Comments Thread For: Who's boxing's No. 1?

[CPNUTKnockoutFreshMart]

Inoue is getting dropped and hurt by class c opponents, he’s definitely not #1. It’s funny how BOXINGSCENE wants to put him on the cover of the article lol

What happens next though ? That's what matters. I wouldn't consider Nery or Cardenas C class competitors.

[Corelone]

Betting odds are all about the money line , it's not really about a guys real chances of winning. Odds shift according to the money coming in on either side. The books just try to get their ten percent of the handle. So it's not really about a guys realistic possibilities. I hope that I explained that adequately.

The odds are set to make money for the house. Nobody will set odds that cause big payouts for easy picks. The odds are set before the bet.

[DeeMoney]

I go by the TRUE MEANING OF POUND FOR POUND. If they were all the same size , Inoue would beat everyone else. I don't go by the other parameters that people have added in recent years. Who would beat who is the only real criteria , and of course it's entirely subjective. It makes for lively arguments and conversation , but at the end of the day doesn't really mean anything as two reasonable people can make arguments for different fighters and no one is necessarily wrong.

Thats pretty close to what I go by, I like to say if they were all to take their relative attributes but in the same weight class.

I hate saying if they were all the same size, as some guys have a lot height or reach or strength for their weight class, and they use it to make them work. But I think you got the right idea. That being written, I'd put Usyk right up there with Monster

[j0zef]

I'll rank Usyk, Inoue, then Bud.

Usyk's resume and run are tremendous. He's well rounded, and obviously significantly smaller than other HWs. 2x Fury and 2x AJ is as good of a HW run as we've seen in 20,30 years.
Inoue keeps knocking them out of the park, but has no huge names.. just a lot of very good fighters. Incredibly impressive.
Crawford has the best single win out of all of them - I wouldn't say that Spence was a better WW than Fury was a HW, but the quality of the victory skews it towards Bud. Crawford demolished Spence, while Usyk struggled with Fury/AJ.

[DeeMoney]

I'll rank Usyk, Inoue, then Bud.

Usyk's resume and run are tremendous. He's well rounded, and obviously significantly smaller than other HWs. 2x Fury and 2x AJ is as good of a HW run as we've seen in 20,30 years.
Inoue keeps knocking them out of the park, but has no huge names.. just a lot of very good fighters. Incredibly impressive.
Crawford has the best single win out of all of them - I wouldn't say that Spence was a better WW than Fury was a HW, but the quality of the victory skews it towards Bud. Crawford demolished Spence, while Usyk struggled with Fury/AJ.

So when looking at resume to determine who is currently the best P4P fighter, how far back can you go before it no longer has bearing on the current rankings?
I'll rely on a little but of absurdity to better explain this question. If Ray Leonard came out of retirement right now, he would have the best resume of any fighter, but we wouldnt consider him the current best P4P fighter in the world, because those wins we look at arent really indicative of who he is now.

As I wrote, thats absurdity, but if you move from margin to center you see a similar point could be made for fighters in the discussion now. I mean Canelo has a number of HOF scalps on his resume, but do we really think a win over Shane Mosley 13 years ago should taken into account in measuring who is the best right now.

Buds got belts going all the way down to lightweight. But do we consider that when looking at who is the best right now, as his next fight will be 30+ pounds over the lightweight limit.

I'm not arguing to ignore all of a fighters history. Rather that if a fighter is no longer in, or at least near a weight class they once were in, I dont think you use that fight to discuss how good they are at the moment. For certain it counts when measuring them historically, just not when judging whose the best now. Ditto when looking at fights that were s long time ago- how long that is... thats the question.

[JakeTheBoxer]

1. Inoue
2. Bivol
3.Usyk
4. Beterbiev
5. Crawford


Crawford can`t be top 3. He barely fights.

If Bivol beats beterbiev again, he is N.1. for me and I don`t care what other people think.

Beterbiev is much more dangerous fighter than anybody Usyk or Inoue fought.

[JeBron Lamez]

Not sure where you’re trying to take this, but yes that is a fair argument, although I tend to put more stock into moving up weight classes than simply years on someone’s resume.

Yeah... cos Mayweather never climbed any weight classes now did he.

[Toffee]

Obviously Usyk is number one outside of P4P discussions. He's the universally recognised champion in the open category.

In pound for pound terms (as mythical as it is), if the argument is that a P4P great steps up in weight, then Usyk moved up 50 pounds to AJ and then another 20 pounds to Fury. No-one else can compare to that. If the authorities stuck 8 more weight classes in the way then no-one would even discuss this.

So basically it's Usyk every which way and it's not even close.

[hugh grant]

Obviously Usyk is number one outside of P4P discussions. He's the universally recognised champion in the open category.

In pound for pound terms (as mythical as it is), if the argument is that a P4P great steps up in weight, then Usyk moved up 50 pounds to AJ and then another 20 pounds to Fury. No-one else can compare to that. If the authorities stuck 8 more weight classes in the way then no-one would even discuss this.

So basically it's Usyk every which way and it's not even close.

Usyk had years to acclimated to weight. Usyk is beating big lumps but they're not pfp fighters. Fury s only had success because of his size.
Inoue stops everyone, id want to see usyk do the same for me to say they're equal

[Nash out]

1. Tyson Fury
2. Oleksandr Usyk
3. Deontay Wilder
4. Inoue
5. Martin Bogeyman Bakole

Nash out - His Majesty