Current Issue: February 2003

World Ratings February 2003

Each month we bring you the latest world ratings as compiled for the magazine at press-time, listing the latest Top-10 in each of the 17 weight divisions.

Boxers are American unless stated. Fighters won-lost-draw records appear alongside their names. No Contests appear as a fourth figure. An asterisk* denotes southpaw.

where Boxing Monthly also concentrates on a TOP 20 for each of the main UK divisions, giving fighters a real incentive - to break into the top 20 best. The only exceptions are the fly, bantam and s/bantam divisions where we show a British top 15 at present.

CRUISERWEIGHT	LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT
190lbs/13st 8lbs 1: Vassiliy Jirov* (Kazakhstan), 31-0, IBF 2: Jean-Marc Mormeck (France), 28-2, WBA 3: Wayne Braithwaite (Guyana), 18-0, WBC 4: Johnny Nelson (GB), 43-12-1, WBO 5: James Toney, 65-4-2 6: Virgil Hill, 48-4 7: Guillermo Jones (Panama), 29-3-1 8: Alexander Gurov* (Ukraine), 32-3-1 9: O'Neil Bell, 20-1-1 10: Sebastian Rothman (S. Africa), 16-1-2, IBO	175lbs/12st 7lbs 1: Roy Jones Jr., 47-1, WBC/WBA super, IBF/IBO 2: Dariusz Michalczewski (Germany), 47-0, WBO 3: Antonio Tarver*, 20-1 4: Bruno Girard (France), 42-2-2 5: Mads Larsen* (Denmark), 43-1 6: Montell Griffin, 44-3 7: Clinton Woods (GB), 32-2 8: Eric Harding*, 21-2-1 9: Lou Del Valle*, 31-3-1 10: Thomas Ulrich (Germany), 23-1

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT	MIDDLEWEIGHT
168lbs/12st 1: Joe Calzaghe* (GB), 35-0, WBO 2: Sven Ottke (Germany), 29-0, IBF 3: Eric Lucas (Canada), 36-4-3, WBC 4: Byron Mitchell, 25-1-1, WBA 5: Robin Reid (GB), 33-3-1 6: Antwun Echols, 29-4-1 7: David Starie (GB), 31-2 8: Markus Beyer* (Germany), 26-1 9: Syd Vanderpool* (Canada), 33-2 8: Mikkel Kessler (Denmark), 30-0, IBA	160lbs/11st 6lbs 1: Bernard Hopkins, 41-2-1-1, WBC/WBA super, IBF 2: William Joppy, 34-2-1, WBA 3: Harry Simon (Namibia), 23-0, WBO 4: Robert Allen*, 33-4-0-1 5: Antonio Perugino (Italy), 21-0 6: Howard Eastman (GB), 33-1 7: Erland Betare (France), 35-7-2 8: Raul Marquez*, 34-2 9: Tito Mendoza (Panama), 27-4 10: Evans Ashira (Kenya), 29-3

LIGHT-MIDDLEWEIGHT

WELTERWEIGHT

154lbs/11st (Called junior middleweight by the IBF,  super welterweight by the WBC and WBA) 1: Oscar De La Hoya, 35-2, WBC/WBA 2: Ronald Wright*, 44-3, IBF 3: Fernando Vargas, 22-2 4: Kassim Ouma*, 17-1-1 5: Daniel Santos* (Puerto Rico), 26-2-1-1, WBO 6: Verno Phillips, 34-9-1 7: Bronco McKart*, 45-4 8: Javier Castillejo (Spain), 54-5 9: Santiago Samaniego (Panama), 36-6-1 10: Juan Carlos Garcia, 25-4-3

147lbs/10st 7lbs 1: Vernon Forrest, 35-0-0-1,WBC 2: Shane Mosley, 38-2  3: Antonio Margarito (Mexico), 27-3-0-1, WBO 4: Ricardo Mayorga (Costa Rica), 23-3-1-1, WBA 5: Michele Piccirillo (Italy), 37-1-0-1, WBU 6: Thomas Damgaard* (Denmark), 31-0 7: Cory Spinks*, 30-2 8: Rafael Pineda (Colombia), 37-5 9: Andrew Lewis (Guyana), 22-1-1 10: Michel Trabant (Germany), 36-0

LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT

LIGHTWEIGHT

140lbs/10st (Called junior welterweight by the IBF and WBO, super lightweight by the WBC and WBA) 1: Kostya Tszyu (Aus.), 29-1-1, WBC/WBA super, IBF 2: Zab Judah*, 28-1-0-1 3: Vivian Harris, 22-1-1, WBA 4: Arturo Gatti (Canada), 34-6 5: Sharmba Mitchell*, 49-3 6: Demarcus Corley*, 28-1-1, WBO 7: Ricky Hatton (GB), 31-0, WBU 8: Micky Ward, 38-12 9: Jesse James Leija, 43-5-2-1 10: Miguel Cotto (Puerto Rico), 13-0

135lbs/9st 9lbs 1: Floyd Mayweather Jr., 29-0, WBC 2: Jose Luis Castillo (Mexico), 46-6-1 3: Stevie Johnston*, 34-2-1 4: Juan Lazcano, 31-2-1 5: Paul Spadafora*, 36-0, IBF 6: Artur Grigorian* (Uzbekistan), 35-0, WBO 7: Leonard Dorin (Romania), 21-0, WBA 8: Angel Manfredy, 40-6-1-1 9: Juliens Lorcy (France), 53-3-2 10: Julio Diaz, 26-2

SUPER FEATHERWEIGHT

FEATHERWEIGHT

130lbs/9st 4lbs (Called junior featherweight by the IBF and WBO) 1: Acelino Freitas (Brazil), 32-0, WBA/WBO 2: Joel Casamayor* (Cuba), 28-1 3: Philip Ndou (South Africa), 29-1, WBU 4: Jesus Chavez (Mexico), 38-2 5: Steve Forbes, 22-1 6: Sirimonkol Singmanassak (Thailand), 40-1, WBC 7: Yodsanan Nanthachai (Thailand), 37-2-1 8: Cassius Baloyi (South Africa), 28-1, IBO 6: Carlos Hernandez, 37-3-1 10: Nate Campbell, 23-0

126lbs/9st 1: Marco Antonio Barrera (Mexico), 56-3-0-1 2: Erik Morales (Mexico), 42-1 3: Naseem Hamed* (GB), 36-1, IBO 4: Derrick Gainer*, 38-5-1, WBA 5: Juan Manuel Marquez (Mexico), 39-2 6: Scott Harrison (GB), 18-1-1, WBO 7: Manuel Medina (Mexico), 60-12 8: Juan Pablo Chacon (Argentina), 44-3 9: Zahir Raheem, 20-0 10: Oscar Leon* (Colombia), 23-2, IBA

SUPER BANTAMWEIGHT	BANTAMWEIGHT
122lbs/8st 10lbs (Called junior featherweight by the IBF and WBO) 1: Paulie Ayala*, 34-2 2: Manny Pacquiao* (Philippines), 35-2-1, IBF 3: Oscar Larios (Mexico), 47-3-1, WBC  4: Salim Medjkoune* (France), 40-3-1, WBA 5: Joan Guzman (Dom. Rep.), 18-0, WBO 6: Wayne McCullough (GB), 26-3 7: Willie Jorrin, 28-1-1 8: Bobby Velardez, 24-4-1 9: Israel Vazquez (Mexico), 33-3 10: Osamu Sato (Japan), 26-2-2	118lbs/8st 6lbs 1: Tim Austin*, 25-0-1, IBF 2: Veeraphol (Thailand), 40-1-1, WBC 3: Rafael Marquez (Mexico), 28-3 4: Johnny Bredahl (Denmark), 53-2, WBA 5: Cruz Carbajal, 22-11-1, WBO 6: Toshiaki Nishioka (Japan), 23-2-2 7: Pete Frissina, 26-3-1 8: Eidy Moya (Venezuela), 15-2 9: Adan Vargas (Mexico), 37-4-1 10: David Gerault (France), 26-1

SUPER FLYWEIGHT

FLYWEIGHT

115lbs/8st 3lbs (Called junior bantamweight by the IBF and WBO) 1: Masamori Tokuyama (Japan), 28-2-1, WBC 2: Alexander Munoz (Venezuela), 23-0, WBA 3: Fernando Montiel (Mexico), 24-0-1, WBO 4: Mauricio Pastrana (Colombia), 29-3-1, IBA 5: Luis Perez (Nicaragua), 21-1, IBF 6: Felix Machado* (Venezuela), 22-4-1 7: Martin Castillo (Mexico), 21-1 8: Gerry Penalosa* (Philippines), 46-5-2 9: Mark Johnson*, 40-3-0-1 10: Saen Sor Ploenchit (Thailand), 43-1

112lbs/8st 1: Eric Morel, 33-0, WBA 2: Pongsaklek Wonjongkam* (Thailand), 46-2, WBC  3: Irene Pacheco* (Colombia), 27-0, IBF  4: Gerson Guerrero (Mexico), 25-4 5: Alexander Mahmutov (Russia), 39-6 6: Omar Narvaez (Argentina), 13-0-2, WBO  7: Damaen Kelly (GB), 18-1 8: Mzukisi Sikali (South Africa), 27-4-2 9: Hawk Makepula (South Africa), 20-2 10: Adonis Rivas (Costa Rica), 18-3-1-1

LIGHT-FLYWEIGHT

MINIMUMWEIGHT

108lbs/7st 10lbs (Called junior flyweight by the IBF and WBO) 1: Rosendo Alvarez (Nicaragua), 31-2-1, WBA 2: Jorge Arce (Mexico), 31-3-1, WBC 3: Melchor Cob Castro* (Mexico), 66-8-4 4: Nelson Dieppa (Puerto Rico), 19-2-2, WBO 5: Bebis Mendoza (Colombia), 28-1 6: Pichitnoi Sithbangprachan* (Thailand), 25-2 7: Fahlan Sakareen* (Thailand), 49-3-2 8: Alex Sanchez (Puerto Rico), 29-2-1 9: Juanito Rubillar (Philippines), 27-8-6 10: Wendyl Janiola (Philippines), 12-0

105lbs/7st 7lbs (Called mini-flyweight by the IBF and WBO) 1: Jose Antonio Aguirre (Mexico), 28-1-1, WBC 2: Miguel Barrera (Colombia), 19-0-2, IBF 3: Chana Porpaoin (Thailand), 49-2-2 4: Roberto Leyva* (Mexico), 21-1-1 5: Noel Arambulet (Venezuela), 19-2-1-1, WBA 6: Keitaro Moshinu (Japan), 23-9 7: Isaac Bustos (Mexico), 18-6-3 8: Daniel Reyes (Colombia), 29-1 9: Khulile Makeba* (South Africa), 17-1 10: Jorge Mata (Spain), 10-0-2, WBO

Articles in this issue
LITTLE BIG BOSS Chris Byrd outclassed the legendary Evander Holyfield to become a heavyweight champion, yet his lack of enormity precludes him from being a threat to today’s megabig big men. But should this lessen his achievement? STEVE FARHOOD reports	HANDPICKED BUT HAPPY Life as a Spanish language TV pundit suited former light-middle champ Raul Marquez, but things changed when Sugar Shane Mosley needed an opponent for his first fight in that division. GRAHAM HOUSTON reports	STILL LOOKING FOR LOVE Those who know know that Tim Austin (below) is one of the world’s best fighters, but he’s a long way from being a household name. GRAHAM HOUSTON reports	World Rankings:   See where the top fighters were rated when the February 2003 issue went to press..

 Next issue on sale:
28 February 2003