Mexico’s Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, the first undisputed world champion in history in the super middleweight division (168 pounds), remained in the first place in the Top Ten ranking prepared by 13 boxing experts for ESPN, a ranking of the 10 best pound-for-pound fighters of today.
It is worth mentioning that there are several media that cover this aspect, which is always interesting and controversial for the countless people who follow boxing around the world.
Alvarez, who dominates the 4 most important versions of boxing (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO), held on to his No. 1 ranking with his victory over Caleb Plat, who was IBF champion, by KOT in 10 rounds on November 11. “Canelo,” 31, extended his record to 57-1-2, 39 knockouts with only one setback to Floyd Mayweather on 9-14-2013.
The fighter from Guadalajara, Jalisco, has also reigned at welterweight, super welterweight, middleweight and light heavyweight. The specialized magazine The Ring, the website Box Rec and the Boxing Writers Association of America have ranked him first in the Pound for Pound for almost three years.
In last month’s ESPN rankings, “Canelo” is escorted by the following fighters: 2) Terence Crawford, WBO welterweight champion. 3) Naoya Inoue. 4) Oleksandr Usyk. 5) English heavyweight Tyson Fury. 6) Errol Spence Jr.
In the next 4 positions are placed:
7) Scotland’s Josh Taylor (7), undisputed super lightweight sovereign. 8) Ukrainian lightweight Vasyl Lomachenko. 9) Mexican super flyweight Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada. In 10th place are paired American Gervonta Davis and Australian George Kambosos jr.
The Ring’s vision
The prestigious The Ring magazine, founded in 1922 by Nat Fleischer (New York, 1887-New York, 1972), journalist and compiler of boxing-related statistics, is another of the dozens of media which usually elaborate a ranking similar to that of ESPN, those not always coinciding in their entirety with that of the television channel, which enjoys great acceptance.
Just for the purposes of the very usual friendly discussions among the thousands of fans, we also offer The Ring’s position of the best pound-for-pound:
1) Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (Mexico).
2) Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine)
3) Terence Crawford (USA)
4) Naoya Inoue (Japan)
5) Josh Taylor (Scotland)
6) Errol Spence Jr. (USA)
7) Juan Fco. Estrada (Mexico)
8) Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine)
9) Kazuto Ioka (Japan)
10) Tyson Fury (UK).
