March / April 2008 Top 15 Pound for Pound

Yes, the title says March and April; yes we should have posted our new ratings two weeks ago. My bad or should I say our good. The response to our website has been overwhelming, thank you. Trying to keep up with all the suggestions is sometimes overwhelming, but please keep them coming. We really appreciate, want, and need them.

As we thought, what has generated the most response has been the Top 15 Pound for Pound feature. The reaction has been equally amusing and somewhat controversial! A trainer approached me at the State Golden Gloves and said, “I don’t agree with your rankings…” and then he proceeded to tell me why. At a promotional party at Ker’s WingHouse for Galvan’s Promotions, Americo Santos Sr. called me to his table and proceeded to count the reasons he didn’t agree with my ratings, in a polite but firm way. (He was offered a chance to be a guest rater this month, but chose not to. The offer stands for anyone who wants a shot at winning new friends.) Also, Jesse “Dallas Kid” Lara posted a comment on our MySpace page www.myspace.com/northtexasboxing about our ratings. Amusing? Yes, Kid, tell us how you really feel. There were more, but you get the point. Most comments tended to fall on the “I don’t agree side.” As I explained to anyone who bothered to broach the subject on either side, they are not just MY ratings. This is a group effort of the editorial staff of North Texas Boxing (NTB). We all share in the honor and we all truly enjoy hearing your opinion.

On to the ratings; the first five stayed the same. Actually, Vanessa Jaurez, who was tied for 5th place last month, is in 6th by herself this month. Domonic Jenkins, who was 6th by himself, finds himself tied for 7th this time. Neither moved up or down so in essence the first seven stayed the same. After that, the jockeying began for various reasons. Most notably Francisco Rincon dropped out entirely because he has been inactive for over a year. As we explained last month we have three simple rules to qualify for the ratings. In no specific order: (1) a fighter must have a winning record; (2) a fighter must have more than five fights; (3) a fighter cannot be inactive for more than 365 days. Plus after conversations with several folks close to Rincon, we understand he has unofficially retired. What a shame for boxing fans like us. He was an exciting and very scientific fighter.

Almost everyone after that benefited from Rincon dropping out, but we also had some new names appear this month. Fidencio Reyes fighting out of Garland and Humberto Tapia out of Dallas made strong showings because of their records. (Thanks to staffer Sean Malone for digging up these jewels. He and Sean Reed have been great additions to NTB; their general knowledge of boxing and boxers locally and world wide is amazing and a pleasure for a boxing fan like me to be around.)

Then there is Big Rod “Lord of the Rings” Willis. Personally I believe Willis never reached his full potential. Unfortunately it seems Willis is now on the down side of what was once a promising career, losing his last three fights, two of them by KO. That may be the reason he was rated lower than a fighter with a 500% record (Jose Garcia). I differ with my stable mates on this one, but that is the beauty of these ratings we can agree to disagree and still share a cold pitcher.

There is one final point I feel I need to address. To everyone who has asked, as much as I would like to rate middleweight Brian Vera, he does not live in North Texas. Yes. He fights in the area often; I think he once lived in the area, but he doesn’t anymore. Our loss. That doesn’t mean we at NTB don’t root for him. He was one of our favorite fighters and we were more than happy to see him win on national TV recently.