Boxing
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez reveals his top three fighters without division by weight class
Perhaps the only thing more pointless than making a top 10 pound-for-pound list is arguing about a top 10 pound-for-pound list. Ultimately, doing so will produce no winner, will yield no reward, and will ultimately only serve to highlight the impossibility of understanding what exactly the pound-for-pound list represents.
As for what it supposedly represents, it means, like most things, different things to different people. Ultimately, however, a pound-for-pound list is only good for wasting time and generating debate. It serves no greater purpose than that, and certainly has no bearing on any particular fighter’s legacy or status in the sport.
That said, for those interested in such things, here are the top three without a pound-by-pound breakdown according to Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez: “For me, (Oleksandr) Usyk is number one, (Naoya) Inoue is number two, and (Terence) Crawford is number three. Usyk is the undisputed heavyweight champion; there’s nothing better”. As for the overall value of the list without a pound breakdown, Rodriguez, 19-0 (12), said: “At first, honestly, I never cared about it (the list). But once I was put on the list without a pound breakdown, it was more of a shock than anything else. From then on, I wanted to stay on that list and be listed among the best players in that top ten. Getting on the list is something I want, and this fight will move me even higher if I win.”
Already, having not defeated Juan Francisco Estrada, his opponent on Saturday (June 29), Jesse Rodriguez is considered one of the best fighters without division into weight classes in this sport. But with a victory on Saturday, the Texan will know that he will not only join the elite – that is, move up the list without division by weight class – but will achieve more at the age of 24 than most fighters can imagine. In fact, just being on a list like this at this age, whether he’s 10 or at the top, is a testament to both his talent and the rate at which he’s developing.
Rodriguez taunts and defeats Shining Edwards in December (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
But in the end, it’s the wins that matter, not the fans’ opinions. That’s why it was witty to watch the passionate reaction of Turki Alalshikh, one of the most powerful men in the sport, after he came across a specific list without weight division last month. Alalshikh, recent to the game, posted this top 10 list on social media and wrote under it: “(Naoya) Inoue is a great boxer, but (Terence) Crawford is number one regardless of weight class. I don’t know how the rankings work or if there are clear criteria, but there seems to be some personal opinions and inconsistencies involved. I believe that boxing needs one entity that will judge with transparency and credibility. I will soon support a project on this matter.”
A post too good to ignore, it’s difficult to know exactly where to start. First, if there’s one place where personal opinions have no bearing on the pound-for-pound lists – or their rankings at all – it’s BoxRec.com, where, of course, everything is computer-generated and done on points. system. This doesn’t mean their rankings are perfect, quite the contrary, but any accusations of bias are basically moot when it comes to this site.
Secondly, the idea that BoxRec.com’s pound-for-pound list should be an impetus for change in an unruly sport like boxing is bizarre in the extreme. Moreover, the notion that sport needs a single “crystal clear and credible judging entity” becomes equally absurd when you consider the types of people involved in providing so-called ratings, transparency and credibility. Ideally, everything in the sport would be better regulated and streamlined, but to think that something like that is the future of boxing is a bit quixotic to say the least.
Moreover, despite talk of “personal opinions and inaccuracies”, Alalshikh’s response to BoxRec.com’s pound-for-pound list comes from exactly the same place, no doubt inspired by the fact that he is currently working with Terence Crawford, a man whom says. And by the way, that’s fine too, because Alalshikh’s view that Crawford is number one in terms of price to pound ratio is neither ridiculous nor his view alone. In fact, it’s a view shared by many, reinforced even more after Crawford’s stunning 2023 victory over welterweight rival and fellow pound-for-pound title challenger Errol Spence.
Terence Crawford stops Errol Spence in July (Getty Images)
Maybe Alalshikh is just excited, that’s all. Maybe as a newcomer and shaker in the sport, he’s testing the limits of his power and seeing how far he can go. Maybe, with Naoya Inoue recently adding a great performance to his legacy against Luis Nery, and Oleksandr Usyk doing the same with a win over Tyson Fury, the pound-for-pound debate is becoming a worthy topic of conversation; or at least as worthy as it can be. Maybe next month, when Crawford fights Israil Madrimov, we’ll have an even clearer picture of where these three (Crawford, Inoue, and Usyk) fall on a list that really doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Indeed, the best that can be said about it is this: the sport, in terms of top-level talent, is in good shape. That is to say, in Crawford, Inoue and Usyk we have three men whose skills would probably have allowed them to flourish in any previous era in boxing history. These are not simply three men who are world champions in their weight classes and are now enjoying long, unbeaten streaks. Rather, they are three of the most talented we have ever seen in the sport, and they just happen to have reached their peaks at roughly the same time.
Usyk defeats Fury (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
This trio is so good that it’s difficult to guess which one will stumble first; that is, they will give way in a race in which they do not even realize they are competing. There have been almost no signs so far. Inoue, it’s true, was knocked down for the first time in his professional career against Nery, but the way he turned the tide in that fight only added credibility to his claim to be number one. Similarly, Usyk, despite being somewhat handicapped as a relatively miniature heavyweight, is now achieving feats that the likes of Inoue and Crawford are unable to achieve by virtue of fighting opponents who weigh as much as they do. In the fight for number one without a pound division, this is definitely a must-have.
Which of course it does. Like the list itself, being a heavyweight means both everything and nothing to Usyk. It means the Ukrainian’s accomplishments will always have an x-factor that those of Crawford and Inoue lack, and it also means that the pound-for-pound list becomes even more meaningless than it does when we only rank fighters whose legacies are built against opponents who weigh as much as they do.
Already, one could argue that these three – Usyk, Crawford and Inoue – are overreacting. Usyk, chasing the massive heavyweight dogs, overdoes it every time he competes, while Crawford and Inoue, whether for money or pound-for-pound supremacy, are forever associated with fights that are only realistic to a certain type of fan. In this case, that means Canelo Alvarez for Crawford and Gervonta Davis for Inoue, which on the one hand excites, but on the other hand makes you question not only the sanity of those involved in the sport, but from time to time the health of the sport itself.
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