WBN Releases Their Top 50 Pound For Pound Rankings

World Boxing News counts down the Top 50 Boxers in the Pound for Pound Rankings ahead of the final few weeks of the year.

At the helm and leading the way as the number one fighter on the planet is Terence Crawford. ‘Bud’ managed to overtake Oleksandr Usyk by the smallest of margins due to claiming a fourth-weight world title against Israil Madrimov last August.

The space between the two majestic boxers is wafer-thin, so much so that WBN had considered a joint leader heading into the final third of 2024. As it stands, Usyk will regain top stop if he defeats the unranked Tyson Fury on December 21. The formidable Ukrainian will lead the sport into 2025 as the top star.

Should Fury upset the odds, ‘The Gypsy King’ will return to the top ten on merit rather than overall resume. He doesn’t appear now due to suffering loss while facing substandard opposition. Fury’s recent opponents left a lot to be desired and defeat to Usyk compounded the Englishman’s drop out of the Top 50.

At three is Naoya Inoue, who is in the same boat as Fury regarding the strength of his challengers. The undisputed super bantamweight ruler has already been ruled out of the running for WBN Fighter of the Year due to his decision to face TJ Doheny and Sam Goodman rather than taking a more significant risk.

Many would argue that Inoue deserves a couple of gimme victories due to his unbelievable run over the past two years in becoming a two-weight four-belt champion in two years. However, the 30-year-old needed to strike while the iron was hot to get back to the top spot. Facing Murodjon Akhmadaliev or Liam Davies would have been more eye-catching at 122.

Coming in at four is Canelo Alvarez. Boasting one of the best tenures in the sport, the consistency of top names isn’t there for the Mexican superstar. In a similar case to Inoue, Canelo has to face David Benavidez or avenge his defeat to Dmitry Bivol to move up and get anywhere near Crawford or Usyk. The depth of talent isn’t there for Canelo at 168.

Artur Beterbiev makes up the P4P top five, elevating his status by becoming undefeated against Bivol earlier this month.

Pound for Pound Boxing Rankings – October 2024

1 Terence CRAWFORD

2 Oleksandr USYK

3 Naoya INOUE

4 CANELO Alvarez

5 Artur BETERBIEV

6 Jesse RODRIGUEZ

7 Vasiliy LOMACHENKO

8 Gervonta DAVIS

9 Dmitry BIVOL

10 Junto NAKATANI