The New Pound-for-Pound Rankings: A Comparison of Three Polls

POUND-FOR-POUND TOP 10 — In the last few days, three tribunals – The Ring, ESPN, and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board – issued a new set of ratings. The consensus #1 pound-for-pound fighter heading into last weekend – Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez – dropped to #3, #4, and #5, depending upon the source.

Here are the three Top 10 lists, current as of March 23:

THE RING

1. Andre Ward
2. Kovalev
3. GGG
4. Chocolatito
5. Crawford
6. Lomachenko
7. Rigondeaux
8. Canelo
9. Yamanaka
10. Inoue

ESPN

1. GGG
2. Andre Ward
3. Lomachenko
4. Kovalev
5. Chocolatito
6. Crawford
7. Canelo
8. Pacquiao
9. Keith Thurman
10. Rigondeaux

TBRB

1. Andre Ward
2. Kovalev
3. Chocolatito
4. Pacquiao
5. Crawford
6. GGG
7. Lomachenko
8. Inoue
9. Leo Santa Cruz
10. Yamanaka

The new consensus #1 is Andre Ward (pictured) who finished first in two of the polls and second in the other. Gennady “GGG” Golovkin topped the ESPN poll, notwithstanding the fact that panelist Teddy Atlas left him off altogether.

This wasn’t the first time that Atlas omitted GGG from his top 10. In an article first published on ESPN on Feb. 2, Atlas explained his reasoning: “I believe, relatively speaking, Golovkin is as physically strong and tough as anyone…But I also believe there are others with better technique. I also believe he may be slipping. I understand he might have been sick when he looked very ordinary at times against Kell Brook. But sick or not, his technical flaws were evident. Also, his level of competition has been questionable or at least very advantageous for him.”

Dan Rafael, the face of ESPN boxing, was the only ESPN panelist who kept Roman Gonzalez in the top spot. Rafael scored the fight between Gonzalez and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai 117-109 in favor of the Nicaraguan.

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