Tim Bradley has given his take on the current pound-for-pound standings.
The pound-for-pound list regularly causes a lot of debate within boxing, with fans and fighters alike disagreeing over who they believe should be positioned where in the rankings.
Bradley himself knows what it is like to be considered as a pound-for-pound star, being a regular in the top 10 from 2010 to 2015, and at one stage being ranked as high as number three in The Ring rankings back in 2013.
Hall of Fame inductee Bradley has now had his say on who he believes to be the current number one whilst speaking to Fighthype, initially giving praise to Terence Crawford ahead of his fight with Canelo Alvarez later this year,
“Crawford is a pound-for-pound guy. Arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world depending on the accolades involved in this too.”
When discussing those accolades, Bradley settled on unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk as being his current number one.
“What Usyk has done in the last few years has been phenomenal. You can’t deny him that top spot, but Crawford has been 1, 2 or 3 for years. Over a decade on the pound-for-pound list.”
Usyk has been undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, beating top fighters like Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois, Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev during his career.
Crawford can also boast being undisputed in two divisions, having done so at both super-lightweight and welterweight. He has also reigned at lightweight and super-welterweight, making him a four-weight world champion.
‘Bud’ makes a huge leap when he moves up to super-middleweight to take on Canelo in September, where a victory could see him become undisputed in a third division if Alvarez can first defeat William Scull in May.
It would be an achievement that no male boxer has ever managed before, and therefore make it extremely hard to argue with Crawford being the pound-for-pound number one.
