to forget that Khan is only 25, so we'll be hearing from him again.
7. Sergio Martinez - 14.14 - Another fight, another relatively unknown opponent coming up for Maravilla. He'll fight at MSG in March, but Matthew Macklin isn't the kind of guy who will get too many people excited.
8. Wladimir Klitschko - 11.83 - We were supposed to see big Wlad in action before the end of the year, but an injury pushed the bout back to March 2012. Jean Marc Mormeck will have to find something special inside him to avoid the fate of every other smaller challenger against Klitschko.
9. Manny Pacquiao - 11.80 - Surprised to see Pac-Man all the way down here? Don't be. Our formula rewards boxers for KOs, and believe it or not, Manny has just two knockouts in the last three years - and none since November 2009.
10. Andre Ward - 11.16 - Here's another guy who doesn't shine in our scoring system because he doesn't knock many people out. That's okay though, because Ward cemented his place among the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world by outclassing Carl Froch in the Super Six final.
The next seven: Robert Guerrero, Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley, Felix Sturm, Lamont Peterson, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto
