Two boxing websites of repute in America have restored Manny Pacquiao to No 1 in their pound-for-pound-greatest rankings following his dominant world welterweight title victory over Jessie Vargas.
They also weighed into that calculation his impressive defeat of Tim Bradley in April, immediately before his brief retirement into politics.
It is a reasonable verdict on the Pacman, although they expect him to be displaced from top spot by the winner of the November 19 world light-heavyweight title fight between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev.
As for Pacquiao, he is content at the moment to have resumed his position as a world champion in the first fight of a comeback.
He is flattered to be installed as the pound-for-pound king in some quarters and when asked for an estimation of his own position in that pantheon he laughs and says: ‘Somewhere below 50th.’
Pressed to pick a top three he plumps for Gennady Golovkin followed by Canelo Alvarez, with Vasyl Lomachenko third.
The choice of Lomanchenko, the Ukrainian double Olympic and World amateur champion who now holds the world super-featherweight title, is interesting.
Lomachenko is wonderfully talented and a candidate to be Pacquiao’s next opponent, despite the weight difference.
He is prepared to move up to 135 lbs. Pacquiao, even though he is the champion at 147 lbs, is willing to slim down.
The Pacman explains: ‘My natural fighting weight is really 140 lbs and I can easily get back down to 135 again. To box at welterweight I have to eat five times a day to get close to 147. Eat so much that I often feel like throwing up.’
Both he and the rankers have neglected the little Nicaraguan who should be No 1 pound-for-pound. Or in his case ounce-for-ounce.
Roman Gonzalez, the super-flyweight champion, has won all his 46 bouts, 38 of them by the devastating type of knock-outs which are not prevalent in the lightest weights.
