Birthday gift: Pacquiao in league with ring greats

He’s been recognized as the top boxer in the world today but how does Manny Pacquiao range against the best prizefighters of all time? Way up there, judging from the final results of the online voting for the title the "World’s Greatest Ever Boxer."

To be precise, Pacquiao is second only to the late Sugar Ray Robinson, the first fighter in history to win five divisional world championships in the 1950s. Robinson, whose explosive performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions actually prompted boxing scribes to create the mythical pound-for-pound rankings (a comparison of fighters regardless of weight), garnered the most votes among over 500,000 fans who took part in the online voting that started June. Online voters picked Pacquiao next after Robinson (175-19-6, 109 KOs) in the greatest ever list, one notch ahead of the legendary Muhammad Ali. The result was announced a day before the reigning pound-for-pound king's 31st birthday on Thursday. Born Walker Smith Jr., Robinson topped two weight divisions in the polls on his way to being named the greatest fighter the world has ever seen. The Hall of Fame inductee was chosen the World’s Greatest Ever Middleweight, getting 47% of votes against the other nominees in the division, Marvelous Marvin Hagler (24%) and Bernard Hopkins (12%). Further validating his greatness, Robinson was crowned the World’s Greatest Ever Welterweight, as well, cornering 39% of the votes against Sugar Ray Leonard's 36% and Oscar De La Hoya's 10%). Although he now campaigns at welterweight, Pacquiao earned his nomination in the featherweight division, owing to his career-making triumphs over future Hall of Famers Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and Juan Manuel Marquez in the 126-lb wars. Birthday boy Pacquiao was chosen the World’s Greatest Ever Featherweight with a whopping 56% votes, beating out the late Hall of Famers Willie Pep (15%) and Salvador Sanchez (8%). Ali, who called himself "The Greatest," was only No. 3 overall in the eyes of voters. But the flamboyant fighter known for his unorthodox fighting style (float like a butterfly, sting like a bee), and techniques such as the "rope-a-dope," ran away with the World’s Greatest Ever Heavyweight title with 48% votes. Placing second to Ali, the first fighter to win the lineal heavyweight title three times, was Iron Mike Tyson with 16%. Third was the late Rocky Marciano (11%), the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire with an immaculate card (49-0). Mayweather snub Interestingly, Pacquiao’s rival next March, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., failed to win votes in the weight class he’s nominated for – lightweight (the division where Mayweather defeated Jose Luis Castillo twice for the WBC and The Ring lightweight belts). Four-division champ Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran was picked the World’s Greatest Ever Lightweight with 32%, nosing out the late Henry Armstrong (22%), the only boxer to hold three world championships at the same time. The undefeated Mayweather placed third in the voting with 14%. Emerging winners in the World’s Greatest Ever Boxers’ other divisions were Roy Jones Jr (light-heavyweight); three-time world champion Wilfredo Gomez (bantamweight), and Ricardo Lopez (flyweight). According to the World’s Greatest Ever Boxer’s website, fans worldwide were given the chance to vote for their greatest ever fighters in the eight traditional weight categories. They were made to choose from a shortlist of nominees selected by a jury of boxing analysts - Al Bernstein, Tom Hauser, Ron Borges, Jean-Philippe Lustyk and Colin Hart. - GMANews.TV