Canelo, Fury, Inoue, Usyk: ESPN's top 10 pound-for-pound rankings

Oleksandr Usyk‘s win over Anthony Joshua has propelled him into the top five of ESPN’s latest boxing pound-for-pound rankings.

The undefeated Ukrainian crushed the spirits of a resurgent Joshua after coming on strong in the later rounds to win a unanimous decision in their heavyweight rematch last week.

His stunning victory in Saudi Arabiahas seen him leapfrog Tyson Fury and Canelo Alvarez into fourth place, behind just Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Errol Spence Jr respectively.

It is Usyk’s highest standing in the ESPN rankings since December 2021 when he stood fourth, before dropping two places after Fury’s stunning sixth-round knockout of Dillian Whyte.

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Usyk and Fury find themselves separated by Canelo on the list as a result, with the Mexican acting as a barrier between them, with Artur Beterbiev seventh and Dmitry Bivol eighth.

Shakur Stevenson is ninth on the list after beating Oscar Valdez in their super-featherweight unification bout back in April, with Vasyl Lomachenko making up the rest of the top ten.

But Joshua’s nightmare continues after his back-to-back defeats to Usyk.

The 2012 Olympic gold medallist suffered the third defeat of his professional career after being outpointed by Usyk.

After rallying against AJ to defend his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight belts, talk has turned to who Usyk’s next opponent will be.

And Fury’s promoter Frank Warren wants to see him take on Fury next – after saying AJ needs to re-establish himself before you can even think about fights like that.’

Warren told BBC Radio 5 Live: “He and Usyk would be a really good fight.

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