Only a few days before their much-anticipated super middleweight championship bout in Manchester, England, WBM Pro Boxing Poll voters flip-flopped the No. 1 spot in the division as Joe Calzaghe replaces Jeff Lacy.
Under the 10-point voting system employed by the WBM, Calzaghe edged Lacy, 168-167, for the top spot. In the debut poll last month, Lacy was rated first and Calzaghe second.
Still, Lacy is rated as the No. 9 “pound for pound” fighter in the world and Calzaghe did not make the top 12 on that list.
In other poll news, “Sugar” Shane Mosley takes the top spot in the super welterweight division after his stoppage win over Fernando Vargas. Bernard Hopkins, who has signed to fight Antonio Tarver in June, is rated seventh in the light heavyweight division. The WBM Pro Boxing Poll is the only poll rating Hopkins as a light heavyweight.
The top three “pound for pound” fighters in the March poll are Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Winky Wright.
The object of the WBM Pro Boxing Poll is to recognize the achievements of deserving professional boxers by giving voice to boxing journalists around the world.
In its infancy, the WBM (World Boxing Media) has voting members from the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Italy, Panama, Australia and New Zealand. Voting members include staff writers from some of the top boxing media websites such as fightnews.com, doghouseboxing.com, boxingscene.com and TigerBoxing.com.
Membership is open to any professional media person covering professional boxing from print, television, radio or on the Internet.
The WBM Pro Boxing Poll will not name champions or be used to determine mandatory challengers. However, there are plans for an annual awards ceremony where the top fighters in each weight class will be honored with a “Best of the Best” world title belt. The inaugural awards ceremony will take place in late January or early February 2007 to honor “The Best of the Best: 2006.”
You can see all of the voting results at: www.WorldBoxingMedia.com.
