The top 10 Philly fighters of the 21st century

“Smokin’” Joe Frazier. Tommy Loughran. Matthew Saad Muhammad. Joey Giardello. “Joltin’” Jeff Chandler. These are but a few of the many great champions who called the fighting city of Philadelphia home.

And you won’t see any of their names on the countdown below.

We’re keeping things modern here with a ranking of the top 10 Philly fighters of the current century — a period beginning after the city’s peak period as a host of major fights, but nevertheless well stocked with championship-level warriors.

A few parameters: First, I’m saying the century starts with January 1, 2000. I’m not looking to get into a whole millennium/Newmanium debate here. Fact is, in most people’s minds, when the ‘90s ended, the 21st century began. I’m opting for the colloquial over the technical. Deal with it. So these rankings are based on what a boxer did between January 2000 and present.

Second, active fighters are eligible, even if their legacies — especially that of the fighter headlining at the Wells Fargo Center this Saturday night, Jaron “Boots” Ennis — are far from decided.

And third, this list is based on some unscientific, imprecise combination of accomplishment and ability. The former is definitely foremost; what a boxer actually did in the ring is the foundation. But I’m not above calling on the “eye test” and my subjective assessment of a fighter’s ceiling when it comes time to split hairs and figure out exact positioning on this list.

Before I get into revealing the top 10, a few honorable mentions: Both David Reid and Ivan Robinson easily would have made the list if the cutoff had been, say, 1998, but as it turned out, their primes ended just as the 2000s began, and neither scored a significant win in Y2K or beyond; Chazz Witherspoon was a credible heavyweight gatekeeper, but he got stopped every time he stepped up; Yusaf Mack was basically Witherspoon’s super middleweight/light heavyweight equivalent; Malik Scott would be No. 1 if the countdown was based purely on how many 8-round decisions a fighter won; and Hank Lundy stands out as the toughest omission, a skilled and always game lightweight contender who rarely got over the hump but did hand a few prospects their first defeats and ended the career of former titlist David Diaz.

And with that, on to the top 10 Philly fighters of the 2000s:

10. Bryant Jennings, 24-4 (14 KOs)

A heavyweight who fought from 2010-19 (and is scheduled to end a five-year retirement by boxing on an August club show in Philly at age 39), “By-By” Jennings actually scored a higher quantity of meaningful wins than you probably remember. On the way up, he beat a faded but not quite shot Sergey Liakhovich and took the zeroes of both Artur Szpilka and Mike Perez, and later in his career he stopped Alexander Dimitrenko. In a challenge for the lineal championship, he lasted the distance with Wladimir Klitschko at Madison Square Garden and even won a few rounds. And Jennings’ other three losses all came against undefeated opponents: Luis “King Kong” Ortiz, Oscar Rivas, and Joe Joyce. Any city should be proud to call Jennings its 10th best fighter of the past quarter-century.

9. Tevin Farmer, 33-5-1 (8 KOs)

While Ennis is main-eventing a DAZN show in Philly, Farmer will also be in action this Saturday, taking on Raymond Muratalla in the co-feature of an ESPN+ card in Las Vegas. It’s hard to know if the slick lightweight still has impactful wins left him at age 33, but for what it’s worth, he’s undefeated (3-0) post-pandemic. Four of Farmer’s five losses came in his first two years as a pro, and from 2013 to present he’s racked up a record of 26-1 with 7 KOs and 1 no-contest. The southpaw Farmer beat Ivan Redkach, Billy Dib, Francisco Fonseca, and Jono Carroll, and his only loss in the past decade was a close decision to Joseph Diaz Jr. There’s certainly room for him to ascend on this list if he upsets Muratalla and goes on another run.

8. Julian “J-Rock” Williams, 29-4-1 (17 KOs)

Farmer held a belt longer than J-Rock and performed more consistently over a longer stretch at or near the top, but I give the edge to Williams on the strength of how exceptional his best win was. Williams took a 154-pound belt from then-undefeated Jarrett Hurd in one of the most stirring fights and upsets of 2019. J-Rock’s top wins otherwise? W 12 Nathaniel Gallimore, W 10 Ishe Smith, and he was whipping Hugo Centeno Jr. until a head clash ended it prematurely. It’s a thin resume, no question. Plus he got stopped in five rounds by both Jermall Charlo and Jeison Rosario and has been on a shaky run since entering his 30s. But one thrilling win over a guy in Hurd who was starting to generate pound-for-pound chatter goes a long way.

7. Eric Harding, 23-4-1 (7 KOs)

Harding is the trickiest fighter on this list to place — in part because he’s not necessarily thought of as a Philly fighter. He was born there, and his first four pro bouts were all in Philadelphia (including three at the Blue Horizon), but then he moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and frequently fought out of that region the rest of his career. On top of that, his run was split over the two millennia — he only had nine fights in the 2000s. One major win, a split decision over Montell Griffin in ’98, doesn’t count toward these rankings. But he got enough done in the 2000s and was so undeniably championship-caliber that he warrants a spot on this list. In June 2000, he unexpectedly beat up Antonio Tarver and served him his first defeat. Then he acquitted himself impressively in a dull but effective performance against pound-for-pound king Roy Jones, with the fight roughly even through 10 rounds (despite the judges all favoring Jones) before Harding suffered a biceps injury and had to pull out. Harding was up and down from there: wins over undefeated George Khalid Jones and Daniel Judah as well as David Telesco, losses to Tarver, Glen Johnson, and a younger, fresher Chad Dawson. But if you’re good enough to topple Tarver once and you can give Roy Jones fits, you belong somewhere in this top 10 (even if you’re only kinda-sorta a Philly guy).

6. Steve Cunningham, 30-9-1 (13 KOs)

The Ring magazine rated Cunningham the No. 5 cruiserweight of the first decade of the 2000s, which may sound like faint praise, but it’s better than any divisional ranking anyone else on this list so far warrants across any decade. “U.S.S.” Cunningham split a pair of title bouts with Krzystzof Wlodarczyk in Poland, knocked out Marco Huck and Troy Ross, and decisioned Wayne Braithwaite, but met his matches in Tomasz Adamek and Yoan Pablo Hernandez, both of whom beat Cunningham twice. And he’s perhaps best known for what he did as a small heavyweight post-prime, knocking down a young Tyson Fury en route to a defeat in New York before winning an all-out war over Amir Mansour in Philly.

5. Stephen Fulton, 21-1 (8 KOs)

There’s a lot of room for “Cool Boy Steph” to move up or down depending on how the 29-year-old bounces back from his loss to Naoya Inoue a year ago, but two things are for sure: No fighter should be penalized for losing to “The Monster,” and any fighter should be lauded for going to Japan to try to beat Inoue. In his last four fights before that ultimate challenge, Fulton handed Arnold Khegai his first loss, then did the same to Angelo Leo, and then completed the trifecta against Brandon Figueroa (albeit in a fight that could have gone either way), after which he defended the two junior featherweight belts he’d acquired with a dominant win over veteran ex-titlist Danny Roman. His career may not even be half over, but already he has four victories that compare favorably with the four best on the records of anyone below him on this list.

4. Zahir Raheem, 35-3 (21 KOs)

If “J-Rock” ranks 8th largely because of one great win, then I guess “Z-Man’s” one great win must be twice as good to land him fourth. Raheem, a 1996 U.S. Olympian, doesn’t have the deepest of professional resumes, but you don’t need depth when you can boast of a conclusive victory over a still-elite Erik Morales. Raheem appeared to ruin plans for Morales-Manny Pacquiao II with the 2005 upset — except this is boxing, so, results, schmesults — and truly was the epitome of skill and slickness that night at Staples Center. Outside of that fight, he beat used-up Luisito Espinoza, lost competitively to Rocky Juarez, dropped a split decision to Acelino Freitas, and, starting to feel his age, got stopped by Ali Funeka. As I said, there’s not much there to brag about. Except he schooled Erik Freaking Morales for 12 rounds. Raheem donned a crown in all the postfight photos, and rightfully so.

3. Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 31-0 (28 KOs)

Philly hasn’t had a pound-for-pound fighter in nearly 20 years. Boots is this fair city’s hope to change that. What has he accomplished so far? Plenty at the “B” level, not much at the “A” level. And beating David Avanesyan in South Philly on Saturday night, in whatever form or fashion, won’t change that. Ennis doesn’t present the right risk-reward equation for the other top welterweights, so all he can do is shine against the guys willing to fight him — and the 27-year-old mega-talent has certainly done that. KO 6 Juan Carlos Abreu, KO 6 Sergei Lipinets, KO 1 Thomas Dulorme, KO 2 Custio Clayton. Against Roiman Villa in Atlantic City last July, the unthinkable happened: Boots lost a round. But he still mostly dominated and eventually stopped a tough-as-hell warrior who’d never been KO’d before. On accomplishment alone, this ranking is likely a few spots too high. On pure ability, on what he’s capable of in a boxing ring, it’s at least one spot too low.

2. Danny Garcia, 37-3 (21 KOs)

The last two spots on this countdown are fairly indisputable. “Swift” Garcia, who hasn’t fought in two years and may or may not be finished at age 36, had perhaps the most one-win-short-of-the-Hall-of-Fame career of any boxer ever. His roll call of victories crushes everyone ranked below him here: Lucas Matthysse, Amir Khan, a faded Morales (twice), Zab Judah, Lamont Peterson, Robert Guerrero, Kendall Holt, Paulie Malignaggi, Brandon Rios. And the losses are all pretty good, as losses go: to Keith Thurman by two points on the deciding scorecard, to Shawn Porter by two points on two cards, and to Errol Spence by four points on a pair of cards. Flip one of those results, and Garcia is probably Canastota-bound. As it is, he’s still clearly Philly’s second-best (until Ennis and/or Fulton catches him) this century.

1. Bernard Hopkins, 55-8-2 (32 KOs)

I won’t waste your time or mine justifying this pick. All you need to know is “B-Hop” turned 35 a couple of weeks into the 2000s, and he’s still No. 1 on this list by a mile. Cut out his first 10 middleweight title defenses because they occurred in the ‘90s; it doesn’t matter. He unified every belt in the division in the 2000s, KO’d Felix Trinidad in as exceptional a boxing performance as I’ve ever witnessed, became the first to stop Oscar De La Hoya, won the lineal light heavyweight championship in his 40s, and became the oldest boxer ever to win or hold a major title. And perhaps most importantly for the annals of Philly boxing, he made the fight scene at the end of Rocky Balboa believable. A Philadelphia fighter teaching Antonio Tarver a thing or two and competing effectively into his 50s? Not so far-fetched after all.

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, Ringside Seat, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory and currently co-hosts The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X or LinkedIn, or via email at [email protected].