The Pound-for-Pound Top Fifty

One of the easiest ways to get into a debate on boxing is to try and rank the sport’s top practitioners on a pound-for-pound basis. Everyone’s got an opinion and there’s no way to definitely determine who’s right and who’s wrong. Sure Wladimir Klitschko would defeat Floyd Mayweather if they fought each other -- Klitschko outweighs Pretty Boy by 100 pounds! But if - and this is the big if – Klitschko and Mayweather were in the same weight class and were to match their skills against one another in the ring, which fighter would emerge victorious?

Every boxing enthusiast has seen pound-for-pound rankings in various magazines, on the Net and perhaps even on TV. Most of these lists include only ten fighters. Occasionally, you’ll see a pound-for-pound top twenty. So why stop at twenty? In order to provide even more fodder for conversation and debate, here is a pound-for-pound ranking of the top fifty fighters in the world today.

1. Manny Pacquiao (140)
2. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (147)
3. Joe Calzaghe (175)
4. Shane Mosley (147)
5. Paul Williams (154)
6. Juan Manuel Marquez (135)
7. Bernard Hopkins (175)
8. Israel Vazquez (122)
9. Miguel Cotto (147)
10. Rafael Marquez (126)
11. Arthur Abraham (168)
12. Chad Dawson (175)
13. Ivan Calderon (108)
14. Juan Manuel Lopez (122)
15. Nonito Donaire (115)
16. Wladimir Klitschko (Heavy)
17. Kelly Pavlik (160)
18. Timothy Bradley (140)
19. Mikkel Kessler (168)
20. Chris John (126)
21. Antonio Margarito (147)
22. Ricky Hatton (140)
23. Humberto Soto (130)
24. Juan Diaz (135)
25. Hozumi Hasegawa (118)
26. Daisuke Naito (112)
27. Edwin Valero (135)
28. Vitali Klitschko (Heavy)
29. Ronald "Winky" Wright (160)
30. Vic Darchinyan (115)
31. Celestino Caballero (122)
32. Joshua Clottey (147)
33. Joan Guzman (135)
34. Andre Berto (147)
35. Steven Luevano (126)
36. Tomasz Adamek (200)
37. Yonnhy Perez (118)
38. Felix Sturm (160)
39. Fernando Montiel (118)
40. Glen Johnson (175)
41. Carl Froch (168)
42. Zsolt Erdei (175)
43. Roy Jones Jr. (175)
44. Sergeii Dzindziruk (154)
45. Yuriorkis Gamboa (126)
46. David Haye (Heavy)
47. Joseph Agbeko (118)
48. Jermain Taylor (168)
49. Lucian Bute (168)
50. Omar Narvaez (112)

Just outside of the top fifty: Andre Ward (168), Amir Khan (140), Steve Cunningham (200), Andre Dirrell (168).

Dropping off the list in recent months: Antonio Tarver (175), Jorge Linares (130), Vernon Forrest (154), Nate Campbell (140), Gerry Penalosa (118), Ulises Solis (108), Joel Casamayor (135), Cory Spinks (154), Robert Guerrero (130), Oscar De La Hoya (154), Jorge Arce (115).

No doubt your top fifty would look much different. Maybe entirely different! Share your thoughts on the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world today on the boxing bulletin board.