Kelly Pavlik, Bernard Hopkins Best Pound for Pound—What Were They Thinking?

I have never understood the purpose of pound for pound rankings.

Yeah, obviously they are used to ranking and comparing the top fighters in each division. However the idea of Pacquiao fighting Calzaghe completely blows my mind.  How about a more extreme example? 

Try to picture soon-to-be heavyweight David Haye fighting the 5'0" flyweight Ivan Calderon, with the winner taking the highly coveted 10th place in the pound for pound rankings. 

Have I gotten my point across?  Sure, there are possible matches that can be made from pound for pound fighters, such as the epic battles between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez, and even the snooze fest involving Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins.

I advise all boxing fans when looking at the pound for pound rankings to keep in mind that there is no generically correct ranking.  Take each ranking you see with a grain of salt.  Do some research on the top tier boxers and draw your own conclusions as to who qualifies to be called one of the best pound for pound fighters in the sport. 

Here is something to take with a grain of salt.  According to the so called experts at BoxRec (a great site which I recommend to anyone interested in boxing) the pound for pound king is Kelly Pavlik. 

I am a huge Kelly Pavlik fan.  He has been my favorite fighter since his remarkable knockout against Jose Louis Zertuche. I will never forget what Fran Charles said moments after the knockout: “He put Zertuche to sleep with a right hand! And Raul Caiz just waves it off!” 

But despite his fantastic as performances against Zertuche, Miranda, and Taylor (twice), I find it shocking that BoxRec would rate him as the best fighter in boxing. 

Let’s be serious. I do not know what the editors of BoxRec could possibly be thinking.  Have they never heard of Manny Pacquiao? 

They must have been asleep for the 10 plus years in which Calzaghe has owned at least one belt in the super middleweight division.  Pavlik has defended his middleweight title only once, and that was against Gary Lockett. 

If you think that having Kelly "The Ghost” Pavlik as the pound for pound champion is ridiculous, can you guess who controlled the No. 1 spot before him? 

If you guessed Floyd Mayweather, then congratulations. You know more about boxing than the editors of BoxRec.  They ranked Bernard Hopkins at the No. 1 spot, putting Mayweather in spot No. 2. 

Sure, Bernard Hopkins has made a great comeback after his two losses to Jermain Taylor.  But let’s be realistic, does a stellar performance against Antonio Tarver and an average at best show with Ronald "Winky" Wright qualify him to be the pound for pound champion? 

The answer is no, not at all. 

Just to prove it, look at whom Floyd Mayweather, Joe Calzaghe, and Manny Pacquiao fought over a similar time period.  The Hopkins vs. Tarver fight was fought on June 10, 2006, while his fight with Winky was on July 21, 2007.  So to make the comparisons easy, we have a time period of one year and a month. 

During a 13-month period, Joe Calzaghe was victorious three times, with one knockout. 

On October 14, 2006, Calzaghe defended his WBO and IBF super middleweight belt against soon-to-be contender champion Sakio Bika.  Although he was cut by an accidental head butt, Calzaghe won a comfortable decision with two scores of 117-110 and one score of 116-111. 

His next fight against contender finalist Peter Manfredo, Jr. in April of 2007 was a complete mismatch.  He easily forced a referee stoppage in the third round in a fight that never should have been made. 

Lastly in November of 2007, Calzaghe tested himself against Mikkel Kessler in the biggest fight of his career.  Not only did he show his superior speed, he also hurt Kessler late in a round with a body punch and walked away with an easy decision. 

Floyd Mayweather tested himself against three soon-to-be Hall of Fame boxers in a 13-month period. 

First he won a blow out decision against Carlos Manuel Baldomir by winning every round on two of the three judge’s scorecards and by landing 51 percent of his power punches. 

Who can forget his super fight with Oscar De La Hoya? 

Although he only won by split decision, I would recommend that anyone who thought  De La Hoya won that fight look at the punch statistics.

Tom Kaczmarek, who scored the bout in favor of De La Hoya, must have been persuaded by the crowd who cheered at everything and anything that Oscar did in that fight. 

Mayweather also fought in December against a decent undefeated fighter by the name of Ricky Hatton. He gradually out boxed Hatton throughout the fight and eventually finished with a wicked left hook in the 10th round. 

Floyd Mayweather must have been the only American who was not sick of the "There's Only One Ricky Hatton" song by the end of the fight.   

Manny Pacquiao fought a trio of opponents in a span of only nine months, and also fought Marco Antonio Barrera six months later. 

He started off by winning a clear-cut unanimous decision against Oscar Larios in July.  Pacquiao put Larios on the canvas twice during the fight, both in the seventh and 12th rounds.  Pacquiao's domination against Larios was reflected in Judge Noppharat Sricharoen’s scorecard which read 120-106.

Four months later Pacquiao fought a rubber match against Erik Morales, to whom he had previously lost by a unanimous decision. Later, however, Pacquiao knocked him out in their second meeting.

Pacquiao landed an amazing 63 percent of his power punches and knocked down Morales once in the second round and twice in the third. This eventually led to Morales shaking his head to the referee to stop the fight. 

Pacquiao continued his streak of victories with an eighth round knock out of Jorge Solis and a dominant unanimous decision win over Marco Antonio Barrera.

So what can be said from looking at some of the past fights of Calzaghe, Mayweather, and Pacquiao? Well, in a 13-month period all three fighters fought three fights (with Pacquiao fighting four in 15 months) while Bernard Hopkins fought only two. 

The quality of opposition varies based on each boxer. However it is safe to say that none of the above mentioned three boxers had a walk in the park those 13 months.  Sure Calzaghe fought Bika and Manfredo, but he made up for it with his dominant performance over then undefeated Mikkel Kessler. 

The comeback trail that Bernard Hopkins took is certainly an impressive feat, but it by no means compares to the victories that three of boxing's greats had during that same stretch of time.

Earlier in this article I mentioned how there is no generically correct ranking when dealing with the pound for pound system.  One thing I forgot to mention is that there can still be stupid choices, as BoxRec shows with their pound for pound king of Kelly Pavlik and their previous top boxer, Bernard Hopkins.