Beterbiev & Bivol Surpass Canelo In Ring Magazine Pound-For-Pound Top 10 List

Newly crowned undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and his defeated foe Dmitry Bivol have surpassed Canelo Alvarez in Ring Magazine’s updated pound-for-pound top 10 list.

Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs), who defeated former WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) by a 12-round majority decision last Saturday night to become undisputed four-belt champion at 175, has been pushed up to #4 on Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound list.

Interestingly, the defeated Bivol has been moved ahead of the unified three-belt super middleweight champion Canelo as well at the #4 spot. Canelo is currently at #5 and may not stay there for long unless he starts taking some risky fights against high-level opposition.

The perception is Canelo has been on a retirement tour since his loss to Dmitry Bivol in May 2022. Canelo’s last five opponents since that defeat: Edgar Berlanga, Jaime Munguia, Jermell Charlo, John Ryder and Gennadiy Golovkin. All are considered soft gimmes.

Ring Magazine’s Pound-for-Pound List

1. Oleksandr Usyk: The King.
2. Naoya Inoue: He has never faced stiff competition, and many believe he’s hiding at Super Bantamweight because it’s a weak division. Given his lackluster resume, Inoue should be near the bottom of the pound-for-pound list.
3. Terence Crawford: The Nebraska native should be at the #9 spot because of his inactivity, poor showing in his last fight against Israil Madrimov, and his reluctance to fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis or move up to 168 and run the gauntlet by fighting David Benavidez, David Morrell and Osleys Iglesias to earn the Canelo golden parachute retirement cash.
4. Artur Beterbiev: This perfect ranking.
5. Dmitry Bivol: This is questionable to have Bivol on the list because he lost his fight and showed no heart the entire 12-round contest. Bivol was running the entire fight with Beterbiev and did nothing in the twelfth round. Bivol’s lack of courage makes him unworthy of being on Ring Magazine’s list.
6. Canelo Alvarez: Given Canelo’s retirement tour-level opposition, he should be off the pound-for-pound list entirely. Retired fighters shouldn’t be on prestigious P4P lists.
7. Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez: This talent needs to be at the #3 spot.
8. Gervonta Davis: Should be at #2 pound-for-pound.
9. Junto Nakatani: This fighter hasn’t beaten anyone yet to be on the pound-for-pound list.
10. Devin Haney: No words.