B/R's Top 10 Pound-for-Pound Boxing Rankings at the End of 2025
The holiday season didn't mean vacation time for everybody.
In fact, several world-class fighters were in action in December and their performances—not to mention an important career move by another star—had significant impacts on B/R's Pound-for-Pound Rankings as we ring out the year.
The B/R combat team looked at recent results and competitive implications alongside input from reputable go-to sources to compile the final Top 10 list of 2025.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
10. Jaron Ennis
1 of 10
Weight Class: 154 pounds
Major Titles Held: None
Terence Crawford's retirement opened a top-10 spot and in comes Ennis, who picked up championship status at 147 pounds when "Bud" moved up and has since followed suit with a jump to 154 and a first-round KO in his debut there.
"Boots" went nose to nose with Vergil Ortiz Jr. after the latter won a fight in November. A 2026 match between them would be career-defining for the winner.
9. Junto Nakatani
2 of 10
Weight Class: 122 pounds
Major Titles Held: None
How long Nakatani stays among the P4P elites may be determined by his second effort at 122 pounds, because his first—which yielded a narrow decision win over Sebastian Hernandez—didn't convince anyone that he'll be a champion there.
That next test will probably still come against undisputed divisional king Naoya Inoue, who put on a masterclass on the same card in Saudi Arabia and suggested afterward that a 2026 duel with his Japanese countryman remained a priority.
8. Teofimo Lopez
3 of 10
Weight Class: 140 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBO
Crawford's exit meant a one-position rise for Lopez, a two-division claimant who's set to meet rising 135-pound champ Shakur Stevenson in the new year's first gigantic title fight in late January.
A win there would give Lopez six wins in seven title bouts on a resume that already includes scorecard defeats of then-P4P stalwarts Vasyl Lomachenko and Josh Taylor.
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7. Shakur Stevenson
4 of 10
Weight Class: 135 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBC
Next month's fight with Lopez represents a long-desired showdown with a high-profile opponent for the uber-confident Stevenson, who's reigned in three weight classes but hasn't exactly faced transcendent opposition while doing so.
"I know I am one of the best boxers in the world," Stevenson said. "Teofimo Lopez will learn that firsthand on January 31 when I take his belt and show him that there are levels to this game."
6. Dmitry Bivol
5 of 10
Weight Class: 175 pounds
Major Titles Held: IBF/WBA/WBO
Bivol, when active, has proved to be the best at light heavyweight and maybe the best in the whole sport. But he hasn't fought enough—four times in the last three calendar years—to warrant perpetual residence on such lofty P4P real estate.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has suggested a laundry list of opponents could be on his client's agenda for 2026, with a trilogy bout against fellow 175-pounder Artur Beterbiev perhaps the most likely option.
5. Devin Haney
6 of 10
Weight Class: 147 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBO
There weren't many who turned things around this year more than Haney, who shook off the effects of a controversial scrap with Ryan Garcia in 2024 and wound up ending 2025 with two wins and a title belt in his third weight class.
His unanimous scorecard defeat of previously unbeaten Brian Norman Jr. in November yielded the WBO share of the welterweight throne and has started chatter about a unification bout with WBA claimant Rolly Romero.
4. David Benavidez
7 of 10
Weight Class: 175 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBC
The "Mexican Monster" doesn't have the same 175-pound street cred as Bivol, but his superior activity in 2025, his past title claims at 168, and his chase for would-be greatness at cruiserweight warrants a higher perch.
Benavidez defended his light heavyweight belt against Anthony Yarde in November and announced plans afterward to meet Gilberto Ramirez, the WBA/WBO champ at 200 pounds, on Cinco de Mayo weekend in 2026.
3. Jesse Rodriguez
8 of 10
Weight Class: 115 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBA/WBC/WBO
"Bam" outclassed Fernando Martinez on the way to a 10th-round KO in November, but he may have been December's biggest winner, too, thanks to Inoue's suggestion that he'd welcome a date with the popular Texan.
"When he's ready, and if he can fight in the super bantamweight class, and the timing works out," Inoue said after a successful defense at 122 against Alan Picasso, "I'd love for him to challenge me."
2. Oleksandr Usyk
9 of 10
Weight Class: Heavyweight
Major Titles Held: IBF/WBA/WBC
Kudos to anyone who had Crawford exiting before the soon-to-be 39-year-old Usyk, who'd suggested he was on the verge of retirement earlier in 2025 before changing course in October and saying he'll hang around until age 41.
The Ukrainian hero was ringside in Saudi Arabia for the Inoue and Nakatani fights and said he wants a match with ex-champ Deontay Wilder, who held the WBC belt from 2015 to 2020 but is 2-4 with three KO losses in his last six fights.
1. Naoya Inoue
10 of 10
Weight Class: 122 pounds
Major Titles Held: IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO
He's the only undisputed champion on our list and he made history by defeating Picasso and becoming the first fighter recognized by The Ring to make four title defenses in a single year since Larry Holmes in 1983.
So it's hard to coherently argue that the "Monster" isn't both the Fighter of the Year for 2025 and the best in the world as we flip the page to 2026.
"He was already," Randy Gordon, former chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, told Bleacher Report. "He is active, fights and beats the best, has an awesome offense and a tremendous defense."
That's good enough for us.
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