Boxing Ranking: Who are the best at the moment?
The boxing world vibrated with exciting fights this weekend, highlighting the performances of figures like Naoya Inoue and Canelo Álvarez. In a display of skill and endurance, Inoue retained his undisputed super bantamweight title, while Canelo added another victory to his impressive record.
Naoya Inoue: A Rising Monster
Naoya Inoue, known as “The Monster”, proved once again why he is at the top. After falling to the canvas in the second round, Inoue recovered to knock out Ramón Cardenas in the eighth round. This victory allowed him to retain his undisputed super bantamweight title in Las Vegas, extending his knockout streak to eleven in title fights. His next challenge will be to defend his title against Murodjon Akhmadaliev in Japan.
Video of the Inoue vs Cardenas fight
“The way the fight went tonight, everyone is very aware that I like to fight,” Inoue said. “I was very surprised [by the knockdown], but I kept calm and recomposed myself.”
Naoya Inoue
Canelo Álvarez: Victory and Criticism
Canelo Álvarez faced William Scull in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, achieving a unanimous decision victory. However, the fight sparked debate, as Canelo threw only 152 punches, the second-lowest total in a 12-round fight in CompuBox history. Despite adding the IBF belt and becoming the undisputed super middleweight champion for the second time, his performance did not convince everyone.
Canelo dropped one spot in the rankings and is now preparing for a showdown against Terence Crawford on September 12 in Las Vegas.
“He wasn’t trying to win,” Álvarez said after the fight. “He was just trying to survive, and I hate that kind of fighter. He moved even more than I thought, but it’s okay. We won.”
Canelo Álvarez
Alofoke Deportes’ boxing analyst, Andreas Hale, expressed his disappointment with Canelo’s performance, arguing that the quality of his recent opponents has been inferior.
“Canelo falls on my list due to the inferior quality of his recent opponents. As great as he is, we haven’t seen him in a particularly impressive fight since he beat Caleb Plant in 2021. He’s either favoring financial security over legacy or he’s simply declining in performance. He won’t have that luxury against Crawford, but he falls due to the ‘what have you done for me lately’ element of the P4P list. And lately, he hasn’t done much for us.”
Andreas Hale
The Pinnacle of Boxing: The Updated Ranking
Below, we present the updated ranking of the best boxers of the moment, prepared by our panel of experts. The results are current as of May 8th.
- 1. Oleksandr Usyk
- 2. Naoya Inoue
- 3. Terence Crawford
- 4. Dmitry Bivol
- 5. Artur Beterbiev
- 6. Jesse Rodriguez
- 7. Canelo Álvarez
- 8. David Benavidez
- 9. Junto Nakatani
- 10. Shakur Stevenson
Upcoming events:
Boxing continues to offer exciting fights. Stay tuned to Alofoke Deportes for more updates and analysis.
