The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, an independent, international, noncommercial rankings organization, announces that the winner of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.–Manny Pacquiao fight on May 2 will be crowned the true welterweight champion of the world.

The 44-member board, representing 16 countries and five continents, does not acknowledge the various belts passed off as “world championships” and therefore does not acknowledge “unification” as anything more than hype. Its charter identifies the true divisional champions as those who defeat their rightful predecessor and holds that the first two ranked contenders alone can contest a vacant divisional throne.

Mayweather has been ranked #1 at welterweight since the board’s inaugural rankings were published in October 2012.

Pacquiao has been ranked #2 since defeating Timothy Bradley in April 2014.

The welterweight throne has been vacant since Mayweather retired in June 2008. Despite his subsequent and very successful return to the ring, the first two contenders have opted to fight lower-ranked opponents for belts instead of each other for the throne.

May 2 is thus expected to bring much-needed clarity to the division and to boxing itself.

Mayweather-Pacquiao, besides being a boon to boxing purists, also carries unprecedented historical gravitas.

The board’s boxing historians agree that no more than two fighters have emerged as genuine four-division champions since the Marquis of Queensberry rules ushered in the gloved era over a century ago.

—Those two fighters are Mayweather and Pacquiao.

Mayweather won divisional crowns at Jr. lightweight (1998), lightweight (2002), welterweight (2006), and Jr. middleweight (2013); while Pacquiao’s four crowns were won at flyweight (1998), featherweight (2003), Jr. lightweight (2008), and Jr. welterweight (2009).

The board’s boxing historians also agree that if Pacquiao wins on May 2, he will become the first five-division champion in the record books.

Given that the welterweight division is one of the original eight, or “glamour” divisions, a Pacquiao win would also see him join a very exclusive club of triple champions. That club currently has two members.

The first is New Zealand’s Bob Fitzsimmons, who took the middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight crowns between 1891 and 1903. Fitzsimmons was followed by American Henry Armstrong, who successfully stormed the featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight divisions in seven months between 1937 and 1938 and held all three simultaneously for exactly twenty-eight days.

If the Filipino ends the undefeated run of Mayweather to add the welterweight crown to his flyweight and featherweight crowns, he will join Fitzsimmons and Armstrong to become only the third undisputable triple glamour-division champion in boxing history.

For more information about the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, please visit us at www.tbrb.org and on twitter @TBRBoard.

World rated bantamweight Marlon Tapales silently leaves for Japan on Friday (April 11 PHI time) for his fight with Hayato Kimura at the Sangyo Hall, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.

The fight is scheduled for 10 rounds.

[Also: Tapales in top shape against Kimura]

In a short chat via Facebook, Tapales told this writer that, he will leave for Japan, on the dawn of April 11. He also added that he's in good condition compared to his previous fights.

"April 11 ko mo larga sa kadlawon… ok kaayo akong kondisyon. Mas ok karon kay sa uban nakong duwa kay naa ko nag puyo karon sa balay sa akong coach…" Tapales said in his native tongue. (On April 11, I'll travel at dawn... and my condition is okay. Much more okay compared to my previous fights because I stayed with my coach's home…)

Tapales reiterated that he's coach Joanito Ablaca has strictly kept an eye on his morning jog and diet.

"…gi-bantayan ko ug maayo sa akong jogging og sa akong kaon." Tapales said. ([My coach]… keeps an eye on my jogging and diet.)

Tapales will leave from Cebu while the boxing world fixed their eyes on the biggest boxing spectacle between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley rematch at the MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Tapales-Kimura is set on April 13 (Manila Time) with the same time Pacquiao-Bradley rematch on April 12 (US Time).

Tapales vs. Kimura might be overshadowed by Pacquiao Bradley, but this doesn’t give me the reason not to follow this fight. We all know that fighter of the decade Manny Pacquiao has few remaining fights before he will call it a career and go full time to politics.

Who knows that the next Manny Pacquiao might be the 'Maranding Nightmare'?

The 22 years old native of Maranding, Lala, Lanao Del Norte is just among a small number of boxers that comes from Northern Mindanao that has received international recognition.

The fight between boxing's pound-for-pound supremo Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the young gun from Mexico, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez will finally takes place tonight, Sept. 14 at the MGM Grand. Las Vegas, Nevada. Wow! that's gonna be several hours away from the time of this post and I am very excited for this fight.

I should have been somewhere near the venue if only I can afford to. But since I can not travel to the boxing mecca, not that I don't want, but it's just that I can't. So while daydreaming of being in the Vegas strip; I catch up with my good friend who is an avid follower of the sport.Its been a month, that we are discussing about this fight and sharing our thoughts on what will be a possible outcome.

We use to discuss this fight during break time from the same office that we work. And finally he shares his final thoughts and prediction for this fight, and how is it like to follow boxing in Kuwait, a country where the sport has poor following compared to his home country Ghana.