Always well worth a read, the new Ring Magazine pound-for-pound rankings have been published. Over at Ringtv.com, fans can look over the new Top 10 and see a new face in the mythical rankings we all argue over so passionately.
Fresh off his brilliant and dominant stoppage win over Sunny Edwards in their two-belt flyweight unification showdown, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez is one of the hottest fighters around right now.
And the folks at ‘The Bible of Boxing’ have rewarded Bam with a place in their new Top 10 pound-for-pound rankings. Entering at #10, 23-year-old Rodriguez, 19-0(12), and already a two-weight world ruler, this at 112 and 115 pounds, is likely to get full support from the fans as far as him being worthy of the tenth spot.
Rodriguez is a superb fighter, exciting, talented, hard-working, willing to fight the best, and is Bam ever ambitious. Rodriguez says he wants to be remembered as a legend, and he also says he wants to win world titles in what would be an immensely impressive six weight divisions. For now, Bam is expected to go back up to the 115 pound weight division for his next fight, this perhaps being a challenge of either Juan Francisco Estrada or Junto Nakatani.
Whoever Bam fights next, it will be one hot ticket and we fans will be sure to tune in.
Here is the new pound-for-pound Top 10 from Ring Magazine:
1: Terence Crawford – welterweight: 40-0(31)
2: Naoya Inoue – super bantamweight: 25-0(22)
3: Oleksandr Usyk – heavyweight: 21-0(14)
4: Canelo Alvarez – super middleweight: 60-2-2(39)
5: Dmitry Bivol – light heavyweight: 21-0(11)
6: Devin Haney – light-welterweight: 31-0(15)
7: Errol Spence Jr – welterweight: 28-1(22)
8: Gervonta Davis – lightweight: 29-0(27)
9: Teofimo Lopez – light-welterweight: 19-1(13)
10: Jesse Bam Rodriguez – flyweight: 19-0(12).
So, what do YOU make of the news set of pound-for-pound rankings from Ring? Most people have no problem seeing Crawford ranked at the top of the pile, although some fans (this one included) rank Inoue as the top guy. What can certainly be agreed on is this: there are some brilliant and gifted fighters out there today, fighters who would perhaps have lived in any era.
As we approach the end of 2023, the sport of boxing is in a good place.
