Derek Bilton updates his world pound-for-pound rankings for June.
Floyd Mayweather’s decision to retire from boxing in June caught everyone by surprise.
‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd has pulled such a stunt before of course but listening to him one wonders whether this time he really means it?
My guess is he doesn’t and that the 39-0 (25) Grand Rapids star is merely playing games with the public and TV paymasters in order to get a fatter paycheque down the line.
However if a man says he’s retired then I suppose we have to take him at his word and so the top spot in our pound-for-pound rankings is suddenly vacant this month.
Mayweather’s two main rivals for best fighter in the world are surely Joe Calzaghe and Manny Pacquiao, but it doesn’t feel right to simply elevate one of those two men into pole position on a whim.
Therefore the top spot will remain vacant for the time being at least as we see what Messrs Mayweather, Calzaghe and Pacquiao come up with in the next few months.
It looks as though Calzaghe will meet American modern great and former pound-for-pound star Roy Jones next. If he looks explosive in that one and Mayweather stays away then there is every chance he’ll have to be recognised as the best fighter in the game.
But it’s Pacquiao who will get first chance to show his credentials with the Filipino phenom set to meet WBC lightweight king David Diaz at the end of this month.
Pacquiao will be looking to join a rather exclusive and illustrious group of fighters who have won world titles in five weight divisions and having suffered just one loss in the last nine years (to Erik Morales – emphatically avenged not once but twice) there is a strong case for making ‘Pac Man’ the main man post-Mayweather.
He has evolved as a fighter in recent times and turned himself from a wildly exciting but crude slugger into a compact box-puncher who doesn’t solely rely on his lethal left hook as much as he once did.
If he can get past Diaz he will have been a world champion at weights ranging from flyweight to lightweight and beaten men of the calibre of Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, Marco Antonio Barrera, Morales, Oscar Larios and Juan Manuel Marquez to get there.
There is even talk of him moving up yet further to have a crack at Ricky Hatton down the line and if he were to achieve that feat then Mayweather or no Mayweather we’d have to seriously consider him as the best man in the game.
Elsewhere on the world beat this month Kelly Pavlik solidified his ‘P4P’ credentials with a three round blowout of Welshman Gary Lockett.
Pavlik was a heavy favourite going in but a job still needed to be done and the Youngstown native got it done emphatically, dropping Lockett several times with sharp, accurate rights and lefts before it was waved off.
He now moves to 34-0 (30) and ‘The Ghost’ has hinted that he’d like a crack at Calzaghe in 2009.
There is so much to like about Pavlik. He is tremendously strong and something of an old-school fighter. He can be hurt but has shown plenty of testicular fortitude in the past by getting up off the floor to win.
On the strength of his punching display against Lockett and what he showed against Jermain Taylor I’m happy to move him above Hatton in our latest list.
On the same bill in Atlantic City a star was born in the shape on Juan Manuel Lopez.
The 22-year-old was taking a significant step up in class against Daniel Ponce de Leon but delivered in the grand manner with an astonishing TKO win in the first round.
Puerto Rican star Lopez, from the same town that spawned Miguel Cotto, improves to 22-0 (20) as a result and he looks as though he can do it all.
He can box, bang, has great hand-eye coordination and fantastic speed and ring smarts. He had looked devastating in the run up to his world title tilt but while many unbeaten fighters are exposed when they step up to true elite level he showed he truly belongs.
Afterwards ‘Juanma’ hinted that he’d like a shot at another Mexican, Israel Vazquez, next time round.
Vazquez – Lopez would be really special and while the Ponce de Leon win didn’t do quite enough to see him usurp Antonio Margarito for tenth spot if he meets and beats Vazquez or fellow unbeaten belt holder Steve Molitor down the line then he’ll be difficult to ignore.
Sportinglife.com pound-for-pound world top 10:
1 – Vacant
2 – Joe Calzaghe
3 – Manny Pacquiao
4 – Miguel Cotto
5 – Juan Manuel Marquez
6 – Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright
7 – Israel Vazquez
8 – Kelly Pavlik
9 – Ricky Hatton
10 – Antonio Margarito
? Honourable Mentions: Christian Mijares, Juan Diaz, Mikkel Kessler, Wladimir Klitschko, Joan Guzman and Juan Manuel Lopez.
