(Cris Esqueda / Matchroom Boxing)
Question: Hey Bread. I love your knowledge of boxing history. Can you give your top 10 for Junior Middleweights 2000-2025? Here’s my list so far: 1-2) Oscar De La Hoya / Winky Wright. Oscar had a great run despite being past his prime in terms of power and youth. (Mayweather Senior helped Oscar overcome that.) His only setback was a controversial loss to Mosley, another P4P guy at the time. Winky had two runs as champ between 1996-2004. Like Oscar, he early on relied on his youth/feet to keep his distance. That hurt him late in fights. (See the first McKart fight. I also remember another fight he got rocked late due to his tired legs not allowing him to keep the distance.) He changed to the front guard, stay in the pocket style that helped him overcome tired legs but also exposed him to body punchers like Vargas. 3) Canelo. Canelo was able to close the distance against Lara and defeated some really good boxers. He struggled with Lara and Mayweather, making me think he’d lose to Oscar. 4) Tito dominated Reid and Vargas. Didn’t spend much time in the division, though. My boxing knowledge is limited. Below are others I think could be in a top 10 but I’m not sure how to rank them:- Vargas: He legit beat Winky. In retrospect, that was the highlight of his career. Mosely: The speed on this guy was amazing! Still, despite his controversial victory over DLH and his close fight with Mayorga, there isn’t much there. Cotto: like Mosley, just not enough there. Lara: even past his prime, he’s still a tough nut to crack.- Charlo brothers: Jermell unified the division but he still struggled against Harrison and Castano. Brother Jermall knocked out an undefeated Williams. You got two excellent fighters who can be as good as Oscar and Wright. See Ortiz and Boots. But I think they need to prove themselves more before being put on the list. Also, would you agree that Mike McCallum beats everyone at this weight between 2000-2025? Best, Brian.
Bread’s response: Junior Middleweight was a very competitive division in the 2000s. Ok, here are top picks for the best Junior Middleweights of the last 25 years.
1. Felix Trinidad: Tito had a crazy run at 154. He unified. He was unbeaten. And he won the best fight in the history of the division vs Fernando Vargas. My eyes tell me Tito was on Hearns’ and McCallum’s level in 2000.
2. Winky Wright: Winky did beat Tito but…
2026-02-14 14:30:00
