Ladies and gentlemen, here's the next batch of our NY Top 20 pound-for-pound list. No hate mail or Twitter torture yet from fight fans or the fighters themselves indicating that my judgement is absent. So far, so good.. But now we're into the NYC P4P Top 10, so we shall see if all will remain mellow.
9) Yuri Foreman:After suffering back-to-back losses, the Park Slope, Brooklyn, resident has taken some time to determine if his heart and head are where they need to be to continue in the savage science. A title loss to Miguel Cotto in June 2010 was understandable, a stoppage loss to Pawel Wolak in March less so. He's a stick-and-mover who might've been stripped of mobility by a knee injury suffered in the Cotto bout, so the 28-2 Foreman's best days might be past.
8) Danny Jacobs: The sky was the limit for Jacobs, until it came crashing down in the form of Dmitriy Pirog, who KOd the Brooklynite in round five of their July 2010 scrap for a vacant middleweight strap. He's 22-1 with 19 KOs but this is an unforgiving business, and they don't refer to him as "The Golden Child" so much anymore. One loss for a heralded kid, a four time GG champ, maybe the best NY amateur since Mark Breland, can send them back, back, back of the line. Fair or not, that's the way it is. We shall see if Jacobs can accept that, and get over it. He's only 24, so we bet he does, and by next year is a lot higher on this list.
7) Zab Judah: Zab had many thinking he'd gotten his head screwed on tight and was ready for a stunning and stellar third act. He found God, and Main Events thought the kid from Brownsville had become a man, and their next champion. Then he stunk the joint out against Amir Khan in July, going down on a body shot and crying foul that he was hit low. He's 34, and it's conceivable the ex-junior welter and welter champ, who calls Vegas home now, puts it all together ... but not likely. Humans typically revert to form when pushed, and sad to say, so while possessing skills galore, Judah (41-7) reverts to a manner which keeps him from excelling like he should. But the book's last chapter hasn't yet been written, so hope is alive.
6) Joshua Clottey: We might have to insert some sort of clause which speaks to how often guys fight, because while Clottey has more than a bit of talent, he finds reasons to stay out of the ring too easily. Often, he complains that purses offered to him aren't high enough. It's tempting to drop him down right now, and as I consider his woeful showing against Manny Pacquaio in March 2010 (wide UD loss). Clottey is 34, fought once in 2009, once in 2011, and is slated to have his first fight of 2011 on Nov. 19, against 21-6-1 Calvin Green. He's on thin ice.
Thanks to consultants Zach Levin, "Manager X," Kevin Rooney and Ryan Songalia for their input into the NYC P4P. Follow me on Twitter here . Send suggestions or hatemail to FightblogNYC@gmail.com.