Quote Originally Posted by CGM View Post
To me, what I am about to explain seems obvious, yet it is never been given lip service by the press or boxing pundits.

It relates to what happens to a boxer's p4p status as he moves up in weight.

Let's take Pacquaio. I have seen it written that by moving up and defeating de la Hoya at welterweight, he has solidified his hold on the p4p #1 spot. I would say he has solidified nothing. Now that he is at welterweight, I don't think anyone is going to say that he is the #1 welterweight, that he can beat guys like Cotto, Margarito, Mosely. But it doesn't seem like anyone is going to take away his p4p#1 either.

You could say the same about a lot of guys. Hatton moves up to welterweight and wins against a lesser champ. Suppose he stays for a while. His p4p doesn't go down, even though is is now in a much tougher division, in among a number of fighters that would be favored over him.

Probably one could come with a similar argument for mayweather.

The whole point is, the whole basis for a particular p4p ranking changes when a fighter changes division.

No big deal I guess. The whole concept of p4p ranking is pretty questionable anyway.

I think you are missing what the p4p idea is based on.

It's evaluated in two ways.

Firstly the idea of a mythical matchup, in which all fighters are exactly equal in weight (i.e no physical disadvantages) then who would be the best on pure boxing ability?

So in this way a Manny Pacquaio can be compared to a Joe Calzaghe for example even though Joe would obviously be too big for Manny in a real fight.

Without the size difference, and if they were both naturally in the same weight class who would win?

The second part of the evaluation concerns acomplishments, i.e who have they beat, what titles have they won, how long have their reigned, and especially what have they done recently.

When Manny beat Oscar he moved up 2 weight classes and beat a shoe in Hall of Famer and one of the best boxers of the last 15 years. It was an amazing acomplishment and of course solidifies his status as p4p number 1.

What weight class he is in is completely and utterly irrelevent.

You are basically arguing about weight rating rankings rather than p4p, for example I don't think Manny is in the top 5 at welterweight let alone number one, however p4p he is clearly the best fighter in the world as no current fighter has acomplished as much and is in as great form as Manny Pacquaio.