ProBoxing-Fans.com will now be archiving all of our old pound for pound rankings. This way, whenever we make updates, you can still go back and view how things were previously. These are the top 20 pound for pound boxers in the world as of September 2012. Take a look.
Top Pound for Pound Boxers
Fighter | Record | Ranking Change |
| 1. Floyd Mayweather | 43 (26) – 0 | – |
| Floyd Mayweather scored one of the best wins of his career, as he survived a tough challenge from Miguel Cotto to win a clear decision against him. Now though, Mayweather is serving is jail sentence, and we’re left hoping that when he’s out by the end of summer, that he’ll quickly put together a fight for the fall. We’ll see, but I know I’m not buying that retirement chatter. Check out our Floyd Mayweather memorabilia. | ||
| 2. Andre Ward | 26 (14) – 0 | +2 |
| 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. Does this six fight stretch warrant his move up to number 2, moving ahead of Pacquiao and Martinez? We think so. You can read the full explanation of that decision here. | ||
| 3. Sergio Martinez | 50 (28) – 2 – 2 | – |
| After finally breaking through and winning the middleweight title against Kelly Pavlik, many people felt that Martinez deserved the nod over Williams in their first bout. He didn’t let the judges have a say the second time, KOing Williams in the second round, cementing his status as one of the top fighters in the world. Since then it’s been a string of stoppage wins and title defenses. Most recently and notably, he survived a crazy 12th round against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr to win a very wide unanimous decision. I’d rather not see a rematch, in the hopes of seeing the true mega-fight that fans should be clamoring for today: Andre Ward vs. Sergio Martinez. | ||
| 4. Manny Pacquiao | 54 (38) – 4 – 2 | -2 |
| Pacquiao was looking to dominate Juan Manuel Marquez in their third meeting, and score a decisive knockout. How’d that work out for him? Pacquiao got taken to the brink my Marquez, again, and many neutral observers felt that Marquez deserved the win and was robbed, again. Then the tide turned against him, and he lost a Split Decision against Timothy Bradley when seemingly everybody thought he had clearly won. Whether he lost one, two or none of those fights, he is looking less like the destructive force we saw circa 2009, which is why he drops down to number 4, for now. Check out our Manny Pacquiao memorabilia. | ||
| 5. Nonito Donaire | 29 (18) – 1 | – |
| Donaire’s stunning second round knockout over fellow pound for pound entrant Fernando Montiel vaulted the Filipino Flash into the top 5, but promotional problems derailed his momentum. He came back with a boring, albeit solid, effort against Omar Narvaez, before besting Wilfredo Vazquez Jr and Jeffrey Mathebula. He has a great fight coming up against long-time titleholder Toshiaki Nishioka, and then appears headed towards the greener pastures of the featherweight division | ||
| 6. Juan Manuel Marquez | 54 (39) – 6 – 1 | – |
| Marquez had been dropping down to the bottom half of the top 10 as younger stars had begun to emerge. But what we saw against Pacquiao in their third fight proved that his skill and ferocity very much remain intact. Marquez is the complete package, and now many people believe he has beaten Pacquiao (at least) twice, although the historical records won’t make note of it. Now he gets a fourth chance at setting the ledger straight in November. | ||
| 7. Yuriorkis Gamboa | 21 (16) – 0 | – |
| Gamboa continues to move up the pound for pound rankings, entrenching himself into the top 10 as other boxers continue to fall by the wayside. He has been improving his all-around game and his defense, and ultimately, he’s the best combination of sheer, raw speed and power since a prime Roy Jones. Unfortunately, after dropping out of a fight against Brandon Rios, he’s been on the shelf, but looks to be in action this fall. | ||
| 8. Wladimir Klitschko | 58 (51) – 3 | +1 |
| 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. A ho-hum rematch against Tony Thompson was his most recent work, with a ho-hum fight against the undefeated Mariusz Wach next. | ||
| 9. Timothy Bradley | 29 (12) – 0 | -1 |
| Timothy Bradley remains in the top 10 despite what is viewed as a clear loss to Pacquiao. That’s because guy’s like Lucian Bute have been KTFO, and he also proved enough to me in that fight that I’d pick him to beat anybody at 147 lbs not named Mayweather or Pacquiao. Needs to get back on the saddle and face a big opponent this fall though, looking impressive in the process. | ||
| 10. Abner Mares | 24 (13) – 0 – 1 | – |
| 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 a win over Eric Morel in his debut at super bantam. Still undefeated and just 26 years old, the sky’s the limit, and he has shown time and again he has the heart and will to match his boxing abilities. Next up is a very tough test against Anselmo Moreno. | ||
| 11. Carl Froch | 29 (21) – 2 | – |
| 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 Cobra is back in the mix for any big fight of his choosing. | ||
| 12. Toshiaki Nishioka | 39 (24) – 4 – 3 | – |
| Toshiaki Nishioka is a two-division titleholder, the current top man at 122 lbs, and he hasn’t lost 8 and a half years. During his reign as WBC super bantamweight champion, he has wins over Jhonny Gonzalez, Rafael Marquez and Rendall Munroe amongst others, building up a nice resume for himself as a champion and a pound for pound worthy fighter. Now he gets his shot at the big time, as he faces Nonito Donaire in October. | ||
| 13. Brian Viloria | 31 (18) – 3 | – |
| Count me amongst the many who wrote The Hawaiian Punch off several years ago, during what was essentially a three fight losing streak, although one of those fights got changed to a no contest due to a drug test. If you didn’t write him off then, a January 2010 TKO loss on his ledger didn’t elp. However, since that time he’s strung together some nice victories, including a title win at flyweight, and a shocking TKO win over Giovani Segura in his first defense, which got him included on this list. Now, he’s gotten the monkey off his back with a stoppage win over Omar Nino Romero. | ||
| 14. Guillermo Rigondeaux | 11 (8) – 0 | – |
| Rigondeaux is a rare exception of a fighter with such limited pro experience making it this far up the pound for pound list. But he was one of the best amateur fighters in history for a reason, folks. And when your 11 wins include Ricardo Cordoba and three straight stoppages against fighters with a combined 48-1-2 record, you deserve inclusion. Rigondeaux vs. Donaire? Please? Mares? Anybody? | ||
| 15. Anselmo Moreno | 33 (12) – 1 – 1 | Debut |
| Anselo Moreno has finally been getting some of the recognition he deserved. His bantamweight run included 11 title wins, although a lot of that came against soft opposition. He’s a smooth, tricky operator in there though, and he gets his chance to finally land a breakout win when he meets Abner Mares in November. | ||
| 16. Roman Gonzalez | 32 (27) – 0 | – |
| 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 four 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, if he wanted to go after Brian Viloria at flyweight, in what would be a mega-(little-guy)-fight. | ||
| 17. Bernard Hopkins | 52 (32) – 6 – 2 | – |
| 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 20 fighters on the planet, even today. With the right matchmaking, he can pick himself up another title, and knock off another highly touted young gun in the process. The question is, will he choose to do that? | ||
| 18. Vitali Klitschko | 45 (41) – 2 | – |
| Klitschko continues to pile up the wins, with his most notable recent efforts coming against Tomasz Adamek and Dereck Chisora. He’ll never get the fight that would really get him higher on this list, a showdown with little bro, but a dominant string of wins can’t be ignored forever. Adamek, for example, was in the top 20 pound for pound before Klitschko dispatched of him. | ||
| 19. Miguel Cotto | 37 (30) – 3 | – |
| Miguel Cotto snuck back into the pound for pound rankings with his big rematch win over Antonio Margarito. Even though he followed that up with a loss against Mayweather, he acquitted himself very well in that fight, and showed that he’s certainly one of the best guys in his division, and one of the upper-tier boxers in the world. Next up is a fight against Austin Trout, which could either knock him right back out of this list, or vault him considerably higher. | ||
| 20. Orlando Salido | 39 (27) – 11 – 2 | – |
| If you disregard the first five years of his career, when he was an inexperienced teenager, and forget about the record, then you see a world class guy who has been in there with the best. In the past decade, he has three losses – two against the number 6 and 7 guys on the pound for pound list, and another which was avenged. Most recently, of course, he has two huge TKO wins over Juan Manuel Lopez. Welcome to the list, Siri! The guy is pure fire, grit and heart. It doesn’t get easier for him though, as he faces the undefeated Mikey Garcia next. | ||
