FOR THE second straight year, Manny Pacquiao made it to the Ring magazine?s list of the world?s top fighters pound for pound at No. 6.
In its annual “Best Fighter” Poll, The Ring gathered nine experts who came up with their lists of the best boxers in the world regardless of weight.
Voted No. 1 was middleweight Bernard Hopkins (150 points), superlightweight Floyd Mayweather (111), super-lightweight Kostya Tszyu (88), light-middle Winky Wright (70), super-feather Marco Antonio Barrera (52), Pacquiao (38), super-feather Erik Morales (26), feather Juan Manuel Marquez (25), middle Felix Trinidad (22) and lightweight Diego Corrales (11) and bantam Rafael Marquez (11).
The Class of 2004 was made up of Dan Rafael of the USA Today, Keith Idec of Herald news (New Jersey), trainer Emanuel Steward, junior-welter contender Ricky Hatton, ex-world junior-feather champ Paulie Ayala, HBO blow-by-blow announcer Jim Lampley, Fox Sports Net analyst Max Kellerman, ESPN2 blow-by-blow announcer Joe Tessitore and radio host and veteran boxing analyst Rich Marrota.
Save for Steward and Ayala, all panelists included Pacquiao in their Top Ten with Kelleman and Tessitore ranking the GenSan southpaw as high as No. 4. Idec and The Ring placed Pacquiao at No. 5, while Hatton had him at No. 7 and Marrota and Rafael had Pacquiao at No. 8.Lampley placed Pacquiao at No. 9.
In the 2003 poll also conducted by The Ring, haded by its editor in chief Nigel Collins, Pacquiao landed at No. 7 on the strength of his masterful knockout win over Barrera at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
In 2004, Pacquiao engaged Marquez to a 12-round split draw during the Cinco de Mayo festivities in Las Vegas. Before the year came to a close, Pacquiao flattened Thailand?s Fahsan 3K Battery.
Pacquiao is slated to lock horns with Morales on March 19 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
