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.
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