By Cliff Rold

Pacquiao.

Mayweather.

Everyone else.

That’s the equation in boxing right now, economically and meritoriously.   They are not the only great fighters of their time, but they stand above the crowd as the most accomplished, prime prize fighters of the day.   It is rare that two such fighters hit the scale at the same size.

The last time boxing saw such a thing was in 1993.   Pernell Whitaker and Julio Cesar Chavez filled the Alamodome and set a non-Heavyweight record for pay-per-view sales.   Pacquiao-Mayweather will be bigger.

It probably sets the any-weight record for TV sales.   If the location is chosen properly, meaning outside Las Vegas, they might have a chance to do the biggest live attendance at a fight in the U.S. since Chavez-Whitaker.   In terms of mainstream attention, it should approach levels not seen since Ray Leonard-Marvin Hagler below Heavyweight and since the Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield rematch period.  

Significance?   This fight will have that in spades and if the boxing world is lucky, it will get the sort of fight which forces a rematch or two.   It’s not signed yet.   It would be a shocking catastrophe if it wasn’t soon.

These are the Boxing Scene Pound for Pound ratings. 

1) Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KO)
Age: 30
Current Titles: WBO Welterweight (147 lbs.); World Junior Welterweight (140 lbs.)
Career Titles: World Flyweight/112 lb. champion (1998-99); World Featherweight/126 lb. champion (2003-2005); World Jr. Lightweight/130 lb. champion (2008); additional alphabelts at 112, 122, 130, and 135 lbs.
Last Five Opponents: Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, David Diaz, Juan Manuel Marquez

Next Opponent: TBA

The Take:   This is Pacquiao’s spot to lose and Mayweather’s to take.   Some would say take back, but unlike Pacquiao, Mayweather never made the demands on the top slot Pacquiao has.   Mayweather sort of inherited it based on past accomplishment and visible talent as Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones faded from their peaks, later strengthening his position with a solid 2006-07 campaign.   Conversely, Pacquiao has become nothing short of a phenomenon.   His knockout win over Miguel Cotto on November 14, 2009, gave him a title claim in his record seventh weight class from Flyweight to Welterweight from ages 19-30.   It adds more shine to a resume which featured a record fourth lineal World championship after Pacquiao’s May drubbing of Ricky Hatton.   He skipped two classes, Jr. Bantamweight and Bantamweight, altogether.   In six of seven classes, Lightweight excluded, he defeated either the perceived best man in class or someone with a strong claim to the top, defeating three easy future Hall of Famers in Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez at Featherweight and Jr. Lightweight.   Once upon a time, Jimmy McLarnin and Tony Canzoneri were able to compete with world class talent across a similar scale variance.   That was over seventy years ago.   Roberto Duran did it in more recent vintage and Tommy Hearns started bigger but also played huge spreads.   Only all-time greats have ever done what Pacquiao is doing right now.   Readers may draw what conclusions they will from that.

  2) Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KO)
Age: 32
Current Title: None
Career Titles: World Jr. Lightweight champion (1998-2001); World Lightweight champion (2002-04); World Welterweight/147 lbs. (2007-09); additional alphabelts at 130, 135, 140, 147 & 154 lbs.
Last Five Opponents: Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah

Up Next: TBA

My Take: Mayweather has taken so many lumps for his choices of opposition over the last few years that the general quality has become underrated.   The underwhelming 2003-05 run was a disappointing waste of prime, but most his last five wins have come against good, sometimes very good, if not great opposition.   It’s really the story of his career, even when he was fighting some beasts at 130 and 135 lbs.   There’s a lot of good, even some very good, which make the picture of a great fighter, but Mayweather has lacked most what lays before him.   In Manny Pacquiao, he has an undeniably great opponent.   As good as Marquez has been from Featherweight through Lightweight, he didn’t fit that bill in a Welterweight fight.   Pacquiao has proven he does.   Mayweather’s accomplishments already make him a Hall of Famer, with genuine World championships at 130, 135 and 147 lbs. along with belts at 140 and 154.   Now he has the sort of dance partner who can push his legacy towards the levels which Mayweather would claim he’s already reached.   He’ll enter with advantages in defensive technique, height, and reach while probably giving up a hair in speed and certainly in power.   It’s a perfect match-up for Mayweather and for the boxing world.      

3) Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KO)
Age: 44 Years Young
Current Title: None
Career Titles: Ring Light Heavyweight/175 lb. titlist (2006-2008); World Middleweight/160 lb. Champion (2001-2005); Alphabelt titles at 160 lbs. from 1995-2005
Last Five Opponents: Kelly Pavlik, Joe Calzaghe, Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver, Jermain Taylor (twice)

Next Opponent: December 2, 2009 vs. Enrique Ornelas (49-5-1, 32 KO)

The Take: The drop from two to three is probably bigger in real time than it will be historically.   Still at Light Heavyweight after years as the Middleweight baron, Hopkins is a proven great even well into middle age.   When last seen, Hopkins still had enough on his fastball to lose close to Joe Calzaghe before drubbing reigning Middleweight king Kelly Pavlik.   He’s not been much of a Light Heavyweight, facing and defeating no fighters from the division since rising to defeat Antonio Tarver in 2006.   With a Hall of Fame plaque guaranteed, it really doesn’t matter in the long run.   While he’s been inactive for over a year, two fights are currently planned which may amount to a victory lap for a great career.   He’ll start with what should be an easy night against a middleweight and then is expected to enter a long discussed rematch with Roy Jones in March 2010, the only Middleweight who beat him from his pro debut until 2005.   It’s a riskier fight to the Hopkins legacy than most realize.   For years, his backers have been able to argue Hopkins wasn’t yet seasoned enough for a talent like Jones way back then.   What happens if he can’t beat a Jones perceived as more faded than Hopkins in 2010?  

4) Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO)
Age: 38
Current Title: WBA Welterweight
Career Titles: World Welterweight (2000-02); World Junior Middleweight (2003-04); Additional Alphabelt at Lightweight
Last Five Opponents: Antonio Margarito, Ricardo Mayorga, Miguel Cotto, Luis Collazo, Fernando Vargas (twice)

Next Opponent: January 30, 2010 vs. Andre Berto (25-0, 19 KO)

The Take:   Shane Mosley would love to get between Pacquiao and Mayweather and, even at 38, is dangerous enough to force those two into a contract so as not to risk the less profitable veteran.   Ultimately, he could become the bargaining chip which determines who gets the lion’s share between the two.   Before that happens, he has to get by the WBC titlist Berto in a unification battle.   It won’t be easy.   Berto will present Mosley with something he’s never seen: an opponent with faster hands.   Sidelined for the rest of 2009 after scaring everyone away with a knockout win over the steel-chinned Margarito in January of the year, signs of rust on an aging body will be looked for early against Berto.      

5) Paul Williams (37-1, 27 KO)
Age: 28
Current Title: None
Career Titles: Two alphabelt reigns at Welterweight
Last Five Opponents: Winky Wright, Verno Phillips, Andy Kolle, Carlos Quintana (twice), Antonio Margarito, Santos Pakau

Next Opponent: December 5, 2009 vs. Sergio Martinez (44-1-2, 24 KO)

The Take:   At 6’1, with speed, fluidity, and an off the charts work rate, Williams still looks for his breakthrough opponent.   It looked like it would be Kelly Pavlik but the Middleweight champion claimed hand problems and now he turns to the WBC 154-lb. titlist Martinez.   It could be a blazing encounter.   With a win, Williams will further strengthen his place atop the Jr. Middleweights but Pavlik still has to be a goal.   Sometime in 2010, one suspects a reckoning well worth the wait.    

6) Chad Dawson (29-0, 17 KO)
Age: 27
Current Title : None
Career Titles: Another Alphabelt at 175
Last Five Opponents: Antonio Tarver (twice), Glen Johnson (twice), Epifanio Mendoza, Jesus Ruiz, Tomasz Adamek

Next Opponent: TBA

The Take: This Light Heavyweight star in the making has put together an impressive run since toppling veteran Eric Harding in 2006.   His win over Adamek was almost bell to bell control; Adamek has since established himself as the best Cruiserweight in the world and is now busting up Heavyweights.   Johnson and Tarver give him wins over two recent, popular choices for Light Heavyweight champion of the World.   Johnson was hell the first time around but Dawson showed his learning curve in a decisive technical victory in their November 2009 rematch.   What Dawson has lacked is a compelling young opponent who can match his speed and play on his willingness to fight, sometimes to his own detriment.   The Johnson rematch victory gave Dawson the interim WBC belt at 175.   The full belt is held by the athletic and exciting Jean Pascal (24-1, 16 KO).   Logically, the two would seem headed for a clash in 2010. 

7) Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO)
Age: 36
Current Title: World Lightweight/135 lb. Champion (2008-Present)
Career Titles: Alphabet titles at 126, 130 lbs.
Last Five Opponents: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Juan Diaz, Joel Casamayor, Manny Pacquiao, Rocky Juarez

Next Opponent: TBA

The Take:   It may seem unfair for Marquez to drop in the ratings after Mayweather, even if he gains a spot back after Pacquiao-Cotto.   He made a bold move, challenged the scale, and lost to a man who probably beats him at any weight.   Life, much less boxing, is not fair and the calendar has much to do with his fall on this chart.   The list of men who moved up in middle age, took a bad loss, and returned to be champions is short for a reason.   Shane Mosley, as noted, has done it but Marquez isn’t quite the same caliber athlete.   History says his best days will be behind him, particularly faced with the speed of young Lightweights.   He could prove the world wrong but he’ll need to do so to move back to where he was.   As it stands, he is a testament to patience.   A fighter who waited years for his first belt, still more for a chance to be a star, has gone from good fighter to Hall of Famer all since 2004.   The loss to Mayweather cannot change that and a proposed match with former Jr. Welterweight champ Ricky Hatton could be a nice reminder for all.  

8) Ivan Calderon (33-0-1, 6 KO)
Age: 34
Current Title: World Jr. Flyweight/108 lb. Champion (2007-Present)
Career Titles: Additional alphabelts at 105 & 108 lbs.
Last Five Opponents: Rodel Mayol, Hugo Cazares (twice), Nelson Dieppa, Juan Esquer, Ronald Barrera

Next Opponent: TBA

The Take: You’ll read from many a knowledgeable scribe that this diminutive Puerto Rican champion ‘might be the best pure boxer in the sport.’   Calderon can do it all in the ring short of knock opponents dead, making his inability to lose thus far all the more remarkable. His game is all skill with just enough thrill (usually) to make his fights worth watching; this is no Sven Ottke. After years as the uncrowned king at 105 lbs., Calderon outboxed and outgutted a much larger (at the opening bell) Cazares in August 2007 to cement his foothold among the game’s elite by capturing the World title at 108 lbs. The similarly small Ricardo Lopez was marvelously underrated for years of his prime; no need to make that mistake twice with Calderon facing the near end of his.   Over the last year, it appeared his biggest challenge could come from Ulises Solis but the rousing upset of Solis by former titlist and U.S. Olympian Brian Viloria for the IBF belt has changed the state of the class.   Calderon dropped a few slots earlier this year after two lackluster performances against Rodel Mayol (a draw and a win, both shortened by cuts).    Mayol has shown the bouts were no indictment.   Following his loss to Calderon, Mayol knocked out one of the division’s hottest fighters, Edgar Sosa, in only two rounds to win the IBF belt.   Calderon could use a win like Viloria though to stick around as fighters around him build on their accomplishments. 

9) Hozumi Hasegawa (27-2, 11 KO)
Age: 28
Current Title: WBC Bantamweight
Last Five Opponents: Nestor Rocha , Vusi Malinga, Alejandro Valdez, Cristian Faccio, Simone Maludrottu

Next Opponent: December 18, 2009 vs. Alvaro Perez (18-1-1, 12 KO)

My Take: July 14, 2009 didn’t provide Hasegawa the single win one might look for to consider someone among the game’s overall best.   However, Hasegawa’s second consecutive first round knockout over a solid contender who had never been stopped further illuminated just how impressive the slick Japanese southpaw has become.   His last five foes are not household names but they had a combined record of 100-8 and only one of the foes, Maludrottu, got out of the second round and made it to the finish.   Hasegawa, now with nine straight title defenses and a 24-fight winning streak dating to 2001, started his reign impressively by defeating one of the best Bantamweights of the last twenty years, long reigning two-time titlist Veraphol Sahaprom, in 2005.   He stopped Sahaprom in a 2006 return and has continued to improve.   His sudden power burst, combined with the speed, volume, and accuracy he’s always had give the appearance of a fighter who has put it all together to become dominant in his prime.   This slot could have gone to Flyweight Nonito Donaire who has been just as impressive as Hasegawa.   Sahaprom is about equal to Donaire’s best win, Vic Darchinyan, so it is ultimately Hasegawa’s longer title reign which gives him the edge.   Bantamweight has the pieces for a renaissance.   Hasegawa is the leader of the pack and has earned the right to hang his hat with the best.        

10) Miguel Cotto (34-2, 27 KO)
Age: 29
Current Title: WBO Welterweight
Career Titles: Alphabelt reigns at Jr. Welterweight & Welterweight
Last Five Opponents: Manny Pacquiao, Joshua Clottey, Michael Jennings, Antonio Margarito, Alfonso Gomez

Next Opponent: TBA

Cotto, following his second nasty stoppage loss, has to slip but until he proves completely done he has earned the right to stay among the best.   Losing to a great fighter is no sin and Cotto gave Pacquiao a tussle.   When no other marquee name wanted anything to do with Margarito, Cotto took the challenge.   He lost, only for Margarito’s team to be caught tampering with the Mexican’s gloves prior to Margarito’s loss to Shane Mosley.   It cast aspersions on what really happened to Cotto.   In between, he outgutted the rugged Joshua Clottey and is still the last man to defeat Mosley.   Across his run at 140 and 147 lbs., Cotto has faced a level of consistently tough foe akin to the challenges taken by Oscar De La Hoya in his prime.   Like De La Hoya, he hasn’t always won but he gets points for taking the schedule of a true champion.     

Five More Who Could Easily Be Here: Chris John, Nonito Donaire, Arthur Abraham, Andre Ward, Celestino Caballero

Five More Who Could Be Here Shortly: Juan Manuel Lopez, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Andre Berto, Roman Gonzalez, Timothy Bradley As always, feel free to agree…and disagree.   This list is for entertainment purposes only and based purely on imagination, hypotheticals and conjecture just like every other pound for pound list ever written.   Neither it nor any other such list made up of such illusory ingredients should be used to forward corporate agendas of any kind.   That doesn’t make it any less fun to argue about.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com