Let?s be honest: Rankings are bogus. Whether it?s basketball, football or fighting, they?re subjective, biased and just about meaningless.
Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield likes to say ?styles make fights,? but the same is true in other sports. Just because A beats B and C beats A doesn?t mean that C beats B, whether it is basketball, football or boxing. Sports is weird like that.
But sports being what it is ? entertainment ? rankings provide a point of discussion for fans who love to debate the pros and cons of their favorites.
It?s particularly difficult in the fight game because there are literally thousands of fighters and no one can accurately gauge all of them.
The key in ranking boxers is to see as many of the elite fighters as you can, talk to as many knowledgeable boxing people as you can and then come up with a criteria that you can consistently and easily apply.
My philosophy is to assume everyone weighs the same and keeps the same proportions. So, if we were to assume heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko were to be a middleweight, we would envision him with the same proportionate height, reach and power at 160 pounds as he does at heavyweight.
I use numbers where I can. So, Klitschko has a reach of 81 inches at 6-feet-6. Nonito Donaire has a reach of 68 inches at 5-5?. But if you divide height by reach, each man has 1.038 inches per reach for every inch of height. In other words, if they were in the same class, they?d have the same reach.
With those assumptions, who would come out on top the most if everyone fought one another? That, to me, is the best way to determine a pound-for-pound fighter.
The Yahoo! Sports boxing rankings are the result of the vote of journalists from around the world. In March, 38 votes were received. Fighters are awarded 10 points for a first, nine points for a second, down to a point for 10th. The fighter with the most points is the pound-for-pound champion.
My personal top 10 is only slightly different than the list below, which is the result of the 38 opinions. On my list, nine of the 10 fighters who were ranked by the larger group made it. My only difference was that I included World Boxing Association super welterweight champion Miguel Cotto in my top 10 at the expense of International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, whom the voters placed ninth.
Bute is unbeaten and that clearly plays with voters. But I felt that Cotto had many more quality wins over top opponents than Bute and, were they to be the same size and fight, I?d favor Cotto. As a result, I voted for Cotto.
The ?official? Yahoo! Sports rankings are below. But before we get to that, this is how I voted my personal top 10: Floyd Mayweather first, Manny Pacquiao second, Andre Ward third, Donaire fourth, Juan Manuel Marquez fifth, Sergio Martinez sixth, Vitali Klitschko seventh, Wladimir Klitschko eighth, Timothy Bradley ninth and Cotto 10th.
I weigh recent performance most heavily and I?m willing to move fighters significantly in the poll from month to month. A lot of voters take the college basketball pollster?s attitude and are careful with their moves, and they won?t demote a fighter with a win. I will, however, because unlike college basketball teams, which play 30 or more games a year, there isn?t such a big sample size in boxing. The top fighters rarely fight four times a year and a number of them only fight twice a year.
The bottom line in all of this is to not let your blood pressure skyrocket when you look at someone?s rankings. They?re little more than a best guess. Have fun with them, but don?t take them all that seriously.
With that, let the debate begin. Here is the latest Yahoo! Sports boxing top 10:
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr. Points: 366 (25 of 38 first-place votes) Record: 42-0 (26 KOs) Title: WBC welterweight champion Last outing: KO4 over Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17 Previous ranking: 1 Up next: May 5 against Miguel Cotto Analysis: Defensive wizard fighting more offensively recently
Pacquiao
2. Manny Pacquiao Points: 351 (13 of 38 first-place votes) Record: 54-3-2 (38 KOs) Title: WBO welterweight champion Last outing: W12 over No. 4 Juan Manuel Marquez on Nov. 12 Previous ranking: 2 Up next: June 9 against No. 8 Timothy Bradley Analysis: Says God told him to retire; is heart still in boxing?
Martinez
3. Sergio Martinez Points: 281 Record: 49-2-2 (28 KOs) Title: Ring middleweight champion Last outing: KO11 Matthew Macklin on March 17 Previous ranking: 3 Up next: TBA Analysis: Superior conditioning makes him dangerous late in fights
J.M. Marquez
4. Juan Manuel Marquez Points: 229 Record: 53-6-1 (39 KOs) Title: Ring, WBA, WBO lightweight champion Last outing: L12 to No. 2 Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 12 Previous ranking: 4 Up next: April 14 vs. Sergey Fedchenko Analysis: Plenty of fight still left in veteran warrior
Donaire
5. Nonito Donaire Jr. Points: 217 Record: 28-1 (18 KOs) Title: WBO super bantamweight champion Last outing: W12 over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. on Feb. 4 Previous ranking: 5 Up next: July 14 vs. Cristian Mijares Analysis: Stay at 122 pounds expected to be brief
Ward
6. Andre Ward Points: 208 Record: 25-0 (13 KOs) Title: WBA, WBC super middleweight champion Last outing: W12 over Carl Froch on Dec. 17 Previous ranking: 6 Up next: TBA Analysis: Showed the full package in winning Super Six
W. Klitschko
7. Wladimir Klitschko Points: 134 Record: 57-3 (50 KOs) Title: Ring, IBF, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Last outing: KO4 over Jean Marc Mormeck on March 3 Previous ranking: 7 Up next: TBA Analysis: Hasn?t been threatened in years
Bradley
8. Timothy Bradley Points: 92 Record: 28-0 (12 KOs) Title: WBO super lightweight champion Last outing: TKO8 over Joel Casamayor on Nov. 12 Previous ranking: 8 Up next: June 9 vs. No. 1 Manny Pacquiao Analysis: Will need to punch in combination more with move to welterweight
Bute
9. Lucian Bute Points: 69 Record: 30-0 (24 KOs) Title: IBF super middleweight champion Last outing: W12 Glen Johnson on Nov. 5 Previous ranking: 9 Up next: May 26 vs. Carl Froch in Nottingham, England Analysis: Bute is a punishing body-puncher
V. Klitschko
10. Vitali Klitschko Points: 47 Record: 44-2 (40 KOs) Title: WBC heavyweight champion Last outing: W12 over Dereck Chisora on Feb. 18 Previous ranking: 10 Up next: TBA Analysis: Has begun speaking of retirement
Others receiving votes: Yuriorkis Gamboa, 29; Bernard Hopkins, 25; Miguel Cotto, 24; Chris John, 7; Anselmo Moreno, 3; Adrian Broner, 3; Orlando Salido, 2; Chad Dawson, 1; Toshiaki Nishioka, 1; Lamont Peterson, 1.
