Who should inherit Floyd Mayweather’s pound-for-pound crown?

[RadioElRadar]

Roman Gonzalez.

It could be Ward if he gets his affairs in order and starts fighting quality opposition again (will probably have to go up to 175 for that), but, as you say, he hasn't done anything noteworthy in the ring for going on three years.

[black panther]

Rigondeaux's gotta be up there; just a shame the other top guys in his division avoid him like the plague!

[stevedoc]

if floyd retires in 6 months i'd rate rigodeux as the best fighter in the world , i can see why ward would get chosen as well but he just doesn't fight any more ,manny isn't quite the fighter of 5 years ago and wlad is beatable just not by anyone today i actually think that rigo right now is better than floyd is right now at their weights .

[RadioElRadar]

Roman Gonzalez.

It could be Ward if he gets his affairs in order and starts fighting quality opposition again (will probably have to go up to 175 for that), but, as you say, he hasn't done anything noteworthy in the ring for going on three years.

Interesting idea and he's a very very good fighter! That’s one big leap up ESPN’s or Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound rankings though.

He should be firmly in the top 10 now by anyone's reckoning imo. He's the true champion in one of the best divisions in boxing (along with 147). Whether a little guy like that would ever rank #1 in more mainstream lists is debatable though.

If Ward just gets his $hit together then he's the de facto choice. For me Pacquiao would have to beat Marquez before either lost to anyone else to get back there.

Wlad could be beat Pulev and Stiverne on the same night and still not be close imo. Although Wlad fights these other "top" guys, they don't often fight each other, which means that oftentimes Wlad is left easily beating highly-ranked guys with next to nothing on their resumes. Case in point: the best win Povetkin had was a MD over Cruiserweight Marco Huck.

Rigondeaux is in the discussion too. If he could look anywhere near as good against either Santa Cruz or Frampton as he did against Donaire then fair fcuks, I'm sold. As mentioned though, maybe those guys just don't want to fight him.

[cold187]

Roman Gonzalez.

[NateJR]

I'd say Ward if he was more active, but that cold change if he gets his career back under control. But right I'd have say Rigondeaux.

[ringtoneboxing]

Can anyone really 'inherit' a title that's bestowed subjectively on Mayweather as the best boxer in the world? Surely such an honour has to be earned?

If the question is to guess who will be proclaimed the next P4P best boxer in the world if FMJ was excluded, I'd say Golovkin has a good chance of staking a claim.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

LMAO at Wlad, definitely Gonzalez at this point. Obviously if Ward isn't retired he'd be in the discussion.

[Boxing Prospect]

The winner of the Gonzalez/Estrada rematch...when ever that happens.

[Horse]

Marcos Maidana.

[Freedom2013]

Roman Gonzalez

[Ian1973]

Wladamir. So far ahead of his opposition he's out on his own. People would rather see exciting heavyweights and a more exciting era but you can't deny the class of the man. The heavyweight division isn't seen as that strong right now but that is down to the Klitschko dominance as much as anything else.

Ward next. Not active enough and I don't think his division is amazingly strong. The second best in the division is Froch who is a hard man and a warrior but is he really that classy?

Rigo - it isn't even certain he is best in his division now. People will laugh at me at the moment and I know Carl Frampton still has to prove exactly how good he is but I believe he is the best British / Irish fighter since Joe Calzaghe.

Pacquiao shouldn't even be on the list, he's not the fighter he was.

Kovalev, Golovkin and Thurman are others I'm interested to see more of, all have the potential to be right up there.

[Chepppaaa]

no rigondeaux, bs thread

[ringtoneboxing]

Can anyone really 'inherit' a title that's bestowed subjectively on Mayweather as the best boxer in the world? Surely such an honour has to be earned?

• bestow = to present as a gift; give; confer
• inherit = receive or be left with (a situation, object, etc.) from a predecessor or former owner

SMH

I suppose I really need to understand what a "P4P crown" really is/means

I just thought that it was a title earned rather than inherited.

[stevedoc]

i sometimes think that many don't understand the term P4P ,it's not to do with how many weight classes a fighter fights at rather that if say wlad was 147 pounds and rigo was 147 pounds (obviously wlad would be much shorter most likely 5'9/10 and rigo would be taller and bigger about 5'8/9 i guess who would win ) now as much as i think wlad gets underrated by many i can't see him beating rigo if they were the same size so rigo rates higher ,really i don't think many heavy weight ever would do well in P4P ratings take lennox lewis if he wasn't so huge would he be that good i don't think so .

[VG_Addict]

i sometimes think that many don't understand the term P4P ,it's not to do with how many weight classes a fighter fights at rather that if say wlad was 147 pounds and rigo was 147 pounds (obviously wlad would be much shorter most likely 5'9/10 and rigo would be taller and bigger about 5'8/9 i guess who would win ) now as much as i think wlad gets underrated by many i can't see him beating rigo if they were the same size so rigo rates higher ,really i don't think many heavy weight ever would do well in P4P ratings take lennox lewis if he wasn't so huge would he be that good i don't think so .

Wouldn't being successful in more than one weight class be a pretty good indicator of how a fighter would do if everyone were the same size?

I mean, P4P is about who's the best regardless of weight class. If a fighter can move up and beat bigger men, that should tell us that he's pretty skilled.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

LMAO at Wlad

He was mentioned because he was rated third in the Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound top ten rankings. It’s also impossible to deny that he is possibly the third most accomplished active fighter in the sport today (in terms of statistical achievements).

[ReggieDiggs]

i sometimes think that many don't understand the term P4P ,it's not to do with how many weight classes a fighter fights at rather that if say wlad was 147 pounds and rigo was 147 pounds (obviously wlad would be much shorter most likely 5'9/10 and rigo would be taller and bigger about 5'8/9 i guess who would win ) now as much as i think wlad gets underrated by many i can't see him beating rigo if they were the same size so rigo rates higher ,really i don't think many heavy weight ever would do well in P4P ratings take lennox lewis if he wasn't so huge would he be that good i don't think so .

And this is why p4p is one of the silliest discussions boxing fans have.

I think Andre is the go to guy post Floyd. Assuming he can fight more often cuz even for a high level boxer he gots a bs schedule.

[Rodian]

the only rankings that matter is ranking fighters in their weight classes

[crusader]

i sometimes think that many don't understand the term P4P ,it's not to do with how many weight classes a fighter fights at rather that if say wlad was 147 pounds and rigo was 147 pounds (obviously wlad would be much shorter most likely 5'9/10 and rigo would be taller and bigger about 5'8/9 i guess who would win ) now as much as i think wlad gets underrated by many i can't see him beating rigo if they were the same size so rigo rates higher ,really i don't think many heavy weight ever would do well in P4P ratings take lennox lewis if he wasn't so huge would he be that good i don't think so .

And this is why p4p is one of the silliest discussions boxing fans have.

I think Andre is the go to guy post Floyd. Assuming he can fight more often cuz even for a high level boxer he gots a bs schedule.

Do you have problems with people claiming that one division (e.g. welterweight) is stronger than another (e.g. heavyweight) ability-wise? Is it reasonable to say that Floyd Mayweather is a better boxer than Denis Lebedev? If you think it's reasonable to make those assertions, why the consistent 'P4P is BS' suggestions?

And to stevedoc, I think P4P ratings can also be interpreted as comparisons of fighters' resumes and the abilities they've shown, not purely who would win head to head bouts at a hypothetical common weight.

[Evander]

Ward or Golovkin.
If they can get Ward active and out of any legal messes would be a help.
Golovkin has to move up and fight another credible boxer or two.
They could pull it off in 18 months in a perfect world.
It sure would be exciting for the sport if the opportunity should arise.

[IRLangmaid25]

For me in the immediate short term I would have to say either Bernard Hopkins or Wladimir K, through sheer longetivity, and the fact they are both trying to clean out their divisions until in Hopkins' case he gets all the belts or gets old. Or both cases they get beheaded by a young lion coming up trying to make a name for themselves.

After that, going by age you are looking at Keith Thurman, Canelo Alvarez, Andrade and Roman Gonzalez, as the blokes could do it.

[scallum]

Rigo would be the best pound for pound but in the future Vasyl Lomachenko is gonna likely own that p4p title