What's your definition of "Pound for Pound"?

[MikeRo1972]

I know what I think it is but I get the feeling somewhere along the line a lot of posters here at NSB (noobs really) either dont know or veteran posters have become a bit confused as to what the term means. I see a lot of poster's p4p sigs and I wonder; what the hell is he thinking?

To me: it means all things being equal (I. E, pound for pound). Height and weight, who is the best. Who has the skill set, the talent, the power, the speed, to be better than another particular fighter at another weight. It's a hypothetical. I see a lot posters justifying their lists with level of competition, belts won, total wins, etc etc.

To me that makes no sense, to me it's if you put these guys in the ring, this one particular fighter would beat them all head to head (thus the #1 p4p fighter). #2 would lose to the #1 fighter head to head but would beat everyone else in a mythical head to head matchup, etc etc.

I am we'll aware that what makes p4p lists great is that it's in the eye of the beholder. But it seems to me that a lot of us have lost sight of the actual meaning of what it means to be compared on a p4p basis. And instead use the same criteria we use to rank divisions.

No wrong answers here, just opinions....discuss.

[Bushbaby]

Pfp means that if you could make fighters equal in size, who'd be the best. Thus the term pfp.

[bojangles1987]

I've always understood it to mean throwing away size and making it irrelevant. Judge solely on skills and quality of wins.

[JOM'S]

I cant agree with you guys more on your definition of P4P but imho now that weight jumping is almost a norm, some bigger jumps than the norm like Manny and Floyd, strengthening further their P4P caliber, but this also put shade of grey on the equation as some perform a lot better going up than others...

[M Bison]

P4P the best... cherry picking your way all the way to that number one spot.
That's what it means to me this is why Floyd Mayweather holds this coveted title

[E-Thug]

I cant agree with you guys more on your definition of P4P but imho now that weight jumping is almost a norm, some bigger jumps than the norm like Manny and Floyd, strengthening further their P4P caliber, but this also put shade of grey on the equation as some perform a lot better going up than others...

I wouldn't put much stock into jumping weightclasses because look at it this way - between 105 pounds (minimumweight) to 140 pounds (light welterweight) is a difference of 32 pounds which equates to an astonishing 9 weight classes in between. Add 30 pounds to 140 pounds, equating to 170 pounds, and there's only 4 weightclasses in that span.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that it's too easy for someone in the lower weights to rise through and dominate the competition. They gave to gain from as little as 4 to 7 pounds to move up. I respect someone who goes from 140 to 168 as opposed to 105 to 140

[low_Bo]

P4P the best... cherry picking your way all the way to that number one spot.
That's what it means to me this is why Floyd Mayweather holds this coveted title

Sad, but accurate by today's standard.

[~AK49~]

P4P the best... cherry picking your way all the way to that number one spot.
That's what it means to me this is why Floyd Mayweather holds this coveted title

Lol. Only two guys are seen as competition for him. 1 would outweigh him by about 25 lbs on fight night, the other would outweigh him by about 20.

Obviously a p4p fraud

[Doctor_Tenma]

Skill/ versatility

Performance/ dominance in the ring

and consistency

That's my criteria at least.

[boliodogs]

I pretty much agree with your definition of pound for pound. I rate fighters pfp. for the division the are currently fighting in. I also rate them for how good they are right now in the weight class they are fighting in. For example I rate Floyd Mayweather for how good he is as a welterweight right now based on his fights with Cotto and Guerrero. All his past wins from 130 on up don't influence my rating. I only go by how good he looked as a welterweight in very recent fights. Heavyweights are rated pound for pound on how good they are as a heavyweight, not by actual weight. So a giant heavyweight like 250 pound Wlad gets a higher rating than 210 pound Haye because he is a slightly better heavyweight. Sure, if Haye was just as good as he is pfp now and he weighed a rock hard 250 he would beat Wlad but giant heavyweights are never as good as the best smaller heavyweights for their size. On all fighters below heavyweight I rate by how good they are for the weight class they currently fight in. Broner is a lightweight so I rate him as a lightweight. He will soon be a welterweight so I will be rating him on how good he is as a welterweight. He won't get extra points because he is a welterweight that could still make the lightweight limit. I hope this make sense.