Yahoo Sports Latest Top 10 P4P

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Rankings: Manny is unanimous pick

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports 42 minutes ago

Yahoo! Sports

There were few changes in the monthly Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound rankings, as Manny Pacquiao solidified his hold on the top spot with his shocking rout of Oscar De La Hoya on Dec. 6.

Pacquiao is a unanimous No. 1, garnering all 30 first-place votes from the blue-ribbon panel. The only other change in the Top 10 is a swap at Nos. 8 and 9 between Miguel Cotto and Paul Williams.

Williams moved up to eighth after his impressive stoppage of Verno Phillips on Nov. 29, which capped a year in which he fought at welterweight, super welterweight and middleweight.

But the rankings in early 2009 could be dramatically different. Three of the top five fighters in the poll – No. 2 Joe Calzaghe, No. 4 Israel Vazquez and No. 5 Bernard Hopkins – may retire.
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Calzaghe is leaning toward retirement after his Nov. 8 win over Roy Jones Jr. He said he’s going to consider his options after the holidays and will make his mind up whether to fight by February.

Calzaghe is expected to retire, which will have the domino effect of pushing Hopkins into retirement. Hopkins will be 44 in January and isn’t eager to fight just for the sake of fighting. He desperately wants a rematch with Calzaghe, but conceded there are no other attractive bouts for him on the horizon.

If Calzaghe goes, you can reasonably expect that Hopkins will soon follow.

Vazquez’s retirement may be forced by a medical condition. He had eye surgery to repair a detached retina and wants to fight again. However, he’ll follow his doctor’s advice and won’t fight if he is advised not to.

Pacquiao may also retire at the end of 2009. He’s likely to fight Ricky Hatton in the spring and may get a fall bout with former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., if he defeats Hatton and if Mayweather, as expected, opts to return to boxing.

After fighting Mayweather, there would be little more reason for Pacquiao to fight and he, too, would likely step down.

Big changes, it seems, are on the way.

Voters in the December poll were Raul Alzaga, Primera Hora, Puerto Rico; Ron Borges, Boston Herald; Steve Cofield, Yahoo! Sports; Dave Cokin, ESPN Radio 1100, Las Vegas; Brian Doogan, London Sunday Times; Andrew Eisele, About.com; Scott Fyfe, Sunday Post, Scotland; Tom Gerbasi, MaxBoxing.com; Lee Groves, MaxBoxing.com; Thomas Hauser, SecondsOut.com; Keith Idec, Herald News, New Jersey; Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports; Michael Katz, MaxBoxing.com; Scott Mallon, SweetScience.com; Rich Marotta, XTRA Sports 570, Los Angeles; Franklin McNeil, Newark Star-Ledger; Gunnar Meinhardt, Die Welt, Germany; Roman Modrowski, Chicago Sun-Times; Robert Morales, Los Angeles Daily News; Marty Mulcahey, MaxBoxing.com; Kieran Mulvaney, Reuters; Santos Perez, Miami Herald; Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports; Michael Rosenthal, Ring Magazine; Tim Smith, New York Daily News; T.K. Stewart, BoxingScene.com; Paul Upham, SecondsOut.com; John Whisler, San Antonio Express News; George Willis, New York Post.

1. Manny Pacquiao

Points: 300 (30 of 30 first-place votes)
Record: 48-3-2 (37 KOs)
Title: WBC lightweight champion
Last outing: TKO8 over Oscar De La Hoya on Dec. 6
Previous ranking: 1
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Proved he can compete at welterweight in a stunning performance against De La Hoya.

2. Joe Calzaghe
Points: 274½
Record: 46-0 (32 KOs)
Title: Ring light heavyweight champion
Last outing: W12 over Roy Jones Jr. on Nov. 8
Previous ranking: 2
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Will decide whether to fight again or retire after the holidays.

3. Juan Manuel Marquez

Points: 230½
Record: 49-4-1 (35 KOs)
Title: Ring lightweight champion
Last outing: TKO11 over Joel Casamayor on Sept. 13
Previous ranking: 3
Up next: Juan Diaz, time and place TBA
Analysis: Stature grew in light of Pacquiao’s performance against De La Hoya.

4. Israel Vazquez

Points: 182
Record: 43-4 (31 KOs)
Title: WBC and Ring super bantamweight champion
Last outing: W12 over No. 7 Rafael Marquez on March 1
Previous ranking: 4
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Eye surgery may put return off for several more months.

5. Bernard Hopkins

Points: 170
Record: 49-5 (32 KOs)
Title: None
Last outing: W12 over Kelly Pavlik on Oct. 18
Previous ranking: 5
Up next: TBA
Analysis: With few lucrative fights, retirement may be his only logical choice.

6. Antonio Margarito

Points: 162
Record: 37-5 (27 KOs)
Title: WBA welterweight champion
Last outing: TKO11 over No. 8 Miguel Cotto on July 26
Previous ranking: 6
Up next: Jan. 24 vs. Shane Mosley in Los Angeles on HBO.
Analysis: Could move up several spots if he handles Mosley’s speed well.

7. Rafael Marquez

Points: 86
Record: 37-5 (33 KOs)
Title: None
Last outing: L12 to No. 4 Israel Vazquez on March 1
Previous ranking: 7
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Still recovering from grueling Vazquez trilogy

8. Paul Williams

Points: 70
Record: 36-1 (27 KOs)
Title: Interim WBO junior middleweight champion
Last outing: TKO8 over Verno Phillips on Nov. 29
Previous ranking: 9
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Plans to fight at 147, 154 and 160 in 2009.

9. Miguel Cotto

Points: 64
Record: 32-1 (26 KOs)
Title: None
Last outing: TKO by 11 to No. 6 Antonio Margarito on July 26
Previous ranking: 8
Up next: Feb. 21 against Michael Jennings in New York.
Analysis: A win will set up a summer rematch with Margarito.

10. Ivan Calderon

Points: 49
Record: 32-0 (6 KOs)
Title: WBO light flyweight champion
Last outing: TD7 over Hugo Cazares on Aug. 30
Previous ranking: 9
Up next: TBA
Analysis: Immensely gifted boxer has no power.

Others receiving votes: Chad Dawson 38; Vic Darchinyan 8; Mikkel Kessler 6; Juan Manuel Lopez 6; Chris John 6; Arthur Abraham 4; Kelly Pavlik 4; Wladimir Klitschko 3; Ricky Hatton 3; David Haye 2.

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But the rankings in early 2009 could be dramatically different. Three of the top five fighters in the poll – No. 2 Joe Calzaghe, No. 4 Israel Vazquez and No. 5 Bernard Hopkins – may retire.
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Vazquez’s retirement may be forced by a medical condition. He had eye surgery to repair a detached retina and wants to fight again. However, he’ll follow his doctor’s advice and won’t fight if he is advised not to.

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[ferocity]

Anybody who has Williams on there p4p list is a joke!

[CottoOverrated1]

Anybody who has Williams on there p4p list is a joke!

3 KOs in three different divisions in a span of 6 months. naw, i think you're the joke, and a bad one a that.

[Pullcounter]

why cause pwill beat money marg?

[rizel23]

how the hell they haven't got Ricky Hatton in there is beyond me

[ferocity]

3 KOs in three different divisions in a span of 6 months. naw, i think you're the joke, and a bad one a that.

why cause pwill beat money marg?

Look at the name on that list and tell me you seriously think Williams belong there?

All he's done is beat Margarito when everybody and dad hated Margarito and Margarito was nowhere near the p4p list or considered the best at ww then as he is now.

Fighting in three divions lol, the tall ****er started at 160.

The Phillips win was a good win, but enough to put him on the p4p list? Because thats all he's done so far besides beating Margarito. He couldn't even defend his title more then once in two fights.

Williams has to be the most over rated fighter in boxing right now.

[ferocity]

how the hell they haven't got Ricky Hatton in there is beyond me

But they got Williams in there -what a joke!

[rizel23]

Williams is a good fighter, but i would'nt put him above Hatton, infact i would'nt put Cotto above Hatton

[Mojita]

does Williams deserve tobe there? yes, at 10. Fighting in 3 weight divisions and getting 3 KOs is a huge statement. Nobody does that nowadays - if you were a boxer you'd see how hard todo that is. Regardless of Andy Kolle being a bum, he was a real middleweight. The hate should really stop.