The question: Where do we put Floyd Mayweather Jr. in THE RING pound-for-pound and welterweight ratings after his bizarre fourth-round knockout of Victor Ortiz on Saturday night in Las Vegas?
The answer: Tough question.
We?ll start off by saying that a decision in the pound-for-pound ratings was much easier to make than that in the welterweight division, where one Manny Pacquiao has resided for some time.
Mayweather can?t leave boxing for 16 months, defeat a good (not special) opponent in a less-than-satisfying manner and expect to regain his status as the No. 1 fighter in the world. He?ll have to do more than that to earn it.
We don?t approve of Pacquiao?s last three opponents, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley, each of whom probably was less qualified to face the Filipino icon than Ortiz was to face Mayweather. However, Pacquiao has obliterated seven big-name opponents in the time Mayweather has done the same to three.
Thus, there is no reason Mayweather should leap frog Pacquiao to the top. So it?s Pacquiao No. 1 and Mayweather No. 2 in the pound-for-pound ratings.
Now on to the trickier question: What do we do about the welterweight division?
Pacquiao and Mayweather have each had three welterweight fights over the past two years. Pacquiao has faced Miguel Cotto, Clottey and Mosley. Mayweather fought Juan Manuel Marquez, Mosley and Ortiz.
Who faced stiffer competition? Cotto, Clottey and Mosley were rated Nos. 3, 5 and 3 by THE RING at the time they fought Pacquiao. Marquez, a beefed-lightweight, wasn?t rated at 147 pounds while a slightly better version of Mosley than Pacquiao faced and Ortiz were both rated No. 2 when they met Mayweather.
Pacquiao has a slight edge there.
Mayweather?s inactivity doesn?t work against him here as much as one might think because they both have had the three welterweight fights over roughly the same time period, Pacquaio 1 year, 10 months and Mayweather two years.
