Top 10 Boxing Nations

Below is a list of the best current boxing nations. This is my first list of this nature.

Rank	Nation	Top 10	Champs	5 Star	Best
1	United States	4	1	28	Crawford
2	Ukraine	2	2	5	Lomachenko
3	England	0	0	17	Joshua
4	Mexico	1	1	10	Canelo
5	Russia	0	0	6	Kovalev
6	Japan	1	0	7	Inoue
7	Puerto Rico	0	0	3	Machado
8	Cuba	0	1	4	Rigondeaux
9	Philippines	0	0	4	Pacquiao
10	Thailand	1	1	3	SSR

Key:
Top 10: number of boxers from stated nation that are on my top 10 p4p list (as of Oct 6)
Champs: number of champions recognized by the Transnational Boxing Rankings (6 total)
5 Star: number of boxers who have 5 stars on BoxRec (take with a grain of salt, just meant to show a trend, nothing definitive.)
Best: In my opinion

1. The U.S. is still king even with the retirements of Andre Ward and Floyd Mayweather.

The U.S. has the most top 10 fighters and the most 5 star fighters. The country dominates the middle weight classes from 140 to 160 but is represented in all but the smallest weight classes. Just outside of the top 10 p4p list are Americans Shawn Porter, Gary Russell, Danny Jacobs, and Regis Prograis. The U.S. has plenty of hot prospects coming up including Shakur Stevenson. Las Vegas and New York are still the preeminent fight towns in the world. But the rest of the world is catching up.

2. Ukraine has had a number of decorated amateurs blow through the pro ranks. Lomachenko is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Usyk and Gvozdyk are both recognized champions at cruiserweight and light heavyweight respectively. Ukraine basically has 3 top 10 fighters. Derevyanchenko is just a class below and there are several prospects coming up. The best Ukrainian fighters range in weight from lightweight on up.

3. England has three of the best four heavyweights. Super middleweight is another class of English domination. Half of TBR's 168 top 10 are from England including Callum Smith who just won last season's World Boxing Super Series.

4. While Canelo isn't the only high-level Mexican fighter, he is the clear standout. Miguel Berchelt, Luis Nery, Jaime Munguia, and Rey Vargas are the best of the rest. There aren't many Mexican fighters above 168. Between 115 and 130 is the sweet spot.

5. Russia looks to be moving up the list despite Kovalev suffering 3 recent loses. Cruiserweight and light heavweight are Russia's best weight classes. Though they haven't yet surpassed Kovalev in my book, Bivol and Beterbiev are on their way at 175.

6. Naoya Inoue won impressively since he made my top 10 list in October. He's the cream of the crop in Japan, but there are other strong guys including his brother. Almost all of them are 122 pounds or under.

7. Puerto Rico is an American territory, but treated as a separate nation in the context of boxing. Down from its heyday, Puerto Rico is nevertheless still churning out some good ones. Felix Verdejo suffered an upset loss earlier this year, so Emmanuel Rodriguez takes the mantle as the island's best prospect. He's in tough against Inoue in his next fight in the WBSS. Jose Pedraza faces Lomachenko tomorrow night, so it could be a defining couple of months for the direction of Puerto Rican boxing. Currently Puerto Rico is mostly represented in the lighter weight classes.

8. The top Cuban fighters- Rigondeaux, Lara, Ortiz, Barrera, Gamboa, Dorticos, Perez, and Rances Barthelemy- have all suffered losses in the not too distant past. Those losses have dimmed the star a bit of the once great hype surrounding the decorated Cuban amateurs defecting and going pro. Rigondeaux is still a fringe top 10 guy if he can bounce back from a loss to Lomachenko at a much higher weight than he's used to. Good Cuban fighters can be found from heavyweight on down to about 122.

9. Filipino boxing isn't at its zenith. Pacquiao is still relevant but no long dominant. Ancajas hasn't yet reached his potential. Donnie Nietes has always been good, but looked a little old last time out. On the other hand, Nonito Donaire has a chance to resurrect his career thanks to an injury to his opponent midway through his WBSS fight. Pacquiao is the heaviest Filipino fighter of note.

10. Thailand reaches the top 10 thanks to SSR's two wins over Roman Gonzalez last year and his follow-up victory over Estrada to cement his place in the top 10 p4p list. The two other 5 star boxers are minimum weight guys with mostly built up records.