The Florida-based St. Petersburg Times ranked Pacquiao as No.4 in its top 10 pound-for-pound list behind Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather, and Felix ?Tito? Trinidad, who came off a 28-month hiatus in glorious fashion with a smashing eight-round stoppage of Ricardo Mayorga five nights ago.
?Pacquiao may not be the most skilled fighter, but one of the most exciting.His draw with Juan Manuel Marquez is still the top Fight-of-the-Year candidate,? stated St. Petersburg Times staff writer John Coley.
Rounding up the top 10 in SPT?s list are Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver, Diego Corrales, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Cory Sprinks.
Two prestigious boxing websites, Boxingtalk.com and Maxboxing.com, both rated Pacquiao as No.5 in their respective P4P lists.
In Maxboxing.com, the General Santos City-native punisher is tied at fifth with Marquez, whom he knocked down thrice in the first round before settling for a highly questionable split draw during their May 8 superbout in Las Vegas.
They stood behind Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather, Erik Morales and Antonio Tarver.
?I think it?s only appropriate since their bout (which has to be considered 2004?s Fight of the Year) ended in dead heat, that they share this spot,? said Maxboxing.com editor Steve Kim.
?The Pacman displayed his blistering power and hand speed in blitzing Marquez in round one, sending the Mexican three times in stunning fashion.Marquez showed his grit in getting off the deck to effectively box and counterpunch the Filipino for the remaining 11 rounds,? added Kim.
Over at Boxingtalk.com, Pacquiao ranks behind Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Tarver, Flloyd Mayweather, and Cory Spinks.
?After beating Barrera like he stole something, Pacquiao came right back to face Juan Manuel Marquez in this year?s (so far) fight of the year. Although the judges scored it a draw, I gave the nod to Pacquiao. Very one dimensional fighter, but he?s absolutely relentless in the squared circle and his pressure has already proven to be a bit too much for even the world?s best to handle,? said Gregory Leon of Boxingtalk.com.
At the moment though, the future of Pacquiao remains unclear. In fact, Pacquiao slipped back home unnoticed and without the knowledge of his business manager Rod Nazario and American take-charge man Murad Muhammad after training for nothing at Freddie Roach?s Wild Card Gym in United States for barely a month.
There are talks though that Pacquiao is set to battle Australia-based Guyana warrior Gairy St. Clair on November 27 in Manila with Taguig Mayor Freddie Tinga among those interested in backing up the multi-million boxing show.
