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Ralph Rimpell’s “Pound 4 Pound” 10 Best Fighters in Boxing By Ralph Rimpell PhilBoxing.com Mon, 10 Apr 2023  Once again it’s time for me to give my opinion on who the current best fighters in the world of boxing are “Pound 4 Pound” (P4P). As usual some will look at the title of my article, as they have in the past and remark in the comment section, “Who the **** is Ralph Rimpell?” I direct them to my boxing biography at the end of all my articles or they can email me so I can answer that question. As expected the boxing landscape has changed since my last “Pound 4 Pound” article 21 months ago. Let’s go straight into the discussion. The 10 best fighters P4P in the world are: 1) Terrance “Bud” Crawford – “Bud” sports a professional record of 39-0, 30KOs and is the current WBO welterweight champion. Bud is a 3 weight division champion starting out as a lightweight (135lbs) and eventually moving up to his current division of welterweight (147lbs). Bud has been a world champion for 9 years. The knock or criticism on Bud is that he has not fought the elite fighters in his division. That can’t be blamed entirely on Bud because Boxing Promoters that represent other elite fighters were not able to secure agreements for Bud to face other elite fighters so the desired fights for Crawford were not made. Bud’s greatest Adversary, at this point, is Errol Spence who holds three of the other major titles at welterweight (WBA/WBC/IBF). Almost daily, social media is bombarded with reports that “Crawford vs Spence” has been signed only for TV Executive to say reports are inaccurate or one of the fighters to say as Crawford did recently that reports the fight had been signed was “fool’s gold”. In order for Bud to remain P4P he has to come to an agreement with Spence and then defeat him. If a fight against Spence can’t be made Bud must fight the best contenders at 147lbs starting with Interim IBF champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis. Let’s see what happens. 
2) Naoya Inoue – (24-0, 21KOs) comes in second on this P4P list. Many in the states have not paid attention to him because he fights in the Bantamweight (118bs) division. He is a Japanese fighter who has fought most of his fights in Japan. Like Bud Crawford, Inoue is a three division world champion and has been champion for 9 years. He took out all the competition and unified the bantamweight division’s 4 titles and has his sights sets on becoming a 4 weight division champion by challenging WBC/WBO super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton. Their fight was originally scheduled for May of 2023. However, due to an injury Inoue sustained in training camp the fight has been rescheduled for July 2023. For Inoue to ascend to the top P4P spot he must continue winning and may need to showcase himself on a regular basis in Las Vegas against other fighters such as Fulton. 
3) Artur Beterbiev – (19-0, 19KOs) ranks third on this list. Every opponent Beterbiev has faced professionally he has scored a knockout victory for a 100% KO ratio on his record. This is a very tough fighter which will not be easy to defeat. Beterbiev owns 3 of the major world titles at (WBC/WBO/IBF). The only title that has eluded him is the WBA title held by fellow champion Dimitry Bivol. Beterbiev is 38 years old but looks like he is 29 or 30 years old. Reports are he is a religious family man whom does not abuse himself when not training for fights. His fighting style is rough and he imposes his will on his opponents. With the exception of “Father time” or age catching up to Beterbiev this writer sees no one currently fighting at 168lbs, 175bs, or fellow champion Bivol posing a serious threat to Beterbiev. 
4) Jermell Charlo – (35-1-1, 19KOs) Is the undisputed 4 belt (WBA/WBC/WBO/IBF) champion not to be confused with his twin Brother Jermall Charlo who is also a world champion (WBC middleweight champion). Jermell is the “Man” in the 154lbs division with currently no equal. Whether one is a fan of him or not Jermell’s accomplishments must be recognized. Jermell has a lot of heart and determination and he won’t be easy to defeat. Jermell has mandatory defenses for ALL title belts. First fight is against WBO mandatory Tim Tszyu. The fight against Tszyu was postponed due to a hand injury by Jermell. That defense will likely happen in the summer of 2023. Then he has to face WBC newly crowned interim champion Brian Mendoza. After Mendoza there are the WBA and IBF mandatory challengers. There is also talk of both Spence and Crawford both moving up to the 154lbs division regardless if they fight each other or not. Charlo winning fights against his mandatories and super fights against Crawford and/or Spence will cause Charlo to ascend this P4P list. 
5) Tyson Fury – Ranks 5th on this list. He is the undefeated WBC Heavyweight champion with a record of 33-0-1, 24KO’s. He had 3 fights with Deontay Wilder for a record of 2-0-1, 2KOs. Many thought Fury should have been awarded the victory instead of the draw against Wilder in their first fight. Fury was also a unified Heavyweight champion when he defeated Waldmir Klitschko back in 2015 for the WBA/WBO/IBO heavyweight titles. Boxing fans want to see Fury fight former Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua, Unified Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight Champion, or a 4th fight with Deontay Wilder. Fury maintaining his undefeated record by defeating the aforementioned fighters helps him ascend on this P4P list. 
6) Oleksandr Usyk – Ranks 6th on this list. He is the third man in boxing history to win a cruiserweight title and then a heavyweight title. The other two fighters were David Haye and Evander Holyfield. Usyk is 20-0, 13KOs. Usyk has to secure fights with Wilder and or Fury to ascend this list. Many thought that Usyk would lose to Joshua in both fights only to surprise the Boxing world and win the Heavyweight title and then win a rematch. Should Usyk fight Fury or Wilder anything can happen. 
7) Errol Spence – Ranks 7th on this list. Spence ranking is partly due to inactivity. Spence last fought in April 2022. Some say Spence should be ranked 1st on any P4P list including this writer’s P4P list. Spence is undefeated (28-0, 22KOS) and currently the unified WBC/WBA/IBF title. For Spence to ascend this list and take the #1 spot he has to defeat his adversary (currently ranked #1) Terrance Crawford and add Crawford’s WBO belt to his collection. The boxing world was given incorrect information more than once that Spence vs Crawford would settle the question as to who was the better fighter (June 2022 and November 2022). Much to everyone’s dismay the fight didn’t happen. As of the writing of this article all that has been confirmed regarding Spence vs Crawford is that talks for a Superfight are ongoing. Hopefully these two share a ring in Summer 2023. 
8) Devin Haney – Ranks 8th on this P4P list. Why? Haney beat the man (Kambosos) who beat the man (Teofimo Lopez), who beat the man (Lomachenko). Haney is the unified undisputed 4 belt linear (WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO) lightweight champion. Haney is undefeated with a mark of 29-0,15KOs. There is a lot of star talent in and around the lightweight division. Talent such as Tank Davis, Shakur Stevenson, Vasyl Lomachenko, and Ryan Garcia. There was some talk about Haney leaving 135lbs division. There is just too much money/”big fights” for Haney to leave the division if he can still fight at the 135lbs limit. In order for Haney to move up on this list he has to get past Lomachenko next month (May 2023) and defeat the other top talent in his division. 
9) Gervonta “Tank” Davis – Tank comes in at # 9 on this list. He holds the WBA “Regular” lightweight title and has a professional record 26-0, 26KOs. At the age of 28years old Tank in already a 3 division world champion. Tank has decided to take the “Big Fights” which sets an example for his Peers on other weight divisions. In about 2 weeks Tank will fight fellow star Ryan Garcia which has generated a buzz in the boxing world. Because it’s a “Big Fight”. Should Tank defeat Garcia he has indicated he only wants “Big Fights”. If that’s the case, there is plenty of talent for more “Big Fights”. Tank moves up on this list by defeating Garcia and then Haney. 
10) Dimitry Bivol - Ranks 10th on this list. He is the undefeated WBA light heavweight champion with a record of 21-0, 11KOs. Bivol got the notice of the Boxing world when he defeated Canelo Alvarez last July 2022 in an upset victory. Bivol again surprised the boxing world by defeating former WBO 168lbs champion Gilberto Ramirez, who was undefeated and favored to beat him, in his last bout. There is talk that Bivol will rematch with Canelo in September. Then there is fellow champion Artur Beterbiev. For Bivol to move up this list he has to defeat Canelo in rematch, if they fight, and or Beterbiev should they fight as well for all 4 belts at light heavyweight. Boxing Notes All respect to former undisputed middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. It appears that he has retired, but NO official word from his camp about retirement as of the writing of this article. It was real classy of Golovkin to vacate the world middleweight titles (WBA, IBF, WBO) he held which gives other contenders an opportunity to fight for a title, earn some money, and have an opportunity to become champion…All respect to Badou Jack in overcoming multiple setbacks in the past to capturing his third world title at cruiserweight by defeating Ilunga Makubu for the WBC cruiserweight title last February… ***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history. "I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.  |
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