Terence Crawford and Errol Spence scored knockout victories in back to back weeks, but who’s number 1 on our P4P boxing list?
The first half of 2018 is drawing to an end and we’ve already seen some of the top fighters in boxing put on spectacular performances. So it’s time to put out a new pound for pound list.
The list is based off a combination of career accomplishments and current form.
Here are our top 10 boxers pound for pound.
10. Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) WBA, WBO, IBF heavyweight champion
Joshua had knocked out every opponent he’s faced until he defeated Joseph Parker by unanimous decision in March and won the WBO title.
Although he captured his third belt in defeating Parker, it wasn’t an impressive performance as he looked slow.
Joshua is more technically sound than Deontay Wilder but isn’t nearly as fast or athletic. Hopefully, soon these two will meet and give the fans the fight everyone wants to see.
9. Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) WBC heavyweight champion
Technique wise, Wilder possesses several flaws as he is often too wild and off balance when he throws punches. But he also has explosive and devastating knockout power which is why he’s knocked out every opponent he’s faced.
He and his team are doing all they can to secure a fight with Anthony Joshua so that we can find out once and for all who’s the best heavyweight in the world.
8. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (45-4, 40 KOs) WBC junior bantamweight champion
Rungvisai came into the mainstream of boxing when he defeated Roman Gonzalez by majority decision in March of 2017. To show that victory was not a fluke, he followed up that win by fighting Gonzalez again in September and knocked him out cold in round four.
Following his victories over Gonzalez, he outpointed Juan Francisco Estrada in February.
7. Canelo Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) middleweight contender
Alvarez has come under scrutiny due to his two failed drug test for the banned performance-enhancing drug clenbuterol, in which Alvarez and his camp blamed it on contaminated meat.
Of the fighters on this list, Alvarez has the most impressive names on his resume defeating the likes of Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. He’ll look to show the people who think he’s a dirty fighter wrong in his rematch with GGG on Sept. 15.
6. Sergey Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) WBO light heavyweight champion
Aside from his two losses to former pound for pound king Andre Ward in November of 2016 and June of 2017, Kovalev has been on a path of destruction for the past several years.
He is still, pound-for-pound, one of the hardest punchers in the sport, and he’ll look to prove that once again when he takes on Eleider Alvarez on Aug 4.
[membership level="0"] [/membership]5. Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs) WBC lightweight champion
Based on pure skill, Garcia is as talented as anybody on this list. In his two most recent fights, he easily outpointed Adrien Broner and Sergey Lipinets.
Now he faces one of the toughest challenges of his career when he takes on IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr (21-0, 14 KOs) on July 28.
4. Gennady Golvkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) WBC and WBA middleweight champion
Despite showing signs of slowing down, the 36-year-old Golovkin is still the best middleweight in the world until someone proves otherwise.
He destroyed Vanes Martirosyan in two rounds in May and will now look to settle his feud with Canelo Alvarez in their rematch on Sept. 15.
3. Errol Spence Jr (24-0, 21 KOs) IBF welterweight champion
Spence is the fastest rising star in boxing. Over the last 13 months, he’s put forth knock-out wins over Kell Brook and Lamont Peterson, both of whom were top-tier welterweights.
He knocked out the overmatched Carlos Ocampo in round one on June 16 with a devastating body shot and hopes to fight the winner of Danny Garcia versus Shawn Porter in the near future.
2. Vasyl Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) WBA lightweight champion
Just like Crawford, Lomachenko recently became a three-division champion when he knocked out Jorge Linares to become the new WBA lightweight champion.
He may only have 12 fights on his resume, but he’s already defeated solid fighters in Linares, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Nicholas Walters and Gary Russell Jr., which is why he’s second on our list.
1. Terence Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs) WBO welterweight champion
When Crawford defeated Jeff Horn by ninth-round TKO on June 9, he not only became the new WBO welterweight champion, but earned his third world title in a third weight class.
The 30-year-old Crawford can beat you in various ways. He can fight in a conventional stance or southpaw stance and can outbox or outslug his opponents.
It’s been years since he’s been in a competitive fight and that’s why he’s number one on our list.
Honorable Mentions
- Leo Santa Cruz
- Naoya Inoue
