Pacquiao dropped #2 behind #1 Mayweather on Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound list

By Boxing News - 04/03/2012 - Comments

Image: Pacquiao dropped #2 behind #1 Mayweather on Ring Magazine's pound-for-pound listBy Chris Williams: According to reports, Ring magazine is dropping WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao to #2 in their new updated pound for pound listing that’s about to come out. Floyd Mayweather Jr. replaces Pacquiao as number #1 in the rankings. That’s got to hurt if this turns out to be true, but I’m not surprised in the least. Mayweather has been fighting his heart out and looking sharp as of late, whereas hasn’t shined since his win over Miguel Cotto in 2009.

Pacquiao looked horrible against a totally shot 40-year-old Shane Mosley last year in a fight I’m still scratching my head wondering why it was made. It was a bad product for boxing fans given that it was put on pay per view and Mosley hadn’t won a fight in two years since January 2009. Pacquiao follows the poor performance against Mosley with an even worse one against Juan Manuel Marquez last November and wins a controversial decision. I saw that as a gift decision all the way. No way do I feel Pacquiao deserved that win. Marquez made him look bad all night long, countering everything he threw. How two of the judges could have scored the fight in Pacquiao’s favor is beyond me. Pound for pound number #1, eh? That was more like pound for pound #2 as far as I’m concerned. Pacquiao looked terrible and if you’re supposedly the #1 guy in the pound for pound lists, you got to look a lot better than that when you’re facing a 38-year-old lightweight like Marquez, who Mayweather totally schooled two years earlier in a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision win in 2009. Pacquiao goes life and death against a fighter that Mayweather beat with ease.

Pacquiao’s fans are going to need to understand that Mayweather is clearly fighting at a higher level than Pacquiao right now. I think Pacquiao looked good back in 2009 when he beat Miguel Cotto, but he hasn’t looked anywhere close to that since then. The legs are starting to have problems with cramping and he’s not jumping like he used, even against the mostly beatable guys that his promoter Bob Arum is putting Pacquiao in with. Pacquiao just doesn’t look good against guys that can move a little around the ring instead of the punching bags that Pacquiao had been facing in Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey and Ricky Hatton.

Here’s the Ring Magazine’s pound for pound listing:

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
2. Manny Pacquiao
3. Sergio Martinez
4. Andre Ward
5. Juan Manuel Marquez
6. Nonito Donaire
7. Wladimir Klitschko
8. Timothy Bradley
9. Pongsaklek Wongjongkam
10. Lucian Bute

I’d move things around a little more by putting Pacquiao at #4 behind Mayweather, Martinex #2, and Ward #3.



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