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Who is the king of P4P in boxing? Inoue, Usyk, Crawford presented their arguments

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3 months ago

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Who is the king of P4P in boxing? Inoue, Usyk, Crawford presented their arguments

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?

Vote

Who is no. 1 pound for pound now?

This survey is closed

  • 47%

    Aleksander Usyk

    (794 votes)

  • 16%

    Terence “Bud” Crawford

    (274 votes)


A total of 1,661 votes

Vote now

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Analysis

Mbilli vs Derevyanchenko: Live scores, RBR, how to watch

Published

24 minutes ago

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January 7, 2025

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Mbilli vs Derevyanchenko: Live scores, RBR, how to watch

Results

  • Christian Mbilla UD-10 Sergiy Derevyanchenko (98-92, 99-91, 100-90)
  • Guido Vianello TKO-8 Arslanbek Makhmudov (0:01)

Christian Mbilli puts his undefeated record on the line today against tough veteran Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the gala broadcast from Quebec City on ESPN.

Live coverage will begin at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+, with early prelim action beginning at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Mbilli (27-0, 23 KO) is potentially in prime position to face Canelo Alvarez in 2025, which isn’t a guarantee, but he needs to win today to even stay in that potential lineup. Derevyanchenko (15-5, 10 KO) doesn’t have the best record in the WL, but if you’ve seen him fight, you know he can fight, and he’s only lost to top-class fighters. It’s a test Mbilli may yet pass.

Also on the card: Arslanbek Makhmudov (19-1, 18 KO) will fight Guido Vianello (12-2-1, 10 KO) in heavyweight, and Osleys Iglesias (11-0, 10 KO) will fight Sena in super middleweight Agbeko (28-3, 22 KO) will be for many people the first chance to see Iglesias, a Cuban who started his professional career mainly in Germany, and is currently fighting in Quebec, following consecutive first-round knockouts of Marcelo Coceres and Yevgeny Szwedenko.

Live updates, highlights and results will appear in the stream below:

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Analysis

Shakur Stevenson talks about the expectations surrounding his boxing legacy

Published

22 hours ago

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January 7, 2025

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Shakur Stevenson talks about the expectations surrounding his boxing legacy

Shakur Stevenson spent some time in-depth chatting with his mentor Andre Ward to discuss a number of topics including being a free agent, his latest fight and fan criticism, Gervonta Davis and more. Watch the full video interview in the link at the top, plus some excerpts from what Stevenson had to say below.

Stevenson on what he looks for when signing his next endorsement deal

“I just want to be in the biggest and best fights… the same fight I just had, with Artem. If it was a name that people knew and it was like a gigantic name and I had the exact same fight, they would do it. say it’s a masterpiece. They’d say it’s the greatest thing they’ve ever seen defensively and in the pocket.

“I just want to perform in front of the names, I want to be in front of the guys that they think are so good so that I can show what level I am at. So whatever situation puts me in front of my biggest and best fights, I’m OK with that.”

On whether his beef with Gervonta Davis is real or just “boxing beef”

“It’s bigger than boxing, I guess you could say, because I like the story and everything that happened… I know [that fight] will happen. I mean, I’m the best, he’s the best. You have two best players, how can you not fight? The only way you couldn’t fight is if one of them isn’t like that and someone leaves to lose, or someone takes the L. But I think for both of us, we’re fighters who are really good fighters and that’s it level.”

About what he expects from his boxing legacy

“I think I’ll go down in history as probably the best defensive player to ever do it. I want to be one of the best, I want to be on that GOAT mountain you’re sitting on, Pernell Whitaker, Floyd Mayweather, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali… I’m just trying to climb it and get there.

“When all is said and done, they will respect me.”

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Analysis

Eddie Hearn talks about the rift between Turki Alalshikh and Canelo Alvarez

Published

3 days ago

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January 5, 2025

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Eddie Hearn talks about the rift between Turki Alalshikh and Canelo Alvarez

In this video interview, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn talks about his position between Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh, who is basically financing the biggest fights in boxing lately, and Mexican star Canelo Alvarez, who is not interested in continuing negotiations with Alalshikh at the moment.

While there is clearly some tension between the parties, Hearn doesn’t think it’s something that can’t be overcome in the end, and tries to explain the difference in the two people’s thinking.

About the beef between Canelo and Turki Alashikh

“It’s hard because obviously I really like both. I think, first of all, His Excellency has one thing in mind: to fight the biggest fights that can be fought in boxing. I think he probably shares the frustration of boxing fans over the last few years and I think what he brings to the sport is incredibly refreshing in that he’s not interested in delicate fights.

“He just wants to fight the biggest fights that can be fought. So, according to His Excellency, the fights he wants to see are Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez vs. David Benavidez.

“He contacted me, His Excellency, on the evening of the first press conference in Novel York and said, ‘I want to do the Canelo vs. Crawford fight, go and talk to Saul, let’s do the fight.’ I said, “Okay,” and I contacted Saul and said, “His Excellency wants to fight this fight. I think you should go see him in Los Angeles, he’s there,” and Saul just said, “Listen, I’m focused on this fight, I’m not talking about another fight until this fight is over.

“And I think His Excellency probably can’t understand… I think it’s a frustration of, ‘no, let’s have a fight, come on.’ You have to understand the way it works, and the way they do business is amazing. It’s “this is what we want to do, this is huge, let’s do it.” And for one reason or another, Canelo didn’t want to have those conversations, and then there was the frustration of “why not, we’re here, we can make a deal right now”… you come to the hotel now and we’ll make a deal tonight.

“It’s an amazing way to operate and extremely refreshing for boxing, but Canelo didn’t want to do the deal this way. He wanted to wait until the Berlanga fight, which, frustratingly for His Excellency, wipes out the February fight with Crawford because he wants to end the fight now.”

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