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The Hot List
Posted: Wednesday June 14, 2000 05:11 PM CNN/SI boxing reporter Evan Kanew takes a look at who's hot and who's not in the world of boxing. He also runs down his top 10 pound-for-pound fighters and gives you a chance to select the best. KNOCKOUTS Losses: Many top fighters -- including Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and "Sugar" Shane Mosley -- are passing up lopsided setups in favor of competitive contests. Losing to a worthy opponent is more honorable than building a perfect but hand-picked record, and the market wants to see meetings between real contenders. Rivalries are good for the sport, the fans and the champs' legacies.
Wallace Matthews and Jack Newfield: Boxing journalism's Woodward and Bernstein, the New York Post columnists have delivered more powerful blows with their recent investigative scoops than some of the sport's paper champions ever do in the ring. La-La Land: De La Hoya hails from the East Los Angeles neighborhood of Montebello. Mosley's from Lynwood, across town to the south. And don't forget Fernando Vargas, the 154-pound champ from Oxnard in the Valley. Has any other area produced as many top fighters in the same class who are active at the same time? BUMS WBA: After a drawn-out legal tussle over the "rights" of its No. 1-ranked heavyweight, John Ruiz, the Venezuela-based sanctioning body showed its true colors by allowing Ruiz's June 10 title fight against No. 2-rated Holyfield to be called off because of Holyfield's injury. Were no other qualified contenders available? Showtime on CBS: "Heavy Hitters Month" -- a notable July series of fight re- broadcasts and the Viacom-owned networks' first boxing-related collaboration -- took a heavy marketing hit when Holyfield scuttled the Ruiz fight, leaving the TV partnership to bank on a June 24th bout featuring the ever-reliable Mike Tyson. Shannon Briggs: In April, he lost an eight-rounder to ham-n-egger Sedereck Fields (now 10-9) in a NYC club show. The one-time "linear" champ then pulled out of a rematch. Looks like Briggs is finally ready for Tyson. Jose Sulaiman: The WBC capo rates 37-year-old Julio Cesar Chavez as his No. 1 junior lightweight contender. He says his Mexico City-based organization wanted to show respect for the Chavez legacy. If reigning champion Kostya Tszyu hurts the badly faded Mexican icon in their July 29th bout -- as many fear he may -- that will be Sulaiman's legacy. IBF: Its bosses are still on trial for taking bribes. We didn't want America's
alphabet bandits to think we'd forgotten about them.
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