CANELO ALVAREZ hasn’t received much of a punishment. He failed two drug tests when traces of clenbuterol were detected his system and was obliged to pull out of his May rematch with Gennady Golovkin. The Nevada State Athletic Commission handed him a paltry six month ban, which in theory means he’ll be free to have that Golovkin rematch in September.
However his suspension does mean that Alvarez is dismissed from the Boxing News world rankings. Coming in to the 10th spot in our middleweight rankings, you’ll be pleased to know, is Kamil Szeremeta.
Canelo was also thrown out of the Boxing News pound-for-pound list, leaving a vacancy in this magazine’s ranking of the top 10 best boxers in the planet at any weight class.
There were contenders to fill that vacancy in our pound-for-pound list. Welterweight Errol Spence certainly looks like he has talent to burn and won the IBF title from Kell Brook in 2017. But he hasn’t taken on any of the other champions in his division and his opposition since Brook has been low key.
Jarrett Hurd was also in the reckoning after one big win, outscoring Erislandy Lara to unify the WBA and IBF world titles at super-welterweight.
But the accomplishments of Anthony Joshua have catapulted the Briton into Boxing News’ top 10 pound-for-pound estimation, earning him 10th place. He has built his popularity to a level where he can fill a stadium in the UK on a regular basis, but it’s his achievements in the ring that count here and Joshua has also defeated good people. In 2017 Joshua beat a modern legend in Wladimir Klitschko, unifying the IBF and WBA heavyweight titles in the process. Most recently he clearly outpointed Joseph Parker, widely regarded as the third best operator in heavyweight boxing (after Joshua and Deontay Wilder) to add a third world title, the WBO belt, to his collection. Joshua also has victories over world level fights Carlos Takam and Dillian Whyte on his resume.
See the Boxing News pound-for-pound list HERE.
