Boxing usually has a pretty clear pound-for-pound formula, but Naoya Inoue and Terence “Bud” Crawford have been fighting for that recognition for quite some time now. And now we have a third man who has undoubtedly joined the conversation.

With his victory over Tyson Fury last Saturday, Oleksandr Usyk became the undisputed heavyweight champion, undoubtedly sealing his Hall of Fame boxing legacy and creating a three-way dance in P4P conversations.

Pound for Pound is, of course, primarily a marketing tool and always has been, and is best known as a source of conversation for pundits and fans alike. Heavyweights are rarely honestly considered for the top spot, but Usyk is a occasional case, a natural cruiserweight who has done something extremely occasional.

So who deserves to be called no. 1? At the beginning of June, our employees will provide updated information and vote. Last time, Inoue still took first place, receiving four of the five first-place votes. One suspects that at least one or two votes may change. Crawford had the remaining majority of votes, finishing second, and Usyk was third, finishing first. 3 seats on all five ballots.

Let’s take a look at each man in the race.

Naoya Inoue

• Reigning undisputed super bantamweight champion, after undisputed achievement at bantamweight.
• Deeper in his history, he also won the junior flyweight and super flyweight titles, and would certainly have won at least one flyweight belt if he hadn’t jumped the division.
• 22 of his 27 professional fights were world title fights.
• Dominant, rarely facing greater adversity.
• Some believe he lacks true, final victory. The fight of the year in 2019 with Nonito Donaire will likely be his closest, and it was without a doubt his toughest night in the ring. He’s fought plenty of quality opponents, but he doesn’t have the brand – at least for some fans – of a win like Usyk over Fury or Crawford over Errol Spence Jr.
• The many worthwhile victories on his resume are not inconsistent with names familiar to many fans – especially the American and European ones who make up the majority of these discussions – and that gives another impression that this is not the case To have mainly by improving quality. But it is true.

Aleksander Usyk

• The undisputed heavyweight champion, the first in the four-belt era, which dates back to 2007, which is longer than you think. Former undisputed cruiserweight champion.
• He has obvious huge wins over Fury and twice over Anthony Joshua, and he also beat the best cruiserweights available when he was in the division before moving up to chase and achieve heavyweight glory.
• 11 of the 22 fights were world title fights. It doesn’t match Inoue’s numbers, but it’s still an amazing ratio.
• Not as purely dominant as the other two. Chris Algieri recently put it this way after the Fury fight: We’ve seen Usyk wrestle as an amateur, where he won an Olympic gold medal, and in the cruiserweight division, where he was the undisputed champion, and definitely in the heavyweight division, where he was now the undisputed champion. He just keeps winning. It’s not like he’s bombing everyone or anything, he has to “think up” a lot of the fights. But he always does it. And when you do it for so long, with such consistency, it’s not about luck or breaks. The point is that he supports his fantastic skills with an exceptional boxing IQ and extremely high mental fortitude.
• The cruiserweight fight is a bit like Inoue’s knockout in that he beat everyone he could, but only the die-hards know who these guys actually are. Honestly, this conversation is best left to die-hards, but it will never be completely effective.

Terence “Bud” Crawford

• Former undisputed champion in the welterweight and super lightweight divisions.
• He also won the lightweight world title and will be aiming for a fourth division in August. On January 3, he will move up to super welterweight to face Israil Madrimov.
• The long-awaited showdown with Errol Spence Jr. has finally happened. and I just absolutely crushed him and took him to the woodshed and beat up the guy of all time.
• Like Inoue, he was largely dominant. Very few presented a significant challenge.
• For years, he was aware that he wasn’t facing the best opponent, just like the other two, but in a different way. Crawford’s problem was that the welterweight signed with Top Rank, who simply didn’t have access to the top names in the division. So he beat faded versions of Amir Khan and Kell Brook, guys like Jose Benavidez Jr and Egidijus Kavaliauskas, and when he left Top Rank after beating Shawn Porter – who had already been through the PBC wringer and retired after the Crawford fight – he made a one-time overnight extorting money from David Avanesyan. But when he finally got the Spence fight, it ultimately looked like the PBC guys had a multi-year tournament at their disposal to qualify for a chance to get burned by “Bud” Crawford.

So who do you have?

To be clear, I don’t think this is a bad choice! We’re really content that three guys like this are doing so much to start this conversation. This is a great fight because each of them is qualified, deserves it, and will undoubtedly make it to Canastota one day*.

*(If you can dispute this, please look up who is in the International Boxing Hall of Fame and come back still believing that that line is Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson and not people like Barry McGuigan and Arturo Gatti. )

So who has YOUR vote?