Ring Magazine has come out with their updated top ten pound-for-pound list, and it’s not a popular one, filled with fighters that had their day but have no business being ranked among the best.
The staff at Ring Magazine have really outdone themselves this time with this awful list, filled with fighters that don’t belong. It almost seems like the list was thrown together, ignoring recent performances from fighters like Errol Spence & Oleksandr Usyk.
Two notable names that didn’t make the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound list were Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis & Shakur Stevenson. These two should have been on the list in place of Errol Spence & Oleksandr Usyk.
For starters, Errol Spence, recently beaten up and stopped in his latest fight, is ranked #6 on Ring Magazine’s updated list, above Gervonta Davis & Devin Haney.
This writer speaks for everyone when I say Spence shouldn’t be on the list or even in the top 20 at this stage of his career because he’s not the same fighter he once was since his car crash in 2019.
That accident took the best out of Errol, leaving the withered, weight-drained, dazed-looking shell that we witnessed getting batted around the ring by Terence Crawford last July.
Ring Magazine’s updated top ten pound-for-pound list:
1. Terence Crawford
2. Naoya Inoue
3. Oleksandr Usyk
4. Canelo Alvarez
5. Dmitry Bivol
6. Errol Spence
7. Devin Haney
8. Gervonta Davis
9. Teofimo Lopez
10. Vasyl Lomachenko
In Spence’s place, Ring Magazine should have put unbeaten IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) or David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs). The 33-year-old Spence had his day, but his last two fights against Terence Crawford & Yordenis Ugas showed that he’s washed and ready for retirement.
Another oddball pick by Ring Magazine for their top 10 pound-for-pound list is the inclusion of IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk at #3, which is a horrible spot. Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), who is turning 37 years old next month, was arguably knocked out by Daniel Dubois in the fifth round last August in Wroclaw, Poland.
Usyk appeared to put in an Academy Award-winning acting job, feigning that Dubois had hit him low. His acting job worked, as the ring ruled it a low blow, saving Usyk from suffering his first loss. Replays showed clearly that Dubois’s powerful right-hand shot hit Usyk in the breadbasket, above the waistband of his hiked-up trunks.
Devin Haney doesn’t deserve to be on the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound list either because of his controversial twelve round decision win over Vasily Lomachenko last May in Las Vegas.
Haney was a weight bully, a welterweight that drained down to 135, and had a gigantic size advantage over the smaller, older Lomachenko.
He appeared to be 20 lbs heavier than Lomachenko in the fight, and this to go along with his 7-inch reach, 3-inch height, and ten-year youth advantage. With all that going for Haney, he still couldn’t beat Lomachenko without controversy.
