Who's No. 1 pound-for-pound?
Here are the top 15 best boxers in the world in order
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Welcome to the Fight Freaks Unite top 15 pound-for-pound rankings. Now that fights such as Errol Spence Jr.-Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue-Stephen Fulton and Oleksandr Usyk-Daniel Dubois are all in the books it’s the perfect time to update the rankings of the best boxers in the world regardless of weight class.
The list is obviously subjective. This is my opinion. You can agree or disagree or make your own list. I base these rankings on a variety of factors, including overall accomplishment but with an emphasis on more recent activity and who, in my view, would defeat the others if they were the same size. Here are the top 15 in reverse order.
As of Aug. 31, 2023
15. Juan Francisco Estrada
Record: 44-3, 28 KOs
Division: Lineal/WBC junior bantamweight champion
Age: 33
Last fight: On Dec. 3, Estrada won a majority decision over great rival Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in their long-awaited trilogy fight to gain the 2-1 advantage (although his win in the second fight was extremely controversial).
Next fight: Estrada has nothing scheduled.
Ideal next fight: Nobody would complain about a fourth fight with Gonzalez given how superb their first three fights were. That, however, seems unlikely so how about a unification fight with WBA titlist Kazuto Ioka? That’s as good as it gets at 115 pounds.
14. Errol Spence Jr.
Record: 28-1, 22 KOs
Division: Welterweight
Age: 33
Last fight: In the showdown the boxing world waited five years for, Spence, who held three welterweight titles, squared off with WBO titlist Terence Crawford for the undisputed title on July 29 on Showtime PPV and took a one-sided loss. Crawford dominated the fight, scored three knockdowns and stopped Spence in the ninth round of a shockingly non-competitive bout.
Next fight: Spence has the contractual right for an immediate rematch against Crawford. If he invokes that right, Crawford will have the right to determine if the fight is at welterweight or junior middleweight, which is the division a weight-drained Spence said after the loss that he would like it to take place in.
Ideal next fight: After such a thorough beatdown from Crawford, a rematch is definitely not the ideal fight. But assuming Spence wants a legit fight, one with Tim Tszyu for the WBO junior middleweight title would fit the bill and be a quality match.
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