World Boxing Information offers a whole historical past of the pound-for-pound number-one spot from 1970 to the current day in 2023.
It’s a title revered amongst boxers worldwide. One of many main speaking factors in modern-day boxing is the relevance of the pound-for-pound rankings listing among the many fighters.
A daily characteristic on most fight sports activities shops, P4P causes scorching debates with followers. Many have opinions on what system will get used to determine who’s the most effective fighter on the planet, no matter weight class.
For some spells up to now, the highest fighter has been a simple determination, like when Mike Tyson dominated the world within the eighties or when Muhammad Ali returned to slay the undefeated beast, George Foreman.
Different occasions, it’s a way more difficult alternative.
So WBN determined to return to when the game started to maneuver away from crowning one sole and recognizable face within the separate weight divisions.
To offer a definitive rundown of who was primary all through the a long time.
After the times when Sugar Ray Robinson, Floyd Patterson, Joe Louis, and Rocky Marciano dominated the game, pound-for-pound got here firmly into play with the addition of recent titles.
Pound for Pound Historical past 1970 – Current day
In 1970, unified welterweight champion Jose Napoles scored two victories over Curtis Cokes alongside a formidable efficiency towards Emile Griffith. These three triumphs noticed Napoles named Fighter of the 12 months for 1969, which he cemented in February of 1970 with a Fifteenth-round stoppage of Ernie Lopez.
Napoles would preserve the tag till December, when he misplaced for the fifth time towards Billy Backus. Napoles avenged the loss six months later. Sadly, “Smokin’” Joe Frazier had taken over P4P because the unified heavyweight titleholder.
Frazier stayed on the helm till January 1973. He then ran right into a formidable George Foreman. ‘Massive George’ overhauled the slugger with a knockout win that put concern into the boxing world.
Everyone knows what occurred subsequent.
Ali’s reign
Muhammad Ali’s ‘Rumble within the Jungle’ rope-a-dope’ shock made him the Pound for Pound champ for the primary time in his profession. A reign would final over 4 years till ‘The Biggest’ himself misplaced to underdog Leon Spinks.
‘Arms of Stone’ Roberto Duran then loved a quick time within the seat. Ali regained the world crown for an unprecedented third spell by avenging his loss to Spinks.
Attributable to age and loads of brutal fights, Ali’s profession declined rapidly. It was again to Duran to steer the boxing world into the brand new decade.
Duran’s notorious ‘No Mas’ defeat to Sugar Ray Leonard noticed the baton cross. Leonard stored it till the flashy American retired from the ring in 1982 as a consequence of a watch harm.
Hagler turns into the face
Because the heavyweight division continued a transitional interval, middleweight king Marvin Hagler was the face of the game. ‘The Marvellous One’ demolished his approach by all foes through the mid-’80s.
Hagler’s listing of victims included Duran and Thomas Hearns. Sadly, as a consequence of an absence of exercise in 1986, Mike Tyson’s achievement of turning into the youngest heavyweight champion at 20 gave them ample alternative to crown a brand new champion.
Tyson’s reign was transient as Leonard’s spectacular comeback towards Hagler noticed the title swap arms for the second time in 5 years.
Leonard’s resurgence was additionally fast, as soon as once more as a consequence of retirement.
Nevertheless, a brand new everlasting king of the world was coronated later that 12 months when the invincible ‘Iron’ Mike unified the highest division titles to change into undisputed.
Tyson remained on the high for 2 and half years earlier than his universe imploded towards James ‘Buster’ Douglas. This shock left the 200 kilos plus division once more to take a again seat to the decrease weight lessons.
Candy Pea’s Time
Pernell Whitaker loved a brief stint as pound-for-pound finest in 1990. Julio Cesar Chavez overhauled Whitaker when he gained within the remaining spherical towards Meldrick Taylor.
The Mexican legend started a reign till the pair met one another and fought out a stalemate in September 1993.
The Pound for Pound highlight then fell on the heavyweights once more briefly.
One other undisputed champion, Riddick “Massive Daddy” Bowe, took to the summit heading right into a rematch with Evander Holyfield.
Holyfield’s revenge victory at Caesar’s Palace would see the two-weight king prepared the ground. One of the crucial achieved of his period, Whitaker once more received rated as the most effective in April 1994.
Roy guidelines
‘Candy Pea’ was untouchable through the mid-’90s, rivaled solely by light-heavyweight king Roy Jones Jr.
The emergence of the “Golden Boy,” Oscar De La Hoya, altered the panorama. De La Hoya loved an outstanding pro-rank run, recent from his success on the 1992 Olympics.
De La Hoya defeated Whitaker on the Thomas and Mack Heart in April 1997 to push himself because the spearhead of boxing. It’s a title he’d loved for nearly two and a half years.
A reverse towards Felix Trinidad in September 1999 caused one more change. The Puerto Rican legend gained world titles at 154 and 160 kilos eighteen months after overthrowing De La Hoya.
It’s subsequently simple to argue the possibilities of a unified Lennox Lewis or the good Jones Jr. The latter respectively ran Trinidad shut for the P4P title.
Trinidad’s two-year spell ended when Bernard Hopkins took his crown in September 2001. Moreover, some inactivity for ‘The Executioner’ finally led to Jones Jr. getting boosted from the quantity two spot.
Right here comes the Cash
Jones loved an extended span as P4P finest till Antonio Tarver derailed his profession with one fateful blow in Might 2004.
The baton then fell again to Hopkins till a assured Floyd Mayweather lastly reached his future. Floyd undoubtedly hit the height when Hopkins shockingly misplaced twice to Jermain Taylor.
Mayweather was in a league of his personal as soon as he’d edged out Oscar De La Hoya in 2007. Manny Pacquiao then started to indicate superhuman powers, relentlessly transferring by division after division.
After a conflict with Shane Mosley, a self-imposed Mayweather retirement noticed Pacquiao swoop. Nevertheless, Pacquiao’s profession rival returned to take the WBC belt from Victor Ortiz in September 2011.
A six-fight cope with Showtime meant Mayweather opened up an extended renaissance interval. No person was capable of get close to him as a consequence of his huge expertise.
‘Cash’ stored his perch till hanging up his gloves in September 2015.
A 12 months later, with no signal of Mayweather returning and considering going through UFC fighters, a brand new pound-for-pound primary took over. The undefeated Nicaraguan sensation Roman Gonzalez hailed the start of the brand new period.
Enter Pac-Man
Two months later, although, Manny Pacquiao ended the brand new resurgence. He briefly took the mantle after regaining the WBO title towards Jessie Vargas.
God’s son and a GGG
Quickly after, Andre Ward moved up in weight to say Sergey Kovalev’s ‘0’ and prepared the ground for his first profession.
On September 22, 2017, Ward retired, leaving Gennadiy Golovkin to take the reigns after a formidable efficiency towards Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas.
Golovkin misplaced out on what ought to have been a defining win over the Mexican famous person by two judges who carded farcical scores on the T-Cellular Area.
5 months later, the pair introduced the highly-anticipated rematch. Nevertheless, Canelo shockingly examined constructive for a banned substance twice.
This state of affairs left ‘GGG’ inclined to being overtaken.
A one-sided win over Vanes Martirosyan, a predominant super-welterweight, was by no means sufficient to safe Golovkin’s place.
The Matrix revolution
On Might 12, 2018, Vasiliy Lomachenko took benefit seven days later. He beat off competitors from Terence Crawford to achieve the top.
Lomachenko defeated Jorge Linares over ten rounds after being dropped earlier within the struggle. He added the skilled primary crown to his legendary beginner standing.
Following an harm from the struggle, ‘Loma’ was out till December 2018. He returned to unify the division.
Canelo’s Period
Across the identical time, a assured Canelo Alvarez claimed a third-weight world title with a formidable efficiency at MSG.
Months later, after Lomachenko equally handled obligatory Anthony Crolla by way of TKO, Canelo lastly grabbed the highest cease by unifying at 160 kilos additional.
A sophisticated triumph towards Daniel Jacobs was sufficient to push Canelo over the road in his fifty fifth outing.
Lomachenko quickly reclaimed his pound-for-pound number-one place with a dominant win over Luke Campbell in London. He added the WBC light-weight model to his WBO and WBA titles. It was sufficient to overtake his rival and rule as soon as extra.
A number of challengers, together with high names in Naoya Inoue [after beating Nonito Donaire] and a resurgent Tyson Fury [after stopping Deontay Wilder], have been in competition by this time.
Nevertheless, to Lomachenko’s detriment, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Canelo clawed again the highest spot with a spectacular knockout of Sergey Kovalev. Canelo turned a four-weight ruler and cemented his place as an all-time nice.
At the start of 2020, Canelo had firmly established himself because the primary pound-for-pound fighter within the sport.
The Mexican famous person strengthened his place by turning into the undisputed super-middleweight champion in 2021.
Touchdown the WBN Fighter of the 12 months Award, Canelo went into 2022 as probably the most well-known boxer on this planet.
Nevertheless, taking over Dmitry Bivol in his greatest struggle at 175 kilos in a Might showdown, all of it crumbled for Canelo and his aura of invincibility.
An excellent title protection efficiency by an awesome fighter in Bivol halted his ambitions of going by the divisions.
Measurement does matter, as Bivol proved.
He’s really feel
Canelo’s demise was undoubtedly for the achieve of Oleksandr Usyk, who turned the pound-for-pound king from a earlier rating of two.
His undisputed achievements at cruiserweight and unified IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight victory over Anthony Joshua spoke for themselves.
Moreover, seven world title belts in three years meant few shops wanted little argument about who changed Canelo.
The New Period
Usyk held the coveted honor for over a 12 months till Naoya Inoue turned a four-weight champion and unified at Tremendous Bantamweight.
Sadly for Inoue, scheduling noticed him solely preserve his place for a paltry 4 days. That weekend, Terence Crawford demolished Errol Spence Jr. to change into a two-weight undisputed king.
Beforehand, WBN had deliberate to maintain Inoue on the high whatever the consequence of Crawford vs. Spence. Nevertheless, the sheer method of his victory meant Crawford was undeniably the primary.
In December, on Boxing Day, Inoue stopped Marlon Tapales when turning into undisputed by two weight lessons twelve months aside. By then, there was no denying that Inoue ought to maintain the highest spot.
Crawford combating solely as soon as in 2023 didn’t assist his trigger. Inoue is at all times chasing the greatness he’s been accustomed to for thus lengthy.
He’s Very Really feel
Following a conflict with Tyson Fury on Might 18, 2024, Usyk regained the highest spot by slaying the enormous and securing his place as an all-time boxing nice. Usyk took the undisputed heavyweight title, the primary boxer in 1 / 4 of a decade to realize the feat, following on from heavyweight legend Lennox Lewis.
Pound For Pound: 1970 – At present
Learn all articles and unique interviews by Phil Jay. Study extra in regards to the creator, skilled boxing author, and World Boxing Information Editor since 2010. Observe on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
