Many of the sports most dominant fighters throughout history have taken losses and this is the same today with many of the top rated fighters such as Wladimir Klitschko, Manny Pacquiao, Saul Alvarez, Adrien Broner, Juan Manuel Marquez, Carl Froch, Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto and literally hundreds of others having tasted defeat before in their campaigns to the ring. Despite what many casual fans seem to think today in the Mayweather Era, a loss does not mean anything if a fighter can come back from it and rise again to the top of the sport. Fighters are generally more remembered for the quality of opposition rather than the raw figures.
Nevertheless there is something exciting about watching a fighter who has never tasted defeat. A man who has had his hand raised each and every time he has stepped through the ropes. Here is my personal opinion on the top batch of currently undefeated fighters in the sport today.
1. Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather Jr (47-0-0 26KO)
Surprise surprise right? The long reigning pound for pound king has yet to taste defeat despite having taken part in 47 contests, more than half of which were for a world title. I am going to keep this one short and sweet as fans know about Mayweathers all time great credentials and that list is long enough to be an article of its own.
2. Andre ‘S.O.G’ Ward (27-0-0 14KO)
This is a man who I was forced to remove from my pound for pound list due to his inactivity as of late. However his new deal with Roc Nation Sports has been inked and we should hope to see him back in the ring during 2015. There are a number of enticing matchups around him featuring the Dirrell Brothers or possibly someone like a James DeGale or George Groves, even a Carl Froch rematch or a showdown with someone like Chavez Jr or GGG could be possible. There are also some tremendous fighters in the division above him at light heavyweight.
3. Guillermo ‘El Chacal’ Rigondeaux (15-0-0 10KO)
An undefeated two time Olympic gold medallist and current unified reigning world champion. Unfortunately for him he has yet to continue unifying the division as other top fighters dodge him like the plague around his weight class. Along with Golovkin and Thurman he rounds out the three most avoided fighters in the sport after his performance outclassing the 2012 fighter of the year Nonito Donaire. Hopefully 2015 can bring some better fights for the jackal.
4. Gennady ‘Triple G’ Golovkin (31-0-0 28KO)
In enough of my articles I have gone on about the credentials this man brings to the ring and his list of strengths are tremendously long. He has been dominating every single fighter in the middleweight division other than the 3-4 biggest names who don’t want to sign their own death warrant by taking that kind of fight. You can expect him to be ducked through 2015 and like Rigondeaux it is just up to the various promoters and fighters around him to decide when the risk to reward ratio reaches a point where it is worth it to put a big name fighter in with him.
5. Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (26-0-1 23KO)
One of the few fighters to actually have a fantastic year in 2014. I actually agreed with many that he deserved of the fighter of the year honours for that year. Two knockouts over previously undefeated fighters before knocking down Bernard Hopkins en route to winning every round against him to unify three of the four major light heavyweight straps. Pascal is a great fight for him and will most likely be the best fight in that division unless someone can somehow get Stevenson to agree to fight him.
6. Danny ‘Swift’ Garcia (29-0-0 17KO)
I have pointed out in previous articles that he did not have a stellar year in 2014. However, despite this he holds wins over Erik Morales, Amir Khan, Zab Judah and Lucas Matthysse. A very good resume for a 26-year-old fighter. Also he has a fight scheduled with fellow 140lb title holder and Amir Khan beater in Lamont Peterson coming up which will be another good name to add to his resume should he be able to beat him.
7. Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez (41-0-0 35KO)
8. Kell “Special K’ Brook (33-0-0 22KO)
Welterweight has been the most buzzing division in boxing now for some years. The three titleholders there are Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Kell Brook. Undefeated in 33 contests Brook finally made his mark on the world scene in his last fight when he bested the then undefeated Shawn Porter to take his recently acquired IBF strap. He has his mandatory defence next, and after that we could see him in some really exciting matchups.
9. Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford (25-0-0 17KO)
With a great year in 2014 this is a name, which will likely be a two-weight world champion in the next 18 months. His move to 140lbs is very exciting as there is far more recognisable talent there than at 135. His victories over Ray Beltran, Ricky Burns and Yuri Gamboa have left no doubt that he is an elite talent and could be a regular pound for pound name for a long time to come.
10. Nicholas ‘Axe Man’ Walters (25-0-0 21KO)
Honourable mentions
Keith Thurman, Mikey Garcia, Peter Quillin, Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury, Takashi Uchiyama, Jessie Vargas, Carl Frampton, Leo Santa Cruz, Demetrius Andrade, Amir Imam, Viktor Postol and the Charlo Brothers.
