Top 10 Pound For Pound

[swerb]

1. Manny Pacquiao - Just absolutely decimated De La Hoya and Hatton much more convincingly than Mayweather's victories over the same duo. Dodges no one, fights all the top fights, and dominates all foes. Best fighter I've seen in my lifetime.

2. Floyd Mayweather - He's baaaaack. But no longer the top lb for lb fighter. He'll have to earn that back by beating Juan Manuel in July and Pac Man in the fall.

3. Juan Manuel Marquez - Fresh off impressive wins over Casamayor and Juan Diaz, will take on Floyd in July. Two fights with Manny have been coin flips.

4. Joe Calzaghe - Slappy Joe retired? Never lost, beat Hopkins, beat Kessler handily. Still kills me to rank him this high cause he doesn't take the toughest fights. Beat Bad Chad and Froch and you can retire with all the respect in the world from me and all other American fight fans.

5. Israel Vasquez - Still awaiting return from eye surgery. Fight with Juan Manuel Lopez would be epic. So would a 4th fight with Rafael Marquez.

6. Paul Williams - On a roll. Dangerous fighter. The man no one wants to fight.

7. Miguel Cotto - Margarito illegal wraps revalidate Cotto as a top pound for pound guy. Beat Sugar Shane, and would beat him again in a rematch.

8. Bernard Hopkins - Savvy pro coming off a destruction of middleweight king Kelly Pavlik.

9. Rafael Marquez - Lost 2 of 3 in the epic trilogy with Vasquez. A very, very good fighter. Fights in a couple weeks after a 14 month layoff.

10. Shane Mosely - Will be looking to get into the Mayweather/Marquez/Pacquiao mix. Would lose to all three.

[bw]

Number 11

Nikolay Valuev, right, defeated John Ruiz for the WBA heavywight world championship. Valuev becomes the tallest (7 feet) and heaviest (323 pounds) champion of all-time.

[Bayou Tribe]

Marquez's fights with Pacquiao do so much for his rep, and rightfully so. He can be 2 or 3 on most people's lb4lb lists in some part due to his "rpi" in effect of Pac Man's success.

Everyone is really looking ahead to Mayweather/Pacquiao, but in the back of my mind a part of me wants to see Marquez win so we can see Pacquiao/Marquez 3 on a much bigger, more publicized stage.

[swerb]

Marquez's fights with Pacquiao do so much for his rep, and rightfully so. He can be 2 or 3 on most people's lb4lb lists in some part due to his "rpi" in effect of Pac Man's success.

Everyone is really looking ahead to Mayweather/Pacquiao, but in the back of my mind a part of me wants to see Marquez win so we can see Pacquiao/Marquez 3 on a much bigger, more publicized stage.

I'd just love to see Floyd Mayweather lose. He's such a punk. Would love to see the look on his face when the decision is read. Marquez, on the other hand, is as classy as they come. And Manny/Juan Manuel III would be a virtual lock.

[bustedknuckles]

Swerb-

Are you prepared to update this list after this weekend if/when Chad Dawson beats Tarver again? I have him there already, but you seem to be biased against the bigger guys. Not a big deal as most of these lists are oriented that way, but find me somebody that is not named Manny Pacquiao who has been more impressive over his last five fights.

[swerb]

Swerb-

Are you prepared to update this list after this weekend if/when Chad Dawson beats Tarver again? I have him there already, but you seem to be biased against the bigger guys. Not a big deal as most of these lists are oriented that way, but find me somebody that is not named Manny Pacquiao who has been more impressive over his last five fights.

Bad Chad is right there for me. Would be somewhere between 11-13. Problem is, what is another win over Tarver going to tell me? Tarver is a total bozo at this point in his career. The guys at the bottom of my top ten just have so much more complete resumes. Dawson is clearly top 10 lb for lb talent, he just needs to prove it at this point.

I know he was contractually obliged to give Tarver the rematch, so its no fault of Dawsons. Also, from everything I've seen and heard from Dawson, the next fight will be against a Froch/Bute/Kessler type. You know Slappy Joe won't fight him.

[bustedknuckles]

Tarver is 3-0 in rematches (Jones, Johnson, Harding) and more than capable of pulling off the upset if he's got his body right so I would say it tells you something, maybe not the fight we want to see but not an easy out either.

Hopkins won't even consider Dawson and I'm not sure any of the other guys you mentioned do either. Allen Green and Dawson...that's the scrap I'm calling for.

I don't even contemplate Calzaghe anymore, he retired and I don't think he's coming back...there are some big money fights out there that would be pretty safe for him that he passed on already.

[Guest]

The only way Dawson gets a big money fight is by dropping to 168 which he has already said he will do.
That division is getting stacked.