MANILA, Philippines – Although “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao remained 2nd to undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the latest Yahoo! Sports pound-for-pound rankings, the 7-division champ has tightened the race to the top of the pound-for-pound list.

According to the June rankings released by Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, the Filipino boxing superstar is now only 4 points behind the controversial American boxer with 18 first place votes compared to Mayweather’s 22.

Pacquiao received a total of 378 points from a panel of 40 voters while Mayweather garnered 382.

Mayweather surged ahead of Pacquiao in Yahoo! Sports’ P4P list last May after beating welterweight champion Sugar Shane Mosley. (Click here for story)

Iole explained that the number of voters was increased to 40, with all members of the panel submitting their votes.

“Two writers were dropped after May’s balloting due to a consistent failure to participate. In their place, four voters were added, bringing the total to 40: Nick Giongco of the Manila Bulletin, Chino Trinidad of GMA Television in the Philippines, Gareth A. Davies of the London Telegraph and Tris Dixon, editor of Boxing News in London,” he said in his report.

Iole admitted voting for Mayweather because of the American’s defensive boxing style that helped him maintained an immaculate 40-0 record (25 KOs).

“Defense wins championships in just about every sport and I think Mayweather’s nearly impregnable defense is what gets him the slightest of edges,” he said.

Pacquiao, who remained as Ring Magazine’s No. 1 pound-for-pound king, has a daredevil fighting style that garnered him an impressive professional record of 51-3-2 (38 KOs).

Rounding off Yahoo! Sports P4P list are:

Paul Williams (No. 3)
Chad Dawson (No 4)
Juan Manuel Marquez (No. 5)
Sergio Martinez (No. 6)
Wladimir Klitschko (No. 7)
Timothy Bradley (No. 8)
Andre Ward (No. 9)
Shane Mosley (No. 10)

Negotiations remain quiet
Although the end is reportedly in sight for the Pacquiao-Mayweather talks, negotiators remained silent about the status of the anticipated super match up.

PhilBoxing.com‘s Ronnie Nathanielsz reported that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Golden Boy Promotions Richard Schaefer remained mum even amid talks that Mayweather’s camp asked for a bigger share of fight revenues.

Pacquiao’s camp, however, said they would never agree to anything other than a 50-50 revenue split.

Nathanielsz said that Grand Rapids Press’ David Mayo, a journalist believed to be close to the Mayweathers, thinks that the two camps are far from sealing a deal.

“I have no reason to believe they are close at all,” he quoted Mayo as saying.