Advertisement

Rankings: Pac-man gains

Yahoo Sports

You can follow Kevin Iole on Twitter at @KevinI

Floyd Mayweather Jr. retained his top spot in the Yahoo! Sports boxing rankings for June, though the margin over runner-up Manny Pacquiao tightened.

For the first time in the nearly three-year history of the poll, all members of the panel submitted votes. In May, when Mayweather took over the top spot from Pacquiao after routing Shane Mosley, 33 members of the 38 on the panel submitted ballots.

Two writers were dropped after May's balloting due to a consistent failure to participate. In their place, four voters were added, bringing the total to 40: Nick Giongco of the Manila Bulletin, Chino Trinidad of GMA Television in the Philippines, Gareth A. Davies of the London Telegraph and Tris Dixon, editor of Boxing News in London.

Pacquiao fans cried bias when their man dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 in the poll. That prompted me to this month keep track of where the votes were coming from for each guy.

Mayweather received 22 of the 40 first-place votes cast. He received 18 votes from reporters representing outlets in the U.S. Pacquiao received 12 first-place votes from U.S. outlets.

Each fighter got one first-place vote from Puerto Rico. Pacquiao received both first-place votes from England and Mayweather got the only first-place vote from Scotland.

Pacquiao got the first-place vote in Germany, Mayweather took the first-place vote in both Thailand and Australia. Pacquiao got both first-place votes from the Philippines.

I voted for Mayweather first, though it was a tough call. But defense wins championships in just about every sport and I think Mayweather's nearly impregnable defense is what gets him the slightest of edges.

It's clearly open to debate and I'm the first to concede that there is no obvious choice.

For the record, my votes this month were, in order, Mayweather, Pacquiao, Paul Williams, Timothy Bradley, Andre Ward, Chad Dawson, Sergio Martinez, Chris John, Juan Manuel Lopez and Fernando Montiel.

With that, let's take a look at the updated rankings:

Photo
Photo

Mayweather

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Points: 382 (22 of 40 first-place votes)
Record: 41-0 (25 KOs)
Title: None
Last outing:: W12 over No. 10 Shane Mosley on May 1
Previous ranking:: 1
Up next: Perhaps late-fall bout against No. 2 Manny Pacquiao
Analysis: Showed complete game in convincing win over Mosley.

Photo
Photo

Pacquiao

2. Manny Pacquiao
Points: 378 (18 of 40 first-place votes)
Record: 51-3-2 (38 KOs)
Title: WBO welterweight champion
Last outing:: W12 over Joshua Clottey on March 13
Previous ranking:: 2
Up next: Perhaps late-fall bout vs. No. 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Analysis:Fight with Mayweather would be greatest challenge.

Photo
Photo

Williams

3. Paul Williams
Points: 269
Record: 39-1 (27 KOs)
Title: None
Last outing:: TD4 over Kermit Cintron on May 8
Previous ranking:: 3
Up next: Nothing scheduled
Analysis:Didn't help cause for fight with Mayweather or Pacquiao with lackluster performance

Photo
Photo

Dawson

4. Chad Dawson
Points: 189
Record: 28-0 (17 KOs)
Title: Interim WBC light heavyweight champion
Last outing:: W12 over Glen Johnson on Nov. 7
Previous ranking:: 5
Up next: Vs. Jean Pascal Aug. 14 in Montreal
Analysis: Seems like he never fights any more.

Photo
Photo

J.M. Marquez

5. Juan Manuel Marquez
Points: 178
Record: 50-5-1 (37 KOs)
Title: WBA, WBO lightweight champion
Last outing:: L12 to No. 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 19
Previous ranking:: 4
Up next: Vs. Juan Diaz on July 31 in Las Vegas
Analysis: Needs big win to reinvigorate his career.

Photo
Photo

Martinez

6. Sergio Martinez
Points: 140
Record: 45-2-2 (24 KOs)
Title: WBC middleweight champion
Last outing:: W12 Kelly Pavlik on April 17
Previous ranking:: 6
Up next: Dark horse for bout against No. 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Analysis: Skilled boxer and entertaining fighter.

Photo
Photo

W. Klitschko

7. Wladimir Klitschko
Points: 99
Record: 54-3 (48 KOs)
Title: IBF, WBO heavyweight champion
Last outing:: TKO12 over Eddie Chambers on March 20
Previous ranking:: 7
Up next: Nothing scheduled
Analysis: Mandatory defense against Alexander Povetkin seems likely.

Photo
Photo

Bradley

8. Timothy Bradley
Points: 74
Record: 25-0 (11 KOs)
Title: WBO super lightweight champion
Last outing:: W12 Lamont Peterson on Dec. 12
Previous ranking:: 8
Up next: July 17 vs. Carlos Abregu in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Analysis: Too many great opponents for him at 140 to Bradley to skip to welterweight.

Photo
Photo

Ward

9. Andre Ward
Points: 70
Record: 22-0 (13 KOs)
Title: WBA super middleweight champion
Last outing:: W12 over Allan Green on June 19
Previous ranking:: NR
Up next: vs. Andre Dirrell on Sept. 25 at TBA
Analysis:Now the clear favorite to win the Super Six.

Photo
Photo

Mosley

10. Shane Mosley
Points: 62
Record: 46-6 (39 KOs)
Title: None
Last outing:: L12 to No. 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 1
Previous ranking:: 9
Up next: Possibly vs. Sergio Mora in September
Analysis: Looked all of his 38 years vs. Mayweather.

Others receiving votes: Nonito Donaire, 54; Juan Manuel Lopez, 53; Ivan Calderon, 41; Vitali Klitschko, 40; Bernard Hopkins, 33; Lucian Bute, 26; Miguel Cotto, 18; Celestino Caballero, 14; Yuriorkis Gamboa, 12; Devon Alexander, 10; Chris John, 9; Rafael Marquez, 9; Fernando Montiel, 8; Israel Vazquez, 7; Andre Berto, 5; Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, 4; Tomasz Adamek, 1; Vic Darchinyan, 1; Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, 1.

Voting panel: Raul Alzaga, Primera Hora; Ron Borges, Boston Herald; Steve Cofield, Yahoo! Sports; Dave Cokin, ESPN Radio 1100, Las Vegas; Gareth A. Davies, London Telegraph; Tris Dixon, Boxing News; Andrew Eisele, About.com; Doug Fischer, Ring; Scott Fyfe, Sunday Post, Scotland; Thomas Gerbasi, Boxingscene.com; Nick Giongco, Manila Bulletin; Carlos Gonzalez, Primera Hora; Lee Groves, BoxingScene.com; Thomas Hauser, Seconds Out; Keith Idec, Herald News, New Jersey; Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports; Michael Katz, Gaming Today; Max Kellerman, HBO; Scott Mallon, Boxing Digest; Chris Mannix, Sports Illustrated; Rich Marotta, Fox Sports; David Mayo, Grand Rapids Press; Franklin McNeil, ESPN; Gunnar Meinhardt, Die Welt; Robert Morales, Los Angeles Daily News; Marty Mulcahey, MaxBoxing.com; Kieran Mulvaney, Reuters; Peter Owen Nelson, freelance; Brett Okamoto, Las Vegas Sun; Santos Perez, Miami Herald; Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports; Michael Rosenthal, Ring; Lem Satterfield, Fanhouse.com; Tim Smith, New York Daily News; T.K. Stewart, Boxingscene.com; Chino Trinidad, GMA News, Philippines; Paul Upham, Seconds Out; Dave Weinberg, Press of Atlantic City; John Whisler, San Antonio Express-News; George Willis, New York Post.