With Floyd Mayweather showing no hint that he is about to reverse his decision to retire anytime soon, a new ‘pound-for-pound’ king needs anointing.
Step forward Manny Pacquiao.
The Filipino firebrand was vying for P4P supremacy with Britain’s Joe Calzaghe and Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto following Mayweather’s abdication and while he was expected to beat David Diaz last month, the manner of his WBC lightweight title win was quite startling.
He made the 34-1-1 Diaz look like a three-fight novice as he bamboozled him for long periods.
Pacquiao’s speed was way too much for the plodding Diaz to cope with and while the Chicago man never gave up trying he just couldn’t pin the ‘Pac Man’ down.
Pacquiao put on a boxing clinic and a fabulous blend of speed and power distorted Diaz’s features grotesquely as the rounds went by.
The Filipino closed the show brilliantly in the ninth with a stunning left-hook thrown at close range. It sucked the life out of Diaz’s legs and the American lay in a worrying heap for several minutes after it was waved off.
Pacquiao showed his compassionate side by trying to help his stricken opponent to his feet before celebrating yet another world title in a fourth weight division.
At 29 he looks at his absolute boxing peak right now and mouth-watering matches against Ricky Hatton and even Oscar De La Hoya have since been mooted.
A fight against De La Hoya at welterweight might be a bridge too far but after watching some of his most recent performances you wouldn’t put anything past Pacquiao.
He has brought the freakish power he was blessed with as a flyweight up through the divisions and looks to be hitting as hard as ever in 2008. And he looks a far more complete boxer these days, almost unrecognisable from the one-handed slugger of yesteryear.
If Calzaghe stands Roy Jones on his head when he meets the American in New York later this year we may have to reconsider, but for now I don’t think there can be any doubt that Pacquiao is the best, and most exciting, fighter lacing up the gloves right now.
One man who I reckoned might usurp him this month was Cotto but despite a sterling effort the Puerto Rican came off second best in a classic encounter with Antonio Margarito in Las Vegas.
Cotto was a fighter to my mind seemingly without weakness and for half a dozen rounds against Margarito he boxed like a ‘pound-for-pound’ superstar.
Despite a brilliant display of ring generalship boxing on the back foot I couldn’t help but feel during the fight that while he was winning the battle he was losing the war.
Margarito, admittedly not the most technically accomplished fighter in the world, is just relentless and for once will triumphed over skill in Sin City.
The ‘Tijuana Tornado’ shipped some unbelievable punishment (if there is a better chin in the sport I have yet to see it) and Cotto unloaded with enough quality shots to do for most welterweights. But ‘Toni’ shook those punches off as if they were nothing. He continued to walk his man down and there was a sense of inevitability about the end when it came in the penultimate stanza.
Margarito got the win but in truth neither man really lost anything in defeat. The sport of boxing was the real winner and as a result of his efforts Margarito jumps from 10 right up to four in our latest list.
The win also reaffirmed just how good Paul Williams’ 2007 win over Margarito was and having beaten Carlos Quintana so emphatically in their return fight last month (TKO 1) Williams returns to our rankings at 10.
The best fight to be made now is probably Margarito-Williams II and I reckon that contest will take place in 2009.
There is talk of Margarito boxing De La Hoya in the latter’s final bout later this year, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before the ‘Golden Boy’ gets in the ring with the TJ Tornado.
Oscar has made millions from the sport while retaining his boyish good looks and while a fight against Margarito would help swell his coffers it would also swell and perhaps permanently disfigure that pretty face of his, so that fight looks a non-starter for me.
As for Cotto he is young enough and good enough to come again. Defeats like that sometimes prove hard to shake off from a physical and psychological point of view but he went out on his shield and there was no disgrace in losing in such a manner.
Sportinglife.com pound-for-pound world top 10:
1 – Manny Pacquiao
2 – Joe Calzaghe
3 – Juan Manuel Marquez
4 – Antonio Margarito
5 – Miguel Cotto
6 – Kelly Pavlik
7 – Israel Vazquez
8 – Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright
9 – Ricky Hatton
10 – Paul Williams
Honourable Mentions: Christian Mijares, Juan Diaz, Mikkel Kessler, Wladimir Klitschko, Joan Guzman and Juan Manuel Lopez.
