World Leader Power Rankings: Year in Review

 Below are the power rankings for world leaders for the overall year. Some explanation of the chart is probably necessary. In this the third year of the World Leader Power Rankings, there were five top ten lists. 24 world leaders from 24 countries made the list at some point this year. Coronavirus changed the landscape somewhat paving the way for new faces

The "Score" is based on the leaders' ranking on those lists- 10 points for a 1st place finish on a list and so on, then the total score divided by 9. "On List" is the number of times a leader made the top ten list. "High" is the leader's highest rank on any one list and "low" is the lowest rank. Leaders who didn't make the list at least once will have a dash by Low.

Rank	Leader	Country	Score	On List	High	Low
1	Xi Jiangping	China	9	5	1	3
2	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	9	5	1	6
3	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	5.8	4	2	-
4	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	5	4	3	-
5	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	5	4	3	-
6	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	3.8	4	4	-
7	Angela Merkel	Germany	3	2	2	-
8	Vladimir Putin	Russia	2.4	2	4	-
9	Tsai Ing-wen	Taiwan	2.4	2	4	-
10	Kim Jong-un	North Korea	1.6	2	5	-
11	Shinzo Abe	Japan	1.4	3	7	-
12	Mette Frederiksen	Denmark	1	1	6	-
13	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia	0.8	1	7	-
14	Tamim bin Hamad al Thani	Qatar	0.8	1	7	-
15	Paul Kagame	Rwanda	0.6	1	8	-
16	Silveria Jacobs	St. Maarten	0.6	1	8	-
17	Haitham bin Tariq	Oman	0.6	1	8	-
18	Khaltmaagiin Battulga	Mongolia	0.6	1	8	-
19	Boris Johnson	United Kingdom	0.4	1	9	-
20	Hun Sen	Cambodia	0.4	1	9	-
21	Narendra Modi	India	0.2	1	10	-
22	Giorgi Gakharim	Georgia	0.2	1	10	-
23	Ilham Aliyev	Armenia	0.2	1	10	-
24	Prayut Chan-o-cha	Thailand	0.2	3	10	-

1. Xi fell back to the pack this year, finishing in a tie with Ardern of New Zealand. Xi bungled the initial response to the virus, stonewalling the U.S. and unleashing the virus on the world. But China eventually and apparently handled the virus well.

2. Ardern was a star in handling the virus yet maintaining a free democracy.

3. Singapore has also done well with the virus although with less of that free and democratic stuff.

4. Iceland is a small geographically isolated country, but Katrin did well with the virus from early on.

5. South Korea has many more people than Iceland, but has done well compared to other high population countries. They have done it by efficient testing and mask wearing.

6. Vietnam joins some other Asian countries on the list in preventing more deaths from the virus.

7. Merkel looked like she had Germany going in the right direction at one point, but that changed during the winter.

8. The virus didn't take over Russia until a little later than other countries, so Putin made the list earlier in the pandemic, but he has been thoroughly off the list since.

9. I made Taiwan eligible for the last two lists and Tsai made both of them. Taiwan has been a model of how to tackle the virus.

10. Kim Jong-un claims the virus hasn't come to North Korea, but who knows. The virus made Kim mostly irrelevant this year. It absolutely crippled his old lover, U.S. President Donald Trump, who didn't make the list even once because of the way he bungled the virus.

11. Japan had some success in spots with the virus. Abe retired this year.

12. Fredericksen's Denmark also had a brief moment of success with the virus, but Europe has not done well on the whole..

13. Abiy Ahmed was looking good when the year started . He looked like he would change Ethiopia for the better and he won the Nobel Peace Prize. But the situation in Ethiopia has become much more violent of late.

14. Middle East countries such as Qatar have handled the virus better than the Americans have.

15. The virus was slow to spread in Africa, so it looked like Kagame had saved Rwanda until it didn't.

16. Jacobs was an early star as St. Maarten wasn't hit hard right away.

17. Haitham of Oman was another Middle Eastern ruler who did relatively better with the virus for a moment.

18. On the doorstep of China, Mongolia had managed to slow the spread of the virus until things changed lately.

19. In a disastrous year for Britain, they at least rolled out a vaccine just before a new strain hit. Other normal world powers have also handled hte virus very poorly and didn't even make the list this year.

20. Despite Hun Sen's autocratic ways, Cambodia is another Asian country that seems to be doing better with the virus.

21. The virus hit India a little later, but once it did, it ravaged Modi's country.

22. Georgia is another country in which things looked like they were better for a brief moment.

23. Armenia had a pretty terrible year, but- though they lost the war with Azerbaijan- they're winning the coronavirus battle.

24. Thailand is another Asian country that seems to be doing better with coronavirus than most.

Top 10 Boxing Nations

Below is a list of the best current boxing nations. The first list was posted on December 7, 2018.

Rank	Nation	Top 10	Champs	5 Star	Div 10	Best
1	United States	4	1	32	49	Spence
2	Mexico	2	2	8	18	Canelo
3	United Kingdom	1	1	14	15	Taylor
4	Japan	1	0	3	15	Inoue
5	Russia	0	1	7	8	Bivol
6	Ukraine	1	0	4	5	Lomachenko
7	Cuba	0	1	2	7	Ugas
8	Philippines	0	0	2	8	Pacquiao
9	Thailand	0	0	1	4	SSR
10	Kazakhstan	1	0	1	1	Golovkin

Key:
Top 10: number of boxers from stated nation that are on my top 10 p4p list (current)
Champs: number of champions recognized by the Transnational Boxing Rankings (7 total)
5 Star: number of boxers who have 5 stars on BoxRec (take with a grain of salt, just meant to show a trend, nothing definitive.)

Div 10: The total number of top 10 fighters from that country in every weight division combined according to Transnational Boxing Rankings.
Best: In my opinion

1. The US. is far and away the number one boxing nation. With minor exceptions, the U.S. has representation in the top 10 from 122 pounds all the way up. The U.S. is strongest in the divisions around and including welterweight.. I have Spence, Crawford, Lopez, and Davis in my top 10 pound-for-pound. Lopez is the lone recognized champ, but there are three other divisions without champs in which and American fighter is #1. Not only does the U.S. have the most depth at the top, but also just outside the top ten in each division from 122 on up as well.

2. Mexico is up from 4th since my last list two years ago. That was a particularly low point for Mexican boxing. Super flyweight to featherweight are the best divisions for Mexico. Canelo is in the top 10 in three divisions and Munguia is the only other fighter who cracks a division's top ten above 140 pounds. Canelo is the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. He's the middleweight champ. The Ring lists him as the 168 pound champ, although the TBR doesn't. He's #1 at 268 there though. Estrada is the other champ and the other on my top 10 list. The difference between Mexico and the U.K. on this list is pretty close.

3. Last list, I listed England separately, but I listed the UK as one entity this time. No grand reason why the change. England was 3rd last time. The UK tends to be good in certain divisions, such as featherweight, junior welterweight, super middleweight, and heavyweight. Taylor, from Scotland, is the lone UK member of my top 10 pound-for-pound. Fury is the recognized heavyweight champ. If Fury and Joshua fight, the winner would elicit strong consideration in my top 10. BoxRec overrates heavyweights and British fighters, which is why their "5 star" is so out of whack compared to everything else on the chart.

4. Japan was 6th on the list last time. Japan had more than double the 5 star fighters two years ago, that is not indicative of Japanese boxing's standing. The 15 fighters in a division's top ten is more representative. Flyweight and junior flyweight are Japan's best divisions, but Japan is strong in virtually each division lightweight and lower. Murata is the only fighter in a top ten above 135 pounds. Inoue moved up my top ten pound-for-pound in the last two years, which helps move Japan up this list.

5. Russia was 5th two years ago. Light heavyweight continues to be the hottest division for Russian fighters. Russia has some one in the top ten from super middleweight on up. Beterbiev is the recognized light heavyweight champion although I believe Bivol would beat him if they fought. The winner of that fight would likely make my top 10 pound-for-pound list. Both are in my top 20.

6. Ukraine fell from the 2nd spot two years ago. Ukraine's high standing back then was due to the excellence of a few fighters at top and none of them are at the heights they were two years ago. Lomachenko lost recently, though he remains the only Ukrainian on my pound-for-pound list. I have Usyk 11th after a couple of unimpressive heavyweight showings although TBR and the Ring have him 4th on their lists. But Gvozdyk, who was the light heavyweight champ two years ago his now retired. Ukraine doesn't have the same depth as other countries on this list, but the country still produces top quality boxers, just not as good as they were two years ago.

7. Cuba was 8th last time  and basically moved up because Puerto Rico fell off. Their best fighters mostly in their mid 30s or older and there aren't as many prospects coming up, which means Cuba- along with Ukraine- won't be on this list too much longer. Rigondeaux is still the 122 pound champ although the 40 year old has fallen far off my top 10 list. No Cuban boxer is close to my top 10 though I rate Ugas highly and think he would be competitive against the top tier of welterweights if given a chance. Cuba doesn't have a ton of active fighters either.

8. Philippines was 9th last time. Pacquiao is the only Filipino on a division's top ten list over bantamweight. Pacquiao is 42 years old and is still clearly the best from the country. Right now, the Philippines doesn't have any other than Pacquiao who would within sniffing range of my top ten pound-for-pound, but depth is a plus, even if not at the top right now.

9. Thailand was 10th last time. SSR was better two years ago, but he's still the #1 super flyweight behind champion Estrada. Thailand controls the strawweight division. The top 3 fighters in the division are from Thailand. No other country controls the top of any division as convincingly. Otherwise, Thailand doesn't have much depth at the top.

10. Kazakhstan wasn't on this list last time. Golovkin represents all the "1"s in the chart above. he is far and away the best Kazakh fighter, the OTripleG of Kazakh boxing if you will. But there are some good prospects about to burst on the scene such as Yelenussinov, Jukembayev, and Alimkhanuly to name a few.

Others considered

Uzbekistan has only two fighters in a division's top 10, no 5 star fighters, and none I've considered for my top ten, but they have a group of prospects coming up who are about to put Uzbekistan in the top 10, and they're better than Kazakhstan's prospects. It's just too early at this point. Uzbekistan doesn't have the depth, but at the top they could resemble Ukraine from a couple years ago if all goes right.

France has 4 in division's top tens and 3 5 star fighters, but none are even close to my top 10. So the top is quite low compared to the others on the list. France has depth, but most prospects have domestic or European level ceilings.

Australia has 3 in the top 10 in a division and 1 five star fighter. None are anywhere near my top 10. There really aren't world class prospects in Australia at this point, although Tim Tszyu is one and to a lesser degree so is Kambosos.

Latvia wasn't really considered, but Briedis is the other TBR champion. Briedis is not too far from my top ten pound-for-pound, but otherwise, Latvia doesn't have the prospects of the other countries listed here.

Top Ten Pound-for-Pound

 Here's my pound-for-pound list. I take into account ability and accomplishment. The previous list was posted on October 20, 2020.

1. Saul Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) [1]
2. Naoya Inoue (20-0, 17 KOs) [2]
3. Errol Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) [4]
4. Terence Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) [3]
5. Gennady Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) [5]
6. Teofimo Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) [6]

7. Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) [7]
8. Juan Francisco Estrada (41-3, 28 KOs) [Not Rated]
9. Gervonta Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) [NR]
10. Josh Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) [9]

Exiting the list:

Olexandr Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) [8]

Leo Santa Cruz (36-2-1, 19 KOs) [9]

1. Canelo's win over Callum Smith cements his status as the best fighter pound-for-pound. He has far and away the best resume on this list. He has done it at different weight classes. The true middleweight champion, he just beat the best super middleweight in the world. That was coming off a win over a top 3 light heavyweight. He can box, he can stalk, he has a great jab and goes to the body effectively. He has a great chin and a much improved defense. It's hard to argue anyone else should be on top right now.

2. Inoue is a three division beltholder who has beaten some good fighters. He looked impressive against Moloney in his last fight. While his resume is decent, his skill stands out. He has speed, power, and technique. There aren't the names at bantamweight, so hopefully, he'll fight the winner of Estrada-Chocolatito or move up to 122 where there are some good fights.

3. I flipped Crawford and Spence after the latter's win over Garcia. Spence is developing a nice resume with recent wins over Garcia and Porter. He beat Brook when that was worth something. His win over Peterson was solid too. Spence has the better resume, but I also had a change of heart. I had always very slightly favored Spence in a battle with Crawford because of his size, but now I'm solidly favoring Spence to beat Crawford because of skill as well.

4. I really like Crawford, so I don't mean to demean him. But his resume leaves a lot to be desired. He's beaten faded British fighters recently like Amir Khan and Kell Brook. Who's next, Ricky Hatton? Lloyd Honeyghan? It's kind of ridiculous. Crawford's best win by far was against a very credible Viktor Postol... four and a half years ago! Otherwise, he's beaten some decent opponents, but no one close to the top 10. Recently, his opponents aren't even in the top 10 in their own division. Welterweight is stacked; I'd love to see him face a quality foe.

5. Golovkin looked good against a somewhat lesser opponent this month. He still seems high quality, but his skills may have slipped a bit. His resume is certainly better than Crawford's. A win against a better opponent and if Crawford doesn't step up his strength of opposition, I'll switch the two.

6. The lightweight division has a lot of good young fighters with Lopez, Davis, Haney, Garcia, and Campbell to name a few. Lomachenko is still there. Hopefully they all fight each other soon. Lopez looks a little better than last time even though he didn't fight. He beat Nakatani in unimpressive fashion in 2019, but that win looks better after Nakatani just scored an upset knockout.

7. I had Loma's fight with Lopez as a draw. That's why he's still on the list for now.

8. Estrada is back on the list after stopping Carlos Cuadras in an exciting fight. I love BoxRec, but they only gave that fight 3 stars while Usyk-Chisora had 5. BoxRec seems to overrates heavyweights and that might explain it, but Cuadras also seems underrated. His first fight with Estrada only got 4 stars. Transnational Boxing Rankings has Cuadras in the top 10 in his division even after the loss. Estrada has a big fight with Chocolatito coming up. The winner will likely be on this list.

9. Davis's win over Santa Cruz was legit. I had Santa Cruz in the top 10 before the fight. It's Davis's best win by far, but he has a couple of others like the win over Pedrasa. I'd love to see him take on some of the lightweights I mentioned in Lopez's blurb. With a few wins, he could vault up this list.

10. Taylor just hangs on. He has beaten 4 undefeated fighters in his last 4 fights. The win over Prograis, who was a top 15 fighter at the time, is his best win. Before his streak of beating undefeated fighters, he beat Viktor Postol. I rate him higher than Jose Ramirez because of that win over Prograis and he has been better lately. His win over Postol was better than Ramirez's. Ramirez was lucky to get the win. But it's close. Hopefully they fight soon and the winner could go up on this list.

Exiting:

I have Usyk 11th. He beat Chisora recently. I don't want to knock Chisora. He's like the gatekeeper to world class. But Usyk's win was uninspiring. His two fights at heavyweight haven't been anything special. And almost everyone in the top 10 had a much better win more recently than Usyk. Even Loma's loss to Lopez was a better result than Usyk's win over Chisora, because Lopez is so much higher rated than Chisora. If Usyk can get a big win over a heavyweight, it will be hard to keep him off the list.

Santa Cruz has been on my top ten list for a long time. He has been a very good fighter.

Honorable mentions:

After Usyk, I'd put Jose Ramirez 12th. He would obviously make the list if he could beat Taylor.

Dmitry Bivol has beaten all the back half of the top 10 at lightweight, but he has been inactive of late. A fight with Artur Beterbiev would likely catapult one of them onto this list.

The winner of a Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight could also make the list.

The Charlos, Andrade, and Saunders need to bolster their resumes to gain consideration.

World Leader Power Rankings

  Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on December 10.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	1
2	Xi Jianping	China	2
3	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	3
4	Tsai Ing-wen	Taiwan	6
5	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	5
6	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	4
7	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	Not Ranked
8	Khaltmaagiin Battulga	Mongolia	Not Ranked
9	Hun Sen	Cambodia	Not Ranked
10	Prayut Chan-o-cha	Thailand	Not Ranked

1. While New Zealand has had a tiny spike in covid cases recently, Ardern is still the epitome of how to handle a crisis whether its covid or gad violence.

2. Despite handling the virus badly in the initial stages and the horrible treatment of Uyghurs and Tibetans, Xi's China is the only superpower not getting crushed by covid right now.

3. Iceland continues to do well under Jakobsdottir. No other European country comes close.

4. Tsai and Taiwan continue to be the gold standard in dealing with the virus. And this despite its proximity to China.

5. Singapore might be an autocratic system, but even as a major travel hub, they've controlled the virus.

6. Nguyen's Vietnam has also done very well throughout.

7. South Korea under Moon's leadership has done relatively well. They haven't had to resort to lockdowns.

8. Mongolia is actually experiencing their first spike now, but think about that. On the doorstep of China, they haven't had any issue with the virus until now. Battulga deserves some credit.

9. Hun Sen runs an authoritarian system, but right now the virus is most important and Cambodia has done well.

10. Thailand is another country that isn't the freest, but they're handling the virus better than most.

New NFL Format

 AFC

Current format
1. KC 13-1
2. Buf 11-3
3. Pit 11-3
4. Ten 10-4
5. Cle 10-4
6. Ind 10-4
7. Mia 9-5

New format
1. KC 12-1
2. Buf 11-3
3. Pit 11-3
4. Cle 10-4
5. Ind 10-4
6. Ten 10-4
7. Mia 8-5

The landings look similar except in the new format, everything would be wide open. Two divisions are clinched in the current format. In the new format, Buf and Pit be battling for the division. Currently, Ten or Ind will finish in at least 4th place. Cle is really only competing with Pit for a spot 4th or better. The tie-breaker would change in the new format because three teams would be tied and not for the division lead.

NFC
Current formant
1. GB 11-3
2. NO 11-4
3. Sea 10-4
4. Was 6-8
5. TB 10-5
6. LAR 9-5
7. Ari 8-7

New format
1. GB 11-3
2. NO 11-4
3 Sea 10-4
4. TB 10-5
5. LAR 9-5
6. Ari 8-7
7. Chi 7-7

The NFC is why the NFL needs to adopt the new format. There is absolutely no reason with Was should be the 4th seed. They objectively have a worse record than the next four teams. Winning the NFC East doesn't take any special skill. If anything, it's much easier than coming in the 3rd or 4th in the NFC West because all four teams in the East are terrible.

But it gets worse. Of coruse, the current format is completely unfair to TB, LAR, Ari, and Chi. While Sea or LAR will finish with the 5th seed at best, Phi could grab the 4th seed. Sea is 10-4 while Phi is 4-9-1. How does that make any sense? It gets more bizarre. The 9th & 10th seed teams in the NFC have been eliminated, but not the 11th, 12th, or 14th seeds. How in the world does that make any sense?!

NBA Predicitions 2020-2021

 Playing during the height of a pandemic is not recommended. I have no idea how the virus will impact things, but here we go.

EAST
Out in the First Round:
Tor, Phi, Ind, Orl

Out in the conference semis:
Brk, Mia

East Finals
Mil 4-2 Bos

WEST
Out in the First Round:
Uta, Dal, Phx, SA

Out in the conference semis:
LAC, Por

West Finals
LAL 4-1 Den

NBA Finals
LAL 4-1 Mil

New NFL Division Format Proposal

 The NFL should have two divisions in each conference to help make things fairer. In the NFC, the South and East would be a division and the North and West would be another. In the AFC, the North and East would be one and the South and West would be another. Teams would play teams in their current division (now called subdivision) twice and every other team in their new division (teams from the other subdivision) once, alternating home games each season.

The NFL has added a 7th team to the playoffs in each conference (hopefully for this year only. Nothing like hurting a playoff brand like adding mediocrity). That helps the current system because the 3rd Wild Card team often has a better record than the 4th division winner. But it solves the only major problem of my new format, which is that the worse division winner in a conference could have a worse record that the 2nd place team in the other division, and yet still get the bye. Now only the top seed gets the bye.

AFC
Current format
1. KC 12-1
2. Pit 11-2
3. Buf 10-3
4. Ten 9-4
5. Cle 9-4
6. Ind 9-4
7. Mia 8-5

New format
1. KC 12-1
2. Pit 11-2
3. Buf 10-3
4. Cle 9-4
5. Ind 9-4
6. Ten 9-4
7. Mia 8-5

The landings look similar except in the new format, everything would be wide open. Currently, Ten or Ind will finish in at least 4th place. Cle is really only competing with Pit for a spot 4th or better. The tie-breaker would change in the new format because three teams would be tied and not for the division lead.

NFC
Current formant
1. GB 10-3
2. NO 10-3
3. LAR 9-4
4. Was 6-7
5. Sea 9-4
6. TB 8-5
7. Ari 7-6

New format
1. GB 10-3
2. NO 10-3
3 LAR 9-4
4. Sea 9-4
5. TB 8-5
6. Ari 7-6
7. Min 6-7

See a problem with the current format? The NFC East is particularly bad this season. It happens with at least one division just about every year. At worst, that division winner has a worse record than teams missing the playoffs. At best, that division's winner gets an undeserved home game in the playoffs.

Not only does the new format rectify that perennial injustice, but it would make the division and playoff races more exciting. Right now, the NFC North is over. But in the new format, GB would only be a game ahead of Sea and LAR for the NorthWest Division lead. In the current format, two teams are a game behind the lone team in 7th place. In the new format, 3 teams would be tied for 7th place, which is much more exciting.

World Leaders Power Ranking

 Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on June 23.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	1
2	Xi Jianping	China	3
3	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	5
4	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	7
5	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	Not Ranked
6	Tsai Ing-wen	Taiwan	Not Ranked
7	Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani	Qatar	Not Ranked
8	Haitham bin Tariq	Oman	Not Ranked
9	Boris Johnson	United Kingdom	Not Ranked
10	Ilham Aliyev	Armenia	Not Ranked

1. New Zealand, led by Ardern continues to be the class in dealing with the coronavirus among other issues.

2. Xi's horrible handling of the virus has put virtually the entire world in this mess, but the Chinese seem to have gotten a handle on it within their country, which is not something other powers can say.

3. Iceland, a hot tourist attraction, has also done a phenomenal job combatting the virus throughout.

4. Vietnam is another country that continues to do well against the virus.

5. Singpaore got credit at the outset, suffered some setbacks, but has has corrected course.

6. In a reversal of previous policy, Taiwan will be included on this list if for no other reason than to rankle and roil China. Taiwan had done better fighting the virus than has China.

7. Qatar has done a better job fighting the virus than some regional rivals such as UAE.

8. Haitham bin Tariq took over in January, so his time as emir has been consumed by coronavirus and Oman has done better than most.

9. The UK has not done a good job thus far, but they seem to be first to distribute a vaccine, so that counts for something.

10. Aliyev seems like a curious choice, because his country hasn't fought the virus or Azerbaijan very well. Despite losing the battle to Azerbaijan, though, Armenia is winning the covid war. Azerbaijan has seen a huge spike in cases since the war while daily cases are declining in Armenia. A silver lining for Armenia.