Will Manny Pacquiao overtake Canelo as P4P #1 if he beats Errol Spence?
July 13th, 2021  Frank Micelotta / DAZN  This week, all the buzz gladly turned from the mess of Fury vs. Wilder III to the welterweight unification between Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr. Ahead of the August 21 super-fight, World Boxing News examines whether eight-weight legend Pacquiao can overhaul Canelo Alvarez if successful. The current status of Spence will be all-important when deciphering what would happen on August 22. To fully dissect the decision, WBN looks back at each of the fighters last ten fights. Also, the usual WBN P4P criteria of longevity, activity, manner of victories, and unification matches. Each section gets consideration and marked out of ten. Not only to see if Pacquiao would overhaul Canelo but if the Mexcian would then return the favor against Caleb Plant or Gennadiy Golovkin in September. Take note that marks are overall from the criteria given. MANNY PACQUIAO  LAST 10 FIGHTS  July 2019  Keith Thurman [29-0]  SD  A special victory. The oldest boxer to win a welterweight title. 9/10. January 2019  Adrien Broner [33-3-1]  UD  A faded Broner without a win for two years. 6/10. July 2018  Lucas Matthysse [39-4]  TKO7  Punished and defeated Matthysse into retirement. 7/10. July 2017  Jeff Horn [16-0-1]  LOST-UD  He won the fight by at least four rounds and got robbed on the cards. 7/10. November 2016  Jessie Vargas [27-1]  UD  Another champion outboxed. 7/10. April 2016  Timothy Bradley Jr [33-1-1]  UD  This triumph had to be the most convincing of the three wins over Bradley. 8/10. May 2015  Floyd Mayweather Jr [47-0] LOST-UD  Pacquiao, nor the fight, lived up to expectations. 4/10. November 2014  Chris Algieri [20-0]  UD  He dethroned yet another champion. Algieri down six times. 7/10. April 2014  Timothy Bradley Jr [31-0]  UD  An un-needed redemption for a shocking set of first-fight scorecards. 8/10. November 2013  Brandon Rios [31-1-1]  UD  Pacquiao took the wind out of Rios sales. A win without serious dangers. 6/10. PACQUIAO SCORE: 69/100. CANELO ALVAREZ  LAST 10 FIGHTS  May 2021  Billy Joe Saunders [30-0]  KO8  Unification against an undefeated champion. 9/10. February 2021  Avni Yildirim [21-2]  RET3  Stay busy fight against unwarranted mandatory. 5/10. December 2020  Callum Smith [27-0]  UD  It was dethroning of undefeated unified and number one in the division. 9/10. November 2019  Sergey Kovalev [34-3-1]  KO11  Canelo moved up two divisions in weight. He then defeated a seasoned champion. 9/10. May 2019  Daniel Jacobs [35-2]  UD  Three-belt unification. 8/10. December 2018  Rocky Fielding [27-1]  TKO3  Effectively a non-title fight billed as a championship. 4/10. September 2018  Gennadiy Golovkin [38-0-1]  MD  Challenge for two versions of the middleweight title. A close decision. 9/10. September 2017  Gennadiy Golovkin [37-0]  D  Title challenge in a long-awaited fight. GGG did enough to win a big decision. 7/10. September 2017  Julio Cesar Chavez Jr [50-2-1]  UD  It got billed as a Mexican super-fight. In truth, it was never a contest. 6/10. September 2016  Liam Smith [23-0-1]  KO9  Solid victory over a live but out-classed champion. 7/10. CANELO SCORE: 73/100. Looking at the scoring, Manny Pacquiao will indeed overtake Canelo as the number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet if he defeats Errol Spence. But just weeks later, Canelo can retake his crown with a decent victory over any of the fighters hes currently linked with right now. Thats barring a catastrophic performance. If Spence wins, it could be another difficult decision. Spence sits at number three. Phil Jay is the Editor of WBN. An Auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America since 2018. And a member of the Sports Journalists Association. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.