Manny Pacquiao buttressed his position as the world?s finest boxer pound-for-pound after becoming the unanimous choice of Yahoo! Sports panel of experts.
The four-division world champion collected a perfect No. 1 vote from each of the 30 boxing scribes and boxing experts comprising the world most popular home page.
The weight of Pacquiao?s votes also catapulted his promotional boxing outfit, Top Rank, headed by Bob Arum as the world?s leading promoter in an unofficial poll conducted by Yahoo Sports chief boxing writer Kevin Iole.
Iole, said ex-super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe was ineligible for the poll, since he announced his retirement before the voting commenced, which means there?s a new name at No. 2.
Moving up to second place was Pacquiao?s former archrival, Juan Manuel Marquez, who moved up from the third slot.
Rounding out the top 10, from third to 10th were: Israel Vazquez, Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, Rafael Marquez, Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto, Ivan Calderon and Vic Darchinyan.
Iole there would be more changes in the March poll as boxers who had been inactive for more than a year or are suspended are automatically taken out from the mythical listing.
?No. 3 Israel Vazquez and No. 6 Rafael Marquez will fall out for inactivity and No. 12 Antonio Margarito will drop because of a one-year license revocation assessed by the California State Athletic Commission for illegal hand wraps,? Iole said.
He explained that the ranking of the top promoters is unofficial since there is actually no such regular listing.
Iole said the idea is to see which promoter currently has the most fighters in the top 23 (the number of fighters who received votes in our poll).
?I used the same rules as I use for the fighter poll,? he said. ?Since 23 men received votes, I gave 23 points for first, 22 for second on down to one point for the fighter in 23rd.?
The results of the promoter poll is a follows:
Top Rank, 91 points: Led by undisputed No. 1 Manny Pacquiao, it had three fighters in the top 10 and eight fighters receive at least one vote.
Golden Boy Promotions, 72 points: Golden Boy placed three in the top five, but it didn?t have another fighter until a tie for 19th. Of its ranked fighters, the average age is 34.8 and only one, heavyweight David Haye, is under 30.
Gary Shaw Productions, 45 points: Super bantamweight Rafael Marquez has lost two straight, hasn?t won since March 3, 2007, yet has continually moved up in the poll, now at No. 6. That curiosity is because he?s lost back-to-back scintillating fights against one of the best in the business. Marquez is one of three GSP fighters in the top 11.
Sycuan Ringside Promotions, 21 points: Sycuan has only one fighter in the poll, but he?s a doozy: No. 3 Israel Vazquez.
Goossen-Tutor Promotions, 17 points: If Paul Williams earned points for all of the weight classes he fights in, Goossen-Tutor might sit atop the list.
Chris John Promotions, 11 points: The classy featherweight Chris John promotes himself.
Team Palle Promotions, 10 points: The Danish company is represented by the outstanding super middleweight, Mikkel Kessler.
Sauerland Events, 8 points: Arthur Abraham, and not the more well-known Kelly Pavlik, just might be the world?s top middleweight.
K2 Promotions, 4 points: Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko is his company?s only representative in the poll.
Seminole Warrior?s Promotions, 1 point: Lanky super bantamweight Celestino Caballero received a single 10th-place vote in the poll.
