Who is The Best Fighter In The World?

P4P, in your opinion.

And by best, I simply mean in terms of ability. So long as they're relatively proven, their achievements should pretty much be a non-factor.

Ennis for instance, while a beast, isn't proven but Inoue, while less proven than a Canelo or an Usyk, is proven.

If you get what I'm saying.

 

I think at this time, there are five main candidates.

Loma, Crawford, Inoue, Canelo and Usyk.

I think Usyk a few years could be number one, but he hasn't looked nearly as good at heavyweight as he did at CW, so I don't think it's him.

I just can't say Loma. Not because I don't think he's incredible, but because he hasn't done enough to avenge that loss. Sure, thrashing Nakatani like that was impressive and I'm certain he'll annihilate Commey too. But he needs a real high level win to take this spot IMO. A win over Kambosos, Stevenson or even Lopez would conform he is still one of the best in the world, in a way that beating Commey won't.

Crawford is a good pick, as he looked really good last time and separated himself from a fairly strong division. He's also the most complete fighter in boxing, bar none with one of the highest ring IQs.

Inoue is probably my pick, simply based on the idea that he'd do better in MMs against all-time great bantamweights IMO, than anyone else would against similar all-time greats their size. I think head to head he may be the hardest to beat. Shame Arum is waisting another great fighters career.

Canelo has been extremely dominant recently bar struggling to open up Plant, but he is still one of the best in the world. Obviously. He's got the special steak that makes him bulletproof and hit like tank, on top of some really nice skills.

If I were to rank them, I'd have it:

#05. Vasyl Lomachenko
#04. Oleksandr Usyk
#03. Canelo Alvarez
#02. Terence Crawford
#01. Naoya Inoue

 

In all my years of following the sport, I dont remember a period when it was so debatable as to who the best fighter in the world was. Canelo is at 1 in the eyes of many based on accomplishments, but in terms of quality, its hard to separate Canelo from Usyk, Bud, and Inoue.

I think Canelo, Bud, and Usyk have a bit more dimension to their games than Inoue, and I would consider them slightly better fighters. Although, that one dimension Inoue has is the single most devastating dimension in the sport, currently.

Loma I feel is inferior to the four of them.

 

Relative to his own weight class its gotta be Crawford or Fury.

 

Fury has absolutely no place here.

 

If p4p is a measure if how good & dominant you are relative to your own weight class id say he does. He'd be a major odds on fave vs Usyk.

Granted p4p discussions are always muddied a lot by including heavyweights due to those sort of definitional arguments, maybe its best to just exclude them

In which case take Crawford as my vote

 

Mmm, it seens we're not talking necessarily p4p but who's strictly the best. Then imo, it's between Inoue and Canelo with the former slightly ahead as he seem to have a bit of an higher gear compared to the (relatively) pedestrian Alvarez. With his style though, I expect him to flame pretty quickly.

Loma is 3rd due to his past accomplishments but he needs to look good vs Comney to hold that ranking.

Crawford is very good but too much of an question mark due to his poor opposition. Usyk I don't see as in the same league as the others. In fact, I would put Taylor over him

 

Usyk has managed to shine in his biggest fight, not choke in his biggest fight. I see him as a better fighter than Loma.

 

And what's looking good against Commey gonna mean? Nothing. Fimo has already destroyed Commey in 2.

 

Yeah, against a very limited fighter who's main attribute is size and box office appeal.... Put Lomachenko at Usyk size and he smokes Joshua within 7 imo

 

Yeah Comney got destroyed vs Fimo but he's still a very good fighter. The way he dismantled Marinez in his last outing was impressive. Let's not fell prey to calling every fighter that loses (even badly) worthless. It happens...

Plus, Lopez is a naturally bigger man than Loma so p4p, a win over Comney means much more for Loma.

 

I never include heavyweights in p4p as it's such a unique division, so I would say Crawford.

 

I don't see why Loma-Lopez was Loma's biggest fight. It only seems that way in hindsight because he lost.

 

Loma gets more excuses and more passes than any other fighter I've ever seen. It'd be okay if he was held in similar regard as the other of the top 5 P4P, but he's not; he's the only one of the five who's been called potentially better than Ali, Floyd, Leonard, Robinson, Duran, ect. And yet his 15-2 track record fails to separate him from the current P4P elites. He is an excellent fighter, but he continues to be overrated.

 

I don't think anybody here is comparing him to any of them. He's literally being compared to the other top current fighters right now. That's what this thread is about.

 

I think we need to define what P4P means. To be the best in your weight division or the most dominant does not equal P4P. If that was the case an argument could be made for Tyson Fury. At the same time, you have a guy like Loma that has superior boxing skills and the potential to be great but has choked against lesser opposition(Salido and Lopez). In my humble opinion, the P4P has to be a combination of all the elements. A good record(Quality Wins), Skills, Dominance(Long reigning champ), Xfactor(moving up and dominating)Based on that I have Canelo as number 1.

 

not to be a stickler, but for the record i do want to say that in my opinion "proven" is not a binary thing. in other words, the more a fighter achieves, the more ability he has demonstrated. so resume should not be discounted just because a fighter has met some minimal threshold as far as the quality of his opposition.

 

This post held all night.

 

I think there comes a point where we know whether or not a fighter is elite. That's the cut off I'm talking about here. Because otherwise threads like these can descend into a who beat who game without any analysis of skills.

 

so you're interested in who is the most skilled? because that does not always coincide with being the "best." anyway, analysis of skill is tough too because everyone has their personal preferences and aesthetics.

 

Not specifically the most skilled, I only mentioned that because it's the hardest aspect to evaluate IMO, since being skilled can manifest in so many different ways. Best is a result of physical ability, technically skills, intangible aspects and cold, hard results IMO.

The reason why I don't want to put so much stress on what they've achieved is because it detracts from the other aspects. Basically, if they've done enough to be on the pound-for-pound list, they can be on here and that's where we should leave it.

 

And with this, Double will now position Navarrette as the best fighter in the world.

 

A couple of months back I was watching a Mexican sports channel and they were discussing the top 5 P4P. A guy named Faitelson who is a known Canelo hater had Canelo in the number 3 position and Crawford in number one. When questioned as to why he had Crawford over Canelo in the P4P ranking. He said the same thing that George Crawford is saying. That even though Canelo has arguably the best resume (On paper) Crawford is more skilled and has better boxing abilities than Canelo. But it's a catch 22. In order to prove your skills at the highest level, you have to show them against the best opposition and Crawford hadn't done that (Before the Porter fight). So how can you have an unproven guy at #1 P4P. Or how can a guy with a 15-2 record like Loma even be considered as the #1 P4P. Now that Crawford destroyed Porter I really don't have a problem with people thinking Crawford is the number one p4p. But Loma really shouldn't even be in this conversation.

 

Really hard to tell. Id probably have canelo at nb 1, followed by usyk, Crawford, loma and Inoue.

Dont like to sound.like an old timer, bit it seems like a rather weak top 5 historically speaking

 

Navarette exudes subtle scientific vibes

 

While these skill-less hacks like Shakur Stevenson do nothing but hold all night, I'm just glad the sport has subtle scientists like Brandon Figueroa to keep the "sweet" in sweet science.

 

The standout fighters in terms of skills who are proven are definitely Canelo, Usyk, Crawford, Inoue, and Loma. I'll add Chocolatito in the mix as well as he's arguably beaten every fighter he's faced.

 

.....which is more than you can say for canelo or loma

 

Choco at one point was the best fighter in the world. Due to age he no longer is.

 

Estrada is a better fighter than Chocolatito at this stage.