Manny Pacquiao, riding a wave of unprecedented popularity, sits atop a worldwide list of boxing’s biggest stars.
For the first time ever, using Google Keyword Search technology, the Top 100 stars in the sport have
been assessed, based on popularity and public interest throughout the world.
The methodology used in this survey is the same used for over a decade by internet marketing experts to determine trends in popularity and market awareness. The Google Keyword Tool determines how many monthly searches are initiated on Google for specific words, names, or phrases across the world. The results are regarded by the marketing industry as a fair indication of popularity and name awareness. For the sake of this study, and to allow for natural fluctuations in publicity as fights approach and pass, results were tabulated and averaged over the course of four months (US search totals were used to break ties)
Click these links for specific Top 20 results from The United States, The United Kingdom, The Philippines, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and Canada.
Read on for a brief conclusion of the findings after the Hot 100 List
(Search Average per Month is listed alongside the fighter):
1) Manny Pacquiao: 450,000 2) Floyd Mayweather Jr.: 234,100 3) David Haye: 110,000 4) Wladimir Klitschko: 74,000 5) James Toney: 60,500 6) Antonio Margarito: 49,500 7) Roy Jones Jr.: 49,500
8) Miguel Cotto: 40,500
9) Shane Mosley: 40,500 10) Vitali Klitschko: 40,500 11) Arthur Abraham: 33,100 12) Tomasz Adamek: 33,100 13) Bernard Hopkins: 27,100 14) Paul Williams: 27,100 15) David Tua: 27,100 16) Juan Manuel Marquez: 22,200 17) Danny Green: 22,200 18) Joshua Clottey: 18,100 19) Carl Froch: 18,100 20) Felix Sturm: 18,100 21) Amir Khan: 17,500 * 22) Sergio Martinez: 14,800 23) Yuri Foreman: 14,800 24) Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.: 14,800 25) Lucian Bute: 14,800 26) Jean Pascal: 14,800 27) Mikkel Kessler: 14,800 28) Andre Berto: 12,100 29) Zab Judah: 12,00 30) Nikolai Valuev: 12,100 31) Anthony Mundiine: 12,100 32) Kelly Pavlik: 9,900 33) Saul Alvarez: 9,900 34) Andre Ward: 9,900 35) Erik Morales: 9,900 36) Nonito Donaire: 9,900 37) Timothy Bradley: 9,900 38) Chris Arreola: 9,900 39) Marcos Maidana: 9,900 40) Samuel Peter: 9,900 41) Sergio Mora: 8,100 42) Eddie Chambers: 8,100 43) Odlanier Solis: 8,100 44) Marco Huck: 8,100 45) Victor Ortiz: 6,600 46) Juan Manuel Lopez: 6,600 47) Devon Alexander: 6,600 48) Chad Dawson: 6,600 49) Juan Diaz: 6,600 50) John Murray: 6,600 51) Kevin Mitchell: 6,600 52) Michael Katsidis: 6,600 53) David Lemieux: 6,600 54) Robert Helenius: 6,600 55) Tyson Fury: 6,600 56) Andre Dirrell: 5,400 57) Chris John: 5,400 58) Dereck Chisora: 5,400/480 59) Dawid Kostecki: 5,400 60) Tony Thompson: 4,400 61) Giovani Segura: 4,400 62) Vic Darchinyan: 4,400 63) Jame Degale: 4,400 64) Marco Antonio Barrera: 4,400 65) Kermit Cintron: 3,600 66) Jermain Taylor: 3,600 67) Guillermo Rigondeaux: 3,600 68) Winky Wright: 3,600 69) Allan Green: 3,600 70) Fernando Montiel: 3,600 71) Alexander Povetkin: 3,600 72) Nathan Cleverly: 3,600 73) Jean Marc Mormeck: 3,600 74) Edgar Sosa: 2,900 75) Brandon Rios: 2,900 76) Joan Guzman: 2,900 77) Ivan Calderon: 2,900 78) Alfonso Gomez: 2,900 79) Matthew Hatton: 2,900 80) Ruslan Chagaev: 2,900 81) Ricky Burns: 2,900 82) Alfredo Angulo: 2,400 83) Robert Guerrero: 2,400 84) Humberto Soto: 2,400 85) Steve Cunningham: 2,400 86) Selcuk Aydin: 2,400 87) Sebastian Sylvester: 2,400 88) Paulie Malignaggi: 1,900 89) Vanes Martirosyan: 1,900 90) Abner Mares: 1,900 91) Daniel Jacobs: 1,900 92) Celestino Caballero: 1,900 93) Sakio Bika: 1,900 94) Bernabe Concepcion: 1,900 95) Edison Miranda: 1,900 96) Dmitry Pirog: 1,900 97) Juan Carlos Gomez: 1,900 98) Roman “Rocky” Martinez: 1,900 99) Herbie Hide: 1,900 100) Audley Harrison: 1,600
— One thing is for sure, Manny Pacquiao is king. Along with Pacquiao’s popularity, all those related to him also enjoy great boosts in search action.
— Also interesting is the fact that David Haye outdid both Klitschko brothers overall. His firm #3 spot was one of the survey’s biggest surprises.
— James Toney’s #5 slot is due almost entirely to his brief stint with the UFC.
— One point worth noting is that Amir Khan’s totals may be slightly off based on the fact that there’s also an Amir Khan who is a very famous Indian movie star. To counter this fact, India was excluded from the Khan search totals.
— Major popularity in their home countries led to inflated world status in several cases, especially with Arthur Abraham (#11), Danny Green (#17), and Felix Sturm (#20).
— Contrary to popular opinion, UFC stars do not dwarf, nor do they even significantly outperform boxing’s stars. A random, small sampling of MMA fighters showed very little difference between the two sports: (Brock Lesnar: 301,000, Fedor Emelianenko: 165,000, Anderson Silva: 165,000, Cain Velasquez: 90.500, BJ Penn: 74,000 Georges St. Pierre: 49,500, Jose Aldo: 33,000, Frankie Edgar: 22,200)
Feel free to make your own comments and analysis in the comment section below.
Click these links for specific Top 20 results from The United States, The United Kingdom, The Philippines, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and Canada.
