Top Ten Pound-for-Pound

 Here's my pound-for-pound list. I take into account ability and accomplishment. The previous list was posted on April 26, 2020.

1. Saul Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) [1]
2. Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16 KOs) [3]
3. Terence Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) [4]
4. Errol Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) [5]
5. Gennady Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) [6]
6. Teofimo Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) [Not Rated]

7. Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) [2]
8. Olexandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) [7]
9. Leo Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs) [8]
10. Josh Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) [9]

Exit: Jose Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs) [10]

1. Canelo might not be fighting for a while after a dispute with his promoter and network. It'll be hard to keep the top spot if he's inactive for too long.

2. Inoue has a battle with the credible Jason Maloney at the end of the month.

3. Crawford faces a faded Kell Brook next month. Crawford's best win is still his decision victory over Viktor Postol four years ago. His talent is undeniable, but it's hard to keep him high up the list when he isn't fighting the same level of opponent as the others.

4. Spence fights Danny Garcia in December. While Garcia isn't at the same level as he was a few years ago, Spence could leapfrog Crawford with an impressive win.

5. Golovkin has been inactive for a year, which is understandable given the virus.

6. Lopez makes the list on the strength of his win over Lomachenko and his impressive knockout of Richard Commey. I thought the fight with Lomachenko was a draw, but I could see Lopez winning 8-4. Julie Lederman is the best boxing judge. She's so good that if I disagree with her, I usually just assume that I was wrong. This is the first time when I strongly disagree with her 119-109 card.

7. I thought Lomachenko's fight with Lopez was a draw. I placed him a slot lower than Lopez because I thought the fight could have been between 6-6 and 8-4 Lopez and the official cards were for Lopeza.

8. Usyk faces Derek Chisora on October 31. Chisora is better than a journeyman, but he's not on the championship level.

9. Santa Cruz has a very tough match against Gervonta Davis on october 31. The winner will likely be on this list.

10. Taylor beat an overmatched opponent this fall. He beat Postol better than Jose Ramirez did, so he remains just ahead of Ramirez.

Exit: Ramirez wasn't impressive against Postol this fall. I had him ranked tenth, but with Lopez's ascent, he likely would have fallen off the list anyway. I still have him 11th.