Pound-for-pound lists, you either love ’em or hate ’em. Or maybe you choose to pay no attention to them. Whatever the case – and read on if you wish to, or do otherwise if you wish to – the man who at one time resided at the very top of the mythical charts, Roy Jones Junior, or “Superman” in his prime (and he really was) has given his new P-4-P list.
Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Jones has listed a heavyweight as the best in the world today regardless of weight.
Here are Jones’ picks for the Top-4 pound-for-pound best (not 5, but Jones always does do things his own way!)
1: Tyson Fury
2: Terence Crawford
3: Oleksandr Usyk
4: Dmitriy Bivol
5: “I don’t know”
So, is Fury the best fighter in the world today, pound-for-pound? Fury himself has long since stated that he is indeed. In his own colourful language – “there isn’t a man born from his mother’s **** that can possibly beat me,” and all that – Fury insists he is the best, the best to ever do it. Some people agree with the reigning WBC heavyweight champ who has not lost a fight thus far in his pro career (amateur, that’s a different story).
“It’s really hard to say, but you’ve got to give it to Fury right now,” Jones said to Talk Sport when asked who is today’s pound-for-pound best. “Fury got to be number one, then Bud Crawford, then you’ve probably got to put Usyk number three, Bivol number four and then five, I don’t know.”
Maybe you have an idea of who should make up the five? There are some superbly talented fighters out there today, or gifted, if you prefer that description (don’t ever tell Roy Jones to his face he was a gifted fighter!) And it is always tough to come up with any P-4-P list that pleases everyone.
For plenty of fight fans right now, however, Dmitry Bivol is the man. Brilliantly skilled and willing to take on the best of the best, it seems Bivol has this year’s Fighter of the Year award all sewn up. But that’s a different article.