ESPN Ranks Sergio Martinez over Floyd Mayweather in Latest Pound for Pound List

Coming off a dominant performance against Sergiy Dzinziruk, boxing fans have begun to wonder is there is any suitable competition left for Sergio Martinez. 

Talk of a superfight against either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather has already begun to heat up, despite the fact that both fights are extremely unlikely. 

Pacquiao and Martinez are about 25 pounds apart in their respective body weights, while Mayweather has not made any mention of his boxing career in months. 

Perhaps rightfully so, as legal issues have been the issue at the forefront of the Mayweather camp recently.

However, Martinez has beaten “Pretty Boy” Floyd in one of the few ways he possibly can outside of the ring: by taking over the No. 2 spot on ESPN’s pound for pound boxer rankings.

The overwhelming majority of fans are probably more interested in the Ring magazine rankings, but could the ESPN rankings be a preview?

Martinez has gone 3-1-1 in his past five fights against opponents who are all easily top 10 pugilists in the middleweight division.

He also avenged his majority decision loss to Paul “The Punisher” Williams by knocking him out early in the second round of their rematch. 

Many considered this the knockout of the year for 2010, and it convinced fans and fighters alike that Martinez is truly the better fighter between the two.

Additionally, these five contests came in just over a two-year (25-month) span.

Meanwhile, Floyd Mayweather’s past five fights have occurred in about the past four-and-a-half years, with each opponent arguably on the tail end of his respective career. 

ESPN.com boxing analyst Dan Rafael calls Mayweather “a part-time fighter” at this point in his career, “which soon will mean an exit from these rankings.”

Rafael essentially goes on to say that Mayweather might as well retire if he is not willing to give the fans one of the biggest superfights of all time against Manny Pacquiao. 

On that note, to the surprise of no one, Pacquiao maintained the top spot on the pound for pound list. 

Pacquiao has won 13 in a row since losing to Erik Morales back in March of 2005 and has never had more than six months between fights during that span. 

“The Punching Pride of the Philippines” is also, of course, the only eight-division titleholder in boxing history. 

Rafael goes on to rank all top 20 active boxers right now, but numbers four through 20 are only available to ESPN Insider members.

At the end of the day, the question is do you feel that Martinez as the No. 2 pound for pound boxer in the world is justified?