Who Is the Biggest Draw in Boxing Now
Ranking the 10 Hottest Names in Boxing Right Now
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As 2014 begins, talk of a possible Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight has picked back up later waning over the by 2 years.
And as long equally that fight is fifty-fifty being considered as a possibility, PacMan and Coin are the two hottest fighters in the sport, no affair what curmudgeonly battle writers might want to think.
But afterward a twelvemonth like 2013, the sport is loaded with hot names. Every bit the commencement big battle weekend of 2014 approaches, the parts are in place for 2014 to be another twelvemonth filled with classic fights.
10. Sergey Kovalev
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WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev was one of the sport'due south heady breakout stars in 2014. The Russian native who trains out of Florida went four-0 on the year with four early stoppages, against two former world champions and two prospects with a combined record of 44-2.
Kovalev won the WBO belt in August when he stopped unbeaten Nathan Cleverly in front end of Cleverly's hometown oversupply in Wales. Kovalev concluded 2013 with a scary Round 2 knockout of Ismayl Sillakh in Montreal.
ix. Saul Alvarez
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It pains me to include Saul Alvarez on this list, considering he bluntly doesn't deserve it based on ring performances. But in terms of drawing ability lone, he merits inclusion.
In that location'due south a reason Golden Boy thinks information technology can sell him on pay-per-view with Alfredo Angulo.
I am actually a fan of Alvarez as a fighter and think he sometimes gets a bad rap from certain fans, due to his popularity. But in my opinion he continues to exist over-hyped and popular beyond what his ring functioning deserves.
Merely similar I heard an art school professor tell Jon Stewart on the Daily Show recently, "the publicisa critic. It'south not a good one, merely itisane."
8. Mikey Garcia
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On my ain Bleacher Study ballot, I picked Mikey Garcia for 2013 Fighter of the Yr. Garcia extended his perfect tape on the year, recording three stoppage victories and collecting world titles in two divisions.
As 2014 begins, there take already been signs that Top Rank and HBO stand prepare to promote Garcia harder than ever. He is an extremely well-rounded fighter technically and has a swell finishing instinct when an opponent is in problem.
Across that, he is a humble yet intelligent personality who will continue to get more popular with the large Mexican-American fanbase, also every bit with boxing fans of all other backgrounds.
7. Marcos Maidana
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Marcos Maidana came into 2013 already a popular fighter. For a couple of years at present, Golden Boy has known information technology can ever get to Maidana every bit a headliner on a Saturday night Showtime card and count on creating a fan buzz.
Like fellow Argentinian Lucas Matthysse, Maidana was known as a busy, mauling slugger. But Maidana has worked with super trainer Robert Garcia for all of his recent fights, and the evolution in his overall boxing skills and ring generalship has been evident.
Everything came together for Maidana terminal December when he crush up unbeaten Adrien Broner and captured the WBA welterweight belt.
Broner's public antics had caused many boxing fans to sour on him, despite his talent. The down-to-world only super tough Maidana was the perfect dramatic foil for deflating the cocky young American star and his popularity since has been surging.
six. Adonis Stevenson
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In 2013, Montreal resident and Haitian native Adonis Stevenson recorded iv knockout victories while capturing the WBC and lineal low-cal heavyweight championship from Chad Dawson past stunning Round one KO in June.
Montreal has ever been a fight-mad town, and the fans in that location have adopted Stevenson as their new favorite. Although the fight that HBO would patently beloved to make with Stevenson is a unification bout with WBO champ Sergey Kovalev, Stevenson has stated a preference for either Bernard Hopkins or Carl Froch.
Froch and Hopkins both have big wins over Montreal fighters, and then those fights make sense business organization-wise for Stevenson. On the other paw, a fight with Kovalev is what battle fans want worldwide.
Either way, Stevenson is a very hot fighter who a lot of people wait frontward to watching in 2014.
5. Danny Garcia
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For two directly years, Danny Garcia has turned in one of the year's most impressive battle performances. In 2012 information technology was his Circular 4 TKO of Amir Khan, to unify the WBC and WBA light welterweight belts.
In 2013 it was his dismantling of the usually dangerous Lucas Matthysse on the Floyd Mayweather-Saul Alvarez undercard. Matthysse had himself entered the fight ane of the sport's hottest stars.
As 2014 starts, Garcia is probably looking at a move upwards to welterweight, where he can look frontwards to more very high-profile fights. If he keeps winning, his ticket for the Mayweather jackpot volition no doubt get punched in the next couple of years.
4. Gennady Golovkin
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There are still a few boxing fans reserving sentence on Gennady Golovkin as 2014 begins, claiming that the WBA middleweight champion's unbeaten record contains nobody of true note.
Just well-nigh fans are evaluating GGG on the eyeball test, also, and he aces things at that place. And it'due south not authentic to say he's fought nobodies. He has early, brutal stoppages over Grzegorz Proksa and Matthew Macklin, who both won rounds and gave competitive fights to globe champions.
And Golovkin's people take been calling for unification fights for 2 years now. Golovkin vs. Sergio Martinez volition be i of the about called for fights in 2014.
3. Timothy Bradley
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In March 2013 Timothy Bradley outlasted Ruslan Provodnikov in a vicious war of attrition that was most people's pick for the Fight of the Year. In Oct he won a taut and exciting chess match against future Hall of Famer Juan Manuel Marquez.
The full range of Bradley's abilities were on brandish final year, and for the commencement time in his career, he has begun to finally gain some of the fan appreciation that a fighter with a resume like his deserves.
Bradley is guaranteed a major fight as 2014 begins. A rematch with any of his last three opponents would exist amongst the bound'south about-anticipated fights.
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1926376-ranking-the-10-hottest-names-in-boxing-right-now