Mayweather out in Pound for Pound rankings

Floyd Mayweather Jr has been dropped from the pound-for-pound rankings of the prestigious “Bible of Boxing”, Ring Magazine.

The Ring’s rankings continue to have “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao as No. 1 with WBC light middleweight champion Sergio Martinez of Argentina replacing Mayweather at No. 2 and Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire moving up to No. 3.

Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez who may face Pacquiao in a third fight sometime in November is at No. 4 followed by Thai veteran Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.

Rounding off the top ten are heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Timothy Bradley, Giovanni Segura , Andre Ward and Miguel Cotto.

Pacquiao who is also the reigning WBO welterweight champion is No. 1 in the welterweight divisional rankings with Victor Ortiz at No. 2 and former three-time champion Shane Mosley who faces Pacquiao at the MGM Grand on May 7 at No. 3 and Andre Berto at No. 4.

Ring Magazine editor-in-chief Nigel Collins told the Inquirer some two weeks ago that Mayweather had until May 1, 2011 which marks the one-year anniversary of his fight with Shane Mosley, to sign for a match or be removed from both The Ring’s divisional and pound-for-pound ratings.

Collins said “ If that happens, he won’t be reinstated in either of the ratings until after he fights again.” Collins did what he said Ring would do.l

He said then “ Where Floyd would fit at that point, is difficult to say. A win over low-level or undersized opponents would not earn him as high a spot as he now holds. It would take a clear-cut win over a high quality adversary to accomplish that.”

There were no indications that the undefeated Mayweather planned on fighting anytime soon or even signing for a fight in order to hold on to his pound-for-pound rating.

Collins also indicated that it would also be “difficult to know exactly how the pound-for-pound ratings will look without Mayweather.”

However, he stated that it would be “fairly safe to say that Sergio Martinez (WBC light middleweight champion) who is currently No. 3 on the PFP list and (WBC/WBO bantamweight champion) Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, currently No. 4 would both move up and become No. 2 and No. 3.”

Pointing to the May 7 showdown between Pacquiao and former three-time champion Shane Mosley, Collins said “of course, if Shane Mosley springs an upset in his upcoming fight with Manny Pacquiao, there would be a massive reshuffling.”

The Ring’s editor-in-chief noted that "if Pacquiao prevails (over Mosley) and Mayweather stays inactive, Manny, who is No. 1 at 147 pounds, could capture the vacant Ring welterweight championship by fighting Victor Ortiz, who would advance from No. 3 to No. 2 without Mayweather in the ratings.”

Ortiz captured the WBC crown last April 16 with an impressive twelve round decision over Andre Berto.