On the pound-for-pound list of most respectable boxing media outlets, Floyd Mayweather and Andre Ward are ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.
However, Ward is in jeopardy of losing his rating – at least on some sites – due to inactivity.
THE RING Magazine, The Bible of Boxing, drops rated fighters who have been inactive for one year from the rankings unless they have a bout scheduled or they are in serious negotiations for a fight.
And BoxRec does the same, but without regard to whether a fighter has a bout scheduled.
“To keep [inactive fighters] ranked at the expense of active fighters is unfair, especially as we have no idea if or when [the inactive fighter] will fight again, said Nigel Collins, then Editor-in-Chief of THE RING Magazine, in 2011.
It’s not known how many media outlets will follow suit but FightSaga shares THE RING Magazine’s philosophy.
As a result, if Ward, who is embroiled in a legal battle with his promotions company, is not in serious negotiations for his next fight by November 16 – a year from his most recent bout – THE RING Magazine and FightSaga will remove him from their pound-for-pound ratings. As a result, Manny Pacquiao would assume the second slot, behind Floyd Mayweather, on FightSaga’s FAB 15 while moving up to No. 3 in THE RING Magazine’s rankings, behind Mayweather and heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Mayweather and Pacquiao are already rated Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, on BoxRec which serves as the world’s most respected boxing database and is believed to generate ratings algorithmically.
More than five years after the public first began clamouring for Mayweather vs Pacquiao, don’t be surprised if the fight icons are, at least technically, the official top two fighters in the sport again at the start of 2015.
