Up until his retirement, Terence Crawford was a mainstay at No. 1 on almost everyone’s pound-for-pound rankings. He had been highly ranked on such lists for several years, but his dominant win over Canelo Alvarez made him a no-brainer No. 1. Now that he’s retired, someone else has to fill that spot.
Oleksandr Usyk and Naoya Inoue are the two who battled Crawford for that top spot for all of 2025. On Ring Magazine‘s rankings, Usyk comes in first with Inoue behind him. Behind them are Bam Rodriguez, Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Bivol and Beterbiev being back-to-back makes sense after the two traded majority decision victories. But in the eyes of Shakur Stevenson, who comes in at No. 7 on Ring Magazine’s P4P rankings, Bivol is the one who should be at the top spot.
Shakur Stevenson says Dmitry Bivol is the best active boxer in the world
Stevenson recently spoke to The Breakfast Club and chose Bivol is boxing’s best fighter, now that Crawford is out of the sport.
“I think that Bivol is one of the hardest fighters to beat because he’s so basic and he mastered the fundamentals of boxing. He keeps his hands up, he keeps his one-two going and he got great footwork. He doesn’t just stand there in front of guys all night, he is moving all around and to me, besides myself, I think that he is the best boxer.“
Stevenson is hoping to climb up that pound-for-pound list in 2026. In order to do so, he will have to beat Teofimo Lopez, who he’s getting set to face on January 31 at Madison Square Garden. A convincing performance should vault him up the rankings, possibly ahead of Bivol, his favorite boxer.
Read the full article here
