The 10 best junior middleweights in history

After unifying titles at 140 and 147 pounds, Terence Crawford looks to add a belt at 154 pounds when he takes on tough Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles on Saturday night. 

Even if he is victorious, it doesn’t feel as if Crawford plans on spending too long in the junior middleweight division, as he clearly has eyes on forcing a showdown with super middleweight champ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Unfortunately, that has often been the case for this weight class, which has frequently been used as a pitstop between welterweight and middleweight since its introduction in 1962 and has also seen reigns by former welterweight champs who are no longer able to squeeze their aging bodies down to 147 pounds. 

Accordingly, compiling a list of the best ever to glove up at junior middleweight is a bit more of a challenge than for some other divisions. The top 5 or 6 pick themselves, even if their order is a matter for debate. Beyond that, it’s a little tricky. Should a list like this favor longevity, achievement, or ability? Floyd Mayweather is higher on any all-time pound-for-pound table than the others, but how much weight should be given to the fact that his three wins were against Hall-of-Fame opposition? (Spoiler alert: quite a bit, according to this particular list compiler.)

There is no shortage of junior middleweights with strong and extensive track records at 154, but many of them also saw their fair share of defeats without racking up many or even any truly great wins. So, with apologies to, among others, Shane Mosley, Fernando Vargas, Freddie Little, John David Jackson, Julian Jackson, Julio Cesar Vasquez, Gianfranco Rosi, Sandro Mazzinghi, Canelo Alvarez, Erislandy Lara, and others, here’s one man’s list of the men Crawford has to catch if he intends on making any all-time lists in his (perhaps temporary) new division.

10. Oscar De La Hoya

Nobody’s going to pretend that De La Hoya’s best body of work was at 154 pounds. But his time in the division did include arguably his best, and surely most satisfying, win: his 11th round stoppage of Fernando Vargas in 2002. He also stopped Ricardo Mayorga (another satisfying win) and beat Yory Boy Campas and Javier Castillejo. His loss to Shane Mosley was controversial at the time and further tainted subsequently by the revelation that Mosley was on PEDs, and he came off second-best via split decision to Mayweather.

9. Jermell Charlo

Likely to raise some eyebrows, but facts are facts:  Charlo unified the division and beat every man he faced at 154 pounds, even if he needed two attempts to overcome Tony Harrison and Brian Castano. (He made up for dropping a decision and being held to a draw respectively by stopping both men in rematches.) Also scored wins over Jeison Rosario and Austin Trout and crushed Erickson Lubin inside a round.

8. Felix Trinidad

Hard to believe Tito spent only a year and three fights at junior middle before moving up to middleweight, but what a year it was. Twelve round beatings of David Reid and Fernando Vargas (which was really an 11.5 round beating) sandwiched a three-round crushing of Mamadou Thiam. One can only wonder what he might have achieved in the division had he stuck around.

7. Floyd Mayweather

Look, I wasn’t expecting this either. Mayweather did not have any kind of run at 154 pounds, but he stepped up into the division three times and scored three decision wins over future Hall-of-Famers Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo Alvarez, and Miguel Cotto. That’s a solid body of work, and if we’re going to recognize the passing appearances of Thomas Hearns and Trinidad, Mayweather merits his props, too.

6. Nino Benvenuti

Benvenuti didn’t have a long reign at 154 pounds, but it probably should have been longer; he lost the title to Ki Soo Kim in June 1966 in what was generally considered something of a hometown decision. He took the crown via knockout from countryman Sandro Mazzinghi and dropped Mazzinghi in the second round en route to a 15 round unanimous decision in a rematch. Bounced back and forth between junior middle and middleweight where he went 2-1 against the great Emile Griffith.

5. Ayub Kalule

Unfortunately, probably best known at 154 pounds for losing to Sugar Ray Leonard, but the Ugandan was a solid champion at the division. Went to Japan to wrest the belt from undefeated Masashi Kudo and made four successful defenses before running into Leonard. Subsequent losses to Davey Moore and Mike McCallum prompted him to finish his career at 160 pounds.

4. Winky Wright

Never the most fashionable of fighters, Wright was the man few others wanted to face. He was also one of the few top boxers to spend the bulk of his prime at 154 pounds, taking the lightly-regarded WBO title from Bronco McKart (the first of three wins over him) in May 1996 before dropping it via controversial decision to Harry Simon two years later and suffering another close decision loss, to Fernando Vargas, for the IBF belt in 1999. Thereafter, he went on a roll, taking the IBF strap from Keith Mullings and defending it four times before adding and retaining WBA and WBC belts via a pair of decisions over Mosley.

3. Thomas Hearns

Yet another one who had just a passing acquaintance with 154 pounds – which is a shame, because if anyone ever felt like a natural fit for the division, it was the “Hit Man.” Won the WBC belt from Wilfred Benitez and defended it three times before moving up to middleweight, most famously dropping Roberto Duran onto his face and stopping him in the second round of their 1984 clash.

2. Mike McCallum

The “Body Snatcher” had a long and unbeaten run at junior middleweight, outpointing Sean Mannion for a vacant belt in October 1984 and making six defenses, including memorable knockouts of Julian Jackson, Milton McCrory, and Donald Curry, before winning titles at middleweight and light-heavyweight.

1.Terry Norris

The knock on “Terrible” Terry, of course, was his less-than-reliable chin, which saw him lose his first title shot by knockout to Julian Jackson in July 1989. But Norris could dish it out, too, and he won the WBC belt in 1990 by crushing John Mugabi. He made 10 defenses, seven by knockout, before being shockingly stopped by Simon Brown; he outboxed Brown in a rematch, then was DQ’d  twice against a malingering Luis Santana before wiping him out at the third time of asking. Made six more defenses before being stopped by Keith Mullings.