Manny Pacquiao & Floyd Mayweather Now Both Removed from the No. 1 P4P Spot

According to the highly-regarded The RING magazine rankings, both Manny Pacquiao and his longtime outside-the-ring nemesis are both removed from the No. 1 pound-for-pound ranking spot.

In fact, the No. 1 pound-for-pound spot is now currently vacant, with no fighter holding the prestigious mythical title.

Both Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have been demoted to a tie for the No. 2 pound-for-pound rankings spot.

Why is that? My personal take is that when Pacquiao won with an unconvincing performance in a controversial fight against Juan Manuel Marquez last November, he was demoted by most pound-for-pound rankings lists down to the second spot, while Floyd Mayweather was upgraded into the top spot.

This was probably because not only did many think Manny lost or fought to an even draw with Marquez, but the odds from the experts and bet-makers had Manny as a big favorite to beat Marquez. Some had him as big as -700 odds.

In my opinion, this is what happened to Mayweather as well after his close yet clear victory against Miguel Cotto on May 5. It was probably the most competitive and toughest fight of Mayweather's career outside of his first bout with Jose Luis Castillo—another fight where many felt Castillo beat Mayweather.

Most felt Mayweather had clearly defeated the Puerto Rican star by at least three or four rounds. But Floyd struggled in many of the middle rounds, where Cotto was able to pressure him and back him up into the ropes. Cotto landed some wild punches that caused the undefeated American to for the first time get cut and bleed from the nose.

Cotto's punches overall were not landed cleanly and effectively, but he was able to land a lot more than most any other opponent that Mayweather has faced. 

So, again, it is my personal belief that because Mayweather was such a huge favorite to beat Cotto at -650 odds and did not blow Cotto away, but struggled and was for the first time cut by the big underdog, that The RING decided to remove him from the top spot in the pound-for-pound rankings.

Is this right? Should both Manny and Floyd be removed from the top spot because of less-than-dominating performances in their last wins?

Or could the real reason why they both are now tied at second place on the pound-for-pound rankings be because both Manny and Floyd have still not agreed to fight one another and give everyone and their grandma the one fight that everyone has been waiting for?

The RING middleweight champion Sergio Martinez has been taking on all opponents who are willing to face him, and probably more importantly, he has been beating them by big impressive knockout victories. This may be why he is currently ranked right behind both Pacquiao and Mayweather in the third spot on the pound-for-pound list.

Because Martinez is The RING middleweight champion, could it mean that if you hold The RING title for your weight class, then you will probably be in the top 10 pound-for-pound rankings?

For example, in the current top 10 pound-for-pound rankings according to The RING, there are also three other fighters in the top 10 who hold The RING titles of their division. 

In fifth place is undefeated American RING super middleweight champion Andre Ward, who also holds the WBC and WBA titles at 168 as well. Heavyweight RING champion Wladimir Klitschko is in the seventh place, and the Ukrainian/German Rockstar also holds the IBF, WBO and WBA.

Finally, Chad Dawson, who now is The RING light heavyweight champion and WBC champion after defeating boring legend Bernard Hopkins, has cracked the top 10 because he is now The RING champion at 175.

So how should The RING pound-for-pound rankings crown a new No. 1 fighter?

Should we seriously wait for Mayweather to finally fight Pacquiao? Or does a huge dominating performance by Pacquiao over Bradley (who is currently ranked at No. 8) next month shoot Manny back up into the top spot?

Or does a huge knockout win for Sergio Martinez in his next bout shoot him up to the top spot should Pacquiao look unimpressive against Bradley?

I feel if Martinez should begin to unify the belts at 160 or at least continue to knock out top-five world-ranked middleweight fighters, then he should move up into the top spot. A big win against undefeated WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog would be a step in the right direction.

A big knockout victory over WBC champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. would skyrocket his career onto the next level and make him into a household name.

Martinez has also been calling out both Mayweather and Pacquiao, even showing up at their fights and attending their fight conferences, but it seems neither wants to take the risk of fighting the other.

So how do you have it? Do you feel Mayweather and Pacquiao should both be demoted and tied at second place on The RING pound-for-pound rankings? Also, how does a fighter convincingly move up to the top spot?

Do we only let either Pacquiao or Mayweather move back up to the top spot if they fight each other, or would a huge win for Pacquiao over Bradley shoot him back up? Or Does Manny need to destroy Juan Manuel Marquez (who is currently ranked at No. 6) first in a fourth fight once and for all before claiming the pound-for-pound throne again?

If Pacquiao destroys Bradley like he did Ricky Hatton I say we can give Manny back the top spot. However, if Manny struggles with Bradley and it's a lot more competitive than the oddsmakers suggest, but he still wins, then Manny should stay tied with Floyd at the second spot.

Should Bradley shock the world on June 9, then he can tie Floyd at the second spot, and they can fight for the top spot when he gets out of prison.

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