Oleksandr Usyk gave the performance of a lifetime on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, rallying to defeat the gigantic Tyson Fury by split decision to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in a quarter-century.
But was it enough to catapult No. 3-ranked Usyk past Nos. 1 and 2 Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue on the Boxing Junkie pound-for-pound list?
No.
Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) deserves consideration for the top spot after taking down Anthony Joshua in back-to-back fights in 2021 and 2022, stopping Daniel Dubois in nine rounds in August, and now handing Fury the first loss of his career. That’s a remarkable run by any standard. The former cruiserweight champ has achieved this against naturally larger men, which certainly boosts his case in the pound-for-pound debate.
So why isn’t he No. 1?
Let’s start with Crawford and Inoue. These gifted lower-weight stars may not have Usyk’s resume, but they have dominated one contender after another to reach the top of the list and have shown no signs of weakness.
Remember: We were equally amazed when Crawford demolished fellow pound-for-pounder Errol Spence Jr. and Inoue got up from a knockdown to destroy Luis Nery. Similarly, Usyk’s historic victory over Fury was astounding.
While the size difference between Usyk and his heavyweight rivals is notable, he didn’t dominate Joshua or Fury and benefitted from a controversial referee call — a clean body shot ruled a low blow — against Dubois to maintain his perfect record.
Fury believes he did enough to win the decision, which isn’t far-fetched given their close, back-and-forth battle. Had it gone Fury’s way, Usyk wouldn’t even be in the No. 1 conversation.
None of this is meant to diminish Usyk’s achievements. He has demonstrated over the past two years that he is not only the top heavyweight but also an all-time great, which is the highest praise in boxing.
However, he just hasn’t done quite enough to leapfrog two other future Hall of Famers, Crawford and Inoue.
Of course, if Usyk fights and beats Fury again — particularly in a more convincing manner — we’ll have to revisit our decision to leave him at No. 3.
What about Fury, who entered Saturday at No. 9? He drops to No. 11 — below Bam Rodriguez and Artur Beterbiev — after his poor performance against Francis Ngannou in October and his loss to Usyk.
Fury can change his fortunes if he manages to turn the tables on Usyk in a rematch.
Next pound-for-pounder up: No. 8 Gervonta Davis will face Frank Martin and No. 15 David Benavidez will take on Oleksandr Gvozdyk on the same card on June 15 in Las Vegas.
Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:
BOXING JUNKIE POUND-FOR-POUND
- Terence Crawford – Scheduled to challenge 154-pound titleholder Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.
- Naoya Inoue – No fight scheduled.
- Oleksandr Usyk – No fight scheduled.
- Dmitry Bivol – Fight against No. 12 Artur Beterbiev for the undisputed 175-pound championship, originally scheduled for June 1, was postponed after Beterbiev injured his knee.
- Juan Francisco Estrada – Scheduled to defend his 115-pound title against No. 11 Jesse Rodriguez on June 29 in Phoenix.
- Canelo Alvarez – No fight scheduled.
- Jermell Charlo – No fight scheduled.
- Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to defend his 135-pound title against Frank Martin on June 15 in Las Vegas.
- Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez – Scheduled to face No. 5 Juan Francisco Estrada for Estrada’s 115-pound title on June 29 in Phoenix.
- Artur Beterbiev – Fight against No. 4 Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed 175-pound championship, originally scheduled for June 1, was postponed after Beterbiev injured his knee.
- Tyson Fury – No fight scheduled.
- Errol Spence Jr. – No fight scheduled.
- Vasiliy Lomachenko – No fight scheduled.
- Shakur Stevenson – No fight scheduled.
- David Benavidez – Scheduled to fight 175-pounder Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 in Las Vegas.
Honorable Mention (alphabetical order):
Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled); Roman Gonzalez (no fight scheduled); Kazuto Ioka (scheduled to face Fernando Martinez in a 115-pound title-unification bout on July 7 in Tokyo); Teofimo Lopez (scheduled to defend his 140-pound title against Steve Claggett on June 29 in Miami); Junto Nakatani (scheduled to defend his 118-pound title against Vincent Astrolabio on July 20 in Tokyo).
Credit: Boxing Junkie
