Fansided’s pound-for-pound Boxing rankings
By Joe Nardone
We are starting a new regular feature for FanSided. It is our pound-for-pound rankings for today’s top professional boxers. You know, guys who are great at bashing other folks’ faces in (legally, of course).
The criteria is pretty simple. The boxer has to be active, can fight in any weight class, and just has to have the ability to be good. Really, while ranking boxers regardless of weight class is pretty subjective, we will weigh each boxer on what they have done throughout their entire career, but stress a heavy importance on what they have done lately.
We will update these rankings after every big boxing event.
Okay, enough gibber-jabber. Let’s see how who lands where on FanSided’s first pound-for-pound ranking.
| 1 | Floyd Mayweather Jr.@FloydMayweather | RECORD: 46-0, 26 KOs | AGE: 37 | |
COMMENTARYThis isn’t really up for debate. While some can argue that he has lost a step, as some pointed out during the Maidana fight, until someone gives him a loss or he reties, Floyd is the best boxer on the planet.
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| 2 | Guillermo Rigondeaux@RigoElChacal | RECORD: 13-0, 8 KOs | AGE: 33 | |
COMMENTARYSo, yeah, we are starting with a pretty big shocker at number two. With a few of the other boxers being pretty inactive, Rigondeaux’s quick climb to the top, and a few other factors (a slew of amateur dominance), we have him as ranked as the second best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet. His age, however, may prevent Rigondeaux from ever having as much success or fame as he had in his Olympic and amateur career.
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| 3 | Manny Pacquiao@MannyPacquiao | RECORD: 56-5-2, 38 KOs | AGE: 35 | |
COMMENTARYBiggest issue going forward is going to be how active a fighter Pacquiao is. The victory over Bradley last month, however, does a lot to help reestablish Pac-Man in the rankings.
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| 4 | Timothy Bradley Jr.@Timbradleyjr | RECORD: 31-1, 12 KOs | AGE: 30 | |
COMMENTARYBradley may have lost to the fighter ranked right above him, but that does not mean it invalidates his otherwise good career. He is also still young enough to become a better fighter, take on big name opponents, and rise up the rankings.
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| 5 | Andre Ward@andreward | RECORD: 27-0, 14 KOs | AGE: 30 | |
COMMENTARYWard is pretty inactive as a fighter. He can go long spurts without doing anything. If he had a history of taking on more fights, he would likely be ranked as high as second on the list. For now, even with the fight this past November, Ward has to show that he is willing to take on more fighters, more often, to be rated any higher than fifth.
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| 6 | Juan Manuel Marquez@jmmarquez_1 | RECORD: 55-7-1, 40 KOs | AGE: 40 | |
COMMENTARYThis could be a short-lived ranking for the Welterweight. After a loss to Bradley, who recently lost to Manny Pacquiao, Marquez has a fight coming up on the 17th against Mike Alvarado. A second straight loss could make his split with Manny seem like the win just happened to be a fluke.
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| 7 | Mikey Garcia@TeamMikeyGarcia | RECORD: 34-0, 28 KOs | AGE: 26 | |
COMMENTARYThe youngest boxer in the rankings, Garcia is coming up on the one year anniversary of failing to make weight for his fight against Juan Manuel Lopez (a fight he went on to win after paying a penalty). Outside of that, the 26-year-old needs to stay active, keep attempting to take on better fighters, and keeps his undefeated record intact, to keep moving up the rankings.
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| 8 | Gennady Golovkin@gggboxing | RECORD: 29-0, 26 KOs | AGE: 32 | |
COMMENTARYOur first true Middleweight in the rankings, Golovkin is coming off a TKO victory over Osumanu Adama to retain his IBO and WBA Middleweight Titles.
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| 9 | Wladimir Klitschko@Klitschko | RECORD: 62-3, 52 KOs | AGE: 38 | |
COMMENTARYThe Heavyweight division is not strong. It just isn’t. However, even though he refuses to face his brother, Wladimir still needs to be on the rankings. Why? Because Heavyweight boxing needs to matter or something. Likely something, but whatever.
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| 10 | Terence Crawford@budcrawford402 | RECORD: 23-0, 16 KOs | AGE: 26 | |
COMMENTARYYes, I am projecting a bit (okay, a lot) here. Crawford’s track record, quality opponents and history, does not make him the tenth best boxer in the world, but too many of the usual suspects that would be ranked ahead of him are too inactive or took recent losses to not throw a dark horse type fighter in the rankings. Crawford’s fight against 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist, Yuriorkis Gamboa, is a big fight for both undefeated boxers. And, yes, I acknowledge that in just one month I can look like an idiot.
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