Despite still being considered the most talented fighter of his generation by many, it appears that Floyd Mayweather may finally be slipping down the pound for pound rankings he once ruled.
Inactivity since his victory last May against Shane Mosley coupled with the usual raft of bad press that seems to accompany him whenever he stays out of the ring for any extended period of time might seem the most obvious culprits.
This recent slip however hasn't been caused entirely by Mayweather's own shortcomings, but once again the achievements of a fast rising Filipino.
(And this time his name isn't Manny Pacquiao, although the Sarangani congressman recently scored an out of the ring victory of his own over the aggro happy Las Vegas resident)
Images: Mike Jones vs. Jesus Soto-Karass, Amir Khan trains for Paul McCloskey showdown
All in all the last couple of weeks haven't been kind to Floyd Mayweather.
Firstly, main rival Manny Pacquiao secured a meeting at the White House with U.S president Barack Obama, something that Mayweather, and indeed few fighters in living memory, ever managed to achieve.
Not so coincidentally the very same day Mayweather published pictures of himself at the Super Bowl some weeks earlier with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and former president George W. Bush.
Article: Pacquiao's presidential meeting a bitter pill to swallow for Floyd Mayweather
As if Pacquiao's presidential coup wasn't enough of a slap in the face to Mayweather though, it now appears that rapidly rising star Nonito Donaire is also getting in on the act of outdoing him.
In flattening the then number one ranked bantamweight Fernanto Montiel in just two rounds over the weekend, Donaire has now overtaken Mayweather on several prominent pound for pound lists.
BoxingScene for example now have Donaire at number two behind Pacquiao, and Mayweather at number four behind Sergio Martinez due to his recent inactivity.
Numerous journalists, experts and fighters have also voiced similar sentiments, and even many who don't believe Donaire has yet done enough to overtake Mayweather now consider it only a matter of time until he does.
The Ring's pound for pound list for the time being still has Mayweather listed at number two and Donaire now at number three. But how long he will remain there with nearly a year since his last fight and without a return bout in sight isn't clear.
Donaire announced shortly after his explosive knockout over Montiel that he intends to unify the Bantamweight division before once again moving up in weight.
If that rings true he will likely next take on the winner of the upcoming Showtime bantamweight tournament, contested between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares in April.
Should he win that he will have taken on two elite fighters in the space of only a few months, certainly more than Mayweather has of late.
Donaire isn't the only threat to Mayweather's ranking either. The likes of Tim Bradley or Amir Khan could both be close with a couple of wins, especially if they face each other in the summer. Sergio Martinez is already close, and the obstacle of bizarre HBO matchmaking aside is always eager to take on the biggest names.
Clearly though, unless Floyd Mayweather announces his next fight soon, Donaire and eventually others will begin overtaking him.
Ted Williams, Pitt: "If Donaire can climb up a couple more divisions he will probably knock Pacquiao off as well, he's taking on better opponents right now"
Comments
If Donaire took the #1 spot, Pacquiao will be forced to fight Martinez to regain the top ranking.
i do believe that donaire could be number 1 if he continues winning, but i dont agree that pacquiao will going to regain that. he has everything and he's been there on top for years. besides, he's going to retire after 3 to 4 fights.
HE'S ANOTHER FILIPNO USING STEROIDS AND PERFORMING ENHANCING DRUGS.. HE'S NAME IS NONITO DONAIRE JR.
Took??? what do you meant took? Are you talking about the future, present or past? He hasn't been yet there. He hasn't beaten bigger guys either as Manny did. Donaire can't be number 1 by fighting boxers below his current position in the mythical pound for pound listing. The only way he can be in the number 1 spot is either when the top dog retires or for some reasons unable to fight anymore. The only way for Donaire to be at number 1 spot at this point in time is to beat the top dog. That is, to beat Manny himself or Manny retires. But then again, there's Mayweather on the 2nd spot!!! There is no buts and ifs. A boxer prove his worth by beating top competition inside the ring. As it is now, you are talking about fantasies rather than reality. If today, Donaire and Pacquiao fights, Donaire has no chance to beat Manny. The weight disparity is way too much and Manny has been proven to have hard chin and can tolerate hard shots from bigger man. Mind you, Manny is the bigger man between them two.
...continuation:
I believe, when one compares boxers, it should be realistic and objective. You can't win 10 world titles and 8 divisional titles if you are not that good. Donaire is considered two-division champion todate.
And besides, why would Manny fight Martinez? Martinez is fighting as high as 160lbs. Manny on the other hand weighs 144-148lbs on fight nights. Again, he doesn't necessarily need to fight the number 4 (Martinez) to be number 1 because Manny is already in the number 1 position. Floyd (at number 2) is available at either 147-154lbs without too much height disparity. Martinez is listed 5'10"-5'11" as compared to Mayweather's 5'8".
Given this premise, in order for Nonito to become the top dog he needs to defeat either Manny or Mayweather. And that is not going to happen even in the next 12 months.
the only reason floyd is #2 p4p cause there is no American who is on top of the boxing world.
floyd is just another Lindsey Lohan of boxing....
Being a coward makes him sink and broke.....
I want to fight that Filipino. Whats his name? Nonetow. I want to Fight that motherfucker, we can fight ni mexico, we can fight in puerto rico, we can fight in Quiapo, we can fight in Nevada, just make the fight happen. Catchweight 144. No drugtest, I'll beat him anyway.
Dick-head Floyd will goes BANANA again. It will drive him nuts!
pacman,donaire....whoever the're both filipinos anyway.
thats a good fight manny vs nonito..who is ur bet?
that'l be very good but i don't think they fight each other. they respect each other so much.
pacman all day way !!! ...the flash needs twenty more fight to even challenge pacman and move six weight class....then we can talk!!
layoff will be an excuse once he lost to pacquiao
I don't even know how Mayweather got to number two for beating Marquez and mosley in one fight per year. Not even a KO
Yup! You are so right....Tsk Tsk tsk. This Mayweather guy is overhyped by american media.
yes,i agree to that,it was a boring fight how could he take no.2 spot....and stay there for a long time...he also got the big advantage over pee drinker Marquez
mayweathers worst enemy is his ego
he wants people to reserch pacmans lost, now the same people wants him fighting pacman,really hes just hoggin a space in the list, for what?he irrelevant now
Floyd would be scraped not only his p4p rating but as well as the boxing organization sanctioning bodies ranking.
I'm not sure who should be number 2,3,4, or 5 P4P ranking. All I know is that PBF don't deserve to be in top 5. Really, who did he knocked out? I do agree that American media has to overhype one of their own, undeservedly so....
How can the chicken dude still in the P4P list maybe the American media forgot that its already 2011 and that floyd's last fight was May of last year.....
But Nonito Donaire already lost once while pacquiao lost thrice (two by KO's), right?
So how come they would be ranked higher than me?
No, I'm the greatest 'coz I'm defeatless, that is ZERO-loss. REad that? - Floydie Maynever Jr.
Tanga!!!!
di naman ako kagalingan sa grammar as you can see sa post ko. Pero "defeatless"??? Baka naman ibig mo sabihin "undefeated" o pwede na rin "zero loss". O kaya "unbeaten" hehehe!
Tim Bradley should not be in any Pound for pound list. He is already a GOAT! He headbutts his way to victory in most if not all of his fights. He should be #1 headbanger for headbanger.
Forget that chicken Maynever Mayweather Jr., anyway, he will never ever fight the Great PACMAN even in his dream!
LONG LIVE NONITO "Filipino FLASH" DONAIRE!!!
GODSPEED PACTEAM!!!
Donaire vs Vasquez Jr. is the next
Vasquez Jr. who?
Either Pacman or the Filipino Flash be numero UNO Floyd won't care. He has lots of money right now. Let's just wait for him to put some bails on each of his cases and then he'll be asking for money again and fight Nonito instead of Pacman.
what money? he doesnt had a money, he didnt fight for almost a year man..
donaire overtaking floyd for pound for pound race will start.roids power fellets,ped etc.issue for donaire,.... abangan.
hell" ya!!!! floyd is worthy of p4p number 2 spot his good in number 7 all he does is quack wake up ring magazine that not what people want. be realistic and fair to other boxer.......
Its all mixed up in mythical p4p ranking some goes sky racket high in just one fight and some slide go down quickly as well and some remains.
there we go again may be you should read more article first fool. its not just one figth nonito flattened all those bad ass wanna be and so called elite figther.
sorry . i mean not worthy. floyd is full of sh*&****t..
floyd money is not even close of pac money. so dont brag of it floyd. nobody cares about you anymore. its better to do what valero did< may be people will like you.
CONGRATS MAN!!!
I was surprised that he grabbed the number 2 spot by fighting a handicap "Non Lightweight" marquez where he even cheated some pounds.
Li'l Ape is planning his retirement now.
He would like to know if Mickey D has a opening for another urinal cleaner. He's hoping #1floydfan can use his 'pull' to get him a job.
Meanwhile, Uncle Rogie is applying for a job at Jolibee, Maxx's, Goldilocks, and Red Ribbon as a dishwasher.
And CrackHead Sr wants to be a Mexican Drug Mule to Guatemala
@ brutus
if you talk about winning and zero loss of your maynever, READ this, if you still can. EDWIN VALERO had 27 WINS all by KNOCKOUTS and ZERO loss and (19 of this KNOCKOUTS x nth) were all in the F1RST ROUND, agree? LAL (laugh and louder) haha
Im still the # 1 pound for pound boxer. Im the greatest. No, not Pacquiao or Donaire. They are boring overrated boxers who do not deserve the admiration of boxing fans.They are drug users thats why they beat their lesser opponents. If they submit to random drug testing I will beat Pacquiao and Donaire easily and knocked them both brutally. Then you will praise me and join my millions of loyal fans and boxing writers who were perceived by our enemies as lunatic fanatics.
your words "They are drug users thats why they beat their lesser opponents"..
Go tell it in the mountain, the Gorilla and Apes will listen to you.
Paghilum mo!!!!
Doanire ia a great fighter. Let Montiel and Vic Darchinyan fight each other and the winner gets Donaire. Thats a good offer !
Even Floyd Mayweather wil not fight the FILIPNO FLASH bcoz filipino boxers uses steriods . What a chicken ...... i will now reveal to the world the secret behind filipino fighters .. it is in the BLOOD !!!
STRENGTH from DATU LAPULAPU ..
COURAGE from ANDRES BONIFACIO ..
INTILLEGENCE and CHARM from DR. JOSE RIZAL..
...SPEED from THE FILIPINO GUIRILLA ...
and the most important ... ADOBO .. jejejeje
Even Floyd Mayweather wil not fight the FILIPNO FLASH bcoz filipino boxers uses steriods . What a chicken ...... i will now reveal to the world the secret behind filipino fighters .. it is in the BLOOD !!!
STRENGTH from DATU LAPULAPU ..
COURAGE from ANDRES BONIFACIO ..
INTILLEGENCE and CHARM from DR. JOSE RIZAL..
...SPEED from THE FILIPINO GUIRILLA ...
and the most important ... ADOBO .. jejejeje
Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Mike 'Machine Gun' Jones ... undefeated ... wow, great exciting fighters zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ... lol.
after floydie maynever's 2 years vacation, donaire is waiting for him .... and he goes ahmmmm i'll take a couple years more of vacation.
Talent and skills are nothing if not utilized and used.= equivalent to zero.or not existing.Floydis not in boxing anymore and people wonder why some are still sucking him and still ranks him.I don;t know how the public should call them.
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