The first quarter of the 21st century is about to come to an end, and in terms of boxing, we have seen great personalities dominate the ring in different parts of the world. Without a doubt, in these 25 years, fans have witnessed great battles in different categories. Against this backdrop, the specialized media outlet “The Ring” published the Top-10 of the best boxers of the present century where Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is present in this exclusive list.
Although the Mexican lost in September the undisputed super middleweight championship to Terence Crawford, his legacy remains intact and he is one of the great idols in boxing history, both in boxing and in general sport. Currently, Canelo Alvarez is recovering from surgery on his elbow in November, so he is now in the recovery process and will then enter the rehabilitation stage where he will be able to return to exercise inside and outside the gym.
What place does Canelo Alvarez occupy in the 21st century?
Despite having lost his championship label to the WBO, WBC, WBA and IBF, his record is one of the most attractive in recent years. The Mexican has more than 15 world championships in different divisions, with a record of 63 wins (39 by KO), three losses and two draws in 68 fights. He is undoubtedly one of the most successful and recognized boxers worldwide. According to The Ring Magazine’s analysis, Canelo Alvarez just made it into the top 10 best boxers of the current century, as he ranks 10th on the list.
Canelo has been one of the best pound-for-pound exponents of the last 25 years, and is below two of the exponents who defeated him: Floyd Mayweather, the first to beat Canelo, and Terence Crawford, the last executioner of the Mexican. His career began in the super welterweight category and he has taken it to light heavyweight, where he suffered his second setback against Dmitry Bivol. He won multiple titles in different categories against big names such as Gennady Golovkin and Caleb Plant.
Who reigns in 21st century boxing?
For the boxing media, Floyd “The Money” Mayweather leads this list with an undefeated record of 50 fights, and surpasses the Filipino phenomenon Manny Pacquiao. Meanwhile, the third place is occupied by Terence Crawford. With this fact, doubts can be dispelled if Canelo lost to a living legend of world boxing. Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, undisputed heavyweight champion, and Naoya Inoue, unified super bantamweight champion, round out the top five in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Roman Gonzalez is in sixth place, Bernard Hopkins in seventh, Vasyl Lomachenko in eighth, Andre Ward ninth and Saul Alvarez completes the ranking of The Ring. Here is the complete list where surely there will be many people who may agree and others disagree where it is likely that great names of boxers who gave their best in each of their fights were not mentioned.
TOP 10 BEST BOXERS OF THE PRESENT CENTURY
- Floyd Mayweather Jr.
- Manny Pacquiao
- Terence Crawford
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Naoya Inoue
- Roman Gonzalez
- Bernard Hopkins
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Andre Ward
- Saul “Canelo” Alvarez
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