As we continue to update our list of the top pound for pound boxers in the world, it’s also important to keep a record of our previous standings. Right here, you’ll find our top 20 pound for pound boxing list from May 2013. This update was made after a string of big fights, including Floyd Mayweather defeating Robert Guerrero, Saul Canelo Alvarez defeating Austin Trout, and Guillermo Rigondeaux defeating Nonito Donaire.
Fighter | Record | Ranking Change |
| 1. Floyd Mayweather | 44 (26) – 0 | – |
| Money Mayweather just keeps on rolling. A year away from the ring? A couple of months in prison? No big deal. He dominated and cruised past Robert Guerrero, adding another scalp to his already lengthy ledger. Next up, presumably, is Saul Alvarez, in what would be an absolutely massive fight, and one with a lot of intrigue. At this point, Mayweather is the guy you might love to hate, but there’s no denying the skill, the resume, or his place in the sport. | ||
| 2. Andre Ward | 26 (14) – 0 | – |
| Mikkel Kessler. Arthur Abraham. Carl Froch. Sakio Bika and Allan Green mixed in for good measure. Not a bad 5 fight streak for a largely unproven fighter at the start of the Super Six Tournament. Then came the complete domination of Chad Dawson. Ward has been on an absolute tear, and hasn’t even seemed particularly tested or bothered against any of those guys. The injuries have been an unfortunate momentum breaker for the S.O.G. | ||
| 3. Juan Manuel Marquez | 55 (40) – 6 – 1 | – |
| After three disappointments, Marquez finally broke through, and in spectacular, unforgettable fashion. It was the one-punch knockout heard round the world, and it altered the landscape at the top of our pound for pound list and the entire sport. It looks like he could be facing Timothy Bradley next, although as of the time of this writing, that’s not been made official. | ||
| 4. Abner Mares | 26 (14) – 0 – 1 | +2 |
| We talk about the run the Super Six guys have gone on in the past few years, but what about Mares, as he navigated the smaller Bantamweight tournament? In a four-fight stretch, he defeated Yonnhy Perez, Vic Darchinyan and Joseph Agbeko, twice, the second and most recent time without any controversy. Then came Anselmo Moreno, a fight many expected him to lose, and then another move up in weight, and a TKO title-winning victory over Daniel Ponce de Leon. Mares just doesn’t know how to lose, and he continues to improve with each outing. So many potential great fights out there for him right now. | ||
| 5. Guillermo Rigondeaux | 12 (8) – 0 | +11 |
| Rigondeaux finally lured Nonito Donaire into the ring, mostly getting his opportunity due to the fact that Donaire’s team wasn’t going to put together a fight against Abner Mares. The Jackal took full advantage of his shot, and even if you thought he would win, you probably didn’t expect him to be so dominant, completing dictating the fight against Donaire and showing a clear superiority in terms of pure boxing skill and ability. One of the best amateur fighters in history has had perhaps the best first 12 pro fights of any fighter to ever lace them up. | ||
| 6. Sergio Martinez | 51 (28) – 2 – 2 | -1 |
| Is age catching up to Maravilla? He has survived his last two encounters against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Martin Murray, but he’s been sent to the deck on each ocassion, and he’s come out of both battles with injuries that relegate him to the sidelines. Will his body get back to 100% again, or has the best of Martinez already come and gone? Remains the clear middleweight kingpin, and his body of work over the past 3-4 years has been stellar. | ||
| 7. Nonito Donaire | 30 (19) – 2 | -3 |
| Tough loss for Donaire, who had so much momentum heading into that fight. Was he simply overlooking Rigondeaux, and enjoying his star status a bit too much? Was it really the shoulder injury? Or did he just lose to the better guy? Donaire plans to move up to Featherweight, and there’s a whole lot of tough competition waiting for him up there as well. | ||
| 8. Wladimir Klitschko | 60 (51) – 3 | – |
| If you’ve followed the pound for pound rankings on this website, then you have surely noticed Klitschko jumping up and down from update to update. That’s because from fight to fight my opinion changes on how dominant he is, and whether he does enough with his size and talent. The competition has been lacking lately, but what can you say? That’s 60 career victories, and 18 straight wins over the past eight and a half years, including 14 title defenses. Staggering. | ||
| 9. Manny Pacquiao | 54 (38) – 5 – 2 | -2 |
| Pacquiao still deserves respect as one of the best fighters in the world, but he has to be moved down this list following that brutal knockout loss. Nobody can argue with the way that his 4th fight played out against Juan Manuel Marquez. Now, the question is where does Pacquiao go from here? Looks like he’ll be returning in the fall, so the question is, against who, and at what weight? | ||
| 10. Carl Froch | 29 (21) – 2 | -1 |
| Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson, Andre Ward, and now Lucian Bute. A 6-2 record against that level of opposition over the past three years. Even though he got dominated by Ward, that’s still a very impressive recent run. Most impressive of all was the resounding KO win over the previously undefeated Bute. The Kessler rematch is up next, and The Cobra is keen to erase that loss from his ledger. | ||
| 11. Adrien Broner | 26 (22) – 0 | +2 |
| After the utter domination of the respected Antonio DeMarco, it was clear to even the biggest od detractors that The Problem’s talent is off the charts. The questions for him will be how he’ll respond to adversity in the ring, what kind of chin he has, and what happens when he faces guys who can match his size and his speed. Jumping up two divisions to take on Paulie Malignaggi in June. Not exactly Shane Mosley jumping from 135 to 147 to fight Oscar De La Hoya. | ||
| 12. Bernard Hopkins | 53 (32) – 6 – 2 | +5 |
| Tell me you weren’t really surprised that Hopkins outclassed, and out-foxed Tavoris Cloud? There has to be legitimate concern about how much his body has left him in at this point, even if he’s intent to keep on fighting until he’s 50. Still, he’s clearly one of the best fighters on the planet. With the right matchmaking, he can continue this run for quite some time. Taking on a sort of standby fight next with Karo Murat, but that shows he wants to stay active and continue campaigning, so it’s a good thing. | ||
| 13. Roman Gonzalez | 34 (28) – 0 | +2 |
| Gonzalez has built up quite the undefeated stretch thus far in his career. He’s the former WBA strawweight champ and the current WBA 108 lbs titleholder, with five title defenses since he won the belt in 2011. El Chocolatito could be lining himself up for a shot at a title in a 3rd division in short order too. Doesn’t hurt that he just beat the guy who ousted Brian Viloria at Flyweight, either. | ||
| 14. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez | 42 (30) – 0 – 1 | +5 |
| Canelo finally was given a chance to back up all of the hype and the starpower, as he met his toughest opponent to date, in fellow undefeated Austin Trout. A tough fight, but a deserved victory for Canelo, who now seems locked into facing Floyd Mayweather in September (we hope). Canelo has really rounded out his game over the past few fights, and is of course still a fighter on the rise. | ||
| 15. Yuriorkis Gamboa | 22 (16) – 0 | -5 |
| After an extended layoff, Gamboa finally returned to action and made his debut at Super Featherweight. He showed flashes of brilliance, and flashes of well, not so much, as he once again got sent down to the canvas. Maybe we can write off the performance to a bit of rust, but at some point, when does potential become overshadowed by actual in the ring work? Too inactive and too sketchy as of late to be a top-10 fighter. | ||
| 16. Timothy Bradley | 30 (12) – 0 | -4 |
| It’s tough to be Timothy Bradley. Somehow, by winning two fights, he has fallen about 10 positions in our top pound for pound list. Of course, the Pacquiao fight didn’t do him any favors. He may have won some hearts with his performance against Ruslan Provodnikov, but he didn’t exactly showcase his best stuff, nearly getting knocked out for his troubles. If the Marquez fight is next, he’ll have an opportunity to take out another legend. | ||
| 17. Danny Garcia | 26 (16) – 0 | +1 |
| I don’t put any stock into his wins over Erik Morales. But the knockout of Amir Khan was sensational, and he took care of some contenders in the division before he got those opportunities, handling the Kendall Holts and Nate Campbells of the world. Got past a stern test from Zab Judah, and now seems to be headed towards a showdown against the winner of the upcoming Lucas Matthysse-Lamont Peterson clash. | ||
| 18. Mikey Garcia | 31 (26) – 0 | Debut |
| Mikey Garcia’s debut into the pound for pound rankings has been long awaited. The competition he faced was just so miserable for so long. But he really shined with his dominant win over Orlando Salido, scoring three knockdowns along the way. The offensive arsenal is just so smooth and refined, and the kid is still just 25. | ||
| 19. Koki Kameda | 30 (17) – 1 | Debut |
| The Japanese superstar/villian has won eight straight since his lone career setback, a narrow decision loss to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. Since, he has won a title in his second division, and defended it six times. The power doesn’t seem to be what it was at Flyweight, but he still packs a punch and has managed to put together a very impressive resume. AN all-Japan showdown against Shinsuke Yamanaka would be nice | ||
| 20. Yoan Pablo Hernandez | 27 (13) – 1 | Debut |
| A lot of fighters could have snuck into the bottom of our list here. So why Yoan Pablo? He hasn’t loss since 2008, and he’s the man atop a pretty competitive cruiserweight scene. Hopefully we see him in there against the winner of the Marco Huck-Ola Afolabi rubbermatch next, which would provide a bit more much needed clarity. A four fight stretch with victories over Steve Herelius, Steve Cunningham twice, and Troy Ross, says a lot though. | ||
The next 25+ on the Bubble (in alphabetical order)
Devon Alexander, Andre Berto, Lucian Bute, Steve Cunningham, Chad Dawson, Gennady Golovkin, Jhonny Gonzalez, Robert Guerrero, David Haye, Marco Huck, Chris John, Mikkel Kessler, Amir Khan, Vitali Klitschko, Juan Manuel Lopez, Marcos Maidana, Lucas Matthysse, Anselmo Moreno, Lamont Peterson, Jean Pascal, Orlando Salido, Leo Santa Cruz, Giovani Segura, Austin Trout, Brian Viloria, Shinsuke Yamanaka
