Our resident boxing expert Rob Tebbutt takes a look at the leading fighters across men's and women's professional boxing and provides his pound-for-pound top five lists following a mammoth month of world class fighting.

Men's Pound-For-Pound Rankings
Women's Pound-For-Pound Rankings
British Pound-For-Pound Rankings
 

Men's Pound-For-Pound Top Five
Rob Tebbutt's Picks

1 - Terence Crawford (Previous ranking: No 3)

For me, Terence 'Bud' Crawford - the undisputed welterweight champion of the world is my deserved pound-for-pound number one after he demolished Errol Spence in Las Vegas, a fight in which we were over there for!

He dropped Spence three times before the referee stepped in, and let's not forget that this was dubbed as 'the fight of the era' at welterweight and Terence Crawford did exactly what many other great fighters have done in saving his very best performance for his biggest ever fight.

We've all seen how brilliant he has been over the years - winning titles at lightweight, becoming an undisputed champion at super-lightweight and now the undisputed world champion at welterweight.

That emphatic win over Spence also means he becomes the very first man to become an undisputed world champion in two weight classes, and who knows where 'Bud' Crawford goes next?

Is it up to 154lbs or will he get that rematch with Errol Spence before the end of the year...  who knows, but on thing is for sure, he is my current pound-for-pound number one fighter on the planet.
 

2 - Naoya Inoue (Previous ranking: No 2)

It was nigh on impossible to separate Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue after both delivered world class performances in recent months, but Inoue, 'The Monster' remains my number two.

He was absolutely sensational as he stopped Stephen Fulton in such emphatic fashion in Japan in late July.

Inoue, a former light-flyweight world champion, a former super-flyweight world champion and, a former undisputed bantamweight world champion and now, of course, holding two of the four belts up at super-bantamweight - he's one of the hardest punchers, if not the hardest puncher, pound-for-pound in the sport too.

He can box on the front foot and equally as well on the back foot, and I just feel he showed us all he is about against a brilliant unbeaten world champion in Fulton a few weeks ago.

He narrowly misses out on top spot to 'Bud' but he is a worthy number two on my pound-for-pound list.
 

3 - Oleksandr Usyk (Previous ranking: No 1)

So my former pound-for-pound number one Oleksandr Usyk drops down two positions to take up third place in my rankings.

The unified world heavyweight champion and, of course, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, had that win over Daniel Dubois recently - got that stoppage he craved but there was some controversy surrounding that!

Was the shot low, was it on the belt line - I guess we will never know, but Oleksandr Usyk retained his titles and remains unbeaten as a professional.

It's certainly no reflection on his ability or standing in the sport that sees him drop down from number one to number three on my list; it just so happens that the two fighters above him really did deliver pound-for-pound worthy performances.

That pound-for-pound number one spot is just one fight away if he does indeed get that Tyson Fury fight sometime in the near future, which we all want to see!

 

4 - Canelo Alvarez (Previous ranking: No 4)

No movement at number four as Canelo Alvarez retains his spot in this position for me.

I know what a lot of people are going to say; 'how can you have Canelo above Bivol after Bivol had beaten him so convincingly?' Well, Canelo was up at 175lbs against a brilliant champion in Dimitry Bivol, and the fact that he came out second best in that particular fight is no reflection on Canelo Alvarez's standing in the sport in my opinion.

Is he past his best, well the jury is most definitely out omn that, but we will find out more about that when he takes on Jermell Charlo at the end of the month, in Las Vegas.

For me though, he is still the undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world and remains one of the very best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet!
 

5 - Dmitry Bivol (Previous ranking: No 5)

Still in fifth place is the unbeaten light-heavyweight champion, Dimitry Bivol!

He had a fantastic year in 2022, beating Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez with two absolutely brilliant performances to really establish himself as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, in many peoples eyes.

He has great feet, great straight shots and whilst we haven't seen him in action yet in 2023, for me, Dimitry Bivol deservedly retains his position within my top five.
 

Men's Pound-For-Pound Boxing Top Five:

Women's Pound-For-Pound Boxing Top Five:

Chantelle Cameron is the big mover in the women's pound-for-pound rankings, elevating herself up into second spot after inflicting a first professional defeat upon Irish sensation Katie Taylor, who drops down to number three.
 

Britain's Pound-For-Pound Boxing Top Five:

View the latest Boxing odds
 

Rob Tebbutt

• • 
  •