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Ring scribe: Pacquiao best fighter of decade


MANILA, Philippines – Ring Magazine columnist Michael Rosenthal listed his best pound-for-pound fighter in each of the past 10 decades and guess who is on his roster? Manny Pacquiao, that’s who. The Pacman, today’s universally-acknowledged P4P king, earned Rosenthal’s nod as the top fighter for 2000s with the comebacking Floyd Mayweather, Jr. as runner up. “Sorry Floyd but you need to fight the best to be the best," Rosenthal wrote in explaining his choice of Pacquiao over Mayweather for this decade. Throughout the 2000s, the 30-year-old fighter took on and beat some of the best such as Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton – from 126-lbs to 147-lbs. The Filipino ring icon shared stellar billing in Rosenthal’s elite list with Sam Langford (1910), Benny Leonard (1920s), Henry Armstrong (1930s), Ray Robinson (1940s and 1950s), Muhammad Ali (1960s), Roberto Duran (1970s), Ray Leonard (1980s) and Roy Jones Jr. (1990s). Langford, according to Rosenthal, was the small man who beat the best big men of his day in the 1910s while 1920s icon Leonard was to some, the greatest lightweight ever. Depression-era hero Armstrong was renowned for holding titles in three weight divisions simultaneously while “Sugar Ray" Robinson ruled the roost as an unbeatable welterweight in the 1940s and as one of the greatest middleweights ever the following decade. Ali, he wrote, was really “the Greatest" at his time while 70s great Duran was virtually unstoppable as a lightweight. Leonard was credited with engaging Duran, Thomas “Hitman" Hearns and “Marvelous" Marvin Hagler in epic battles in the 80s, getting the nod over legendary Julio Cesar Chavez. In the 90s, Rosenthal picked Jones, whom he described as one who, at his best, inspired awe. Posted last Monday, the "Greatest Boxers by Decade" list is part of the weekly boxing lists compiled by Rosenthal in his blog for The Ring, considered the "Bible of Boxing." –GMANews.TV
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