Pacquiao holds on to #1 Pound For Pound Ranking with Ring Magazine; slips to #2 with ESPN and Sports Illustrated

Not surprisingly, the razor thin victory over Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12 has had an effect on the ranking of Filipino champion Manny Pacquiao in the mythical “pound for pound” rankings. Ring Magazine, considered by most observers to be the highest authority of the sport, kept Pacquiao at #1, citing the fact that he won, and that Floyd Mayweather’s victory over Victor Ortiz in September was generally not terribly impressive.

ESPN and Sports Illustrated, on the other hand, demoted Pacquiao. Dan Rafael of ESPN said, “He looked vulnerable as he has in a long time.” Rafael also noted that Pacquiao “looked confused” and went on to say that he “lacked snap on his punches in a less-than-stellar outing….It just wasn’t the kind of performance we have come to expect from Pacquiao, especially in light of the fact that Marquez had been wiped out by Mayweather in 2009 in his only other welterweight fight.”