By Chris Williams: The World Boxing Council has pushed Manny Pacquiao to their No.1 spot in the welterweight rankings this month despite the fact that Pacquiao wasn’t even ranked in WBC’s top 15 before that. It looks like the WBC is trying to set it up to where Mayweather will have to fight Pacquiao if he wants to keep the WBC 147 lb. title. By pushing Pacquiao to the top spot, it’s going to give Mayweather a choice – either to fight Pacquiao or vacate the WBC’s 147 lb. title.
Pacquiao replaced Luis Carlos Abregu at #1. He was ranked at the top for a while, but Mayweather showed zero interest in fighting him. It’s unclear why the WBC ranked Abregu at the number 1 because he doesn’t have any wins over really quality opponents on his resume, and when he did step it up a little against Tim Bradley, he was beaten in 2010.
Abregu slides down to #2 in the WBC’s rankings. They might as well slide him down another 10 spots, because Mayweather will never fight this guy and if the WBC tries to force it, he’ll vacate rather than waste a valuable fight against a guy that no one wants to see him fight.
Amir Khan goes from #2 to #3 in the WBC rankings, but unlike Abregu and Pacquiao, he actually has a good chance of getting a fight against Mayweather.
Sanctioning bodies can control fights that take place with lesser fighters by ranking them high and putting them in position for a title fight by making them mandatory challengers. But the WBC – or any sanctioning body – can’t force Mayweather to defend their titles against the guys they want him to, because he’ll just vacate the title if they try and play hardball with it.
The WBC is probably better off having Mayweather as their champion right now rather than Pacquiao, because Mayweather is fighting at a really high level, and he’s not someone that can lose from fight to fight depending on who he’s facing. With Pacquiao, you put him in with a fighter that’s not a stiff, he could very lose. He does well against guys that are slow and hittable like Brandon Rios, but Juan Manuel Marquez has got his number, and Tim Bradley will likely beat him again when and if that fight is made in the future.
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