One thing we haven’t done in the past, but will continue to do moving forward, is to keep a live, published archive of our previous top 20 pound for pound lists. This will help to serve as a reference for fans in the future, as to how we ranked fighters previously, and what has changed. We also won’t be able to get away with any BS, saying we had a fighter ranked one way, when we didn’t.
So, every time that we publish a new pound for pound list, we’ll go ahead and archive the previous one. So, here were the top 20 boxers in the world according to our update in June 2012, which followed big fights including Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto, and Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley.
Fighter | Record | Ranking Change |
| 1. Floyd Mayweather | 43 (26) – 0 | – |
| Floyd Mayweather scored one of the best wins of his career, as he survived a tough challenge from Miguel Cotto to win a clear decision against him. Now though, Mayweather is serving is jail sentence, and we’re left hoping that when he’s out by the end of summer, that he’ll quickly put together a fight for the fall. We’ll see, but I know I’m not buying that retirement chatter. Check out our Floyd Mayweather memorabilia. | ||
| 2. Manny Pacquiao | 54 (38) – 4 – 2 | – |
| Pacquiao was looking to dominate Juan Manuel Marquez in their third meeting, and score a decisive knockout. How’d that work out for him? Pacquiao got taken to the brink my Marquez, again, and many neutral observers felt that Marquez deserved the win and was robbed, again. Then the tide turned against him, and he lost a Split Decision against Timothy Bradley when seemingly everybody thought he had clearly won. Considering that fact, and how we scored the fight 117-111 for Pacquiao, we’re not going to remove him from this list, regardless of what the official ledger says. Check out our Manny Pacquiao memorabilia. | ||
| 3. Sergio Martinez | 49 (28) – 2 – 2 | – |
| After finally breaking through and winning the middleweight title against Kelly Pavlik, many people felt that Martinez deserved the nod over Williams in their first bout. He didn’t let the judges have a say the second time, KOing Williams in the second round, cementing his status as one of the top fighters in the world. Since then it’s been a string of stoppage wins and title defenses. Listen, I love Maravilla. I can’t have him jump ahead of either of the guys ahead of him right now, though. He’s biding his time to get the winner of the Julioi Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Andy Lee fight this September. | ||
| 4. Andre Ward | 25 (13) – 0 | – |
| Mikkel Kessler. Arthur Abraham. Carl Froch. Sakio Bika and Allan Green mixed in for good measure. Not a bad 5 fight streak for a largely unproven fighter at the start of the Super Six Tournament. He was dominant in every fight, he displayed a very versatile game, from technical boxing to rough and tumble infighting, and he kept his undefeated ledger intact while navigating and winning the Super Six. Next up is a very intriguing clash against Chad Dawson, to be fought at super middleweight. | ||
| 5. Nonito Donaire | 28 (18) – 1 | – |
| Donaire’s stunning second round knockout over fellow pound for pound entrant Fernando Montiel vaulted the Filipino Flash into the top 5, but promotional problems derailed his momentum. He came back with a boring, albeit solid, effort against Omar Narvaez, before besting Wilfredo Vazquez Jr in his first fight at Super Bantamweight. Next he’s taking on respected, tough Jeffrey Mathebula in a unification match. | ||
| 6. Juan Manuel Marquez | 54 (39) – 6 – 1 | – |
| Marquez had been dropping down to the bottom half of the top 10 as younger stars had begun to emerge. But what we saw against Pacquiao in their third fight proved that his skill and ferocity very much remain intact. Marquez is the complete package, and now many people believe he has beaten Pacquiao twice, although the historical records won’t make note of it. The fight against Sergey Fedchenko means nothing to me, but hopefully we’ll see him back in action this summer. | ||
| 7. Yuriorkis Gamboa | 21 (16) – 0 | – |
| Gamboa continues to move up the pound for pound rankings, entrenching himself into the top 10 as other boxers continue to fall by the wayside. He has been improving his all-around game and his defense, and ultimately, he’s the best combination of sheer, raw speed and power since a prime Roy Jones. Unfortunately, after dropping out of a fight against Brandon Rios, it’s likely that he’ll be on the shelf right now for a while. | ||
| 8. Timothy Bradley | 29 (12) – 0 | +2 |
| How does Bradley move up two spots in the list despite the fact that almost everyone agrees he should have lost the fight against Pacquiao? Well, for one thing Lucian Bute got KTFO. For another thing, Bradley proved enough to me in that fight that I’d pick him to beat anybody at 147 lbs not named Mayweather or Pacquiao. With his pressure and toughness, I’d pick him against Amir Khan, too. | ||
| 9. Wladimir Klitschko | 57 (50) – 3 | – |
| If you’ve followed the pound for pound rankings on this website, then you have surely noticed Klitschko jumping up and down from update to update. That’s because from fight to fight my opinion changes on how dominant he is, and whether he does enough with his size and talent. A ho-hum rematch against Tony Thompson is next. | ||
| 10. Abner Mares | 23 (13) – 0 – 1 | +1 |
| We talk about the run the Super Six guys have gone on in the past few years, but what about Mares, as he navigated the smaller Bantamweight tournament? In his last four fights, he defeated Yonnhy Perez, Vic Darchinyan and Joseph Agbeko, twice, the second and most recent time without any controversy. Still undefeated and just 26 years old, the sky’s the limit, and he has shown time and again he has the heart and will to match his boxing abilities. He’s up at super bantamweight right now, and there’s lots of talent lurking around there for juicy potential fights. | ||
| 11. Carl Froch | 29 (21) – 2 | +4 |
| Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson, Andre Ward, and now Lucian Bute. A 6-2 record against that level of opposition over the past three years. Even though he got dominated by Ward, that’s still a very impressive recent run. Most impressive of all was the resounding KO win over the previously undefeated Bute. The Cobra is back in the mix for any big fight of his choosing. | ||
| 12. Toshiaki Nishioka | 39 (24) – 4 – 3 | +1 |
| Toshiaki Nishioka is a two-division titleholder, the current top man at 122 lbs, and he hasn’t lost 8 and a half years. During his reign as WBC super bantamweight champion, he has wins over Jhonny Gonzalez, Rafael Marquez and Rendall Munroe amongst others, building up a nice resume for himself as a champion and a pound for pound worthy fighter. | ||
| 13. Brian Viloria | 31 (18) – 3 | +1 |
| Count me amongst the many who wrote The Hawaiian Punch off several years ago, during what was essentially a three fight losing streak, although one of those fights got changed to a no contest due to a drug test. If you didn’t write him off then, a January 2010 TKO loss on his ledger didn’t elp. However, since that time he’s strung together some nice victories, including a title win at flyweight, and a shocking TKO win over Giovani Segura in his first defense, which got him included on this list. Now, he’s gotten the monkey off his back with a stoppage win over Omar Nino Romero. | ||
| 14. Guillermo Rigondeaux | 10 (8) – 0 | Debut |
| I know, it’s borderline absurd to put a guy with 10 professional fights this far up the pound for pound rankings. But the guy is simply the goods. One of the best amateur fighters in history for a reason, folks. And when your 10 wins include Ricardo Cordoba and three straight stoppages against fighters with a combined 48-1-2 record, you deserve inclusion. Rigondeaux vs. Donaire? Please? Mares? Anybody? | ||
| 15. Chad Dawson | 31 (17) – 1 | Debut |
| Dawson gets himself back onto our top 20 pound for pound list with his clear win over Bernard Hopkins. Let’s not forget, even if he’s not your favorite fighter to watch, he still only has one loss on his resume, after sharing the ring six times (five officially) with Bernard Hopkins, Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson. With his offensive skill and his size, he poses a legit threat against Andre Ward in what should be a fantastic fight. | ||
| 16. Roman Gonzalez | 32 (27) – 0 | +1 |
| Gonzalez has built up quite the undefeated stretch thus far in his career. He’s the former WBA strawweight champ and the current WBA 108 lbs titleholder, with four title defenses since he won the belt in 2011. El Chocolatito could be lining himself up for a shot at a title in a 3rd division, if he wanted to go after Brian Viloria at flyweight, in what would be a mega-(little-guy)-fight. | ||
| 17. Bernard Hopkins | 52 (32) – 6 – 2 | -5 |
| There has to be legitimate concern about how much his body has left him in at this point, even if he’s intent to keep on fighting until he’s 50. Still, he’s clearly one of the best 20 fighters on the planet, even today. With the right matchmaking, he can pick himself up another title, and knock off another highly touted young gun in the process. | ||
| 18. Vitali Klitschko | 44 (40) – 2 | – |
| Klitschko continues to add to his resume, most recently destroying Tomasz Adamek in September and then following that up with a strong, entertaining performance against Dereck Chisora. He’ll never get the fight that would really get him higher on this list, a showdown with little bro, but a dominant string of wins can’t be ignored forever. Adamek was in the top 20 pound for pound before Klitschko dispatched of him. | ||
| 19. Miguel Cotto | 37 (30) – 3 | – |
| Miguel Cotto snuck back into the pound for pound rankings with his big rematch win over Antonio Margarito. Even though he followed that up with a loss against Mayweather, he acquitted himself very well in that fight, and showed that he’s certainly one of the best guys in his division, and one of the upper-tier boxers in the world. Big fights are out there for him, and I’d love to see him take on Canelo Alvarez. | ||
| 20. Orlando Salido | 38 (26) – 11 – 2 | – |
| If you disregard the first five years of his career, when he was an inexperienced teenager, and forget about the record, then you see a world class guy who has been in there with the best. In the past decade, he has three losses – two against the number 6 and 7 guys on the pound for pound list, and another which was avenged. Most recently, of course, he has two huge TKO wins over Juan Manuel Lopez. Welcome to the list, Siri! The guy is pure fire, grit and heart. | ||
