{"id":417962,"date":"2026-01-17T00:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417962\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T00:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:09:07","slug":"the-boxing-news-pound-for-pound-rankings-following-terence-crawfords-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417962\/","title":{"rendered":"The Boxing News pound-for-pound rankings following Terence Crawford’s retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the retirement of Terence Crawford<\/a>, who many considered to be the sport\u2019s flagship champion, there has been a slight shake-up to the Boxing News pound-for-pound list.<\/p>\n

Here, we look at the position of each fighter in the top 10, justifying our version of what the sport\u2019s most debated list\u2026<\/p>\n

10. Teofimo Lopez<\/p>\n

As a fighter who, while not always delivering fireworks, is known for turning up on the biggest occasions, Teofimo Lopez has etched his way onto the rankings.<\/p>\n

Notable victories over Vasyl Lomachenko and Josh Taylor, as well as an impressive performance against Arnold Barboza Jr<\/a> last time out, have earned \u2018The Takeover\u2019 a place here.<\/p>\n

But, of course, a win over Shakur Stevenson on January 31 would only see him climb further.<\/p>\n

9. David Benavidez<\/p>\n

It is not necessarily one particular victory, but rather a comprehensive body of work across two weight divisions, that has secured David Benavidez a place on this list.<\/p>\n

Now bidding to become a three-division world champion, the relentless WBC light-heavyweight ruler could quite easily elevate his position with a win over Gilberto Ramirez later this year.<\/p>\n

8. Junto Nakatani<\/p>\n

While facing elite opposition across three weight classes, Junto Nakatani practically breezed past every opponent before scraping a points win over Sebastian Hernandez last month.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, a shock victory over Naoya Inoue, his super-bantamweight rival, in May would see \u2018Big Bang\u2019 fly straight into the top five of this list.<\/p>\n

7. Artur Beterbiev<\/p>\n

Coming off a points defeat to Dmitry Bivol \u2013 albeit by such a fine margin \u2013 in February 2025, and having not fought since, has made it difficult to place Artur Beterbiev any higher than seventh.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the formidable Russian and former light-heavyweight king still deserves to be recognised for his stacked resume and remarkable longevity.<\/p>\n

6. Shakur Stevenson<\/p>\n

Much like Nakatani \u2013 until recently, that is \u2013 Shakur Stevenson has barely even broken a sweat in his journey to becoming a three-weight world champion.<\/p>\n

Having followed in the footsteps of his friend Crawford by clinically beating each and every opponent, the only thing stopping the slick southpaw from breaking into the top five is the lack of a big-name victory.<\/p>\n

But that, of course, could swiftly change with a win over Lopez.<\/p>\n

5. Devin Haney<\/p>\n

Another three-weight world champion, Devin Haney\u2019s notable wins over Lomachenko, Regis Prograis and Brian Norman Jr \u2013 all of them making him the leading champion in each respective division \u2013 have largely allowed him to reign supreme.<\/p>\n

The only bump in the road came against Ryan Garcia, whose majority decision victory in 2024 was later overturned to a no-contest due to his failed drugs test. An intriguing rematch edges closer, and will be close to inevitable if Garcia beats Mario Barrios for the WBC Welterweight World title next month.<\/p>\n

4. Dmitry Bivol<\/p>\n

As already mentioned, Bivol became the undisputed champion at 175lbs<\/a> by dethroning Beterbiev, who had knocked out every one of his previous opponents, with a monumental points victory last year.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, Bivol had done what Crawford recently managed by claiming a far more dominant win over Canelo Alvarez, which has only added to his credentials as an elite pound-for-pound star.<\/p>\n

3. Jesse Rodriguez<\/p>\n

The manner in which Jesse Rodriguez has dispatched each of his opponents \u2013 even those who were previously considered elite world champions \u2013 is why, for many, he deserves to be regarded as the third-best fighter on the planet.<\/p>\n

From becoming a \u2018legend slayer\u2019 to defeating previously unbeaten fighters like Sunny Edwards, Fernando Martinez and Phumelela Cafu \u2013 all in or close to their prime \u2013 \u2018Bam\u2019 has firmly made his mark on the lower divisions.<\/p>\n

2. Naoya Inoue<\/p>\n

Narrowly missing out on the top spot, Inoue\u2019s two-weight undisputed status nonetheless puts him in a desirable position as one of the sport\u2019s most decorated champions.<\/p>\n

Even with a typically destructive finish having eluded him in recent fights, \u2018The Monster\u2019 was able to emphatically triumph over Murodjon Akhmadaliev and David Picasso with his superior ring IQ to keep his name in the debate of the very best in the world.<\/p>\n

1. Oleksandr Usyk<\/p>\n

Especially when considering Crawford\u2019s recent departure, it is hard to argue with Oleksandr Usyk being placed at the top of this list.<\/p>\n

The two-weight undisputed king has, after all, cemented himself as the greatest heavyweight of his era with two wins over Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, respectively.<\/p>\n

With his accolades at cruiserweight, too, Usyk is often one of the first names that come to mind when discussing boxing\u2019s modern greats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the retirement of Terence Crawford, who many considered to be the sport\u2019s flagship champion, there has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-417962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}