Boxing Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Naoya Inoue moves up to No. 2 after smashing Nonito Donaire

This just in, it’s getting a bit crowded in the top 10 of the boxing pound-for-pound rankings.  

Not only is there much debate over whether Canelo Alvarez’s loss in a light heavyweight title bout against unbeaten Dmitry Bivol should automatically drop him from the top spot despite him fighting in such a larger division, the number of prime fighters making a case for inclusion throughout the top 10 has never been deeper.  

Undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo turned in an career-best performance in May when he knocked out Brian Castano in their rematch. Then there was pay-per-view star Gervonta “Tank” Davis using his poise and power to finish Rolly Romero in their featured lightweight clash. Unbeaten Devin Haney also made a strong case for consideration by traveling to Australia and easily outboxing George Kambosos Jr. to become the undisputed champion at 135 pounds.

The most recent claim for recognition, however, came in the form of unified 122-pound titleholder Stephen Fulton Jr., whose dominant performance in June against former champion Danny Roman spoke for itself as far as P4P recognition is concerned.  

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Fulton, 27, found himself in the fighter of the year discussion in 2021 after winning titles against Angelo Leo and Brandon Figueroa, with the latter serving as the best action fight of the year. Yet “Cool Boy Steph” flipped the script once more by outright avoiding the danger Roman brought to the table through controlling distance and picking him apart as a counter puncher.  

The native of Philadelphia is seemingly only getting better and has multiple ways to win each fight. Fulton hopes to lure fellow unified champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev…