LAST YEAR, before Manny Pacquiao mauled Marco Antonio Barrera in San Antonio, Texas, The Ring magazine ranked the Filipino bomber No. 32 in the world pound for pound.
When The Ring came out with its 2004 edition last week titled The 100 Greatest Fighters in the World, Pacquiao made a giant leap to No. 7.
The December 2004 issue of the fight publication known as The Bible of Boxing, included Pacquiao in the Top Ten of the world?s greatest fighters today.
Middleweight Bernard Hopkins, who recently knocked out Oscar dela Hoya at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, topped the ratings. He was followed by lightweight Floyd Mayweather, light-heavy Antonio Tarver, heavyweight Roy Jones, middleweight Winky Wright, super-feather Erik Morales, Pacquiao, feather Juan Manuel Marquez, Dela hoya and super-lightweight Kostya Tszyu.
Pacquiao also appeared on the cover alongside seven others including heavyweight Vladimir Klitschko, Tarver, Hopkins, Maywetaher, heavyweight James Toney, super-lightweight Arturo Gatti and Morales.
Pacquiao?s spectacular 11-round demolition of the legendary Barrera plus his thrill-a-second 12-round war with Marquez on May 8 of this year in Las Vegas, obviously weighed a lot in the deliberation conducted by The Ring.
