Deemed by many to be the pound-for-pound king, Oleksandr Usyk has now revealed his own pound-for-pound ratings, picking out who he believes to be boxing’s top five fighters but leaving out two major names.
Usyk is one of three fighters to have captured the undisputed world title in multiple weight divisions during the four-belt era, joined in that elite club by Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue, who have been seen as his pound-for-pound rivals in recent years.
Still, Usyk’s incredible run at cruiserweight, along with his legendary triumphs as a heavyweight, combine to make an astonishingly strong résumé that has him deemed irremovable from top spot in the eyes of many fans, despite Inoue’s career-best win over Junto Nakatani earlier this month.
However, when it came to naming his own list in an interview with DAZN Boxing, Usyk did not name either himself or Inoue, but included heavyweight duo Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury – both of whom he has defeated twice.
“Terence Crawford, Canelo [Alvarez], Shakur [Stevenson], Anthony Joshua, Greedy Belly [Tyson Fury].”
The lineal heavyweight world champion returns to action next Saturday, where he defends his WBC heavyweight world title against Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven, in an unconventional bout at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
That fight tops a card which features Hamzah Sheeraz’s challenge for the WBO super-middleweight crown, a crucial IBF eliminator between Frank Sanchez and Richard Torrez which could determine Usyk’s next opponent and Jack Catterall’s showdown with Shakhram Giyasov – where victory would put ‘El Gato’ back into the welterweight mix.
