Pound-for-Pound Crown: Part One
February 17th, 2010
By Mark Ona: The honor of having the pound-for-pound title next to your name is a prestigious one. One that says, that no matter what weight class a boxer is in, he is considered to be the best boxer in all of the sport. Although the title might be considered fantasy (because we will never see a match between Klitshko and Mayweather), it is a legitimate one at that. I base my rankings on the belief that everyone’s pound-for-pound list is supported by these guidelines:
• Quality of opposition
• Win-Loss Record
• Overall Skill & Performance
• Title[s] currently held
Obviously, the argument for the top spot is between Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. and Manny “Pac-man” Pacquiao. Because of all the controversy between both fighters about the blood testing issue, the only thing we can do at this point is debate on who the pound-for-pound title should belong to. Considering the principal standards that are stated above, I give my opinion on who should be regarded as the best boxer of our era.
I don’t believe that anyone can honestly argue with the set of skills that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has. Whether you favor his style or not, Mayweather Jr. possesses skills that have dominated the sport of boxing for a long time. His speed and accuracy, along with his (defense) ability to nullify any offense that his opponents attempts is remarkable. His style has often been disparaged by many of his critics as boring, because at times his fights may seem lackluster and uneventful.
Something we must understand as fans of the sport is that his style is one of the reasons he holds a record of 40 wins and no losses, and has won six world championships in five different weight classes. I, and I’m sure along with many others believe that the other reason he is 40-0 lies with his (the entire Mayweather camp) smart choice of opponents.
I have confidence that the opposition in the beginning of Mayweather Jr’s career was justified because of his obvious status, however, after his initial fight with Jose Luis Castillo I felt that his challengers have been tailored to compliment his style and continue his unblemished record. With so much controversy surrounding Mayweather Jr. and Mosley; or Mayweather Jr. and Paquiao about who is avoiding who, the bottom line is we will never truly know. I definitely commend Floyd on his wins over fighters like Diego Corrales, Zab Judah, Oscar De la Hoya even though I think most would agree that De la Hoya was 3+ years past his prime; and his second fight with Jose Louis Castillo because I felt that Castillo should have won their first bout.
We have also witnessed Mayweather Jr’s public announcements about whom he would like to face in future bouts, but the problem is that he hasn’t faced them yet. Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been blessed with a God-given talent that has brought him much success and praise; and right now he has the opportunity to go down in history as one, if not the greatest boxer of all time if he fights the top contenders of the sport. Unfortunately, until then, he cannot be labeled as the Pound-for-Pound best boxer in the world.
Tags: 24 Responses to “Pound-for-Pound Crown: Part One”
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Just because MANNY hasn’t tested positive doesn’t mean he’s not doping. MOSLEY never tested POSITIVE but had to come clean to congress for obvious reasons: PERJURY, PRISON!! That tells us all that the boxing commissions testing is a joke! HOW THE HELL WAS MOSLEY USING BUT NEVER TESTED POSITIVE? As a boxing fan, I’m going to call it down the middle. We all deserve to see MANNY and MONEY fight. If MANNY doesn’t agree to the RANDOM TESTS up to 2 days until the fight, I believe he’s DOPING and if MANNY agrees to the testing and MONEY doesn’t fight then FLOYD’S CHICKEN. And that’s as fair and unbiased as it gets!
I cant deny that Floyd USED TO BE FORMER P4P King but since he retired someone else took his place. That person that took his place is Manny Pacquioa. Remember Pacquiao didnt crown himself a No. #1 P4P King – its Ring Magazine, professional associations or professional organizations that would give you that title for they themselves are the only ones that would officially judge someone who is and who is not. From their and fans judgement/opinion, Pacquiao is the ONE ! Are you now saying that they themselves are no trustworthy just like the NSAC ???
Floyd has 40 wins – zero losses but you know damn well that dont mean anything at all because even the Greatest like Muhammed Ali, Mike Tyson, the Sugar Rays and other famous ones in the past all had losses…Besides you cant say he fought all the best there is…plus he only 40 times…not enough to judge him yet AND He hasnt even fought the KING himself, PACMAN !!
Yo armthelandless….
If Pacquiao was really taking illegal performance enhancing drugs such as PED, HGH, dont you think there would be outside investigation by now ? The reason
why there is no investigation is that there is absolutely no evidence, whatsoever, not even a witness or even a circumstantial evidence. If u notice theres not even one legitimate public news about it. Also, if thats really legitimate concern then someone with proper authority would enforce that on Pacquiao. That said theres actually really no need to really prove himself if hes innocent or guilty, certainly NOT because Floy Mayweather or his fans says so.
For one, who the hell is Floyd anyway ? He doesnt have the authority to change the rules or over-ride the commissions rule ? Because its just a baseless accusation therefore its not a legitimate random blood testing demand. It just boils down to just agreeing to someones baseless demand and that someone is the challenger in the first place who doesnt even have the right to make such a demand. Since its not legitimate as far as the authorities are concern then its just a bullying, disrespecting tactic just to pamper Floys ego.
And for Floyd fans or Pac haters its not like they gonna jumb on Pacquiaos side once he tested negative. More than likely if he did tested negative Floyd fans and Pac haters will never be satisfied and will even say that he probably did something to masked the drug or paid the testers, or whatever. Of course, there will always be die hard Floyd fans and Pac haters. You have to live with that.
And like I said, Mayweather already has the physical advantage what more does he want ? A guaranteed win for himself ?? And its not a complaint, Im just trying to point it out that he already has the advantage, why does he want more ?? This are proofs that Mayweather is just a trash talker who talks trash only when hes not confronted or when theres no fight….kind of like the brave guy whos saying all this crap and when you come closer and confront him he just all of a sudden just shut-up…
TO ALL YOU PACQUIAO FANS WHO THINK HE AND FREDDIE ARE INCAPABLE OF USING STEROIDS
Trainer Freddie Roach said, “The Ruiz fight, James was coming off an injury and we didn’t have enough time for it to completely heal. He wasn’t at one-hundred percent. The steroids didn’t seem to affect him at all, we didn’t even know it was still in his system for that fight. James was just himself in the Ruiz fight. His boxing ability won him the fight.
NOW, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK HE’S NOT DOING THE SAME THING WITH PAC….LMAO
wat a waste of my time, give us somthing better then this rubbish
The make an argument regarding the P4P crown. Manny Pacquiao does not care what that label is. He won’t even admit to it. Sure his handlers and promoters will milk it till it’s blood red. That’s just part of the marketing and taking advantage of the branding.
Now as far as Mayweather who likes to boast about being P4P, he will argue with you till your head hurts so much that the interviewer just gives him the “okay floyd, good luck to you” closing speech. LOL!
To Manny the labeling does not mean anything. He is letting the critics do the work. For Floyd, it defines him. It’s the only reason he’s making a big dtink about it. The critics feels otherwise. And like Floyd Jr said in an interview, “Critics dont pay the bills, don’t care what people thinks. Floyd jr. fight for Floyd Jr only”
Interview with Jamie Foxx
Floyd Jr as quoted about Pacquiao “you cant be ordinary and then become extraordinary”. His reasoning to why he thinks Manny is on roids. The crazy part about his statement, lets just assume that Manny is not on anything. That statement alone tell you that Floyd jr is scared $hitless.
Kokomo,Who’s your p4p?
Jesusjones,WHAT?
Boston Red Head is the smartest kid in his 1st grade class. Because he’s 18 years old.
Boxing News is bias, they are rooting only to their favorite fighter… be fair on your commentary and point of view… equality and balance views equals good reporting to all..
It’s a shame when great fighters in the same era don’t face each other. Floyds opponents were picked to keep him undefeated. Floyd never faught Tszyu and now he is about to do the same with Pacqiaou. In my opinion Manny is more dangerous than Tszyu because he has power in both hands. Floyds camp avoided Tszyu because of the eight year age difference and he would have walked through Floyds brittle punches. Roger did not have an answer for Tszyu when they faught and Floyd would have lost too. If Floyd does not face Pacqiaou his legacy will be tarnished forever. He will be known as a cherry picker because he did not face two of the biggest opponents during his era. That’s why Shane is after Floyd and Manny. He wants to prove he is the best. That’s more important to him than the millions he will earn trying to prove his self. Floyd should learn from Manny and Shane.
fraud mayweather!!!!!!!!
at the end of the day pbf left the sport on top and i dont think he is gonna leave the sport on top. he is a natural born winner and people like him cant stand losing or being told someone is better than you thats why he will fight pac man and send him bak to the phillipines licking his wound as the pretender to bein p4p king
Floyd Mayweather Jr = Smart Fighter
Makes an accomplished fighter Brawler or Boxer look pedestrian!
Cotto was drained (144lb?). Cotto is severely damaged; beaten up by Clottey, battered by Margarito (cheat or not), absorbed pain from mosley, punished by Judah, Rocked by Torres and given a dance class coutesy of Chop-Chop!
Hatton was drained, forget about it. stopped by floyd at 147lbs
De La Hoya was drained, forget about it… strong at 154lbs
Never heard of David Diaz, forget about it…
Juan Manuel Marquez, besides the dreadful 1st Round, he makes Manny look amatuer-ish! He can’t handle boxers. I fear for his safety against floyd. Clottey will have some success… Watch.
Mizeike your being kind. I would say it’s like arguing with a crack addict who needs his fix.
Arguing with Pinoys is like trying to tell Rainman hes not an excellent driver.
Mouths are made to say anything…
umm. fighter of the decade is who? arguing with mayweather fans is like arguing with a stubborn 10 year old kid with autism..
@Doc Holiday, I agree with that statement of yours, but the big question is that, how can Manny be the “The Man” as you are saying if “Your Man” (Floyd)won’t have that guts to faced Manny.
because there are several camps in the bxing world that believe PACMAN is on PED’S and he wants to make sure he is facing a drug free opponents
@MarathonMan1,
Who is on steroids again? What’s that, Pacquiao is on steroids? Any proof on that? None right. The only thing you have is that Mayweather Sr’s itch somewhere. Of course you’re gonna say Pacquiao refused the blood test. Sorry but that won’t hold water either. Remember Pacquiao is amenable for 3 blood tests to be done, the last one is IMMEDIATELY after the fight. Isn’t that better than the blood test to be done 14 days before the fight w/c the Mayweather camp proposes. But, no sense arguing this with you. This has already been argued to death many times. The funny thing is Pacquiao has already moved on and focused his sights on his fight with Clottey. But Mayweather can’t seem to stop talking about Pacquiao, like crying over his spilt milk. I bet he can’t sleep, dreaming all over the lost 25 million dollar pay day.
Money May has about a year or two to cement himself by at least fighting 3 top notch names.
I understand your point Doc but at the momentt, it’s the other way around. One fan, ten fans, a houndred thousand other fans. The higher calling has made their man.
YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE MAN TO BECOME THE MAN!! At the moment, it’s not Money may.
He vacated the P4P title…until he loses or retires he will have the title! Just like Roy…if he didn’t fall off he probably wouldn’t have lost it for another 5 or 6 fights! I appreciate Pacman and his accomplishments but we all know the cardinal rule is YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE MAN TO BECOME THE MAN!!
Yeah, that’s right!