Talk about a fascinating list, one all fight fans will both want to read and have a strong opinion on after having done so. The folks at ESPN have been busy (very busy) compiling a list of the top 25 best fighters pound-for-pound from the last quarter century – from 2000 to 2025. No easy task, and no list could possibly please everyone who reads it. The top 25 was put together by a panel that consisted of experts Mark Kriegel, Bernardo Osuna, Andreas Hale, Nick Parkinson and Andres Ferrari.
Rewind to 2000, and a number of special fighters, now long since retired, were at the top of their game. While more recently, say over the last 10 years or so, some fighters have dominated the sport in their respective weight divisions and perhaps still are.
Mayweather takes the top spot — but should he?
From 2000 until right now, which fighter deserves to be ranked at #1? Maybe you have already figured out who resides at the top of the pile here? That’s right – Floyd “Money” Mayweather. The 50-0 man. The self-proclaimed “T.B.E.” And, love Floyd or loathe him, or if you find yourself some place in-between, it’s tough to argue with the decision, the collective decision, to rank Mayweather as the P-4-P best of the last quarter century.
Or maybe you DO disagree, and rank, ooh, I dunno, maybe Manny Pacquiao as the best of the last 25 years? Or maybe you pick someone else.
The full ESPN Top 25 list
- Floyd Mayweather
- Manny Pacquiao
- Bernard Hopkins
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Canelo Alvarez
- Andre Ward
- Terence Crawford
- Juan Manuel Marquez
- Roy Jones Jr.
- Naoya Inoue
- Gennady Golovkin
- Joe Calzaghe
- Erik Morales
- Vasiliy Lomachenko
- Oscar De La Hoya
- Roman Gonzalez
- Tyson Fury
- Miguel Cotto
- Vitali Klitschko
- Marco Antonio Barrera
- Katie Taylor
- Wladimir Klitschko
- Claressa Shields
- Winky Wright
- Tim Bradley
Who’s missing and who’s ranked too high?
So, what do you think? Is there anyone not ranked here that you feel should be? Personally, I think “Sugar” Shane Mosley deserves a slot, but then who to remove from the list to make room for the man who, from 2000 onwards, picked up wins, often in electrifying performances, over the likes of De La Hoya, Fernando Vargas, Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito?
Some fans may feel Wladimir Klitschko should be ranked higher than Vitali. And speaking of the heavyweights, does Tyson Fury really deserve to be ranked as highly as he is? But again, no such list could possibly come close to pleasing all fight fans.
Overall, a solid, tough to moan about list from the ESPN panel, don’t you agree!