The Pound-for-Pound Top Fifty by Andrew Eisele

http://boxing.about.com/cs/rankingsc.../top_fifty.htm

Jun 11 2006

One of the easiest ways to get into a debate on boxing is to try and rank the sport’s top practitioners on a pound-for-pound basis. Everyone’s got an opinion and there’s no way to definitely determine who’s right and who’s wrong. Sure Wladimir Klitschko would defeat Floyd Mayweather if they fought each other -- Klitschko outweighs Pretty Boy by 100 pounds! But if - and this is the big if – Klitschko and Mayweather were in the same weight class and were to match their skills against one another in the ring, which fighter would emerge victorious?
Every boxing enthusiast has seen pound-for-pound rankings in various magazines, on the Net and perhaps even on TV. Most of these lists include only ten fighters. Occasionally, you’ll see a pound-for-pound top twenty. So why stop at twenty? In order to provide even more fodder for conversation and debate, here is a pound-for-pound ranking of the top fifty fighters in the world today.

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (140)
2. Ronald "Winky" Wright (160)
3. Manny Pacquiao (130)
4. Marco Antonio Barrera (130)
5. Antonio Margarito (147)
6. Oscar De La Hoya (154)
7. Ricky Hatton (140)
8. Jermain Taylor (160)
9. Joe Calzaghe (168)
10. Bernard Hopkins (160)
11. Jose Luis Castillo (135)
12. Rafael Marquez (118)
13. Erik Morales (130)
14. Shane Mosley (147)
15. Miguel Cotto (140)
16. Chris John (126)
17. Diego Corrales (135)
18. Juan Manuel Marquez (126)
19. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (112)
20. Antonio Tarver (175)
21. Kostya Tszyu (140) *RETIRED???*
22. Jesus Chavez (135)
23. Zab Judah (147)
24. Glen Johnson (175)
25. Roy Jones Jr. (175)
26. Arturo Gatti (140)
27. Jeff Lacy (168)
28. Rocky Juarez (130)
29. Israel Vazquez (122)
30. Acelino Freitas (135)
31. Cory Spinks (147)
32. Martin Castillo (115)
33. Ivan Calderon (105)
34. Fernando Vargas (154)
35. Oscar Larios (122)
36. Jorge Arce (112)
37. Zahir Raheem (135)
38. Joel Casamayor (135)
39. Fernando Montiel (115)
40. Roman Karmazin (154)
41. Brian Viloria (108)
42. Juan Diaz (135)
43. O'Neil Bell (200)
44. Scott Harrison (126)
45. Joan Guzman (126)
46. Carlos Baldomir (147)
47. Yukata Niida (105)
48. Kassim Ouma (154)
49. Mikkel Kessler (168)
50. Lorenzo Parra (112)


Closing in on Top Fifty: Vernon Forrest (154), Zsolt Erdei (175), Ike Quartey (154), Roberto Vazquez (108), Vic Darchinyan (112), Jose Navarro (115).

Dropping off the list in recent months: Ricardo Mayorga (154), Chris Byrd (heavy), James Toney (heavy), Jean Marc Mormeck (200), Will Grigsby (108), Felix Trinidad (160), Daniel Santos (154), Vivian Harris (140), Rosendo Alvarez (112).

No doubt your top fifty would look much different. Maybe entirely different! Share your thoughts on the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today on the boxing bulletin board.

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Lacy #27
Kessler #49

Zab #23
Baldomir #46

Strange......

One of the worst P4P lists I have seen.I have never heard of the writer before,is he well known? There are many discrepancies but the one that stood out for me was Margarito,I mean I am a massive massive fan as everyone here knows but to have him that high says it all and sets the tone for the rest of the list! Also,P4P top 50 is waaaaay too much,10 or 20 is enough for debate!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Game

One of the worst P4P lists I have seen.I have never heard of the writer before,is he well known? There are many discrepancies but the one that stood out for me was Margarito,I mean I am a massive massive fan as everyone here knows but to have him that high says it all and sets the tone for the rest of the list! Also,P4P top 50 is waaaaay too much,10 or 20 is enough for debate!

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That's one we agree on. Margarito #5 in to high for him. I know we are all excited about the Kermit Cintron KO but he should be down further on the list.

Yeah...terrible. And even I will conceit that Lacy is o high. I would have both him and Kessler in the 40's. Tszyu is to high. Judah is to high. Gatti shouldn't even be on there. Umm..it would take forever to find everything wrong with this list. Terrible.