Fighters are often defined on their quality of opposition. When you think of Sugar Ray Leonard, you don't first think of Floyd Mayweather Sr. or Davey Boy Green, but rather of his fights with Hearns, Duran, and Hagler. Likewise, in speaking of Hagler, you never talk about John Mugabi before speaking of Hearns, Duran, and Leonard. Pound-for-pound competition is what makes true superfights. As far as today's star fighters are concerned, how have they fared against fellow P4P competition? For the sake of keeping things uniform, I will use Ring P4P Rankings. I will add the first couple, and anyone is free to add their own. BERNARD HOPKINS VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Roy Jones (L) 2. Glen Johnson (W) 3. Felix Trinidad (W) 4. Oscar De La Hoya (W) 5. Jermain Taylor (L, L) 6. Antonio Tarver (W) 7. Winky Wright (W) 8. Joe Calzaghe (L) JOE CALZAGHE VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Bernard Hopkins (W) MANNY PACQUIAO VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Marco Antonio Barrera (W, W) 2. Erik Morales (L, W, W) 3. Juan Manuel Marquez (D, W) JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Manny Pacquiao (D, L) 2. Marco Antonio Barrera (W) RICKY HATTON VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Kostya Tszyu (W) 2. Jose Luis Castillo (W) 3. Floyd Mayweather (L) ERIK MORALES VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Kevin Kelley (W) 2. Marco Antonio Barrera (W, L, L) 3. Paulie Ayala (W) 4. Manny Pacquiao (W, L, L) MARCO ANTONIO BARRERA VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Erik Morales (L, W, W) 2. Naseem Hamed (W) 3. Johnny Tapia (W) 4. Kevin Kelley (W) 5. Manny Pacquiao (L, L) 6. Paulie Ayala (W) 7. Juan Manuel Marquez (L) KELLY PAVLIK VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Jermain Taylor (W, W) ANTONIO MARGARITO VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Miguel Cotto (W) MIGUEL COTTO VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Shane Mosley (W) 2. Antonio Margarito (L) ISRAEL VAZQUEZ VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Rafael Marquez (L, W, W) RAFAEL MARQUEZ VS. PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE TOP 10 P4P 1. Mark Johnson (W) 2. Israel Vazquez (W, L, L)
Taylor beat Hopkins twice and drew with Wright. He deserved his ranking at the time. Johnson, in one year, knocked out Jones and beat the guy who knocked him out in Tarver. He had deserved his ranking as well. Tarver before losing had beaten every man he had faced, with a KO and dominant decision over the man who has P4P #1. He deserved his ranking too.
