Pound for pound boxing rankings
World Boxing News provides a list of the current top 50 pound-for-pound boxing rankings of the sport’s top stars.
WBN’s pound-for-pound boxing rankings are based on world title wins, multi-weight titles, opponent caliber and mode of wins.
Capacity, longevity and activity over a calendar year are also taken into account, as well as reputation.
Fighters earn more ranking points by defeating opponents who are also ranked in the Top 50. The star ranking is based on achievements in the sport.
WBN will withdraw any boxer for lack of activity, retirement or injury.
WBN BOXING RANKINGS POUND FOR POUND
1 OLEKSANDR USYK
2 NAOYA INOUE
3 CANEL ALVAREZ
4 ERROL SPENCE
6 TERENCE CRAWFORD
7 DMITRY BIVOL
8 DEVIN HANEY
9 JERMELL CHARLO
10 ROMAN GONZALEZ
11 GERVONTA DAVIS
12 VASYL LOMASHENKO
13 JUAN ESTRADA
14 SHAKUR STEVENSON
15 GENNADIY GOLOVKIN
Boxers 16 TO 50
16 ARTUR BETERBIEV
17 KAZUTO IOKA
18 REY VARGAS
19 JACK CATTERALL
20 STEPHEN FULTON JR
21 GEORGE KAMBOSOS JR
22 TEOFIMO LOPEZ
23 KOSEI TANAKA
24 LEON SANTA CRUZ
25 SRISAKET SOR RUNGVISAI
26 ANTONY JOSHUA
27 WILDEST DEONTAY
28 JERMALL CHARLO
29 JOSE RAMIREZ
30 EMANUEL NAVARRETE
31 JOSH TAYLOR
32 DAVID BENAVIDEZ
33 REGIS PROGRAM
34 NONITO DONAIRE
35 DEMETRIUS ANDRADES
36 ANDY RUIZ JR.
37 KEITH THURMAN
38 JOHN RIEL CASIMERO
39 GILBERTO RAMIREZ
40 MAIRIS BRIEDIS
41 MURODJON AKHMADALIEV
42 JERWIN ANCAJAS
43 JESSE RODRIGUEZ
44 WANHENG MENAYOTHIN
45 HIROTO KYOGUCHI
46 CALLUM SMITH
47 JOSE ZEPEDA
48 JAIME MUNGUIA
49 PANYA PRADABSRI
50 KENSHIRO TERAJI
Pound-for-pound recent history
On September 22, 2017, Ward decided to retire, leaving Gennady Golovkin to take the reins after an impressive performance against Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas. Golovkin lost what should have been a game-defining victory over the Mexican superstar by two judges who recorded wacky scores at T-Mobile Arena.
Five months after the pair announced the highly anticipated rematch, Canelo has shockingly tested positive for a banned substance twice, leaving ‘GGG’ likely to be overwhelmed.
A one-sided victory over Vanes Martirosyan, a predominant super-welterweight, was never enough to secure Golovkin’s position. On May 12, 2018, Vasyl Lomachenko enjoyed seven days later.
Lomachenko beat Jorge Linares in ten rounds after being dropped earlier in the fight to add the number one pro crown to his legendary amateur status.
Following an injury sustained during the fight, ‘Loma’ was out until December 2018 when he returned to unify the division.
CANELO PERIOD
Around the same time, a confident Canelo Alvarez won a third-weight world title with an impressive performance at MSG.
Months later, and after Lomachenko treated the obligatory Anthony Crolla the same way, Canelo finally grabbed the top stop by unifying 160 pounds further back.
A polite triumph over Daniel Jacobs was enough to push Canelo over the line in his 55th outing.
Lomachenko reclaimed his pound-for-pound number one position with a dominating victory over Luke Campbell in London a few months later.
Adding the WBC lightweight version to his WBO and WBA titles was enough to reshuffle his rival and reign supreme once again.
It wasn’t long before Canelo reclaimed the top spot with a spectacular knockout of Sergey Kovalev.
Canelo became a four-weight ruler and cemented his position as an all-time great.
By the start of 2020, Canelo had firmly established himself as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The Mexican superstar cemented his place by going undisputed at super middleweight in 2021.
Picking up the WBN Fighter of the Year award, Canelo entered 2022 as the most famous boxer in the world. Going up against Dmitry Bivol at 175 pounds in May, it all came crashing down for Canelo.
His lofty ambitions to cross the divisions were halted by a superb performance from a great fighter in Bivol. Size matters, as Bivol has proven.
USYK ERA
Canelo’s disappearance was for the gain of Oleksandr Usyk, who became the pound-for-pound king. His undisputed and unified heavyweight and heavyweight accomplishments spoke for themselves.
Seven world title belts in three years meant few outlets needed little argument over who replaced Canelo.
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