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First things first, let’s get one thing straight: There is no such
thing as a “pound-for-pound” championship in professional
boxing. It is a mythical title created by the fertile imagination of
the writers of The Ring magazine, the acknowledged Bible of Boxing.
In its January 1990 issue, The Ring published
for the first time its list of the best pound-for-pound fighters in
the punch-for-pay business. While champions are traditionally ranked
based on a specific weight class, the “pound-for-pound” ranking
relies more on conjecture to predict how a fighter would do at
higher or lower weight classes against other reigning champions or
the all-time greats. Long before The Ring magazine introduced the
concept, Sugar Ray Robinson had been generally regarded as
boxing’s pound-for-pound king. Experts agree that if the weight
classes where Robinson excelled are disregarded (Sugar Ray won
titles in the welterweight and middleweight division) and the debate
limited solely on fistic skills, the original Sugar Ray can beat the
champions of any era.
In the last 17 years, the most notable
“pound-for-pound” rulers had been guys like Mexican Julio Cesar
Chavez and Americans Pernell Whitaker and Roy Jones Jr. Jones, a
former middleweight champ, pushed the envelope as pound-for-pound
king when he moved up in weight in March 2003 and won a portion of (WBA)
the heavyweight title.
With the way boxing’s governing bodies have
been corrupting the sport with their surreptitious ratings, the
pound-for-pound listing of The Ring has evolved into a panacea for
boxing fans looking to distinguish the champs from the chumps.
No Asian fighter has topped The Ring’s
pound-for-pound ranking, but in the last two years Manny
“PacMan” Pacquiao has come tantalizingly close.
In fact, at the start of 2007, Pacquiao was
locked in an airtight race with American Floyd “Pretty Boy”
Mayweather Jr. for the accolade. Pacquiao was riding on the wave of
back-to-back knockout victories over Erik Morales while Mayweather
was parading two world titles he had captured in as many weight
divisions (junior welterweight and welterweight).
As the months rolled by, however, Pacquiao found
himself eating Mayweather’s dust.
Preoccupied with a variety of extracurricular
activities, Pacquiao figured in only two fights this year, both of
which were relatively nonsensical. In April, he stopped an
overmatched Jorge Solis. Six months later, PacMan went the distance
against Marco Antonio Barrera, an opponent he was supposed to bury
alive.
In stark contrast, Mayweather figured in marquee
fights. In May, he moved up to the 154-pound division and defeated
Oscar De La Hoya in what turned out to be the richest bout in boxing
history. The 12-round bout for the WBC junior middleweight title
generated a whopping $134 million in pay-per-view
revenues—surpassing the previous record of $112 million set by the
Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson WBC heavyweight title fight in 2002.
Mayweather retired only to return and take part
in another mega fight. On December 8, he moved down to the
welterweight class and successfully defended his WBC diadem with a
10-round drubbing of the previously unbeaten Ricky Hatton. The fight
generated $47 million in pay-per-view revenues (850,000 pay-per-view
buys).
Mayweather, 39-0, with 25 knockouts, is already
in the record books for being the fastest boxer to win four world
titles in as many weight divisions. He enters 2008 with five world
crowns in his trophy room.
Pacquiao clearly has a lot of catching up to do.
The Filipino ring superstar has already made known his intention to
be more active in 2008. Without a legitimate world title since he
relinquished the IBF junior featherweight crown in 2003, Pacquiao is
set to take on WBC junior lightweight champ Juan Manuel Marquez in a
long overdue rematch on March 15. PacMan’s drumbeaters are also
mulling on a possible fistic engagement with either De La Hoya or
Hatton in the last quarter of 2008.
Of course, it will serve Pacquiao well if he can
do more than just whet our appetite. If there’s one reason why
Mayweather is lording it over as boxing’s pound-for-pound king,
it’s because “Pretty Boy” was able to walk the talk in 2007.
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For comments, the writer can be reached at
atty_eduardo@ yahoo.com.
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