With three undisputed male champions currently active in the sport, there is certainly room for spirited debate over who currently should be ranked number one on pound-for-pound lists.

Though there are a number of outstanding champions currently reigning in the sport, the debate usually boils down to the three boxers holding all four belts in their weight classes: undisputed super middleweight champ Terence “Bud” Crawford, undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, and undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue. The debate has sparked up once more after Crawford impressed audiences once again after he moved up two weight classes to defeat Saul “Canelo” Alvarez earlier this month. Usyk and Inoue have also recently handled unfinished business, with Usyk finishing off Daniel Dubois to pick up the last remaining heavyweight title, while Inoue defeated WBA interim champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev to remove any doubts as to his superiority at 122lbs.

 

Tris Dixon: In the current climate, it might be an unpopular choice but I’m going with Usyk with Crawford at two but, of course, that’s open to interpretation. I think what Usyk’s done through his career, from Olympic gold, to winning so many fights on the road, to moving up, to clearing the landscape to the point where there are no outstanding challengers left (Parker is deserving, but you don’t get what you deserve…) is phenomenal. But it’s great to see two older guys at the top and I have Inoue just behind.

 

Tom Ivers: When I decide who is the best fighter on the planet, I look at all top fighters in the world and decide who would beat the others if they were all the same size and weight. In this case, there’s little debate over the top three, Terence Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk and Naoya Inoue. You could name any one of them as the best and I wouldn’t argue against you, they’re all incredible fighters. But when I think of a 6’3”, 225lbs Crawford going up against Usyk, I’m quite confident that he would have the skills and power to dethrone the heavyweight king. I’m equally as confident at 5’5”, 122lb Crawford has the skills to avoid Inoue’s power and enough pop on his shots to hurt a fighter that has shown vulnerabilities of late. For me Crawford has got it all, and still looks as fresh as when he dismantled Errol Spence. He is still the best fighter in the world.

 

Declan Warrington: Terence Crawford deserves all of the overdue praise he’s receiving, but Oleksandr Usyk’s still the best fighter in the world. Usyk’s been winning while being matched with bigger fighters for years and Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury both represented more difficult opposition than Saul Alvarez did by the time Crawford fought him. None of that is an attempt to undermine Crawford’s achievements – he’s nothing short of a great fighter – but Alvarez had declined sufficiently that Crawford beating him was straightforward to predict, unlike Usyk’s first victory over Joshua and two victories over Fury. Crawford, regardless, is closer to Usyk than Naoya Inoue – the world’s third best fighter – is to the second-placed Crawford.

 

Kieran Mulvaney: We're extremely fortunate in that the question of who is boxing’s best is not an easy one to answer. When was the last time we had three boxers, each with his own compelling case to be considered number 1?

I will say that I agree with Tris, Tom, and Dec that Inoue is probably number three - which, given his accomplishments and the fact that he is able to do things like dominate the very capable Murodjon Akhmadaliev, shows how much talent is at the very top. I am proud to say I have rated both Usyk and Crawford since I first saw them and have continued to do so without interruption, and they have both more than justified such high opinions. They are not really 1 and 2 as much as they are 1 and 1A and I don't think picking either as top dog can be criticized.

If, however, you factor past achievements as well as theoretical P4P matchups into your equation, then for me the number 1 is clearer. For reasons not entirely of his own making, Bud left some business undone at 147 and 154, whereas Usyk cleaned out the cruiserweight division and twice defeated the two principal claimants to heavyweight supremacy as well as the perceived next in line. For that reason, I will give the Ukrainian the slight edge for now; but honestly, I'm thrilled to be around in an era where we get to see them both.

 

Owen Lewis: Skill for skill, I give the edge to Crawford over Usyk. As I wrote during his fight week with Alvarez, I’ve just never heard people talk about any active boxer’s skillset with the awe that they do with Crawford’s. Usyk, for all his gifts, is a drowner: stamina plays a big part in his success, allowing him to wear down and overwhelm bigger, more lumbering heavyweights. Crawford is more of a Swiss Army knife, capable of ruining an opponent with any of a large variety of skills. Considering that Crawford was no worse than third pound-for-pound before he toppled the almighty Canelo at a weight class 21lbs above the division in which he was at his best, that’s enough reason to re-crown him as the king in my eyes. (It doesn’t hurt that Usyk himself has long held the opinion that Crawford is the best fighter in the world.)

I do think Usyk’s resume is marginally better – to me, his recent run of victories over Joshua twice, Dubois, Fury twice, and Dubois again has made him the most accomplished fighter of the generation, at least for now – and I certainly wouldn’t shame anybody for keeping him in the top spot. How about this era in general, though? In 2021, I think most felt Canelo held the honor for the best resume post-Mayweather and Pacquiao, and he’s been leapfrogged by three fighters in four short years. Crawford, Usyk, and Inoue are miles ahead of the rest of the pound-for-pound pack right now, and that’s no knock on Dmitry Bivol or Bam Rodriguez. Having no idea what the top three will look like 20 years from now, this trio seems damn hard to ever beat.

 

Jake Donovan: Edging Bud over Usyk, with Inoue a firm No. 3 and a massive gap to whoever you desire for No. 4.  It’s a blessing that we’re arguing the P4P rankings of three fighters who will be in the all-time conversation at the end of their respective careers (if not already there). The crazy part is that Inoue is the universal number three, yet in a true mythical pound-for-pound sense (eye test, who beats who at what imaginary weight, etc), I’d probably pick Inoue to beat Bud and Usyk both.

That said, all three have accomplished MORE than enough to where we don’t need to pretend in ranking them in real time. I don’t buy the notion that Crawford’s historic win over Alvarez should be discounted in any way based on where Canelo was at in his career - you can make the same argument that Usyk “only” beat a version of Fury that went life and death with pro-debuting Francis Ngannou. It’s still a coin flip between Bud and Usyk and - based on this convo alone- there is no real wrong answer.

 

Ryan Songalia: One thing that is for certain is that the top guy in boxing is definitely a southpaw, at least most of the time. The conversation really boils down to two names, Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk. It really could come down to whoever ends up fighting most recently, because of how spectacular their performances have been. Usyk probably has a greater resume’ overall, but that doesn’t mean Crawford’s record is shallow. His recent win over Canelo Alvarez is as impressive as any high-wire act by a smaller fighter against a bigger one in recent years. Comparing the Alvarez win to Usyk’s win over bigger fighters, Crawford used his skill to disarm his opponent while Usyk’s victories have mostly come as a result of him pushing the pace and burning out fighters who aren’t as well conditioned as he is.

Naoya Inoue would obviously be third, regardless of who you put as 1 or 2, and all three are future first ballot Hall of Famers. Boxing fans have been lucky this generation to see them all accomplish what they have. 

If the question is, who do I think is the best skilled fighter coming up to replace them, my vote would have to be Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez.