“Bud,” or “The Monster?” Who do you have currently sat atop the mythical (but so fervently debated) pound-for-pound rankings? The final week of July saw two magnificent performances from two magnificent fighters, as super-bantamweight Naoya Inoue outboxed and then explosively stopped a very good fighter in Stephen Fulton, and as Terence Crawford outboxed and then explosively stopped another very good fighter in Errol Spence.
It’s clearly down to these two future Hall of Famers and nobody else when it comes to who the P-4-P king is right now. Both men are unbeaten, both have won world titles in multiple weight divisions, and both men have unified divisions.
Inoue cleaned out the bantamweight division and now looks set to do the same at super-bantam, while Crawford unified the 140 pound division, winning all four belts there, and he is now, courtesy of Saturday night’s sizzling stoppage win over Spence, the man with all four belts at welterweight.
Huge accomplishments from both stars, and there could be further greatness to come. Greatness? Yeah, Inoue and Crawford have now more than earned the right to be called great, and to refer to themselves as great. We have here two immensely talented and gifted fighters, and both men have the right to also call themselves the best on the planet pound-for-pound. But the distinction, the honor, can only go to one man (unless, for what would be the first time (?) the experts choose to have the number-one spot scored as a tie, with Inoue and Crawford sharing the slot).
It’s a tough job splitting these two, that’s for sure. Crawford is currently perfect at 40-0(31), while Inoue is flawless at 25-0(22). So, who do YOU like as the P-4-P top dog?
Crawford, more of a talker than his pound-for-pound rival Inoue, made his case at the post-fight presser that followed his one-sided win over Spence:
“Without a doubt,” Crawford said to the media when the inevitable question was fired at him. “Like I told everybody once before, the winner out of this fight (with Spence) was gonna be number-one pound-for-pound, hands down. You got Errol Spence, was ranked number-four pound-for-pound, and you got Terence Crawford – I was ranked number-one. So, you got two fighters that’s in the top-five pound-for-pound ratings. How can [the winner of Crawford-Spence] not be number-one pound-for-pound?”
How not indeed? Only if you prefer Naoya Inoue and his lofty credentials. It may be that the decision of who deserves to reign supreme, pound-for-pound, has never be tougher to make.
