The November rankings from lukekohler.com for the world of boxing have been posted. No major changes in the rankings, as Joe Calzaghe simply solidified his spot as the world’s number two pound-for-pound fighter in the world. After his dominating win over Mikkel Kessler, it’s conceivable that Calzaghe could be the top pound-for-pounder in the world, yes – over Floyd Mayweather.

A few thoughts from this weekend’s fights…

- First, what Joe Calzaghe did this weekend was amazing. Not only did he beat the second best fighter in his division quite handily, but he beat him when they both fought great fights. There are fights like Jeff Lacy – Calzaghe where you were always wondering what would happen if Lacy landed his trademark left hook. Or what if Mike Tyson or David Tua landed on Lennox Lewis. But those fights were all so one-sided that the better fighter just smothered his opponent. This fight was not like that. Kessler fought a great fight. He jabbed well, he landed his power punches, and his defense and speed were as good as they get for him. And even still, at the end of the night, it was a lobsided win for the champ. That Kessler fought his fight, and did nothing wrong, and still got dominated, to me proves more about Calzaghe than anything I’ve seen from Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao in the last three years. There is a strong case for Calzaghe to be the pound-for-pound best in the world.

With Calzaghe’s next fight open for debate, the oddsmakers in Europe have started posting odds for his various opponents. Calzaghe will be a favorite (over there at least) against all of Bernard Hopkins, Clinton Woods or Kessler in a rematch. Against Hopkins, Joe would be a 13:8 favorite, while being -400 against Woods, and -200 against Kessler again. For the record, I think Calzaghe has no trouble whatsoever with any of these three if it is his next fight. But there is next to zero chance he ever fights Kessler again, and more than likely would never fight Woods. Hopkins is his obvious next fights, and there is also the possibility of Roy Jones, should he defeat Felix Trinidad in January.

- Speaking of Manny Pacquiao, it seems his anticipated rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez may be one step closer to reality after Marquez’s one-sided decision win over Rocky Juarez this weekend. Juarez was certainly game, and Marquez’s defense left a bit to be desired, but the decision was certainly wide. If Pacquiao stay’s at 130, the rematch with Marquez just makes sense. Going to 135 with unfinished business will likely drop Pacquiao even further down my pound-for-pound list. It’s been over three years since Pacquiao fought for a title, and he’s done nothing but pick apart old fighters who are clearly not what they once were. If Pacquiao wants to be taken seriously as a top fighter, he needs to accept real challenges from other great fighters, and accept the challenge from young up and comers, just as Marco Antonio Barrera did with him.

- Eddie Chambers looked far more impressive than I anticipated in his split-decision win over Calvin Brock on Showtime on Friday. I thought the fight was slightly wider on the scorecards than the split-decision that it was, but in the end, they got the right winner, and that’s the most important thing.

While Chambers did look better than I thought, I think he will be a solid underdog against Alexander Povetkin in the final elimination to determine the mandatory challenger for Wladimir Klitschko. Now I think the fight will be entertaining, but I still like Povetkin.

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