B/R Pound-for-Pound Boxing Rankings for April
It's been a challenging stretch for boxing.
Though top-end super middleweights David Benavidez and Caleb Plant did engage in an entertaining slugfest atop a late March pay-per-view show in Las Vegas, the month was memorable more for what has not happened than what has happened.
A would-be heavyweight unification set for late April was scuttled for reasons that change depending on who's speaking, while a breakout fight for a burgeoning Japanese superstar at 122 pounds was pushed back a couple of months thanks to a training camp injury.
But the Sweet (albeit sometimes maddening) Science rolls on.
And the B/R combat team rolls on with it, gathering once again to create its latest top-10 pound-for-pound list while consulting a rubric that includes recent results, past performances and input from other respected sources, including The Ring and Boxing Scene, among others.
Scroll through to see what we came up with, and drop a line with your own thoughts in the comments.
10. Jermell Charlo
1 of 10
Weight Class: 154 pounds
Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO
If nothing else, Jermell Charlo has himself a rival.
Though he'd already been scheduled to face second-generation contender Tim Tszyu in January before a hand injury scuttled things, the matchup actually ratcheted up a notch or two when Tszyu went ahead and took a stay-busy bout with Tony Harrison—the only fighter to defeat Charlo as a pro—and stopped him in nine decisive rounds last month.
Now Tszyu is channeling Ric Flair with claims that he beat the man who beat the man, prompting Charlo to remind his burgeoning rival that there's a fair gap between he and Harrison, whom Charlo did beat in a rematch to regain 154-pound supremacy.
A superfight of the highest degree? No.
But having some juice is better than none.
"It just made me want to fight, just get this over with, shut him up," Charlo told the New York Post. "I've shut a lot of them up; it's just another one."
9. Artur Beterbiev
2 of 10
Weight Class: 175 pounds
Titles Held: IBF, WBC, WBO
It's high time to share the light heavyweight love.
Though fellow kingpin Dmitry Bivol has been generating pound-for-pound acclaim since the moment he completed a comprehensive upset of Canelo Álvarez last spring, it's taken nearly a year for Artur Beterbiev to prove that there's more than one capable man at 175 pounds.
Though the 38-year-old has been a pro since 2013 and hadn't needed to go the distance with a single foe since joining the punch-for-pay ranks, he hadn't achieved Bivol-level acclaim until consecutive KOs of Joe Smith Jr. and Anthony Yarde over the last 12 months.
Smith arrived with a title claim of his own and didn't last six minutes.
Yarde had won five of six fights—KO'ing his quintet in a combined 16 rounds—before his corner surrendered on his behalf inside before the end of the eighth.
Those wins, coupled with Bivol's clear dominance on his side of the street, has prompted talks of a summit meeting at some point soon. A prospect both men seem to endorse.
"I want Bivol," he said.
8. Juan Francisco Estrada
3 of 10
Weight Class: 115 pounds
Titles Held: WBC
If you're one of those fans who stubbornly limits yourself to familiar fighters in familiar weight classes, here's a tip: You're missing out on some great stuff.
Juan Francisco Estrada has been busily assembling a Hall of Fame resume since the final days of the George W. Bush administration, but he'd not gotten nearly the respect he deserved until embarking on a trilogy journey with fellow Canastota lock Román González.
The rivals began their series with a compelling bout at 108 pounds in 2012, followed it with a fight of the year candidate at 115 in 2021, then seemingly put it to bed with a rubber match in December in suburban Phoenix, where Estrada won a split decision and the vacant WBC super flyweight belt across another 12 uber-competitive rounds.
It was Estrada's 11th win in 13 title bouts and started his second reign in the division.
And who knows, it may not have been the last time we'll see them together.
"If [Gonzalez] wants the fourth fight," he told DAZN after the December win, "I think we can do it, and I think the fans really enjoyed a great fight tonight."
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7. Tyson Fury
4 of 10
Weight Class: 200-plus pounds
Titles Held: WBC
Tyson Fury is, on merit and resume, considered the legit heavyweight champion.
But these days, he's a heavyweight champion in dire need of a PR makeover.
A unification meeting between Fury and fellow claimant Oleksandr Usyk seemed signed, sealed and delivered for April 29 before a prolonged series of back-and-forth bickering sidetracked the fight and left both principals seeking replacement dance partners.
Fury may pivot from Usyk to a long-anticipated duel with English counterpart Anthony Joshua, who'd had his own two-fight deal with Fury scuttled when he was beaten by Usyk and lost his stash of IBF, WBA and WBO title bouts in 2021.
He lost again in a rematch last summer and was relegated to the division's back burner but returned with a defeat of fringe contender Jermaine Franklin, once again stoking the fires for a fight that seems a natural for Wembley Stadium or some other high-end venue.
"That will be a massive fight for the late spring or early summer in London," promoter Bob Arum told FightHype.
6. Dmitry Bivol
5 of 10
Weight Class: 175 pounds
Titles Held: WBA
Clearly, it's the opposition that makes the champion.
Dmitry Bivol was the unbeaten holder of one piece of another of the WBA's light heavyweight title from 2017 through 2021, but he didn't create so much as a blip on the pound-for-pound radar before competitively outclassing pay-per-view stalwart Canelo Álvarez last May.
It was an overnight trip from anonymity to stardom for the now-32-year-old Russian, who followed up the Álvarez win with an even more dominant dispatch of former super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramírez, who'd arrived to the ring with a gaudy 44-0 record.
He won precisely eight of a possible 36 rounds across three scorecards, leaving Bivol to look forward to a lucrative future that could include an Álvarez rematch, a unification with the aforementioned Beterbiev or even both.
In the interim, there's been some chatter about a duel with former 154-pound champion Jaime Munguía, who's 41-0 with 33 KOs but has fought just once beyond 160 pounds.
"He's a good fighter," promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing Social, "but he's gone from fighting absolutely no one to fighting Dmitry Bivol at 175. It's quite bizarre. We're looking at it."
5. Canelo Álvarez
6 of 10
Weight Class: 168 pounds
Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO
It's good to be Canelo Álvarez.
Though the Mexican superstar lost his first fight of 2022, was only intermittently impressive in winning his second and has subsequently been shelved by injury, he's still got the boxing world trained to jump whenever he suggests his intention to fight again.
He'll do so in early May against rugged Englishman John Ryder, but the more pertinent questions these days steer toward what he plans to do after dispatching a +700 underdog (bet $100 to win $700).
Will it be a Bivol rematch? Will it be a 168-pound showdown against David Benavidez, who bills himself as a "Mexican Monster" and recently battered ex-Canelo victim Caleb Plant?
Stay tuned for the official puff of smoke from Guadalajara.
But in the meantime, Álvarez's former promoter and mentor, Oscar De La Hoya, suggests ensuring a place in history ought to be his ex-client's objective.
"I'm not the one, you know, guiding his career," he told FightHype (via Boxing Scene), "but if it was up to me, we would have a set plan to really cement his legacy because these last fights he's gonna have in these last years in boxing, he should make them worthwhile and really build his legacy to become one of the best."
4. Errol Spence Jr.
7 of 10
Weight Class: 147 pounds
Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBC
Maybe they've finally learned their lesson.
Though Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford have reigned together at 147 pounds for several years, they've never fought. And though a showdown seemed imminent amid discussions between the respective camps last fall, it never happened.
Because boxing.
But now it seems they've realized, maybe, that they need each other in order to raise themselves into the all-time great discussion.
A source told the Dallas Morning News that contract talks have resumed to put together a fight between Spence, who holds the IBF, WBA and WBC titles at welterweight, and Crawford, who's been the WBO champion since 2018 after previously reigning at 135 and 140 pounds.
Spence's time in the weight class given his age (33) and history of difficulty boiling down to 147 mean it's now or never for the superfight, lest he move to 154 and tangle with the likes of Charlo and others.
"The good thing is that no one has given up," Showtime sports executive Stephen Espinoza told DAZN. "As long as no one gives up, there's a hope."
3. Terence Crawford
8 of 10
Weight Class: 147 pounds
Titles Held: WBO
As we were saying, where there's discussion there's hope.
Like Spence before him, Terence Crawford has been building a pound-for-pound resume for years, even dating back before his welterweight rival, to the days when he won titles at lightweight and junior welterweight.
Now 39-0, Crawford was 3-0 with a KO in title fights at 135 before jumping to 140 and sweeping seven more championship-level matches with six KOs. He KO'd Jeff Horn to win the WBO's welterweight share in 2018 and has stopped six more opponents in title defenses, lifting his overall title fight record to 17-0 with 14 KOs.
So, truth be told, he's a Hall of Famer whether he fights Spence or not.
But it sure would be nice, rather than the likes of David Avanesyan, whom he erased in a Round 6 a few weeks after the would-be Spence date had passed in late 2022. Or even Alexis Rocha, the once-beaten 25-year-old whom the WBO has installed as Crawford's mandatory challenger if he's interested in keeping his belt.
"[A Rocha fight is] really good, too," Crawford's trainer, Brian McIntyre, told FightHype. "Either [Rocha or Spence] is going to get their ass whipped. It doesn't matter. It's a good sparring match. He's comfortable dominating [Rocha's] ass."
2. Oleksandr Usyk
9 of 10
Weight Class: 200-plus pounds
Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBO
Like Crawford to Spence, Oleksandr Usyk is a high-ender in search of a blockbuster.
His date with Fury may or may not ever happen, so it's incumbent upon the multi-weight Ukrainian star to bolster his brand with other options. And fortunately for the now-36-year-old, there's rarely a short line of wannabes outside a three-belt champ's door.
Toward that end, discussions are ongoing for a fight with Daniel Dubois, who holds the WBA's dubious second-tier "world" title to Usyk's "super world" status, and a glance a bit further down the line could bring a match with Deontay Wilder into view.
The former WBC champion is 43-2-1 with 42 KOs as a pro, having stopped every man he's faced—he KO'd Bermane Stiverne in a rematch after initially going 12 with him—except for Fury, who drew with him before scoring two straight KO wins.
Wilder's manager, Shelly Finkel, told Sky Sports that Wilder would take a fight with Usyk "in a heartbeat" if it were available.
1. Naoya Inoue
10 of 10
Weight Class: 118 pounds
Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO
It figures.
As soon as Naoya Inoue ascended to the pound-for-pound throne and chased greatness again by scheduling a fight with 122-pound champ Stephen Fulton, he got unlucky.
The unbeaten three-division champion at 108, 115 and 118 pounds was on board to meet the Philadelphia-based WBC/WBO titleholder on May 7, but a hand injury has pushed the bout back to July 25.
Nevertheless, when it happens it'll be a big deal.
Though just 29, Inoue has already established himself as the premier Japanese boxer of his generation, stopping 21 of 24 foes since turning pro in 2012. He was a world champion in his sixth pro bout and has had one title belt or another on the line in every fight since.
He completed a clean sweep of the championships at 118 pounds with a defeat of Paul Butler in December and has stopped five straight opponents in a combined 31 rounds since last going the 12-round distance in 2019.
"My next goal is to move up in weight and once again become world champion," Inoue told Boxing Scene. "I'm sure it will be the biggest challenge for me so far, since I will have to deal with issues related to my own physical frame."
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