ranking the best fighters in the world

WBC Welterweight Titleholder 27 0 (21) Last Year s Ranking: 37 Status Report: Berto crushed Freddy Hernandez (KO 1) in November. Insert sound of crickets here. The guy is undeniably talented, as his demolition of Carlos Quintana (KO 8) also demonstrated, and has every gift one could want in a fighter along with a few you wouldn t. For example, it s not his fault there was an earthquake in Haiti, but he would have taken a giant step forward fighting and beating Shane Mosley when he had the chance. Future: Berto s still a relative baby at 27 years old, but cripes, what s he waiting for? The welterweight division is full of very good fighters, including him. Let s see him against Josh Clottey or Jan Zaveck if he can t get Mayweather or Pacquiao. It s a start, for chrissake.

WBA Super Middleweight Titleholder 23 0 (14) Last Year s Ranking: Unranked Status Report: It s a surprise to most of us that Ward has emerged as the star of the Super Six tournament, beating favorite Mikkel Kessler (Tech Dec 11) and then, less surprisingly, late entrant Allan Green (W 12). Last month he out pointed another sub, Sakio Bika outside the tournament (W 12). That

WBA Featherweight Titleholder 19 0 (15) Last Year s Ranking: 79 Status Report: In the course of 12 months Gamboa went from gifted but amateurish prospect to one of the WBA s 6,712 titleholders, so there s real progress there. How d he do it? A new trainer and a bit more discipline led him to wins over Rogers Mtagwa (KO 2), Jonathan Victor Barros (W 12) and the very good Orlando Salido (W 12). Future: Gamboa is a special talent. He and JuanMa are going to make beautiful music together someday.

Featherweight 39 6 (35) Last Year s Ranking: 10 Status Report: This is a big tumble for one of the game s most respected warriors, but it s just. Marquez fought just once since last year s analysis, obliterating rival Israel Vazquez (KO 3) who looked entirely shot. (Though we imagine we have to give Marquez credit for making him shot.) He gave star Juan Manuel Lopez a good run for a few rounds (KO by 8), but never seemed in control. Still, his resume gets him here. Future: He s 35 years old and has been around the block a couple dozen times, but is nowhere near retiring. What is it with these Marquez boys anyway?

World Junior Flyweight Champion 25 1 1 (21) Last Year s Ranking: 80 Status Report: What a year for Segura. Wins over Walter Tello (KO 3) and Ronald Ramos (KO 4) were good enough, but then he stops the undefeated and wonderful Ivan Calderon (KO 8) to secure the title. This guy isn t pretty in there, but he can punch and he s all fighter. Those two things will take him a long way. Future: A rematch with Calderon is possible and who would mind that? A shootout with Rodel Mayol or Ulises Solis might be even more fun.

Featherweight 34 3 (23) Last Year s Ranking: 8 Status Report: Caballero was so God awful against Jason Litzau (L 10) that our immediate preference was to start a campaign to get his license revoked. You know, start a petition or something. Lucky for him, cooler heads prevailed and we came around to the thinking that anyone can have a really, really bad night. Besides, his pummeling of tough Daud Yordan (W 12) earlier in the year wasn t bad. So we dropped him 18 rungs. It s called tough love, baby. Future: If Caballero gets his way, a rematch with Litzau. But guess what: Caballero won t get his way.

WBA Junior Welterweight Titleholder 24 1 (17) Last Year s Ranking: 42 Status Report: Good news: Khan took everything Marcos Maidana could give him and stayed upright, more or less (W 12). The bad: Maidana is slower than erosion and still landed enough to nearly lay Khan out. Still, in wins over Dmitriy Salita (KO 1), and Paul Malignaggi (KO 11) Khan was hardly touched. Soft chin and leaky defense or not, his offense will take him a long way. Future: Call us crazy, we think Khan will meet the winner of Tim Bradley Devon Alexander.

Junior Flyweight 34 1 1 (6) Last Year s Ranking: 14 Status Report: One of the best pure boxers of the last decade takes a substantial drop here, not due just to his loss to Giovani Segura but to the downward trajectory he s been on the last couple years. His struggles against Rodel Mayol in 2009 were followed by a win over Jesus Iribe (W 12) in which he was floored, and then Segura stopped him. Calderon is still a brilliant little fighter, just not as brilliant as he used to be. Future: We d love to see a rematch with Segura. Maybe we can get a mini Ali Frazier series out of it.

Super Middleweight 27 1 (20) Last Year s Ranking: 59 Status Report: Few of us really believed Froch would whip Arthur Abraham (W 12) but damned if he didn t all but shut that little troll out. Froch earned our respect last year

IBF Light Heavyweight Titleholder Light Heavyweight 22 0 (18) Last Year s Ranking: 98 Status Report: Cloud s win over Glen Johnson (W 12) gets him a long way, as it should. You can make the argument that Johnson outworked him, but there was only one guy who wobbled around the ring a few times that night and it wasn t Cloud. This guy can crack, and he shows up in shape to punch hard for all 12 rounds. Ask steel chinned Fernando Zuniga (W 12). He s going to be hard to beat, and at just 28 years old he s got time to do damage. Future: Who wouldn t like to see this kid against any of the other top 175 pounders