ESPN Still Lists Terence Crawford As #1 Pound-For-Pound Fighter Over Canelo Alvarez

Terence Crawford is the best pound-for-pound boxer according to ESPN.

Following Canelo Alvarez‘s win over Callum Smith on Saturday, ESPN updated their rankings, but Alvarez was not at the top. Instead, that honor went to ‘Bud’ Crawford, who many believe shouldn’t even be in the top-five. Although he is undefeated, he only holds the WBO welterweight title while Alvarez is a multi-division champion and has a plethora of belts.

ESPN’s latest pound-for-pound poll:

1. Terence Crawford
2. Canelo Alvarez
3. Naoya Inoue
4. Errol Spence Jr
5. Teofimo Lopez
6. Tyson Fury
7. Vasily Lomachenko
8. Oleksandr Usyk
9. Juan Francisco Estrada
10. Gennadiy Golovkin, Gervonta Davis

Terence Crawford is 37-0 and coming off a fourth-round stoppage win over Kell Brook which was a good win. The hope for many is the American will fight Errol Spence Jr. next to determine who is the best welterweight alive. In his career, he also holds wins over Amir Khan, Jose Benavidez Jr., Jeff Horn, and Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Canelo Alvarez, meanwhile, is coming off the wins over Callum Smith to win the WBA (Super), The Ring and vacant WBC super middleweight title. In his career, he also holds wins over Gennady Golovkin, and Sergey Kovalev.

Why Crawford remains atop the pound-for-pound list is a question many had but for Teddy Atlas, he believes Alvarez has beaten the guys he is supposed to beat.

“I’m not going to move a guy who beat someone who he was supposed to beat, a guy who was exposed,” Teddy Atlas said. “He’s going to stay right where he belongs. Crawford hasn’t done anything to lose his position.”

However, for Eric Raskin, host of the Showtime Boxing podcast and columnist for Ringside Seat magazine, he was one of the few on the ESPN rankings who put Canelo atop the rankings.

“Canelo looked absolutely spectacular on Saturday night, dominating a top fighter who was supposed to present a challenge for him,” Raskin said. “I don’t know if he’s ‘better’ than Crawford right now, but based on the evidence against Callum Smith, it’s at least a close call. And the gulf between their respective resumes over the last three years is vast enough to make up for any slight skill edge Crawford might possess — even in a pound-for-pound comparison where ability matters more than resume.

“Off a performance this one-sided against an opponent this credible, I think the time has come to elevate Canelo over a Crawford who hasn’t seemed motivated to prove his greatness since moving up to 147 pounds.”

Do you think Canelo Alvarez or Terence Crawford is the pound-for-pound best?