B/R Boxing Pound-for-Pound Rankings for May 2023
When it comes to boxing, there's good news and bad news.
The good news is that a number of significant fights, including a long-awaited showdown between welterweights Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., are on the books for what ought to be a comprehensively compelling summer in the ring.
The bad news is that the spring has been, in a word, eventful.
A 140-pound title bout ended when referee Tony Weeks intervened in favor of the A-side combatant after nary a significant blow had landed. And just a week later, the judging for a 135-pound duel between Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko came under heavy fire, prompting calls for reform from long-time trainer/TV analyst/podcaster Teddy Atlas.
"Let's see if we can actually do something instead of just complaining about it over and over and over again," he told Bleacher Report. "Because like that old saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting something to change."
Speaking of change, the chatter was reason enough for the B/R combat team to keep the sport top of mind, prompting another round of discussion about its current top-10 pound-for-pound fighters. The rubric included recent results, past performances and input from other respected sources, including The Ring and Boxing Scene.
Scroll through to see what we came up with, and drop a line with your own thoughts in the comments.
10. Gervonta Davis
1 of 10
Weight Class: 135 pounds
Major Titles Held: None (holds second-tier WBA championship)
This just in: Gervonta Davis is the new face of boxing.
Well, at least according to him and his team anyway.
The unbeaten Baltimore-based slugger earned the biggest win of his career in late April when he stopped fellow unbeaten Ryan Garcia with a body shot in Round 7 of their much-anticipated catchweight showdown at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Though Garcia's chops as a championship-level fighter can be debated, there was no arguing the impressiveness of Davis' performance, which yielded his 27th KO in 29 victories and set the former Floyd Mayweather Jr. charge up for even bigger events down the line.
The 28-year-old has held titles of varying worth at 130, 135 and 140 pounds and is already on the minds of would-be rivals from featherweight to welterweight.
9. Shakur Stevenson
2 of 10
Weight Class: 135 pounds
Major Titles Held: None
Call this one a future-focused placement.
Shakur Stevenson has already held title belts at 126 and 130 pounds and is one fight into a stay at 135 pounds that could land him a title shot against the likes of undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney.
Stevenson is already 20-0 with 10 KOs, has developed a partisan following in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, and he has generated comparisons with many of the game's recent greats including Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The 25-year-old was at the MGM Grand when Haney fought Vasiliy Lomachenko in late May and arrived to the ring to challenge the winner, but he claimed Haney and his team bolted when they saw him approach.
"Let's make it happen. I think (a Haney fight) should happen next," Stevenson said. "I think Devin's not on my level and I'm gonna show it."
8. Tyson Fury
3 of 10
Weight Class: Heavyweight
Major Titles Held: WBC
Someday, Tyson Fury will fight again.
Probably.
The WBC's heavyweight king was on the verge of a deal to unify the division against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk, then pivoted back to a long-discussed suggestion he'd face off with English rival and former two-time title claimant Anthony Joshua.
Still, there's nothing officially on the schedule.
And these days, Fury is tossing out notions that he'll engage with UFC heavyweight boss Jon Jones or head down to Australia to take on unbeaten lefty Demsey McKean, who's won 22 straight fights with 14 KOs but is dubiously ranked as contender No. 38 to Fury's throne.
Not the fight the world's been waiting for, unless it's an hors d'oeuvre to the main dish.
"McKean's a top-10 heavyweight and definitely one of the front-runners," Fury said, per Michael Benson of TalkSport. "If the Oleksandr Usyk fight is happening, it'd be great preparation because he's southpaw also."
7. Devin Haney
4 of 10
Weight Class: 135 pounds
Major Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO
Devin Haney has reached the pound-for-pound level at last, but it's not been the warm welcome he might have wanted.
The unbeaten Las Vegas resident defended his stash of belts and scored his 30th consecutive victory with a narrow decision over Vasiliy Lomachenko, yet the blowback about the judging has taken some of the shine away from the achievement.
Haney has long struggled to get to 135 and was one-tenth of a pound over the limit prior to the Lomachenko fight, perhaps prompting a post-fight Twitter conversation with Regis Prograis, who holds the WBC belt at 140 and is scheduled to defend it on June 17.
"I've been at 140 my whole career," Prograis told MillCity Boxing. "(Haney) coming up, I stop him. I would hurt him real bad. He's a good boxer, but he doesn't have the power to keep me off."
6. Errol Spence Jr.
5 of 10
Weight Class: 147 pounds
Major Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBC
Errol Spence Jr. has been a champion for better than six years, has defended his title six times while unifying three of the welterweight division's four belts and has long been considered among the world's most elite fighters.
And now, he finally has a transcendent opponent.
The 33-year-old Texan made it official that he'll meet WBO champ Terence Crawford in a 147-pound super-fight that's on the schedule for July 29 in Las Vegas.
It's the latest in a series of generational bouts in one of the sport's marquee divisions, and one in which DraftKings has labeled Spence, who's 28-0 with 22 KOs, as a slight underdog.
"Great things take time," Spence told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith. "I mean, we both were going through, you know, negotiations, but we here now. So, all that stuff's in the past. This the present. We here, we fighting each other. May the best man win.
"I feel like it's the best fight, welterweight fight, in the last probably 40 years. This is the fight of the decade, the best versus the best."
5. Dmitry Bivol
6 of 10
Weight Class: 175 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBA
A year later and Dmitry Bivol has turned from the hunter to the hunted.
The unbeaten Russian light heavyweight became a household name among fans last May with a shocking scorecard defeat of Canelo Alvarez, then did himself one better with a wide win over another former 168-pound champ, Gilberto Ramirez.
Since then, though, the 32-year-old has played the waiting game.
He may engage Alvarez again later this year at either 175 or 168 pounds. He may get a unification shot against IBF/WBC/WBO champ Artur Beterbiev. Or he may entertain a challenge from a more unlikely foe, such as former 154-pound claimant Jaime Munguia.
No less an authority than Roy Jones Jr., who was a champion in both weight classes during his Hall of Fame career, thinks Bivol is precisely the sort of fighter Alvarez should avoid.
"I don't see him beating Bivol in no kind of way because Bivol's a bigger guy," he told Fight Hype. "Bivol has a style that's definitely not really in line with what Canelo wants to fight, in my opinion. Their styles don't match."
4. Canelo Alvarez
7 of 10
Weight Class: 168 pounds
Major Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO
Canelo Alvarez is officially back on the boxing market.
The Mexican superstar took time off following a trilogy-clinching defeat of Gennadiy Golovkin last September and discussed many return options before finally deciding on English veteran John Ryder, whom he decked on the way to a decision win in early May.
The healthy and successful comeback officially kicked off conjecture about the pay-per-view flagship's next fight and whether it'll mean a rematch with a previous foe or a new matchup with one of many suitors anxious to attract his attention.
The names Dmitry Bivol and David Benavidez tend to get the most traction, with the former having beaten Alvarez at light heavyweight last spring and the latter having run his own record to 28-0 with a bludgeoning of former Alvarez foe Caleb Plant in March.
Benavidez called Alvarez's name in the ring after that win, but the object of his competitive desire still seems hung up on a second go-round with his Russian nemesis.
"That's what we are aiming for," he said in the ring after beating Ryder, "but we will see."
3. Oleksandr Usyk
8 of 10
Weight Class: Heavyweight
Major Titles Held: IBF, WBA, WBO
Now that Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford seem poised to get in the ring and fight one another in late July, there's another match poised to take the "most anticipated fight that can't seem to actually get made" title.
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury for undisputed heavyweight domination.
Usyk earned his stripes in the big boy division with consecutive defeats of ex-champ Anthony Joshua, then stood stone-faced at ringside as Fury included a competitive challenge amid a barrage of obscenities.
The fight seemed all but signed, sealed and delivered for various venues until it wasn't, leaving Fury to ponder the aforementioned trip to meet a no-name foe in Australia while Usyk preps for a mandatory defense of the WBA belt he holds against Daniel Dubois.
Nevertheless, if you remain hopeful for Usyk-Fury to happen at some point before either loses or retires, there may be reason for at least fleeting optimism.
Uysk's promoter, Alex Krassyuk, told Sky Sports in May that "everything else is possible after Usyk wins (against Dubois)."
2. Naoya Inoue
9 of 10
Weight Class: 122 pounds
Major Titles Held: None
It's good to be the king.
But it's not so bad being the "Monster," either.
In fact, the fighter with that menacing nickname, Japanese star Naoya Inoue, is considered by anyone whose opinion matters to be one of the world's best fighters.
And perhaps the best thing about him is he continues to chase greatness.
Already a champion at 108, 115 and 118 pounds, Inoue relinquished his slew of belts at the latter weight to climb to 122 for a bout with unified WBC/WBO champ Stephen Fulton Jr.
The contest was initially scheduled for early May but got bumped to July when Inoue suffered a hand injury.
Now 30 years old, Inoue has been a champion in one form or another since his sixth pro bout in 2014 and has continued to fight with a title on the line in his last 18 outings as well, winning all but two inside the distance. His 19 career championship fights have covered a combined 108 rounds, an average of less than six per contest.
Fulton, at least on the surface, seems ready for the challenge.
"I don't shy away from big fights," he told ESPN.
1. Terence Crawford
10 of 10
Weight Class: 147 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBO
Go ahead and label this one a recency bias.
Though Terence Crawford last fought three days before Naoya Inoue and won't fight again until four days after Inoue's next scheduled fight, the mere idea that the Nebraskan is finally getting together with generational rival Errol Spence Jr. is enough to put him atop this list.
But it's not as if it isn't deserved.
Crawford has maintained a pristine record through 39 fights across 15 years as a pro, stopping 30 foes inside the distance while winning belts at 135, 140 and 147 pounds. He's been a welterweight title winner since stopping Jeff Horn in 2018 and has finished six subsequent challengers before the final bell as well.
The 35-year-old is already considered the best switch-hitter in boxing, has an in-ring killer instinct that's second to none and now he gets a truly transcendent opponent who'll give him a chance to chase permanent legacy status.
And Crawford seems particularly anxious for the chance, taking the opportunity during his official fight announcement video to jab at Spence's claim that he's the big fish at 147.
"The wait is over, it's game time," he said via ESPN Ringside's Twitter feed.
"Errol Spence, Terence Crawford, July 29, Las Vegas, Nevada. Everybody come out, show support, and watch me fry this fish."
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