14. Oscar De La Hoya, 38-4 (30) – The Golden One was dropped from this list because he took last year off, but the long vacation seemed to recharge his batteries as he looked fabulous stomping some manners into Ricardo Mayorga last month. Mayorga was tailor-made for De La Hoya, but the nine-time world titlist looked as sharp and powerful as he did during his prime years as a lightweight and 140 pounder on his way stopping Mayorga in six. Since leaving the welterweight division in 2001, Goldie hasn’t always looked that sharp. He’s lost to Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins (and he received a gift versus Felix Sturm), however, many observers thought he beat Mosley in their rematch, Hopkins is an all-time great middleweight who just won the 175-pound championship, and Sturm is a very solid young fighter who has picked up another 160-pound title. De La Hoya recently announced that he won’t fight again this year, but he is contemplating coming back in May of next year to face Floyd Mayweather. If he doesn’t carry this grand plan out, I’ll drop him from my list for inactivity (again) but if he does take on the Pretty Boy and beats him… well, I’ll put it this way, I didn’t think anyone could top the final performance that Hopkins put on vs. Tarver, but that would definitely beat it. I’m hoping De La Hoya goes for it next year, if not, then in all likelihood this year is the last time De La Hoya’s name will grace one of my P4P lists, and if that’s the case then thanks for the memories Oscar.

15. Joel Casamayor, 32-3-1 (20) – The crafty Cuban southpaw continues to be a player by staying active (he fought in February and fights next month on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights) and by virtue of the fact that he’s never been decisively defeated. Acelino Freitas beat him by two points on all three scorecards in a very close fight (that Casamayor was docked two points by the ref), while the guys I’ve got tied for no. 6 on this list could only manage split decision victories over the ’92 Olympic gold medalist and former 130-pound titlist.

16. (tie) Juan Manuel Marquez, 44-3-1 (33)/ Chris John, 37-0-1 (20) – After his failed (and very ill-advised) trip to Indonesia where he lost a unanimous decision to young Mr. John this past March, it looked like Marquez might quietly fade away from the consciousness of most general fight fans, which would have been a tragedy because the Mexico City technician is one of the most intelligent active fighters in the world. If only he were a little smarter outside of the ring. After breaking into the top 20 by partially unifying the featherweight title (vs. Manuel Medina and Derrick Gainer) and then busting into the top 10 with his courageous come-from-behind draw vs. Manny Pacquiao, JMM allowed poor management to gradually drop the status he worked so hard to attain (he only fought twice – vs. Orlando Soto and Victor Polo – in the two years between his battles with PacMan and John). Thankfully, it looks like Marquez is getting back on track. He’s scheduled to fight once-beaten Thai contender Terdsak Jandaeng (whose one loss is to Joan Guzman) in the Showtime-televised co-feature to his brother’s rematch with Silence Mabuza. I had John ranked higher than Marquez after reading reports of their fight, but after finally seeing a tape of the WBA title bout, I had to even the two up because I thought the Mexican won eight rounds. However, I’ll give credit to John for being competitive with such a dangerous vet. The 26 year old’s wins over Gainer, Osamu Sato, Oscar Leon, and Ratanachai Sor Vorapin let me know that the kid is for real.

18. O’Neil Bell, 26-1-1 (24) – It’s not often that an undisputed champion is this low on anybody’s pound-for-pound list, but that’s the way it is when you occupy one of boxing’s overlooked divisions and were lucky to get a decision over Dale Brown in your first world title fight. Still, “Supernova” gave Jean-Marc Mormeck, a cat that I and many in the press were very high on, a lot of hell before knocking the tough and talented Frenchman out in 10 exciting rounds in January, so he belongs on this list.

19. Martin Castillo, 30-1 (16) – the classy and gutsy 115 pounder is a quiet belt holder who is on the cusp of being recognized as one of the best fighters in the lighter weight classes. He’s already viewed by most hardcore fans as the best junior bantamweight in the biz, which his decision victories over former titlists Eric Morel and Alexander Munoz (twice) proved. What he needs now is exposure. Fighting guys with seven pro fights in Japan might earn Castillo a little spendin’ change but it won’t get his name mentioned outside Mexico, Southern California, and internet message boards. And if he ever hopes to advance into the top 15 territory of this list he’ll need to either partially unify titles, or lure in a name opponent like Joes Navarro, Fernando Montiel, or the next guy on this list.

20. Jorge Arce, 44-3-1 (34) – It was a tough call putting ‘Travieso’ in this slot above long-time WBC flyweight title holder Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, but the “interim” belt holder from Mexico has been in with tougher fighters recently than his counterpart from Thailand, and although Arce hasn’t gone unbeaten in 10 years like Wongjongkam, he’s on a pretty good win-streak himself. Arce hasn’t lost a bout since suffering a classic one-shot KO to recent hall of fame inductee Michael Carbajal back in ’99 (in a fight he was winning handily). The former WBO and WBC 108-pound titlist has won 24 consecutive fights since then, a streak that includes solid little guys like former two-division champ Rosendo Alvarez (his most recent victim), Yo Sam Choi, Melchor Cob Castro (twice), Joma Gamboa, Hussein Hussein (twice), and Adonis Rivas (twice). It’s doubtful that a showdown with Wonjongkam will ever happen, but that’s OK, the 115-pound division is beckoning.

THE FURIOUS FIVE

Antonio Tarver, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Antonio Margarito, Israel Vazquez, and Acelino Freitas

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