The Stadium Rant Top 10 Pound-For-Pound Boxing List

Who's the top boxer in the world today? We've picked that, plus nine others in our first-ever pound-for-pound list.

Boxing is a simple sport. The goal, essentially, is to make your opponent incapable of fighting for ten seconds. In lieu of that, or a referee stoppage, the person who performed better over the course of the bout via judges’ scorecards wins. But at a glance, it can look complicated. Several different weight classes, with four world titles and their associated sanctioning bodies plus the splinter and regional titles, plus up-and-comers and on-the-way-outers - it can be tough to know who’s who.

The concept of the pound-for-pound list, to compare fighters who are currently active in boxing, is generally attributed to The Ring magazine when they published their divisional rankings in the 1920s, and has been an eternal source of debate since its inception. We here are proud to contribute to the everlasting argument with our debut pound-for-pound list. In our humble opinion, here are the ten best boxers in the sport.

1 - Naoya Inoue

The Monster from the Land of the Rising Sun collected all four bantamweight belts in December 2022, then in just twelve months relinquished those, moved up in weight, and punished both Stephen Fulton and Marlon Tapales to collect all four super bantamweight belts, becoming the second male boxer to ever do so in history.

You know what I’ve done in 12 months? Gotten older and forgot to cancel my Instacart plus. It’s going to take a mighty accomplishment to knock Inoue off his perch.

2 - Oleksandr Usyk

Fury had fumbled with mixed martial artist-turned-boxer Francis Ngannou, but still held on to his lone heavyweight title. His supporters said he would definitely turn up the fire and the intensity in his long-awaited bout against Oleksandr Usyk. He may have turned up the fire, but Usyk looked fireproof as he went ahead and took the weight of the gold off his hips in a split decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, becoming the first undisputed heavyweight championship since Lennox Lewis in 2000. The two will do it all over again back in Saudi Arabia in December later this year.

3 - Terence Crawford

When you’re known as boxing’s boogeyman, inactivity is disappointing but understandable. Terence “Bud” Crawford sits at third place not because of any ineptitude on Crawford’s part; in fact, the exact opposite. Crawford is simply that exceptional in what he can do in that ring that it makes the opponents on his resume look a little more "meh" than they really are, including the very game Israel Madrimov who looked rather mediocre against the wizard.

4 - Dmitry Bivol

It seems inevitable that the perfect record of the man that beat the mighty Canelo will clash against the perfect record of knockout artist Artur Beterbiev, but now it seems that David Benavidez has entered the group chat, waiting for the winner. Until then, Bivol just keeps racking up the wins, putting the first L on Malik Zinad this past June.

5 - Artur Beterbiev

What’s better than having a perfect record? Never seeing the final bell in a single fight. The mighty Artur Beterbiev continues to pursue Dmitry Bivol, putting a 7th round TKO away against Callum Smith in January of this year.

6 - Saul Alvarez

Remember when Canelo fought good fights? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Clearly entering the “low risk, high payout” phase of his boxing career, after his stinker with Jermell Charlo, Jaime Munguia was definitely a live opponent but not a pressing one, with Canelo coasting to victory. He has just signed the contract to take on Brooklyn’s knockout artist Edgar Berlanga, who according to scouting reports, is not David Benavidez. Berlanga, who started his pro career with a string of 16 first-round knockouts, has an exciting style that makes him fun to watch however the skill sets, at this point in time, feature a staggering gap that favors Canelo.

7 - Gervonta Davis

Ryan Garcia flapped his gums at Gervonta Davis on social media. Gervonta Davis beat Ryan Garcia by 7th round knockout.

This past June, Frank Martin put his unbeaten record against the raw punching power of Gervonta Davis. Gervonta Davis beat Frank Martin by 8th round knockout.

In between, Gervonta Davis fought the law, and the law won.

Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 14 months to witness Davis’ explosive power in the ring.

8 - Jesse Rodriguez

This ain’t “Bam’s” first time at the rodeo - the WBC Super Flyweight belt Jesse Rodriguez won off by knocking out Juan Francisco Estrada in the seventh round of their fight last month was once held in 2022 by… well… by Jesse Rodriguez. The 20-year old southpaw has plenty of time to decide which way his weight should travel before inking his next opponent.

9 - Teofimo Lopez Jr.

While his victories haven’t been as consistently exciting as the beginning of his career, when it comes to his June 2024 fight with Canadian Steve Claggett, that has less to do with “The Takeover’s” skill and more to do with Claggett’s chin of stone. But Teo ever remains the showstopper, as he enters the pound-for-pound picture.

10- David Benavidez

To repurpose Miley Cyrus’ Grammy-award winning hit, David Benavidez can buy himself flowers, write his name in the sand… he can love him better than Canelo can.

Benavidez went a few times around Canelo’s track and saw it wasn’t just gonna happen like that, and since he ain’t no Hollaback Girl, he picked up his toys, moved up to light heavyweight, slapped around Oleksandr Gvozdyk in June, and is now in the mix for taking on the winner of a potential Bivol/Beterbiev megamatch.

Canelo may be wishing he can turn back time, and find a way to take back those words that had hurt David, and make the megabucks stay. We are living in a material world, after all.