My Boxing Pound-For-Pound List After The Fall Of Canelo Alvarez

In the last few weeks, the boxing world has been shaken up significantly. The former No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Canelo Alvarez, decisively lost. Jermell Charlo became undisputed champion at 154 pounds. Shakur Stevenson had the best victory of his career. All of it has affected my boxing pound-for-pound list.

A few weeks ago, my pound-for-pound list looked like this:

1. Canelo Alvarez
2. Terence Crawford
3. Errol Spence
4. Naoya Inoue
5. Oleksandr Usyk
6. Vasiliy Lomachenko
7. Juan Francisco Estrada
8. Artur Beterbiev
9. Tyson Fury
10. Gennadiy Golovkin

Now, things have changed dramatically. Here’s my new list (feel free to compare it to the Ring version and the ESPN version), and some explanations for why.

My Boxing Pound-For-Pound List (May 2022)

1. Terence Crawford: Some believe Crawford already should have been in the No. 1 spot, and though I disagreed at the time, I can see their point. Though his resume isn’t as good as that of Errol Spence, I think he’s slightly more skillful than the man behind him on this list. Which is why I’ve put him above Spence for now. At the age of 34, it’s getting to be a little late for Crawford to have his defining win (though his KO victory six months ago against Shawn Porter was awfully impressive), but he’s a former undisputed junior welterweight champion and a three-division titlist. The real reason Crawford is No. 1 and Spence is No. 2? Because I think Crawford would beat him.

2. Errol Spence: Man, we need that Crawford vs. Spence fight ASAP.

3. Naoya Inoue: The Monster from Japan keeps on winning by stoppage, and he keeps on showing why he’s one of the most feared fighters in the sport. But he didn’t have an easy time vs. future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire in 2019, and he might not again when the two have their rematch in June.

4. Canelo Alvarez: Despite his loss to Bivol earlier this month, Alvarez’s resume is still fantastic. So, I didn’t drop him down too far in the rankings. I’m not sure he can beat Bivol or Artur Beterbeiv at 175 pounds, but I’d still make him a favorite against anybody at 168, including Gennadiy Golovkin or David Benavidez. Coming off his reported $40 million payday vs. Bivol, Alvarez is still the No. 1 superstar in the sport.

5. Oleksandr Usyk: After becoming the undisputed cruiserweight champion, Usyk won a heavyweight title by decisively beating Anthony Joshua. They’ll fight again this summer, and Usyk says he’ll be prepared for any changes Joshua needs to make. Should Usyk be this high on the list? I question it. But with Usyk’s past resume and his current standing, I think he deserves to be here.

6. Vasiliy Lomachenko: He has recovered well from losing his 135-pound titles to Teofimo Lopez in 2020. Since then, Lomachenko knocked out Masayoshi Nakatani and mostly dominated Richard Commey. He was set for a unified title shot vs. George Kambosos, but for now, Lomachenko’s career is on hold as he fights alongside his Ukrainian countrymen.

7. Tyson Fury: I don’t think I believe Fury will actually retire, now that he’s beaten Deontay Wilder twice and knocked out Dillian Whyte for a reported purse of $33 million. A potential matchup with Anthony Joshua could perhaps land Fury a nine-figure payday. For now, Fury is saying he’s done. I’m not sure Fury would bother fighting Usyk if he beats Joshua again, but if Joshua wins the rematch, I don’t see how Fury could turn down that matchup and that payday.

8. Jermell Charlo: After looking fantastic in his TKO win vs. Brian Castano last Saturday to become the first undisputed junior middleweight champion in the four-belt era, Charlo makes his pound-for-pound list debut. He just keeps on getting better and better. He’s been paid $1 million purses for his biggest fights thus far, but at this point, he’s probably underpaid. That’s how good Charlo is.

9. Shakur Stevenson: Asked before his fight vs. Oscar Valdez last month whether a win should get him on this list, Stevenson told me, “I deserve to be on that list. Any which way that I beat him, I deserve to be on that pound-for-pound list. I’m one of the best fighters in the sport of boxing.” So, after dominating Valdez to become a unified 130-pound champion, Stevenson makes his debut here. Stevenson is good enough that he potentially could top this list one day. So far, at the age of 24, Stevenson has simply been awesome in his pro career.

10. Dmitry Bivol: Immediately after beating Alvarez, I saw that somebody on Twitter claimed Bivol should immediately move to No. 2 on the pound-for-pound list. To me, that’s way too high. He has fantastic wins over Alvarez and Joe Smith Jr., but for him to crash the top-five, he’d need to beat one more high-caliber opponent. How about the winner of the Artur Beterbiev-Joe Smith Jr. clash that then could determine the undisputed light heavyweight champion? If he wins that, Bivol would continue his climb up the rankings.