Pound-for-pound: Top boxers getting busy as end of year approaches
Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list could look different by the end of the year.
That’s because so many ranked fighters are in action over the next few months. Specifically, seven of the 20 boxers on the list (including five Honorable Mentions) have bouts scheduled and another five are in serious negotiations.
That includes No. 1-ranked Terence Crawford, who is set to face Shawn Porter on Nov. 20 in his first significant test as a welterweight.
Two other Top 5 boxers also have fights coming up. No. 2 Canelo Alvarez will face Caleb Plant on Nov. 6 and we’re closing in on the fight between No. 5 Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, which is scheduled for Sept. 25.
Here is where the pound-for-pounders stand.
BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND
Terence Crawford – Scheduled to defend his WBO welterweight title against Shawn Porter on Nov. 20 Las Vegas.
Canelo Alvarez – Scheduled to fight Caleb Plant to unify all four major 168-pound titles on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.
Naoya Inoue – No fight scheduled.
Errol Spence Jr. – No fight scheduled.
Oleksandr Usyk – Scheduled to challenge heavyweight titleholder Anthony Joshua on Sept. 25 in London.
Teofimo Lopez – Scheduled to defend his undisputed lightweight championship against George Kambosos on Oct. 4 in New York City.
Vasiliy Lomachenko – In talks to fight Richard Commey on Dec. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Tyson Fury – Scheduled to defend his WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder on Oct. 9 in Las Vegas.
Juan Francisco Estrada – In talks to defend his WBA and WBA junior bantamweight titles in what would be a third fight against Roman Gonzalez in November.
Gennadiy Golovkin – In talks to fight Ryota Murata in a middleweight title-unification fight on Dec. 28 in Tokyo.
Mikey Garcia – Scheduled to fight Sandor Martin on Oct. 16 in Fresno, Calif.
Jermell Charlo – No fight scheduled.
Josh Taylor – Tentatively scheduled to defend his undisputed junior welterweight championship against mandatory challenger Jack Catterall on Dec. 18 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Artur Beterbiev – The light heavyweight titleholder has been ordered to defend against Marcus Browne but no deal has been reached.
Gervonta Davis – No fight scheduled
Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Mairis Briedis (scheduled to fight Artur Mann on Oct. 16 in Riga, Latvia), Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled), Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Sor Rungvisai is expected to meet Carlos Cuadras as part of a junior bantamweight tournament but nothing is official), Yordenis Ugas (no fight scheduled) and Oscar Valdez (no fight scheduled).
