Perennial pound-for-pounder Joe Calzaghe finally called it a day recently after almost 16 years as a professional but Mexican star Juan Manuel Marquez showed that he was more than capable of taking over the Pride of Wales’ slot at two in our latest ‘pound-for-pound’ rankings.
After back-to-back wins over Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Calzaghe decided there were simply no more worlds to conquer and as a result he has freed up a space atop the ‘pound-for-pound’ top table.
Step forward Marquez who moves from three to two on our list after a scintillating win over Juan Diaz in Houston last weekend.
Marquez, who has previously drawn and contentiously lost on points to Manny Pacquiao looked as though he might be booked for just a fifth career loss as he was consistently beaten to the punch by the younger, bigger Diaz in front of a raucous crowd at the Toyota Center.
But as the rounds wore on Marquez, competing in just his second ever fight at lightweight, began to get through with those classy hooks and uppercuts, which have become his trademark.
In a Fight of the Year contender Marquez had to weather an early storm before taking over and stopping Diaz dramatically in the ninth round.
The win confirms that even at the venerable age of 35 he remains, along with great rival Pacquiao, one of the best fighters in the sport.
A third fight with the Filipino cannot be ruled out but interestingly Marquez spoke of his desire to go up to light-welter for a meeting with former ‘pound-for-pound’ top dog Floyd Mayweather Jr next.
At time of writing ‘Pretty Boy’ Floyd is still retired and so remains absent from our list but with a vacant space to fill Kelly Pavlik re-enters the top 10.
The jury was out on Pavlik after he was humiliated and outclassed by Bernard Hopkins late last year but he proved he is head and shoulders the best middleweight in the world with a dominant win over dangerous Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio recently.
‘The Ghost’ won every round before Rubio was retired on his stool after nine one-sided rounds in a fight that proved while Pavlik may no longer be perfect, he remains the top dog at 160.
A unification fight with IBF kingpin Arthur Abraham looks a natural and if that fight comes off it has the potential to be one of the most hellacious middleweight scraps since ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler duked it out with Tommy Hearns.
On the same night Pavlik was dusting Rubio Miguel Cotto showed his defeat to Antonio Margarito has not ruined him as he dominated brave Brit Michael Jennings at Madison Square Garden.
Cotto took a while to get going against Jennings but began to get through with those meaty hooks and body shots before closing the show emphatically in the fifth.
The hand-wrap controversy that has damaged Margarito’s immediate future has also tainted that sensational win over Cotto in the eyes of many and while the Puerto Rican has not commented directly about recent goings on the best way he can surely answer his critics is to keep fighting and beating the best.
Halting the Michael Jenning’s of the world won’t see him scale the ‘P4P’ mountain anytime soon but if he can meet and beat the winner of the forthcoming Pacquiao – Ricky Hatton fight (he called the duo out after beating Jennings) then we would certainly have to reassess his current ranking at four.
Sportinglife.com pound-for-pound world top 10:
1 – Manny Pacquiao
2 – Juan Manuel Marquez
3 – Bernard Hopkins
4 – Miguel Cotto
5 – Shane Mosley
6 – Israel Vazquez
7 – Ricky Hatton
8 – Chad Dawson
9 – Paul Williams
10 – Kelly Pavlik
Honourable mentions: Antonio Margarito, Juan Manuel Lopez, Juan Diaz, Mikkel Kessler, Joan Guzman and Ivan Calderon.
