Pacquiao's No. 71 ranking in ESPN list draws flak online

MANILA, Philippines -- “Absolutely ludicrous.”

This was how former Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Noli Eala described ESPN’s list top 100 professional athletes since 2000, which saw Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao ranked 71st.

The list made by ESPN ranked Pacquiao below basketball stars Kevin Garnett (23rd), Dwyane Wade (35th), Maya Moore (36th), Kevin Durant (39th), Dirk Nowitzki (41st), Giannis Antetokounmpo (42nd), Steve Nash (51st), Candace Parker (60th), James Harden (67th) and Jason Kidd (69th).

3. Lionel Messi
5. Tom Brady
7. Simone Biles

We're revealing athletes 1-25 of our top 100 athletes of the 21st century: https://t.co/gLDWkNiAKI

— ESPN (@espn) July 18, 2024

Pacquiao, the only eight-division world champion in the history of boxing, was only one of three boxers in the list, below No. 25 Floyd Mayweather and ahead of No. 78 Bernard Hopkins.

In a post on X, Eala said that he “cannot believe Manny Pacquiao is not in the top 50.”

I cant believe Manny Pacquiao is not in the top 50. Absolutely ludicrous. https://t.co/O41gDh3Xxd

— Noli Eala (@NoliEala) July 18, 2024

“[This is] absolutely ludicrous,” the sports executive said.

According to the list, the top professional athlete in the 2000s is swimmer Michael Phelps, who won 28 Olympic medals.

He is followed by tennister Serena Williams.

Lionel Messi, LeBron James and Tom Brady complete the top five.

Roger Federer, Simone Biles, Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt and Kobe Bryant round up the top 10.

Of the top 100, 56 athletes came from the United States, followed by five in Spain, four in Dominican Republic and Canada, and three in France and Japan.

Several basketball players, American football players, baseball players, football players, racers and golfers were also ranked higher than the legendary Pacquiao.

According to ESPN, the methodology of the list is that experts in individual sports were asked to rank the top athletes in their sport since January 1, 2000.

“Those votes pared down pools in each sport to lists of 10 to 25 athletes each, which constituted the overall candidate pool for the top athletes of the 21st century so far. Each voter was presented two randomly selected names and asked to pick which one has had the better career in the 21st century,” it said.

“Across repeated, randomized head-to-head matchups, more than 70,000 votes were cast at this stage, and using an Elo rating system, the list was pared down from 262 to 100. That list was then evaluated by a panel of experts for any inconsistencies or oversights, resulting in the top 100 ranking seen here,” it added.

David Schoenfield, senior writer at ESPN, said that with the number of transcendent athletes over the past 25 years, they did the rankings and expanded their choices beyond North America.

“In the end, we received more than 70,000 votes from ESPN contributors to create our top 100. Let the arguments begin,” he said.

And arguments, indeed, began.

Other social media users on Facebook also slammed the list, with a commenter saying that the list is a “massively biased list towards American athletes.”

One commenter also said that the list is “such a popularity contest,” while another stressed that the list is “decent, but way too heavily skewed to basketball and baseball.”

Another called the ESPN article as “ridiculous,” as there was only one cricket player and no volleyball players.

Others argued that former NBA star guard Allen Iverson should have made the list, as well as competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut.

So fucking disrespectful they didn’t put Manny Pacquiao in the top 10. But #71?

Nobody will ever beat his record of 8 different weight titles — not even in our lifetime. ESPN farming engagement. So Tim Duncan beats Pacquiao? ????

????? ????????????????????????????????????????

— ikhandle (@ikhandle) July 19, 2024

Where is Manny Pacquiao?

— Johnny Dubs (@Johnnydubs07) July 19, 2024

The list is f*cked. You can clearly see so much biased towards American athletes. There should not be that many basketball and baseball players on this list. And to go with this this is also so recency biased. How is Mbappe over players like Ronaldinho, Zlatan and Iniesta?

— Felix_10_games (@Felix_10_games) July 19, 2024

Can’t lie this is one of the worst top 100 lists I’ve ever seen. Utter disgrace.

— Charlie Quinn (@CharlieQuinnMMA) July 18, 2024

However, there were some who agreed with the list, saying it is “well done” because people can make so many arguments about the athletes, and one said that the top 25 was “pretty good.”

Some of the best ever!

— The Sports Forum CO (@SportsForumCO) July 18, 2024