Update: Top 10 Pound-for-pound Boxers of the World

Tremendous tectonic shift in the pound-for-pound ranking transpires in the first quarter of the year with Sergio Martinez's blasting résumé edging a few points over Floyd Mayweather, Jr.'s spot, but not too close to dislodge Manny Pacquiao as the No.1 pound-for-pound boxer of the world. The criteria center on "dominance, achievements, mainstream appeal, and their performance in the ring, quality of opposition and knockout percentages, plus results of pulse survey and other factors such as how exciting the fighter is or how famous they are".

Here's the official list:

1. Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KO) - Welterweight, is an eight-division world champion, the first boxer in history to win ten world titles in eight different weight divisions. He is also the first boxer in history to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) named him "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2000's . He is the WBCSuper Welterweight World Champion and WBOWelterweight World Champion (Super Champion).

Despite winning via unanimous decisions from his last two fights against Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito respectively, he still looks brilliant and has shown much improved distinctive skills enough to tag him as a complete fighter.

Lurking in his path are two blockbuster potential fights against Sergio Martinez in the light middleweight division to meet at 154, if he so desires, and a long awaited match yet to resume, if not re-open, the "more-than-thrice-failed negotiation" with Pay-per-View King Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Other than these two, Pacquiao may just seem to be running out of Class A opponents from the divisions within his reach.

With his last two wins via a unanimous decisions, his total knockout percentage out of 52 wins drops to 66.67 from 76.

2. Sergio Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KO) - Middleweight: Ring World Middleweight Champion and the former WBC World Middleweight titlist. He is also the former WBC Super Welterweight Champion.

Fresh from snatching the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization middleweight belts from Kelly Pavlik via comfortable unanimous decision early last year, Martinez humbly marks the most notable of his last two wins which came as his first title defense for WBC middleweight title against Paul Williams, a fight that punctuated a second-round knockout victory on November 20, 2010 in a rematch of their first bout which he lost a majority decision in 2009. That was the first knockout defeat of Williams after winning six fights since his first loss to Carlos Quintana in 2008 via a unanimous decision.

Recent brilliant performance by Martinez is the eight round knockout victory over Serhiy Dzinziruk (37-0-0) of Germany, for the vacant WBC Diamond middleweight title.

Similar to Manny Pacquiao, the most distinctive trait of Martinez is his fearlessness to fight bigger, if not more competitive, opponents.

He scores 50.98 % knockouts out of 47 wins.

3. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (41-0, 25 KO) - Welterweight - WBC Emeritus Champion: If he continues to be less active or would just fight less competitive fighters, then Sergio Martinez might just overrun his post as the No. 2 best boxer in the world today. His total knockout percentage drops to 60.98 from 64.10, despite his grandmaster-like approach in boxing.

But, his resume still looks impressive, bringing - in fact - increasing attractions to resume negotiations and to seal an agreement to fight Manny Pacquiao, the only fighter seen to beat him on the 20' x 20' canvas, anytime and anywhere.

Banking on his status as the Pay-per-View king and his ingenuity in marketing and promotions, boxing public sees him hostaging the most compelling fight of the new era.

4. Juan Manuel Lopez (30-0-0, 27 KO) - Featherweight: WBO Featherweight champion - ACHIEVES THE HIGHEST KNOCKOUT PERCENTAGE AMONG THE TOP TEN pound-for-pound boxers in the world today. And it's only fair, basically, to rank him higher than Nonito Donaire, Jr., his close competitor in the lower weight class. Just six years in professional boxing, he has already fought 30 times and remains undefeated, bearing 90% knockouts, versus Nonito Donaire, Jr's record 26 wins and 1 loss, boasting only 66.67% knockouts after 10 years since he launched his professional boxing career in 2001.

5. Nonito Donaire, Jr. (26-1, 18 KO) - Bantamweight: World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization Bantamweight titles (Unified). His two distinctive victories: 2nd round technical knockout last February 19 over long-time champion Fernando Montiel and 5th round technical knockout over Vic Darchinyan in 2007. Donaire, Jr.'s total knockout percentage out of his 26 wins is 76.32.

6. Wladimir Klitschko (55-3,49 KO) - Heavyweight: WBO and IBF Heavyweight Champion ("Unified"), the Ring Heavyweight Champion and WBO Super Champion. Still a great draw in the heavyweight division, bearing 84.48% total knockouts.

7. Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 28 KO) -Lightweight: WBA and WBO Lightweight Champion ("Unified"),
The Ring Lightweight Champion and WBO Super Champion. Marquez's ranking is repulsed. His performance over Michael Katsidis was brilliant but so predictable and not that appealing in the sense that Katsidis is not really a fighter who has a chance to beat him. His performance over Juan Diaz during their rematch only showed relatively marks of aging Marquez who might just settle for less than simply to survive from a potential knockout. Marquez scores 65.52% knockouts.

8. Timothy Bradley (27-0-0-1,11 KO) Welterweight, Junior welterweight: WBC and WBO Junior welterweight Champion ("Unified"). Though his last nine fights are void of knockout victories, he is still considered an exciting fighter. His last three big opponents made him a promising fighter, to wit: Devon Alexander (21-0-0), Luis Carlos Abregu (29-0-0) and Lamont Peterson (27-0-0). All three, he handed them their first defeat. He scores 39.29% knockouts.

9. Yuriorkis Gamboa (20-0-0, 16 KO) - Featherweight: IBF Featherweight champion and WBA World Featherweight champion. A fast rising star from Cuba who scores 80% knockouts, inclusive of his recent stunning performance over Jorge Solis via a technical knockout in round 4. Solis lost to Manny Pacquiao in 2007 by way of technical knockout in round 8.

10. Giovani Segura (26-1-1, 22 KO) - Junior flyweight: WBO and The Ring Junior Flyweight Champion. Ranked No. 1 in the light flyweight division, Segura scores 78.57% knockouts. He first snatched his WBO light flyweight title from Ivan Calderon (34-1-1) whom he handed the first defeat last August. A rematch is scheduled on April 2, 2011 at the Auditorio del Estado in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.