A long-standing debate in boxing revolves around who is considered the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport. Fans in the boxing community will often compare fighters of various sizes and try and determine who is the best if every boxer were the same size.
Based on skill, the pound-for-pound debate is likely not leaving boxing anytime soon. However, it has been heavily discussed in recent times due to the quality of fighters currently competing.
The boxing community will, for the most part, agree that the top three fighters in the world right now are undisputed champions Oleksandr Usyk, Terence Crawford, and Naoya Inoue. The order in which people rank these three fighters is where the majority of the debate lies.
Now, David Benavidez, who is considered to be in the top 15 of the pound-for-pound list, has given his take on the topic.
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In a recent interview with FightHype.com, the WBC light heavyweight champion was asked to rank the three pound-for-pound elitists, to which Benavidez complied.
Without hesitation, Benavidez chose the current undisputed heavyweight champion as his number one pick.
“I think Usyk is number one, without a doubt. I don’t think anybody even comes close to Usyk because of the amount of big fights he’s taken back-to-back.”
– David Benavidez
Continuing to speak on Usyk, Benavidez said, “Even when he was a cruiserweight, he was fighting the best fighters, and then, he went to heavyweight, and nobody really gave him much of a chance. He went and took everybody out.”
After giving Usyk the title of the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Benavidez said that Terence Crawford was the runner-up.
“Terence Crawford [is second] because he did something that I didn’t think he was going to do: he beat Canelo. You know, that’s three weight classes [he went up]. I mean, he made it look pretty easy, so you have to give it to Crawford.”
MORE: Roy Jones Jr Answers Whether Terence Crawford Would Have Beaten Him
Benavidez also gave credit to Crawford for ‘getting rugged’ in his fight with Canelo Alvarez, as opposed to just being technical.
Benavidez then spoke on Inoue, explaining why he feels the Japanese ‘Monster’ is behind both Usyk and Crawford. “Inoue needs that big signature win… Inoue is definitely a great pound-for-pound fighter, amazing fighter, amazing talent, but he still needs that signature win to really put him on the mountain.”
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