B/R Pound-for-Pound Boxing Rankings: August 2024
August 1, 2024B/R Pound-for-Pound Boxing Rankings: August 2024
This just in: Boxing isn't like other sports.
Unlike baseball, football and basketball, where a carefully crafted schedule of games makes it easy to see which teams belong at the top of the standings, the sweet science is a little more difficult to forecast given the intermittent (at best) appearances of its top stars.
For example, just one fighter from last month's rankings stepped through the ropes in July, meaning it's taken a bit more than video reviews for the B/R combat team to compile a renewed list of the sport's 10 best for August.
As usual, though, we have put our collective heads together and consulted respected sources such as The Ring and others to come up with a definitive collection for the calendar's eighth month.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the comments.
10. Teofimo Lopez
Weight Class: 140 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBO
It's another month on the pound-for-pound margins for "The Takeover," who regains a spot on the ladder's bottom rung after a unanimous 12-round decision over Steve Claggett in late June. The 27-year-old Brooklyn native, already a two-division champ after a reign at lightweight, has discussed the prospect of moving up to welterweight by 2025.
9. Junto Nakatani
Weight Class: 118 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBC
It's a welcome back for Lopez and a welcome in for Junto Nakatani, who's already won and defended the WBC's strap at 118 pounds in 2024 after previous reigns at 112 and 115. The 26-year-old could boost his status with an all-Japan showdown against Naoya Inoue at 122.
8. Gervonta Davis
Weight Class: 135 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBA
Opinions vary wildly on exactly how high Davis ought to be ranked, but there's no arguing his talent. He's claimed belts of one worth or another in three weight classes, and a 93.3 percent KO rate (28 of 30) doesn't hurt. Next on the agenda? Maybe Shakur Stevenson.
7. Jesse Rodriguez
Weight Class: 118 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBC
There are few young stars hotter these days than the 24-year-old "Bam," a Texas native who got off the floor to stop Juan Francisco Estrada in seven rounds in late June. He's another lighter-weight fighter who's been mentioned as a possible opponent for Inoue.
6. Dmitry Bivol
Weight Class: 175 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBA
Provided his rescheduled light heavyweight unification bout with three-belt champ Artur Beterbiev comes off this fall, it'll be the first time in six years that Dmitry Bivol enters a fight coming off a KO win. His blowout of Malik Zinad in June ended a run of nine decisions.
5. Artur Beterbiev
Weight Class: 175 pounds
Major Titles Held: IBF/WBC/WBO
The flip side to the much-anticipated showdown at 175 pounds, Beterbiev has fought just 17 rounds since the end of 2021. He made his first appearance of 2024 with a seventh-round KO of former 168-pound champ Callum Smith in January and has 20 KOs in 20 wins.
4. Canelo Alvarez
Weight Class: 168 pounds
Major Titles Held: IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO
The senior resident of the pound-for-pound set, at least in terms of time spent among the elites, Alvarez will be making his annual September appearance against an outgunned Edgar Berlanga but could provide some future intrigue with a Terence Crawford fight.
3. Terence Crawford
Weight Class: 147 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBA/WBO
Speaking of intrigue, the affable Nebraskan known as "Bud" can provide a bit of his own this weekend when he climbs to 154 pounds to face Israil Madrimov for the WBA title. A win would give Crawford a fourth weight class title and ample momentum for a Canelo call-out.
2. Naoya Inoue
Weight Class: 122 pounds
Major Titles Held: WBA/WBO
No fighter has accomplished more in recent years than Naoya Inoue, the Japanese "Monster" who won all four belts at 122 pounds in 2023 and defended the collection in May. He'll return in September against No. 2 WBC contender TJ Doheny.
1. Oleksandr Usyk
Weight Class: Heavyweight
Major Titles Held: WBA/WBC/WBO
All pound-for-pound roads lead to Oleksandr Usyk, the Olympic champ who was pristine at cruiserweight before shocking belt-holding Britons Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to become the man at heavyweight. A Fury rematch in December is a legacy-enhancing opportunity for the talented Ukrainian.