A list of boxing’s elite as things stand in 2019
It’s fair to say boxing has no dominant pound-for-pound king today.
Unlike in some past eras – such as Floyd Mayweather’s in the not too distant past – there is now genuine debate about who is boxing’s best.
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The pound-for-pound argument is probably one of the most contentious in the sport and everyone seems to have an opinion on it.
Some rank the best fighters in the world based purely on the manner of their performances – how they look.
Some rank them based purely on their résumés and weigh up who has the best recorded wins.
Some take other factors such as activity and official results into account, too, meaning the whole thing becomes one big confusing mess.
Therefore, talkSPORT.com is going to lay out its criteria (based roughly on Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound criteria) for this list right now:
CRITERIA
- Result – The official result always stands and ultimately trumps the other factors. The other three are all equally important.
- Performance – The manner in which a fighter wins or loses.
- Résumé – The opponents beaten/titles won.
- Activity – How often a fighter is fighting against top level opposition
10. Juan Francisco Estrada (40-3, 27 KOs)
9. Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs)
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8. Josh Taylor (16-0, 12 KOs)
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7. Gennady Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs)
6. Errol Spence (26-0, 21 KOs)
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5. Naoya Inoue (18-0, 16 KOs)
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4. Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs)
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3. Terence Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs)
2. Canelo Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs)
1. Vasyl Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs)
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