The Top 15 Fighters In The World

by Lee Payton on Mar 2, 2009 1:36 AM EST Comment 4 comments

With another month in the books, it's again time for The Boxing Bulletin to update our pound-for-pound list. You'll notice that we have gone from ranking 12 fighters to 15.

We think the difference between the #6 fighter and the guy who just squeaks into the conversation is so minuscule that it's mostly guesswork. Chopping it down to 12 probably means cutting out some guys who belong, but may not have had the opportunities or exposure as some of the perennials.

And every so often a fighter comes out of nowhere to find himself in the top 10, like Manny Pacquiao did when he thrashed P4P player, Marco Antonio Barrera. The climate changes in boxing can be quick and dramatic. Therefore, we think a list of 15 better represents who the best in the world really are, at this moment.

A few developments in the last month have caused some ripples in our rankings.

Juan Manuel Marquez solidified his #2 spot, with his stunning TKO win over Juan Diaz, while Vic Darchinyan and Miguel Cotto also came away with wins. Darchinyan's victory was particularly impressive, as he dominated an extremely game Jorge Arce, while Cotto did what he was supposed to in making short work of Michael Jennings.

Joe Calzaghe announced his retirement, allowing several fighters to jump up a spot, while Chad Dawson came down with a hand injury that may sideline him for awhile. Hopefully he'll be back in action sooner than later.

This is how our list looks now:

1. Manny Pacquiao
2. Juan Manuel Marquez (TKO 9 over Juan Diaz)
3. Bernard Hopkins (up 1)
4. Israel Vazquez (up 1)
5. Rafael Marquez (up 1)
6. Shane Mosley (up 1)
7. Paul Williams (up 1)
8. Ivan Calderon (up 1)
9. Miguel Cotto (TKO 5 over Michael Jennings, up 2)
10. Chad Dawson (down 1)
11. Vic Darchinyan (TKO 11 over Jorge Arce, up 1)
12. Fernando Montiel (new)
13. Nonito Donaire (new)
14. Ricky Hatton (new)
15. Mikkel Kessler (new)

Also receiving votes were: Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson and Chris John.

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Comments

Donkey how do you rank Vic Darchinyan 11th since he's among top 10 in P4P by ring magazine? By the same token I could formulate my own ranking list, which will place manny paquiao in the bottom of the list. How official that would be? Your ranking bears no factual outcome, but rather preference of your favorites. Very lame of you.

by Lion on Mar 2, 2009 11:17 AM EST reply actions

Simply reordering The Ring's P4P list wouldn't be much fun, would it?

by Michael Nelson on Mar 2, 2009 1:36 PM EST reply actions

LOL, why would we reprint the Ring's ratings?

by Mark Lyons on Mar 2, 2009 4:05 PM EST reply actions

We've got Darchinyan at 11. Ring has him at 10. Not much of a difference.

Personally, I think he still has to do a little more to compensate for the decisive loss to Donaire, but I can't argue too much with anyone placing him as high as 7 or 8.

by Andy on Mar 2, 2009 4:27 PM EST reply actions

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