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Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: Artur Beterbiev leapfrogs Gervonta Davis for No. 10 spot

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 28: Artur Beterbiev celebrates after defeating Anthony Yarde during their WBC, IBF and WBO light heavyweight Championship fight at OVO Arena Wembley on January 28, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Mark Robison/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
Artur Beterbiev's undefeated record (19-0) and 100% KO rate is enough for a Top 10 spot in the rankings. (Photo by Mark Robison/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images) (Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)

Boxing is at an interesting point in its history now. There are a lot of quality fighters, more than there have been at any point in the last 20 or 25 years, perhaps.

It’s a tough task to squeeze all of them into the pound-for-pound Top 10. Gervonta Davis held down the 10th position in the Yahoo Sports P4P rankings last month, but a good performance by Artur Beterbiev in London on Jan. 28 knocked Davis out of his position.

Beterbiev improved to 19-0 with 19 knockouts when he stopped Anthony Yarde in London. I pushed him up slightly ahead of Davis because I felt Beterbiev had faced better competition and had a 100 percent knockout rate.

There are at least six, maybe more, fighters who are both talented enough and accomplished enough to be ranked in the Top 10 pound-for-pound yet find themselves on the outside looking in.

Last month, I mentioned Beterbiev, Jermell Charlo, Stephen Fulton, Joshua Franco, Juan Francisco Estrada, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jesse Rodriguez as fighters who were considered for the 10th spot. In addition to Davis, I should have added Regis Prograis, David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Josh Taylor and Kazuko Ioka to those considered.

It’s a good time for boxing fans. The key is to get the fights made.

Boxing pound-for-pound rankings as of Feb. 14

  1. Terence Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs), WBO welterweight champion. Previous Ranking: 1

  2. Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs), Undisputed bantamweight champion. Previous Ranking: 2

  3. Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs), IBF-WBA-WBO heavyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 3

  4. Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs), Undisputed super middleweight champion. Previous Ranking: 4

  5. Errol Spence Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs), IBF-WBA-WBC welterweight champion. Previous Ranking: 5

  6. Shakur Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs), Lightweight contender. Previous Ranking: 6

  7. Devin Haney (29-0, 15 KOs), Undisputed lightweight champion. Previous Ranking: 7

  8. Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), WBC heavyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 8

  9. Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), WBA light heavyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 9

  10. Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs), Unified light heavyweight champion. Previous ranking: NR