Manny Pacman Pacquiao tops Yahoo Sports best pound-for-pound list

September 21, 2008

MANILA, Philippines—For the third straight month, Filipino treasure Manny Pacquiao, preparing for the most important fight of his career yet, was adjudged the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, according to Yahoo Sports polls on Saturday.

The 29-year-old Pacquiao, set to face Oscar De La Hoya on Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand, has for the past three days been working behind closed doors at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.

His training begins early in the morning with long jogs up and down the hilly trail of Griffith Park, before plunging to afternoon weights and workout with Freddie Roach.

Philboxing.com reported that fans, who got used to seeing Pacquiao’s training, have been heeding Roach’s request to stay clear of the war room this time. Allowing peace and quiet for Pacquiao, whose sensational wins over Juan Manuel Marquez and David Diaz this year put his stocks on an all-time high.

Pacquiao garnered 18 of 23 first-place votes cast from a panel of boxing writers and broadcasters around the world. He tallied 217 points to rank first among 10 fighters who are considered the finest in all weight categories these days.

Interestingly, Marquez gained in the standings, riding on the crest of his impressive win over Cuban legend Joel Casamayor recently to take second place at 187 points with one first-place vote to boot.

Marquez overtook Welshman Joe Calzaghe (186.5 points), the super middleweight lineal champ, who previously ranked second to the Filipino fighter. Pacquiao’s former sparmate Israel Vazquez (143) was fourth after keeping the WBC super bantamweight title last March.

The new results, merely confirming what most boxing fans already acknowledged, just fueled the calls for a three-peat of the Pacquiao-Marquez duel.

The Filipino knocked the Mexican legend three times in the first round of their initial encounter in 2004 but Marquez escaped with a split draw.

Last March, Pacquiao floored him in the third to score a split decision win for the WBC super featherweight title.

However, in Star-Ledger’s own poll, Pacquiao ranked second to Calzaghe, who will end his illustrious career with a bout against Roy Jones Jr. on Nov. 8 at the Madison Square Garden.

The site described Pacquiao as someone who backs “down from no one and has faced many of the best fighters this sport has to offer—he’s also beaten them.”

But the article said the Filipino “may have bitten off more than he can chew” by accepting a welterweight fight against De La Hoya.

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