Comments Thread For: Five alive: The P4P king debate runs deeper than you think

[BoxingUpdates]

Cases for each of Oleksandr Usyk, Naoya Inoue, David Benavidez, Shakur Stevenson and Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez can all be made with sane minds, writes Eric Raskin.
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[Oregonian]

Truer words have never been spoken. There is a case to be made for pretty much everyone you’ve listed except maybe …. Bam Bam. He’s also only 26 and hasn’t hit his apex, just yet.

[JOITATS]

There is NO case to be made for David Benavidez, Shakur Stevenson or Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez to be #1.
None of those guys have the resume, not have they beat a P4P top ranked fighter to claim anything.




How many hurdles does Inoue have to jump over to make you happy?

[SouthpawRight]

Truer words have never been spoken. There is a case to be made for pretty much everyone you’ve listed except maybe …. Bam Bam. He’s also only 26 and hasn’t hit his apex, just yet.

There is NO case to be made for David Benavidez, Shakur Stevenson or Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez to be #1.
None of those guys have the resume, not have they beat a P4P top ranked fighter to claim anything.




How many hurdles does Inoue have to jump over to make you happy?

1. Naruto Ninja Naoya
2. Top Soviet Bivol
3. Cossack Oleksandr
4. Silk Smooth Shakur
5. JESSE

[Bob]

Activity, Inoue has walked through multiple divisions & defends his undisputed ranking regularly.

Usyk earned his stripes but doesn't fight often enough.

Banavidez is a victim of politics & a ginger duck.

Bam is almost there but not active like inoue & again politics is blocking undisputed.

If it was just eye test it's Shak, Inoue, Usyk & Bivol gets a mention.

Rn it has to be Inoue.

[landotter]

Raskin is a fun, well balanced writer and I hope sticks around on this site for years to come. This was another well written, fun article.

Completely wrong, and likely just assembled to get a conversation that has no real heat to it going. Inoue has no reason not to be a near unanimous #1. Usyk is a defendable #2, despite the waste of time spectacle he is about to take part in. So long as he gets back to real HW boxing and challenges himself with a name that is not a rematch, his status as a top P4P fighter is not really in jeopardy for him just taking a money grab.

I usually could care less about the P4P debate, except as a fun little argument. It is normally so subjective, it is comical. Except right now. These two are the only two worthy of the title, and Usyk is respectable #2. And an obvious #2 as well.

[RockyKO]

If we're basing this off of resume, accolades, skill, and recent performances. It's either Inoue or Usyk. A lot of these guys are great fighters and rightfully ranked lower even if it's unfair that they haven't been in the ring with anyone. Shakur, as great as he is, hasn't fought anyone. Teo is probably his best win but he needs to take on the likes of Tank, Roach, Schofield, Muratalla, Andy Cruz, Keyshawn, Hitchins. I'm sure Josh Padley is a nice guy but c'mon. At least Usyk has faced the best the division had to offer at the time of their fights.

[ShoulderRoll]

I think you can make an argument for all five guys mentioned in the article to be P4P #1. Also for Bivol, who wasn’t mentioned in the article.

[hugh grant]

Inoue no1, even when bud beat nelo

[The Big Dunn]

I don’t think you can make a case for Shakur, Bam or David ahead of Usyk or Inoue right now.

IMO resume factors in the discussion. It’s therefore hard for me to look at the body of work of both Usyk and Inoue and put anyone ahead of either of them.

Raskin does make some good points when talking about Floyd and Crawford. I think they had resumes that supports Raskin’s points.

I don’t think Shakur, Bam or David does.