Boxing’s great P4P debate took a fresh twist on Friday with a new number one fighter taking over at the head of the ratings.
The Ring – boxing’s most esteemed magazine – finally updated its top 10 fighters across all weight divisions in the aftermath of that Naoya Inoue vs Luis Nery showdown in Tokyo on Monday. And that win for ‘Canelo’ Alvarez over Jaime Munguia two days previously in Las Vegas.
The clamour from fight fans was huge for The Ring to lift Inoue from #2 to #1 in their rankings was huge after he got off the floor in Round 1 to blast his way to a brilliant sixth-round knockout over the gallant Nery at a soldout Tokyo Dome.
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And The Ring and its panel of experts agreed with those fans, promoting ‘The Monster’ above welterweight king Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford into the top spot on their list. Crawford (40-0) will get a chance to return to the top when he faces Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles on August 3 (live on DAZN).
‘Canelo’ remains at #4 on the last after that routine decision win over Munguia at T Mobile Arena on Cinco de Mayo weekend. Usyk meanwhile will get the chance to stake his claim to the top spot when he faces Tyson Fury in that heavyweight unification battle in Riyadh next weekend.
The injured Artur Beterbiev remains at #5, one spot ahead of bitter light-heavyweight rival Dmitry Bivol. Then the rest of the top 10 remains unchanged, with Errol Spence Jr, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, Jesse Rodriguez and another Japanese star Junto Nakatani completing the list.
The Ring latest P4P rankings
The latest Ring magazine rankings – revealed on Friday May 10 – are as follows:
- 1. Naoya Inoue (27-0)
- 2. Terence Crawford (40-0)
- 3. Oleksandr Usyk (21-0)
- 4. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (61-2-2)
- 5. Artur Beterbiev (20-0)
- 6. Dmitry Bivol (22-0)
- 7. Errol Spence Jr (28-1)
- 8. Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (29-0)
- 9. Jesse Rodriguez (19-0)
- 10. Junto Nakatani (27-0)
