Boxing has a habit of making predictions look foolish. At the end of 2025, the question was simple enough: who deserved to be crowned Boxer of the Year?

The shortlist was stacked. Terence Crawford had produced one of the defining performances of his career against Canelo Álvarez. Naoya Inoue had spent the year dismantling world-class opposition. Oleksandr Usyk remained the heavyweight division’s ultimate problem, while Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez continued his rapid rise towards pound-for-pound greatness.

At the time, there was a strong case for Inoue. Four fights. Four wins. Four successful defences of his undisputed super-bantamweight crown.

But with the benefit of hindsight, the argument has become even more interesting.

Because the official awards did not produce one unanimous answer.

Terence Crawford: The Perfect Ending

If 2025 taught us anything about Terence Crawford, it was that sometimes one fight really is enough.

Crawford entered September with an unbeaten record, an already exceptional résumé and very little left to prove. Then he moved up two weight divisions to challenge Canelo Álvarez for the undisputed super-middleweight championship.

Few expected the jump from 154lbs to 168lbs to be straightforward. Canelo was the established champion, the bigger man and one of the biggest stars boxing had produced in the modern era.

Crawford simply outboxed him.

Over 12 rounds in Las Vegas, “Bud” produced a masterclass in timing, movement, defence and adaptability, winning by unanimous decision and becoming the first male boxer in the four-belt era to become undisputed champion in three weight divisions.

Then came the twist.

Crawford retired.

His December 2025 retirement announcement meant that the Canelo victory was not the beginning of another chapter. It was the final page.

He walked away unbeaten at 42-0, having won world titles across five divisions, and with nothing left to prove. By January 2026, The Ring had officially named him its 2025 Fighter of the Year.

And that makes Crawford’s 2025 campaign difficult to argue against.

He only fought once.

But what a fight it was.

As of October 2026, Crawford remains retired and has repeatedly indicated that he has no desire to return. Even with talk of potential blockbuster fights, including speculation around a comeback, Crawford’s position has remained clear: he left boxing on his own terms.

For a Fighter of the Year debate, that matters.

Crawford didn’t simply have a great 2025. He finished his career at the summit.

Naoya Inoue: The Argument for Activity

If Crawford provided the single biggest performance, Naoya Inoue provided the most sustained excellence.

“The Monster” entered 2025 as the undisputed super-bantamweight champion and proceeded to make four successful defences.

Ye Joon Kim was stopped in January. Ramón Cárdenas pushed Inoue considerably harder in Las Vegas, even dropping the Japanese superstar before eventually being stopped. Murodjon Akhmadaliev was then beaten comfortably before Inoue closed the year against Alan David Picasso Romero in Riyadh.

That final victory was particularly important.

The win over Picasso took Inoue to 32-0 with 27 knockouts and completed a remarkable 4-0 championship campaign.

That is the strongest argument against giving Crawford the award.

Activity matters.

So does consistency.

And Inoue delivered both.

The prediction made at the end of 2025 was that if Inoue could complete that final defence, he would deserve the crown. He did exactly that.

In fact, the WBC agreed, naming Inoue its Fighter of the Year for 2025.

The wider awards landscape therefore tells an interesting story. Crawford won The Ring‘s prestigious award, while Inoue was recognised by the WBC and several other boxing outlets.

So was the original prediction wrong?

Not really.

It was just a prediction caught in a genuinely split debate.

And Inoue has done little since to weaken his case.

Where Is Inoue Now?

Inoue’s dominance has continued into 2026.

He successfully defended his undisputed junior featherweight championship against Junto Nakatani in May, winning a unanimous decision in one of the most anticipated fights of the year.

That victory only strengthened the feeling that Inoue belongs in the very highest tier of boxing’s pound-for-pound conversation.

Now the question is no longer whether he has achieved enough at 122lbs.

It is whether he should move up again.

Potential fights at featherweight are beginning to emerge, with Brandon Figueroa among those openly discussing the possibility of welcoming Inoue to 126lbs.

That is the fascinating thing about Inoue.

The conversation keeps moving.

First it was whether he could become undisputed.

Then whether he could defend all four belts.

Then whether he could conquer another division.

Now the question is how far his greatness can actually extend.

Oleksandr Usyk: Still the Heavyweight Standard

Usyk’s case for 2025 was always slightly different.

He only fought once, which made it difficult to put him ahead of Crawford or Inoue when considering a traditional Fighter of the Year award.

But that one fight was another statement.

Usyk stopped Daniel Dubois at Wembley in July 2025, once again demonstrating the footwork, movement and technical intelligence that have made him one of the most difficult heavyweights of his generation.

The Ukrainian’s heavyweight résumé had already become extraordinary, with two wins over Anthony Joshua, two over Tyson Fury and two over Dubois.

His 2025 campaign added another chapter.

But Usyk has continued fighting in 2026, and his latest chapter has been considerably stranger.

In May, he faced Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. What initially looked like a potentially straightforward crossover bout turned into a serious test. Verhoeven pushed Usyk deep into the fight before the Ukrainian finally stopped him with one second remaining in the 11th round.

It was not Usyk’s most convincing performance.

But it was another demonstration of championship character.

As of October 2026, Usyk is still unbeaten at 25-0 and appears to be approaching the final stage of his career. He has previously spoken about having only a small number of fights remaining, while a potential farewell fight with Deontay Wilder is now off amid claims that Usyk priced himself out of the contest. With speculation continuing over his next opponent, boxing remains a popular topic of discussion across entertainment platforms, including social casinos online. A third fight with Daniel Dubois also remains a possibility.

The 2025 Boxer of the Year debate may have passed him by.

The all-time-great debate certainly hasn’t.

Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez: The Quiet Rise of a Pound-for-Pound Star

Then there is Jesse Rodriguez.

While Crawford and Inoue grabbed the headlines, Rodriguez quietly continued building one of the most impressive résumés in boxing.

His 2025 campaign featured victories over Phumelela Cafu and Fernando Daniel Martinez, adding further world-level success to a résumé that already included wins over names such as Juan Francisco Estrada, Sunny Edwards and Carlos Cuadras.

Rodriguez’s development has been particularly impressive because he has not simply been beating opponents.

He has been moving through weight divisions while doing it.

And that trend continued in 2026.

Rodriguez moved up to bantamweight and stopped Antonio Vargas in the sixth round to claim another world title, making him a three-division world champion.

The result has pushed him even further into the pound-for-pound conversation.

More importantly, it has created the possibility of something boxing fans would have dreamed about when this article was originally written: Rodriguez eventually sharing the ring with Inoue.

Rodriguez has already made his intentions clear.

And if he continues climbing the divisions, that potential matchup becomes one of the most intriguing fights boxing can make.

So, Who Actually Deserved It?

Looking back, there are two answers.

If the question is who had the most remarkable individual achievement of 2025?it is difficult to look beyond Crawford.

He moved up two weight divisions, defeated one of the biggest stars in boxing and became undisputed champion in a third weight class.

Then he retired undefeated.

That is one hell of a final act.

If the question is who had the best overall campaignhowever, Inoue has an equally powerful argument.

Four fights.

Four wins.

Four world-title defences.

An unbeaten record.

And another year spent looking like one of the most technically complete fighters on the planet.

That is why the original prediction wasn’t unreasonable.

Inoue did everything required to make the argument.

The problem was that Crawford produced a moment so significant that it was almost impossible to ignore.

Many of us would have given Crawford the award, while the WBC went with Inoue.

Perhaps that is the fairest conclusion.

There was no bad choice.

The Verdict

If we are forced to put one name at the top, Crawford gets the nod.

Not because he was the busiest.

Not because he dominated the most opponents.

But because beating Canelo Alvarez at 168lbs, after moving up two divisions, was the defining achievement of 2025.

And then he walked away.

Inoue, though, deserves enormous credit for making the debate so close.

His four-fight campaign was arguably the year’s most impressive body of work, and his continued dominance into 2026 suggests the story is nowhere near finished.

Usyk remains one of the greatest heavyweights of the era, while Rodriguez is rapidly becoming one of boxing’s most dangerous young stars.

And that is ultimately what made the 2025 Boxer of the Year debate so compelling.

There was no shortage of greatness.

Crawford delivered the defining performance.

Inoue delivered the defining campaign.

Usyk continued to rewrite heavyweight history.

Rodriguez continued his march towards superstardom.

Looking back now, perhaps the real winner was boxing itself.

And with Inoue, Usyk and Rodriguez still active, there is every chance that the next Boxer of the Year debate will be even harder to settle.