Pound for Pound
Published by: Jake Emen
The top Pound for Pound Boxers in the World
Every boxer strives to be included amongst the pound for pound best in the world. Today, there’s a clear number 1 and number 2 with Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. After that, things get a bit more interesting with some long-time champions, relative newcomers, undefeated stars in the making and comebacking legends as well. After all of the big fights of the past few months, here’s the latest edition of the ProBoxing-Fans.com top 20 pound for pound boxers list.
Top 20 Pound for Pound Boxers
Pound for Pound Boxing Rankings Last Updated December 19, 2011
Fighter |
Record |
Ranking Change |
| 1. Floyd Mayweather | 42 (26) – 0 | - |
| The last time we saw Floyd Mayweather in the ring, he knocked out the best available welterweight fighter, Victor Ortiz, and looked dominant prior to closing the show. That's a more impressive performance than Pacquiao being fought evenly by Juan Manuel Marquez. Considering the rest of their recent track records, it's enough to put Mayweather back at the number 1 pound for pound slot. View the full explanation for putting Mayweather over Pacquiao and back at number 1 p4p here. Check out our Floyd Mayweather memorabilia. | ||
| 2. Manny Pacquiao | 54 (38) – 3 – 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. Now Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum seems more intent on Pacquiao-Marquez IV than on Pacquiao-Mayweather. The fact that Mayweather dominated Marquez two years ago hurts Pacquiao's position here, and combined with their most recent performances, Pacquiao falls back to number 2 for the time being. Check out our Manny Pacquiao memorabilia. | ||
| 3. Sergio Martinez | 48 (27) – 2 – 2 | +1 |
| 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. Another dominant win over Dzinziruk came next, then a stay-busy encounter against Darren Barker. So, will he land a mega-fight against numbers 1 or 2? Or will he be forced to continue picking off less than stellar middleweight opposition? | ||
| 4. Andre Ward | 25 (13) – 0 | +2 |
| 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. | ||
| 5. Juan Manuel Marquez | 53 (39) – 6 – 1 | -2 |
| 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. If he doesn't pursue the 4th fight against Pacquiao, JMM has tons of options throughout lightweight and junior welterweight. | ||
| 6. Nonito Donaire | 27 (18) - 1 | -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, and the Filipino Flash deserves none of the blame for that. He's moving up to 122 lbs next, and it will likely only be a short stopover until he's onto featherweight for some real big fights. | ||
| 7. Yuriorkis Gamboa | 21 (16) - 0 | -1 |
| 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, now he just needs a real showcase fight. In the meantime, enjoy his utter destructions, his tempting of fate with his own defensive lapses, and the best combination of sheer, raw speed and power since a prime Roy Jones. | ||
| 8. Wladimir Klitschko | 56 (49) – 3 | +1 |
| 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. Right now he moves back into the top 10 after his strong, if largely unspectacular, win over David Haye, the best threat to his heavyweight supremacy not also named Klitschko. | ||
| 9. Lucian Bute | 30 (24) – 0 | +1 |
| Bute wasn’t getting the notoriety of the guys in the Super Six, but he’s dominating the opposition that’s left available to him. He finally got a more marquee fight against a still tough Glen Johnson, and he completely controlled the fight, essentially shutting Johnson out. Let's hope we see Bute against Ward as soon as possible. | ||
| 10. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam | 83 (44) - 3 - 1 | +4 |
| The guy has lost once in about 14 years, and since his last defeat, against Daisuke Natio, he has gone 18-1 in a four year timespan. Sure, most of those fights are absolute, total throwaways, but he also defeated the previously unbeaten Koki Kameda to capture the WBC flyweight title he had lost, and he added a title defense over respected Edgar Sosa. So he's 22-1-1 in his career in title fights. | ||
| 11. Timothy Bradley | 28 (12) – 0 | - |
| Bradley vs. Alexander wasn't the exciting fight we were all hoping it would be, but Bradley proved himself to be the better man. That keeps him atop of the 140 lbs division, although he failed to capitalize on any of that momentum as he stood on the sidelines with promotional issues. He just got finished dominating a 72-year-old Joel Casamayor, which proves and means exactly nothing. | ||
| 12. Abner Mares | 23 (13) - 0 - 1 | Debut |
| 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. | ||
| 13. Bernard Hopkins | 52 (32) – 5 – 2 | +2 |
| Even with his "loss" to Chad Dawson being overturned, one has to wonder about Hopkins at this stage of his career. In the Dawson fight, it's not as if he was doing much before the injury, and the injury itself raises a 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. Of course, most likely is he feeds off this disappointment, comes back with a major win sometime soon, and vaults back into the top 5-10 range. | ||
| 14. Toshiaki Nishioka | 39 (24) - 4 - 3 | +2 |
| Toshiaki Nishioka is a two-division titleholder, the current top man at 122 lbs, and he hasn't lost in going on 8 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. | ||
| 15. Brian Viloria | 30 (17) - 3 | Debut |
| 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 gets him included on this list. | ||
| 16. Carl Froch | 28 (20) - 2 | -3 |
| Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson and Andre Ward. A 5-2 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, and it's going to be interesting to see how Froch gets lined up against next, and what's he able to do. A Kessler rematch could make sense for both guys. | ||
| 17.Giovani Segura | 28 (24) - 2 -1 | -9 |
| Two wins over Ivan Calderon were fantastic for Giovani Segura, but not many people predicted the loss that would come next. He jumped up to flyweight and got beaten down by a surging Brian Viloria, and now will need to lick his wounds and come back soon. The question is, what weight can he make, and what weight will he be effective fighting at? | ||
| 18. Roman Gonzalez | 30 (25) - 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 three title defenses since he won the belt last year. The best fighter that El Chocolatito could have hoped to have faced, Giovani Segura, is up and out of the division, but he might get a better late than never match against Ivan Calderon. | ||
| 19. Vitali Klitschko | 43 (40) - 2 | -1 |
| Klitschko continues to add to his resume, most recently destroying Tomasz Adamek in September. 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. | ||
| 20. Miguel Cotto | 37 (30) - 2 | Debut |
| Miguel Cotto sneaks back into the pound for pound rankings with his big rematch win over Antonio Margarito. Right now, he has to be the top dog in a very stacked junior middleweight division. If he can knock off a few of the young, rising names, he can work himself back into the top 10 picture before long too. Let's see what Miguel can accomplish here before the clock begins to run out on his career. | ||
The next 25 on the Bubble (in alphabetical order)
Arthur Abraham, Tomasz Adamek, Joseph Agbeko, Devon Alexander, Andre Berto, Celestino Caballero, Steve Cunningham, Vic Darchinyan, Chad Dawson, Jhonny Gonzalez, Robert Guerrero, David Haye, Hozumi Hasegawa, Marco Huck, Chris John, Koki Kameda, Mikkel Kessler, Amir Khan, Juan Manuel Lopez, Marcos Maidana, Rafael Marquez, Fernando Montiel, Omar Narvaez, Victor Ortiz, Jean Pascal, Yonnhy Perez
That wraps up this edition of the boxing P4P list. 2011 definitely wrapped up with a bang, and there are already more great fights planned for the future and the start of 2012 which should have a major impact on the top pound for pound rankings list we have here on the site.
We formerly showcased a list of the top 10 pound for pound boxers, but it has now been bumped up to the top 20, with 20 more on the bubble listed as well. It's all in the effort to provide for you the most complete picture of the sport's very best. Stay tuned for more boxing p4p updates, brought to you by boxing's pound for pound leader, Pro Boxing Fans.
