Oleksandr Usyk gave the efficiency of a lifetime on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, rallying to defeat gigantic Tyson Fury by a cut up choice to change into the primary undisputed heavyweight champion in 1 / 4 century.
However was it sufficient to catapult No. 3-ranked Usyk previous Nos. 1 and a pair of Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue on the Boxing Junkie pound-for-pound checklist?
No.
Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) deserves consideration for the highest spot after taking down Anthony Joshua in back-to-back fights in 2021 and 2022, stopping Daniel Dubois in 9 rounds in August and now handing Fury the primary lack of his profession.
That’s a hell of a run by any normal. And the previous cruiserweight champ has executed it in opposition to naturally bigger males, who would have hassle competing with him if he have been their measurement. That clearly works in his favor within the pound-for-pound debate.
So why isn’t he No. 1?
Let’s begin with Crawford and Inoue. The gifted lower-weight stars don’t have fairly the resume Usyk has however they’ve dominated one contender after one other to climb to the highest of the checklist and have proven no indicators of weak point.
Bear in mind: We have been as amazed when Crawford demolished fellow pound-for-pounder Errol Spence Jr. and Inoue bought up from a knockdown to destroy Luis Nery as we at the moment are following Usyk’s historic victory over Fury.
And whereas we should bear in mind the dimensions distinction between Usyk and his heavyweight rivals, he dominated neither Joshua nor Fury and benefitted from a controversial name by the referee – a clear physique shot that was dominated a low blow — in opposition to Dubois to take care of his good document.
Fury believes he did sufficient in opposition to Usyk to get the choice, which isn’t far fetched given the tight, back-and-forth struggle. Had it gone Fury’s approach, we wouldn’t even be speaking about Usyk as a possible No. 1.
Not one of the above is supposed to denigrate Usyk’s accomplishments. He has demonstrated over the previous two years that he not solely is the highest heavyweight in the mean time but additionally an all-time nice, which is the very best reward in boxing.
He simply hasn’t executed fairly sufficient to leap frog two different future Corridor of Famers, Crawford and Inoue.
In fact, we should add one factor: If Usyk fights and beats Fury once more — notably if it’s extra convincing the second time — we’ll must revisit our choice to depart him at No. 3.
What about Fury, who entered Saturday at No. 9? He drops to No. 11 — beneath Bam Rodriguez and Artur Beterbiev — after his disastrous efficiency in opposition to Francis Ngannou in October and his setback in opposition to Usyk on Saturday.
And, clearly, Fury can also change his fortunes if he can flip the tables on Usyk in a rematch.
Subsequent pound-for-pounder up: No. 8 Gervonta Davis will face Frank Martin and No. 15 David Benavidez will tackle Oleksandr Gvozdyk on the identical card June 15 in Las Vegas.
Right here’s what the checklist seems to be like in the mean time:
BOXING JUNKIEPOUND-FOR-POUND
Terence Crawford – Scheduled to problem 154-pound titleholder
Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.
Naoya Inoue – No battle scheduled.
Oleksandr Usyk – No battle scheduled.
Dmitry Bivol – Combat in opposition to No. 12 Artur Beterbiev for the undisputed 175-pound championship, initially scheduled for June 1, was postponed after Beterbiev injured his knee.
Juan Francisco Estrada – Scheduled to defend his 115-pound title in opposition to No. 11 Jesse Rodriguez on June 29 in Phoenix.
Canelo Alvarez – No battle scheduled.
Jermell Charlo – No battle scheduled.
Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to defend his 135-pound title in opposition to 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 – Combat in opposition to No. 4 Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed 175-pound championship, initially scheduled for June 1, was postponed after Beterbiev injured his knee.
Tyson Fury – No battle scheduled.
Errol Spence Jr. – No battle scheduled.
Vasiliy Lomachenko – No battle scheduled.
Shakur Stevenson – No battle scheduled.
David Benavidez – Scheduled to battle 175-pounder Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 in Las Vegas.
Honorable point out (alphabetical order): Jermall Charlo (no battle scheduled); Roman Gonzalez (no battle scheduled); Kazuto Ioka (scheduled to face Fernando Martinez in a 115-pound title-unification bout in on July 7 in Tokyo); Teofimo Lopez (scheduled to defend his 140-pound title in opposition to Steve Claggett on June 29 in Miami); Junto Nakatani (scheduled to defend his 118-pound title in opposition to Vincent Astrolabio on July 20 in Tokyo).
