Pound for Pound Top 50 as of May 21st

**WalterPill** · 23rd May 2006

Obviously there's no one definitive top 50 but this is the one I've been checking back on over the last few months:

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. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (140)
2. Ronald "Winky" Wright (160)
3. Manny Pacquiao (130)
4. Marco Antonio Barrera (130)
5. Jose Luis Castillo (135)
6. Antonio Margarito (147)
7. Oscar De La Hoya (154)
8. Ricky Hatton (140)
9. Jermain Taylor (160)
10. Joe Calzaghe (168)
11. Antonio Tarver (175)
12. Rafael Marquez (118)
13. Erik Morales (130)
14. Shane Mosley (147)
15. Bernard Hopkins (160)
16. Chris John (126)
17. Diego Corrales (135)
18. Juan Manuel Marquez (126)
19. Miguel Cotto (140)
20. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (112)
21. Kostya Tszyu (140) *RETIRED???*
22. Jesus Chavez (135)
23. Zab Judah (147)
24. Glen Johnson (175)
25. Roy Jones Jr. (175)
26. Arturo Gatti (140)
27. Jeff Lacy (168)
28. Rocky Juarez (130)
29. Acelino Freitas (135)
30. Cory Spinks (147)
31. Martin Castillo (115)
32. Ivan Calderon (105)
33. Israel Vazquez (122)
34. Fernando Vargas (154)
35. Oscar Larios (122)
36. Jorge Arce (112)
37. Zahir Raheem (135)
38. Joel Casamayor (135)
39. Fernando Montiel (115)
40. Roman Karmazin (154)
41. Brian Viloria (108)
42. Juan Diaz (135)
43. O'Neil Bell (200)
44. Scott Harrison (126)
45. Joan Guzman (126)
46. Carlos Baldomir (147)
47. Yukata Niida (105)
48. Kassim Ouma (154)
49. Mikkel Kessler (168)
50. Lorenzo Parra (112)

Closing in on Top Fifty: Vernon Forrest (154), Zsolt Erdei (175), Ike Quartey (154), Roberto Vazquez (108), Vic Darchinyan (112), Jose Navarro (115). Dropping off the list in recent months: Ricardo Mayorga (154), Chris Byrd (heavy), James Toney (heavy), Jean Marc Mormeck (200), Will Grigsby (108), Felix Trinidad (160), Daniel Santos (154), Vivian Harris (140), Rosendo Alvarez (112).