Sports Illustrated ranks Pacquiao 8th in pound-for-pound list

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the obvious decline in his boxing skills, Manny Pacquiao is still among the Top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world, according to Sports Illustrated.

Pacquiao ranked eighth in SI’s February list that was released Tuesday. At 37 years old, he is the oldest boxer in the list.

SI noted Pacquiao’s recent setbacks to archrival Juan Manuel Marquez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the main reasons for him sliding down the rankings.

“The Pac Man was once at the very top of this list, but losses to Juan Manuel Marquez and Floyd Mayweather in the last three years have removed the aura of invincibility,” the magazine wrote.

Pacquiao got knocked out by Marquez in 2012 then, rebounded with wins over Brandon Rios, Timothy Bradley and Chris Algieri, and then lost to Mayweather in May last year – in what turned out to be the richest boxing match ever.

The Filipino icon will be having his swan song this April when he takes on Bradley for the third time.

It is a fight viewed by boxing observers as the safest route for Pacquiao before retiring from the sport.

“It will be a subdued end to what has been one of the most glorious and entertaining careers in recent boxing history,” SI added.

Interestingly, Bradley is ranked one spot below Pacquiao at ninth. The two boxers split their two fights, with Bradley pulling off a split decision in 2012 and Pacquiao getting even in their rematch two years later.

Nicaraguan star Roman Gonzalez, the king of the flyweights, topped the list. Also making it to the elite group are middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (No. 2), light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev (No. 3), undefeated super middleweight Andre Ward (No. 4), slick junior featherweight Guillermo Rigondeaux (No. 5), junior middleweight star Saul Alvarez (No. 6), rising star Terence Crawford (No. 7), and unbeaten welterweight Danny Garcia (No. 10).

Notably absent from the list were Mayweather and Marquez, with the former retiring last year and the latter having been inactive since defeating Mike Alvarado in 2014.