Azumah Nelson tops Manny Pacquaio in list of top 5 super featherweights of all time

Ghanaian boxing legend, Azumah Nelson has been rated above Manny Pacquaio and just below Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather in the list of the five greatest super featherweight boxers of all time by The Ring.

A former 3-time world champion in two divisions, Nelson reigned as the WBC super featherweight champion for close to a decade, having previously won the featherweight version and has of course been inducted into the boxing hall of fame. He is regarded as Africa’s greatest ever boxer and once again he is the only African in the entire list of top five boxers of all time in every single weight division, selected by a panel comprising of eminent writers and historians.

Accordingly, after the panel picked their top 5, five points were given to the No.1 picks, four to the No.2 picks, three to the No.3 and so on, before the scores were totalled.

The Ghanaian great emerged no. 4 overall in a field of true boxing greats in the history of the super featherweight division which had Nicaraguan 3 weight champion, Alexis Arguello as number one ahead of legendary American, Floyd Mayweather at number 2 and Mexican great, Julio Cesar Chavez taking the 3rd spot ahead of Azumah of course with recently retired 8-division champion, Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines completing the top 5 of the most famous and competitive division in fight history.

The legendary Muhammad Ali topped the heavyweight division ahead of Joe Louis, Larry Holmes, Lennox Lewis and Jack Johnson in that order.

Below is the full list for the top five boxers in every single weight class, according to The Ring.

Heavyweight: 1) Muhammad Ali, 2) Joe Louis, 3) Larry Holmes, 4) Lennox Lewis, 5) Jack Johnson.

Cruiserweight: 1) Evander Holyfield, 2) Oleksandr Usyk, 3) Carlos de Leon, 4) David Haye, 5) Juan Carlos.

Cruiserweight: 1) Evander Holyfield, 2) Oleksandr Usyk, 3) Carlos de Leon, 4) David Haye, 5) Juan Carlos.

Light heavyweight: 1) Ezzard Charles, 2) Archie Moore, 3) Bob Foster, 4) Michael Spinks, 5) Gene Tunney.

Super middleweight: 1) Joe Calzaghe, 2) Roy Jones Jr. 3) Andre Ward, 4) James Toney, 5) Carl Froch.

Middleweight: 1) Sugar Ray Robinson, 2) Carlos Monzon, 3) Harry Greb, 4) Marvelous Marvin Hagler, 5) Bernard Hopkins.

Junior Middleweight: 1) Thomas Hearns, 2) Mike McCallum, 3) Terry Norris, 4) Winky Wright, 5) Nino Benvenuti.

Welterweight: 1) Sugar Ray Robinson, 2) Sugar Ray Leonard, 3) Henry Armstrong, 4) Thomas Hearns, 5) Jose Napoles.

Junior Welterweight: 1) Julio Cesar Chavez, 2) Aaron Pryor, 3) Koztya Tsyzu, 4) Barney Ross, 5) Antonio Cervantes.

Lightweight: 1) Roberto Duran, 2) Benny Leonard, 3) Joe Gans, 4) Pernell Whitaker, 5) Ike Williams.

Junior Lightweight: 1) Alexis Arguello, 2) Floyd Mayweather, 3) Julio Cesar Chavez, 4) Azumah Nelson, 5) Manny Pacquiao.

Featherweight: 1) Willie Pep, 2) Salvador Sanchez, 3) Henry Armstrong, 4) Sandy Saddler, 5) Abe Attell.

Junior featherweight: 1) Wilfredo Gomez, 2) Marco Antonio Barrera, 3) Erik Morales, 4) Guillermo Rigondeaux, 5) Daniel Zaragoza.

Bantamweight: 1) Eder Jofre, 2) Ruben Olivares, 3) Carlos Zarate, 4) Manuel Ortiz, 5) Panama Al Brown.

Junior Bantamweight: 1) Khaosai Galaxy, 2) Jiro Watanabe, 3) Johnny Tapia, 4) Gilberto Roman, 5) Sung Kil Moon.

Flyweight: 1) Jimmy Wilde, 2) Miguel Canto, 3) Pascual Perez, 4) Pancho Villa, 5) Frankie Genaro.

Junior Flyweight: 1) Michael Carbajal, 2) Humberto Gonzalez, 3) Jung Koo Chang, 4) Hilario Zapata, 5) Roman Gonzalez.

Strawweight: 1) Ricardo Lopez, 2) Ivan Calderon, 3) Roman Gonzalez, 4) Rosendo Alvarez, 5) Chanda Porpaoin.