Not everyone will agree with the brand-new pound-for-pound rankings put forth by the folks at “The Bible of Boxing,” Ring Magazine; as no list of this kind can possibly please every fight fan. The mythical P-4-P rankings – first introduced in honour of the great Sugar Ray Robinson – are just that: a myth. By definition. Nothing to get too hung up about then, right? Wrong.
Fans debate pound-for-pound rankings about as passionately, as fiercely as anything else in the sport – if not more so than anything else in the sport. And the P-4-P rankings from Ring Magazine might be the most-read around, and therefore the most-argued over around.
The brand-new Ring Magazine pound-for-pound rankings have been released, and some fans will be pleased and in total agreement as far as who now sits atop the mountain. Others, however, will disagree with venom. This is just the way it is. So who is now the #1 P-4-P king? It’s “The Monster” – Naoya Inoue.
Fresh off his hugely impressive, if not flat-out frighting destruction of the accomplished, never before beaten at bantamweight Nonito Donaire, the Japanese superstar (a superstar at home only; for the time being at least) has vaulted to the top of the pack. Unbeaten – some say untouchable – at 23-0(20) and a three-weight world champion, Inoue has quite literally ran out of opposition. With just one belt left to claim at 118 pounds (the WBO strap, currently the property of Paul Butler), Inoue is expected to carry his talents up yet another weight division.
Right now, there seems to be no limit as far as how much the 29 year old killer puncher can achieve in the sport. Against Donaire, Inoue showed lethal power from both sides, he showed blinding speed, he showed a ruthless killer instinct, and “The Monster” showed astonishing punch picking accuracy. Simply put, Inoue looked to be a flawless fighter. Maybe he is.
Inoue is certainly the new Ring Magazine pound-for-pound #1 fighter. Whether you agree or not.
The new rankings:
1: Naoya Inoue
2: Oleksandr Usyk
3: Terence Crawford
4: Errol Spence
5: Juan Francisco Estrada
6: Canelo Alvarez
7: Vasiliy Lomachenko
8: Dmitry Bivol
9: Josh Taylor
10: Jermell Charlo
So how does the new set of rankings leave you feeling? What would you change, if anything? Is Inoue really the deserving P-4-P king? Can anyone defeat Inoue?