Check out our top 20 pound for pound list from December, 2012. This update to our p4p rankings was made after Juan Manuel Marquez shocked the world and knocked out Manny Pacquiao in the fourth fight of their epic series. Here’s how everyone stood at the time:
Top 20 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. It’s been rumored that he’ll finally get back into the ring in 2013 and that, gasp, he could actually fight two times! We’ll see how that plays out, and there are certainly plenty of intriguing options for him out there right now.Check out our Floyd Mayweather memorabilia. | ||
| 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. Will defend his titles against Kelly Pavlik next. | ||
| 3. Juan Manuel Marquez | 55 (40) – 6 – 1 | +3 |
| After three disappointments, Marquez finally broke through, and in spectacular, unforgettable fashion. It’s the one-punch knockout heard round the world, and it alters the landscape at the top of our pound for pound list and the entire sport. Now, he’s in position where he could seek out a rematch with Mayweather, or fight some of the other top guys in and around his weight, whether it’s Timothy Bradley or Robert Guerrero. | ||
| 4. Nonito Donaire | 30 (19) – 1 | +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. After a few solid wins and his move to the Super Bantamweight division, he completely outclassed the highly regarded Toshiaki Nishioka. He faces Jorge Arce before the end of the year, and then we can hope that names like Mares or Rigondeaux pop up on his opponent list. | ||
| 5. Sergio Martinez | 50 (28) – 2 – 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. Most recently, 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. Next up though he faces Martin Murray in April. | ||
| 6. Abner Mares | 25 (13) – 0 – 1 | +4 |
| 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 to move up in weight and handle Anselmo Moreno in the way that he did, it’s all very impressive. Mares is a bit of a bull, and a bully, in there, and he just doesn’t know how to lose. A fight against Donaire would be amazing. Still improving with each outing. | ||
| 7. Manny Pacquiao | 54 (38) – 5 – 2 | -3 |
| 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? He’s already stated he won’t be retiring yet. So is it a 5th fight against Marquez? A rematch against Bradley? An entirely new direction? We’ll have to wait and see for now. Check out our Manny Pacquiao memorabilia. | ||
| 8. Wladimir Klitschko | 59 (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. A ho-hum rematch against Tony Thompson was followed by a ho-hum fight against Mariusz Wach. | ||
| 9. Carl Froch | 29 (21) – 2 | +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. | ||
| 10. Yuriorkis Gamboa | 22 (16) – 0 | -3 |
| 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, so we’ll see what he does next as he hopefully continues to be more active at this fight. | ||
| 11. Robert Guerrero | 31 (18) – 1 – 1 | Debut |
| The Ghost makes his long awaited debut on this list with his big win over Andre Berto. Guerrero can beat you in many ways, and he proved against Berto that he can give and take with the big boys at Welterweight. Even if many of his belts along the way have “interim” on them, he still has joined an exclusive list of titleholders from Featherweight up to Welterweight — only including Henry Armstrong and Manny Pacquiao. Does Guerrero get the big fights he’s been clamoring for now? | ||
| 12. Timothy Bradley | 29 (12) – 0 | -3 |
| Timothy Bradley falls out of the top 10 with the emergence of some other fighters, and the fact that he’s been inactive. Needs to get back on the saddle and face a big opponent, as he’s been on the shelf for far too long since the Pacquiao fight. Pacquiao’s KO loss to Marquez doesn’t help his own standing either. There’s a lot of action in and around the Welterweight division, so he should have no problem finding a big name opponent. The question for Bradley is whether Pacquiao’s loss to Marquez makes his own rematch with Pacman more likely. | ||
| 13. Adrien Broner | 25 (21) – 0 | Debut |
| Adrien Broner made his official debut in the Lightweight division a memorable one, as he absolutely dominated respected titleholder Antonio DeMarco. Clearly, his 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. I’d expect his stay at 135 lbs is a short one, on his way to bigger fights at Junior Welterweight. | ||
| 14. Brian Viloria | 32 (19) – 3 | -1 |
| 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 help. 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, and followed it up with another big win over Hernan Marquez. | ||
| 15. Roman Gonzalez | 34 (28) – 0 | +1 |
| 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, if he wanted to go after Brian Viloria at Flyweight, in what would be a mega-(little-guy)-fight. | ||
| 16. Guillermo Rigondeaux | 11 (8) – 0 | -2 |
| 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? | ||
| 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. He has a fight planned for the beginning of 2013, likely in Brooklyn, so we’ll see what’s next. | ||
| 18. Danny Garcia | 25 (16) – 0 | Debut |
| 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 Holt’s and Nate Campbell’s of the world. Now it’s a title defense against Zab Judah, and then we’ll see what other types of fights can be put together in the jam-packed Junior Welterweight scene next. | ||
| 19. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez | 41 (30) – 0 – 1 | Debut |
| Canelo makes his debut into the top 20 pound for pound based on potential and talent as much as accomplishment. He needs to step up his opposition, and it looks like in his next fight we’ll see him do just that. Still, through sheer attrition in his division and his own steadiness, he’s risen to the top of the Junior Middleweight mix. | ||
| 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. | ||
The next 25+ on the Bubble (in alphabetical order)
Tomasz Adamek, Joseph Agbeko, Devon Alexander, Andre Berto, Lucian Bute, Steve Cunningham, Chad Dawson, Mikey Garcia, Jhonny Gonzalez, David Haye, Yoan Pablo Hernandez, Bernard Hopkins, Marco Huck, Chris John, Koki Kameda, Mikkel Kessler, Amir Khan, Vitali Klitschko, Juan Manuel Lopez, Marcos Maidana, Lucas Matthysse, Anselmo Moreno, Omar Narvaez, Victor Ortiz, Jean Pascal, Brandon Rios, Giovani Segura, Austin Trout
