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

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

“[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