By Chris Williams: Former IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi disagrees with the Ring Magazine ratings, which currently has WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao at No.1, Floyd Mayweather Jr. at #2 and Andre Ward at #5. Instead of those rankings, Malignaggi sees Mayweather #1, Ward #2 and Pacquiao #3.

Malignaggi told Newfightblog at espn.go.com “I think Ward has a very good claim on number two…I think he’s a more complete fighter than Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao is more offensive, but he can’t fight going back…Ward can fight going forward, backward, inside, outside.”

I agree with Malignaggi for the most part, but I see Mayweather #1, Ward #2, Sergio Martinez #3, Juan Manuel Marquez #4 and Manny Pacquiao #5. I can’t put Pacquiao ahead of Marquez or Martinez after Pacquiao’s latest gift decision over Marquez, as well as the gift Pacquiao got over Marquez in 2008. Those two fights should have been losses for Pacquiao because he got exposed in both of those fights. Martinez has looked sharp in all of his fights in the past two years with wins over Paul Williams, Kelly Pavlik, Sergiy Dzinziruk and Darren Barker.

Pacquiao has looked awful against guys like Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Marquez. No way does Pacquiao deserve a number #3 ranking off of those fights. He’s lucky to be #5 in my rankings because I think guys like Timothy Bradley and Wladimir Klitschko are creeping closer to where Pacquiao is now and I think they could pass the Filipino in their next fights if they continue to look good.’

Pacquiao can’t fight going backwards, and he also can’t fight when his opponents are throwing punches. That’s why he was beaten by Erik Morales. You take a busy fighter and put pressure on Pacquiao, and he’ll clam up and just look to cover up to wait until his opponent has stopped throwing before he tries to get off some of his own shots.