Now that Shakur Stevenson looked solid in his last junior lightweight fight and Canelo Alvarez vanquished Gennadiy Golovkin once and for all, it’s time to update my boxing pound for pound list to see what, if anything, has changed.
Here’s my list, which I recently turned in to the Boxing Writers Association of America for its bimonthly release:
Terence Crawford Errol Spence Naoya Inoue Canelo Alvarez Oleksandr Usyk Vasiliy Lomachenko Tyson Fury Jermell Charlo Shakur Stevenson Dmitry Bivol
If we were to expand that list by another five boxers, I’d probably throw Juan Francisco Estrada, Artur Beterbiev, Devin Haney, Chocolatito Gonzalez and Gervonta Davis into the mix. And if Estrada manages to beat Gonzalez once again and if Haney can look even more impressive against George Kambosos the second time, I’d have to consider more seriously their place in the top-10.
Here’s some of my thinking: Whoever wins the Crawford vs. Spence fight—if and when that mammoth matchup is ever made official—will clearly be the No. 1 fighter in the world. For Inoue to be ranked at the top spot, he’d have to beat Paul Butler when they fight and become undisputed bantamweight champion and then move up to 122 pounds to see if he could take out Stephen Fulton.
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If Usyk managed to get Fury in the ring and then topped him to become the undisputed heavyweight champion, it’d be difficult to keep him from becoming No. 1.
Meanwhile, Stevenson performed fine against Robson Conceicao, but it also wasn’t impressive enough to move him past Fury or Charlo. When he moves up to 135 pounds, there are a number of tough potential fighters there (Haney, Lomachenko, Davis and Ryan Garcia) that could force observers to elevate him.
Either way, my list seems set for at least the next few months, assuming Crawford and Spence end up meeting in November or early December.
To compare my top-10 list with the opinions of others, here’s who is on The Ring’s pound for pound list.
Usyk Inoue Crawford Spence Alvarez Lomachenko Bivol Josh Taylor Charlo Beterbiev Here’s ESPN’s take.
Crawford Inoue Spence Usyk Alvarez Fury Beterbiev Bivol Stevenson Lomachenko Here’s how Sports Illustrated sees it.
Crawford Usyk Alvarez Inoue Spence Fury Stevenson Charlo Lomachenko Bivol And just for the heck of it.
I will update this post when the BWAA releases its latest pound for pound list.
