Who’s really the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world?
Here are The Independent’s rankings for top 10 men’s boxers
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Your support makes all the difference.The boxing landscape is arguably as intriguing as it has ever been, with more big fights over the last two years than there had been in decades.
That is largely due to the arrival of Saudi Arabia in the boxing space, an arrival that has proven controversial from a political and ethical point of view, but one that has delivered fans the match-ups they long desired.
Among those fights have been Tyson Fury’s back-to-back duels with Oleksandr Usyk in 2023, with the Ukrainian overcoming the Briton twice – and the first of those wins crowning Usyk the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 24 years.
Of course, though, top talent has sparkled elsewhere. Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue have emerged as undisputed champions in recent years, with the latter consistently drawing huge audiences in his native Japan. Meanwhile, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez continues to be one of boxing’s biggest stars.
All of these fighters, fights and results have factored into The Independent’s own top 10, pound-for-pound rankings for men’s boxers, to be updated regularly. While there’s no exact science to putting together lists such as this, a number of factors have been considered, including each fighter’s overall record, recent results, frequency of activity and calibre of opposition.
Here is our list as of 31 January 2024...
The Independent’s pound-for-pound rankings
10. Tyson Fury (34-1-2, 24 knockouts)
Fury’s first major moment came in late 2015, when he dethroned Wladimir Klitschko with a stunning performance in Germany, becoming unified heavyweight champion. Their rematch fell through as the Briton failed two drug tests – for a recreational substance and a performance enhancer, respectively – and gained huge amounts of weight. Fury subsequently vacated the belts and took a hiatus from boxing, citing struggles with his mental health.
After returning in 2018, Fury soon found himself in a trilogy with WBC champion Deontay Wilder, whom he stopped twice after their controversial draw – in which the “Gypsy King” miraculously climbed off the canvas in round 12. There were other bouts along the way, but none of much note until Fury scraped past UFC great Francis Ngannou in 2023. The latter, making his boxing debut, dropped a humiliated Fury and was unlucky not to win via decision.
Fury’s narrow win over Ngannou finally took him to an undisputed fight with Oleksandr Usyk, whom Fury faced in May 2024, losing a split decision in an instant classic – with the Ukrainian almost stopping Fury along the way. Their rematch, in December, was also gripping, though Usyk won it more comfortably. Those results marked the first two losses of Fury’s career, leading him to “retire” (for the fourth or fifth time...) in January.
9. Jai Opetaia (27-0, 21 KOs)
The Australian entered our rankings after his vicious stoppage of David Nyika in January, a fourth-round finish that kept Opetaia unbeaten – and kept the IBF cruiserweight belt around his waist. The southpaw, 29, is now eyeing unification bouts in the division, with Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez likely next, and fans believe no one at cruiserweight can stop Opetaia. In fact, some feel that his only true challenges would come at higher weights. That ties into his promoter, Eddie Hearn, pushing for an eventual bout with Oleksandr Usyk at heavyweight... We’re not against it. In recent years, Opetaia has scored two decision wins over Mairis Briedis, highlight knockouts of Ellis Zorro and Jordan Thompson, and a bullying TKO of Jack Massey.
8. Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs)
The American, 27, was already a two-weight world champion by the time he was 24. Now Stevenson is a rising force at lightweight, as he looks to build upon his significant success at featherweight – where he was WBO champion – and super-featherweight, where he was unified champion. In 2023, the unbeaten Stevenson won the WBC interim lightweight title, which was later upgraded when Devin Haney vacated his undisputed belts. Stevenson retained the official strap in July, beating Artem Harutyunyan comfortably on points. Clashes with Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia and Haney are alluring prospects – but first up, he faces Floyd Schofield in February.
7. Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs; 1 No Contest)
The American, 26, entered our list with two straight clinics against George Kambosos Jr in 2022, when he twice went to the Australian’s home country – becoming and remaining undisputed lightweight champion across those bouts. A narrow, disputed decision win over Vasiliy Lomachenko followed in 2023, before Haney vacated his belts and eased past Regis Prograis to claim the WBC super-lightweight strap.
The latter win brought Haney up to No 5 in our rankings, and he looked like a future No 1. But in a stunning turn of events, the “Dream” was dropped three times in a decision loss to Ryan Garcia in April – a truly shocking result. Yet due to Garcia’s failed weigh-in, Haney kept the WBC belt, and it was later revealed that the challenger had failed two pre-fight drug tests.
The Russian, who fights out of Canada, has been a dominant light-heavyweight champion. Some talked up Callum Smith’s chances in January 2024, but the champion dismantled his challenger with ease. Even at 39, Beterbiev looked as powerful as ever, dropping dropped Smith twice to force a stoppage. With that, Beterbiev retained the WBC, WBO and IBF titles and improved his record to a perfect 20-0 with 20 KOs. Ahead of his fight with Smith, Beterbiev returned an ‘atypical’ drug-test result but was cleared to compete, and his win set up an undisputed clash with the next man on this list: Dmitry Bivol.
An injury to Beterbiev delayed the long-awaited bout, but it arrived in October and delivered. A strategic showdown over 12 rounds, Beterbiev finally met a foe he couldn’t knock out, but the older man still won – securing a disputed points victory to become undisputed champion. The nature of that fight and result keep Beterbiev and Bivol where they were on our list, though. They run it back in February, with Beterbiev now 40.
5. Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs)
Entered our list in May 2022, following his stunning victory over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. The Russian remained unbeaten and retained the WBA light-heavyweight title with that result, which he achieved by fighting on the front foot, picking his shots wisely, and almost producing almost double his opponent’s output.
Bivol, 34, was then tasked with getting past the unbeaten Gilberto Ramirez and Lyndon Arthur, beating both on points with aggressive and sharp performances. Next up was set to be a unification fight with compatriot Beterbiev, but an injury to the latter saw him replaced by Malik Zinad, whom Bivol stopped for his first KO in six years. Then, as mentioned above, the fight with Beterbiev was worth the wait, with Bivol boxing as close to perfectly as one could against such a heavy hitter. He was unfortunate not to get the win.
4. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs)
In the 11 years since his loss to Floyd Mayweather, the Mexican has established himself as the face of boxing, with wins against Erislandy Lara, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Gennadiy Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders, Jermell Charlo and many more. The effectiveness of the 34-year-old’s counter-punching, slickness of his head movement and beauty of his body work make him a joy to watch.
Detractors will point to Alvarez’s clenbuterol controversy in 2018 and controversial scorecards in a few of his wins. Supporters will give more credence to Canelo’s admirable level of activity and his great number of formidable foes. His three victories in 2021 – all stoppages – saw him become boxing’s first ever undisputed super-middleweight champion. A title holder in four weight classes, the Mexican however failed to add a second light-heavyweight belt to his collection when he was outpointed by Bivol in 2022.
That result marked just the second defeat of Canelo’s professional career and saw him drop from No 1 in our list. He rebounded with a decisive points win against ageing rival Golovkin, though that result proved little at this point. The ambitious Mexican then retained his super-middleweight belts against John Ryder, Charlo, Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga. He dropped all four men en route to points wins.
3. Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs)
An Olympic gold medalist who reigned as the only undisputed cruiserweight champion of the four-belt era before moving up to heavyweight, where he became WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO champion in 2021 by outpointing Anthony Joshua with relative ease. The Ukrainian, 37, then beat Joshua on points again in 2022 to retain his titles and stay unbeaten. In August 2023, the southpaw stopped Daniel Dubois after recovering from a controversial ‘low blow’, again demonstrating that he is as technical and awkward as they come in the heavier weight classes.
His first win over Fury delivered after so much hype, with his dominant ninth round showing his power carried up to the heavyweight division – the definition of a pound-for-pound great. He then did the double over Fury with an even more comfortable points win in the rematch, establishing himself as the unlikely greatest heavyweight of this generation. It is worth saying there is very little to separate Usyk and the next two names on this list...
2. Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs)
The four-weight champion has one of the most impressive resumes in the sport, and it just keeps getting better. Six of the American’s last 10 opponents were undefeated before facing him, and nine were stopped by Crawford. Wins against big-name boxers Kell Brook and Shawn Porter in 2020 and 2021 enhanced the 37-year-old’s profile, before Crawford stopped David Avanesyan in December 2022.
Then, in July 2023, he schooled Errol Spence Jr in what was billed as the fight of the decade, delivering a masterclass to expose a bigger gap between the southpaws than anyone had predicted. In stopping Spence after scoring three knockdowns, Crawford took his rival’s three titles to become undisputed at welterweight. The victory also made “Bud” the first man in boxing history to become undisputed champion in two weight classes, following his brief reign atop the super-lightweight division.
He has since moved up to super-welterweight, where he outpointed Israil Madrimov in a professional showing in August.
1. Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs)
One of the lesser-known names on this list to the more casual fan, the Japanese does not lack in prowess what he may lack in profile. Inoue has one of the best stoppage percentages in our rankings, part of what makes him such an exciting athlete to watch – along with his effortless evasiveness, brutal body attacks, and frightening level of output.
The 31-year-old stopped Paul Butler in December 2022 to become undisputed bantamweight champion – and the first Asian boxer to hold four world titles in a weight class at once – having previously held gold at light-flyweight and super-flyweight. However, he vacated his bantamweight belts in January 2023 to move up and challenge Stephen Fulton.
In July 2023, Inoue took Fulton apart to hand the American his first pro loss and take his WBC and WBO super-bantamweight titles. That win saw the “Monster” become a four-weight world champion, further vindicating his No 1 spot, before a spectacular performance to become undisputed in two divisions (just the second man ever to do so) by stopping Marlon Tapales.
For the first time in his career, Inoue looked vulnerable when he was dropped in round one by Luis Nery last May, but the champion fought back in stunning fashion. Inoue dropped the former two-weight champion three times en route to a sixth-round win, suggesting that a wounded “Monster” is the most dangerous one yet. Then came a defence versus TJ Doheny, with the Irish veteran unfortunately suffering an injury as Inoue shifted through the gears.