10. Takashi Uchiyama 24-0-1 (19)
A super-featherweight world champion for almost six years now, Tokyo’s Uchiyama is yet to fight outside of Japan meaning his destructive dominance at 130lbs has gone relatively unnoticed worldwide. However, the 35-year-old looks unstoppable. Always in fun fights, Uchiyama has scalped the likes of Takashi Miura, Jorge Solis and Bryan Vasquez.
9. Naoya Inoue 9-0 (8)
Just 22 years old and eight fights into his career, ‘The Monster’ is already a two-weight world champion (light-fly and super-flyweight). The aggressive Japanese operator blitzed the vastly experienced Omar Andres Narvaez inside two rounds last December to claim the WBO super-fly title.
8. Kell Brook 35-0 (24)
Though he has not yet been able to nail down the big fights he craves, the Sheffield star continues to prove his class as one of the world’s top welterweights. He travelled to America to dethrone Shawn Porter and has since decimated anyone who has tried to do the same to him. Able to box and move or go toe to toe, Brook seems to improve with each fight and if he keeps it up, the world is his oyster.
7. Shinsuke Yamanaka 24-0-2 (17)
The bantamweight king is fresh off the back of a contentious split decision win over former champion Anselmo Moreno, though that is the closest someone has come to beating him since two draws early in his career. Wins over the likes of Vic Darchinyan, Malcolm Tunacao and Suriyan Sor Rungvisai have cemented the gifted southpaw’s status as an elite pugilist.
6. Terence Crawford 27-0 (19)
To date, no one has been able to rattle the Omaha native’s cage. A supremely talented natural boxer, Crawford wrenched the WBO world lightweight title from Ricky Burns last year before dominating Yuriorkis Gamboa in his first defence. Further displays of brilliance against Ray Beltran and Thomas Dulorme followed, the latter winning him the WBO world super-lightweight strap.
5. Guillermo Rigondeaux 16-0 (10)
One of the greatest amateur boxers to have ever laced them up, the slick Cuban has shown a gritty resilience in the pro game, having risen from the canvas numerous times to prevail. A 2013 super-bantam unification fight with Nonito Donaire saw Rigondeaux leap into the pound-for-pound rankings after he won on points. Technically brilliant, it would take a special fighter to eliminate Guillermo’s ‘0’.
4. Gennady Golovkin 34-0 (31)
The Kazakh destroyer is arguably the most feared man in boxing given his monstrous strength and terrifying aggression. ‘GGG’ tends to give judges the night off. However, it is not just about the explosive punches he lands – it’s how he lands them. Patient yet forceful, Golovkin cuts the ring off brilliantly and his extensive amateur experience means he has an impressive skillset. As of yet, he is yet to meet another elite level fighter but that looks set to change soon.
3. Sergey Kovalev 28-0-1 (25)
Kovalev holds all but one of the world light-heavyweight titles, and is trying to tempt fellow heavy-hitter Adonis Stevenson, who holds the WBC strap, into the ring. The Florida-based Russian slugger has wiped out most of the top names at 175lbs in the meantime and only Bernard Hopkins has taken Sergey the distance in the past five years.
2. Andre Ward 28-0 (15)
Ward ended a 19-month hiatus when he routed an overmatched Paul Smith in June and although that win will not have enhanced the American’s legacy, it marked a welcome return to activity for one of the sport’s leading fighters. Reportedly having not lost a fight, amateur or professional, since his early teenage years, Ward looks near impossible to beat. The defensive wizard negates his opponent’s strengths and rapidly builds on their weaknesses and his CV is one of the strongest in boxing. Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Mikkel Kessler and Chad Dawson all feel to Ward’s brilliance and now Andre looks set to storm the light-heavyweight division.
1. Roman Gonzalez 44-0 (38)
There was a time when Roman Gonzalez was boxing’s best kept secret. The Nicaraguan entered the world scene in 2008 when he picked up the WBA strawweight title and has not looked back since. World honours at light-fly and flyweight followed, with Gonzalez beating countless top-drawer fighters in the lower weight classes. Only Juan Francisco Estrada has gone the distance with Roman in his last 15 fights. At 28 and regarded by many as the best fighter on the planet now that Floyd Mayweather has retired, 49-0 does not look too far off for Gonzalez.
