World Boxing News provides a list of the current Top 50 Pound for Pound Boxing Rankings from the top stars in the sport.
WBN’s pound-for-pound boxing rankings get based on world title wins, multi-weight titles, opponent caliber, and manner of victories.
Ability, longevity, and activity in a calendar year are also considered, along with reputation.
Fighters earn more ranking points for defeating opponents also rated in the Top 50. Star ratings are based on achievement in the sport.
WBN will remove any boxer for lack of activity, retirement, or injury.
WBN Pound for Pound Boxing Rankings
1 OLEKSANDR USYK
2 NAOYA INOUE
3 CANELO ALVAREZ
4 ERROL SPENCE
5 TYSON FURY
6 TERENCE CRAWFORD
7 DMITRY BIVOL
8 DEVIN HANEY
9 JERMELL CHARLO
10 ROMAN GONZALEZ
11 GERVONTA DAVIS
12 KAZUTO IOKA
13 VASYL LOMACHENKO
14 JUAN ESTRADA
15 SHAKUR STEVENSON
Boxers 16 TO 50
16 GENNADIY GOLOVKIN
17 ARTUR BETERBIEV
18 REY VARGAS
19 JACK CATTERALL
20 STEPHEN FULTON JR
21 GEORGE KAMBOSOS JR
22 TEOFIMO LOPEZ
23 KOSEI TANAKA
24 LEO SANTA CRUZ
25 SRISAKET SOR RUNGVISAI
26 ANTHONY JOSHUA
27 DEONTAY WILDER
28 JERMALL CHARLO
29 JOSE RAMIREZ
30 EMANUEL NAVARRETE
31 JOSH TAYLOR
32 DAVID BENAVIDEZ
33 REGIS PROGRAIS
34 NONITO DONAIRE
35 DEMETRIUS ANDRADE
36 ANDY RUIZ JR.
37 KEITH THURMAN
38 JOHN RIEL CASIMERO
39 GILBERTO RAMIREZ
40 MAIRIS BRIEDIS
41 MURODJON AKHMADALIEV
42 JERWIN ANCAJAS
43 JESSE RODRIGUEZ
44 WANHENG MENAYOTHIN
45 HIROTO KYOGUCHI
46 CALLUM SMITH
47 JOSE ZEPEDA
48 JAIME MUNGUIA
49 PANYA PRADABSRI
50 KENSHIRO TERAJI
Recent Pound for Pound History
On September 22, 2017, Andre Ward decided to retire, leaving Gennady Golovkin to take the reigns after an impressive performance against Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas. Golovkin lost out on what should have been a defining win over the Mexican superstar by two judges who carded farcical scores at the T-Mobile Arena.
Five months after the pair announced the highly-anticipated rematch, Canelo shockingly tested positive for a banned substance twice, leaving ‘GGG’ susceptible to being overtaken.
A one-sided win over Vanes Martirosyan, a predominant super-welterweight, was never enough to secure Golovkin’s position. On May 12, 2018, Vasyl Lomachenko took advantage seven days later.
Lomachenko defeated Jorge Linares over ten rounds after being dropped earlier in the fight to add the professional number one crown to his legendary amateur status.
Following an injury suffered during the fight, ‘Loma’ was out until December 2018, when he returned to unify the division.
CANELO ERA
Around the same time, a confident Canelo Alvarez claimed a third-weight world title with an impressive performance at MSG.
Months on, and after Lomachenko similarly dealt with mandatory Anthony Crolla, Canelo finally grabbed the top stop by unifying at 160 pounds further.
A polished triumph against Daniel Jacobs was enough to push Canelo over the line in his 55th outing.
Lomachenko reclaimed his pound-for-pound number-one position with a dominant win over Luke Campbell in London a few months later.
Adding the WBC lightweight version to his WBO and WBA titles was enough to overhaul his rival and rule once more.
It wasn’t long before Canelo clawed back the top spot with a spectacular knockout of Sergey Kovalev.
Canelo became a four-weight ruler and cemented his position as an all-time great.
At the beginning of 2020, Canelo had firmly established himself as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The Mexican superstar strengthened his place by becoming undisputed at super-middleweight in 2021.
Landing the WBN Fighter of the Year Award, Canelo went into 2022 as the most famous boxer in the world.
However, taking on Dmitry Bivol at 175 pounds in May, it all crumbled for Canelo and his aura of invincibility.
His high ambitions of going through the divisions got halted by a superb performance by a great fighter in Bivol.
Size does matter, as Bivol proved.
USYK ERA
Canelo’s demise was for the gain of Oleksandr Usyk, who became the pound-for-pound king. His undisputed and unified achievements at cruiserweight and heavyweight spoke for themselves.
Seven world title belts in three years meant few outlets needed little argument about who replaced Canelo.
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