Give it time and the results can pile up and make something as fanciful as pound-for-pound ratings hard to think through.
What matters most?
Is it recent form, career resume and accomplishments, or the pure hypothetical guess work of what would happen if everyone was the same size? Seemingly everyone has a different answer and that’s as it should be. It would be cool if there was a magic machine to, say, pit the punching power of Naoya Inoue against Deontay Wilder in a relatively equal fight.
It would be cool to win the lottery too.
The latter is at least statistically possible.
Since the last update, we’ve seen a modern great add another feather to his cap, the completion of two World Boxing Super Series, a new lineal king at light heavyweight, and the sports biggest prime star jump two weight classes to knock out a stalwart of the last decade.
For this list, it meant the exit of Mikey Garcia and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai from the top ten for now as Manny Pacquiao returns and Josh Taylor cracks the top ten. It also meant a shake-up at the top.
Terence Crawford, the previous number one who is stuck in an unfortunate limbo without a serious fight on the immediate horizon, slips as the men now ahead of him find new challenges easier to come by. For this scribe, the top two came down to Canelo Alvarez, previously fourth, and Naoya Inoue, previously second.
Others might still have Crawford up top, or rest their argument with a Vasyl Lomachenko or Oleksandr Usyk. They’re all right answers in as interesting a debate for the top spot as there has been in some time.
Enjoy the debate.
For the full update: https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/view.php?pg=pound
Last Update: July 1, 2019
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com