In an period fixated on the undisputed crown, there are a bunch of fighters who’ve thrust themselves into the pound-for-pound dialog by getting their arms on all 4 titles of their respective weight divisions. Now, Teofimo Lopez has named the person whom he believes to be boxing’s present finest.
Because the starting of the four-belt period within the early 2000s, there have been 11 males to have change into undisputed champions, with the feat being achieved by 9 fighters since Might 2021 and on 4 events in 2025 alone.
Nonetheless, lately, it has been Terence Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk and Naoya Inoue who’ve separated themselves from the competitors, having every change into four-belt undisputed champions in a number of weight divisions.
Following the retirement of Crawford, many boxing followers are actually cut up as as to if it’s Usyk or Inoue who’s deserving of recognition as boxing’s pound-for-pound king, although the likes of Shakur Stevenson and Davide Benavidez are actually knocking on the door.
After witnessing Inoue trump Junto Nakatani in a seventh defence of his undisputed super-bantamweight crown final weekend, Teofimo Lopez informed Contained in the Ring that, in his opinion, the Japanese sensation deserves high spot.
“They began very sluggish at first, they have been feeling one another out however general, because the rounds stored going, I believe that Inoue closed it out within the championship rounds, like a champ does.
“The quantity of title defences that he has and the quantity of every thing that he has completed, I believe that he’s primary pound-for-pound, in my view.”
Inoue might persuade much more struggle followers of his expertise if he fights pound-for-pound rival Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who debuts as a bantamweight subsequent month.
Lopez, whose robust argument to be within the high 10 pound-for-pound listing was maybe weakened by a one-sided loss to Shakur Stevenson earlier this 12 months, is predicted to proceed to make his case as top-of-the-line with a transfer to the welterweight ranks. There, he’ll look to change into a three-weight world champion.
