Boxing fans around the world were shocked when Yahoo published its latest pound for pound boxing rankings.
The newest edition of the list, devised by a smorgasbord of accomplished and distinguished boxing writers, placed Floyd Mayweather back at the top and Manny Pacquiao at number two.
So why do people care what who one website is calling the best fighter in the world anyway?
It might just be an opinion based tally and not any kind of statistical system, but the number of people Yahoo reaches does give it a modicum of power when it comes to rankings. If enough people read something, no matter the content, then some will start to believe it is true.
The worst thing about opinion based rankings though, even those using an elite panel of writers, is the lack of consistency. Bernard Hopkins, who once hovered near the top of most pound for pound lists, beat Roy Jones Jr recently. Now the fight wasn’t thrilling, and Hopkins admittedly looked terrible. After the performance though he was promptly removed from the rankings-fine.
Shane Mosley, friend and training partner of Hopkins, loses to Floyd Mayweather, turns in a bad performance, looks every bit his age. Does he drop out of the rankings as well after being dominated and being over a year removed from his last win?
No, Mosley still sits at number 9 on their pound for pound list.
Paul Williams has also placed at number 3 on the list. While I’m a fan of tall Paul, and he probably is the 3rd best pound for pound fighter, his recent performances haven’t necessarily suggested this.
His ‘win’ over Kermit Cintron is a misnomer, and the bizarre incident that ended the fight occurred too soon to give a clear indication as to who was winning. He also beat Sergio Martinez, although again this was controversial and many thought the judges got the decision wrong on the night.
Fans of MMA have long lamented how terrible the Yahoo rankings were, often showing a bias towards UFC fighters and discounting victories in liew of how exciting a fight was to watch. The site even has a UFC section rather than an MMA section, so at least they aren’t trying to hide anything. The UFC has been the only constant in the MMA landscape over the course of the sport’s growth and mainstream acceptance. This doesn’t mean though that they have the best fighters by default.
Russel Morgan, Pittsburgh: “Mayweather should be number one, but some of their other picks are a little strange”
Jack Simpson, Pittsburgh: “Why does anyone care what Yahoo think anyway, they’re a search engine”
