In the world of boxing, the rankings picture can get a little muddled. There are multiple titleholders and different organizational rankings. We’ve taken the approach of simply identifying who we think are the 10 best fighters in each weight class.
Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from the previous month.
- Tyson Fury (1)
- Deontay Wilder (2)
- Oleksandr Usyk (3)
- Anthony Joshua (4)
- Andy Ruiz (5)
- Luis Ortiz (6)
- Dillian Whyte (7)
- Kubrat Pulev (8)
- Joe Joyce (9)
- Joseph Parker (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Mairis Briedis (1)
- Lawrence Okolie (2)
- Yunier Dorticos (3)
- Ilunga Makabu (4)
- Krzystztof Glowacki (5)
- Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (6)
- Kevin Lerena (7)
- Aleksei Papin (8)
- Noel Gevor (9)
- Mateusz Masternak (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Artur Beterbiev (1)
- Sergey Kovalev (2)
- Dmitry Bivol (3)
- Joe Smith Jr. (4)
- Badou Jack (5)
- Eleider Alvarez (6)
- Gilberto Ramirez (7)
- Maxim Vlasov (8)
- Marcus Browne (9)
- Callum Smith (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (1)
- David Benavidez (2)
- Caleb Plant (3)
- Daniel Jacobs (4)
- John Ryder (5)
- Rocky Fielding (6)
- Fedor Chudinov (7)
- Carlos Gongora (8)
- David Lemieux (9)
- Gabriel Rosado (10)
We’ll start with stating the obvious: Canelo is really, really good. And, in my opinion, the best active fighter in boxing. He’s been dominant against his competition as of late, and Caleb Plant was no exception. Plant fared better than expected, but eventually succumbed to the forward pressure and power of Canelo. Canelo walked out the unified champion with an eleventh-round stoppage victory over Plant.
- Gennady Golovkin (1)
- Jermall Charlo (2)
- Demetrius Andrade (3)
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko (4)
- Ryota Murata (5)
- Jaime Munguia (6)
- Chris Eubank Jr. (7)
- Michael Zefara (8)
- Liam Williams (9)
- Erislandy Lara (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Jermell Charlo (1)
- Brian Castano (2)
- Erickson Lubin (3)
- Jeison Rosario (4)
- Julian Williams (5)
- Tony Harrison (6)
- Kell Brook (7)
- Michel Soro (8)
- Tim Tszyu (9)
- Sergio Garcia (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Errol Spence Jr. (1)
- Terence Crawford (2)
- Shawn Porter (3)
- Yordenis Ugas (4)
- Manny Pacquiao (5)
- Keith Thurman (6)
- Danny Garcia (7)
- Jaron Ennis (8)
- Vergil Ortiz Jr. (9)
- David Avanesyan (10)
Terence Crawford reminded everyone how good he is, finishing Shawn Porter for the first time in his boxing career. Porter stays at third, despite saying he retired, as he is still eligible for the rankings. It could have been a heat of the moment reaction to losing.
- Josh Taylor (1)
- Regis Prograis (2)
- Jose Carlos Ramirez (3)
- Gervonta Davis (4)
- Jose Zepeda (5)
- Viktor Postol (6)
- Mario Barrios (7)
- Jack Catterall (8)
- Arnold Barboza Jr. (19)
- Montana Love (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- George Kambosos Jr. (8)
- Teofimo Lopez (1)
- Vasily Lomachenko (2)
- Ryan Garcia (3)
- Devin Haney (4)
- Richard Commey (5)
- Joseph Diaz Jr. (6)
- Emmanuel Tagoe (7)
- Javier Fortuna (9)
- Jorge Linares (10)
November saw another upset in 2021, with George Kambosos Jr. not just outboxing, but overpowering Teofimo Lopez. The fight couldn’t have started much better for Kambosos, who knocked down Lopez early.
- Oscar Valdez (1)
- Shakur Stevenson (2)
- Gervonta Davis (3)
- Leo Santa Cruz (4)
- Miguel Berchelt (5)
- Jamel Herring (6)
- Shavkat Rakhimov (7)
- Tevin Farmer (8)
- Chris Colbert (9)
- O’Shaquie Foster (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Gary Russell Jr. (1)
- Emanuel Navarette (2)
- Tugstsogt Nyambayar (3)
- Mauricio Lara (4)
- Josh Warrington (5)
- Kiko Martinez (6)
- Kid Galahad (7)
- Leigh Wood (8)
- Rey Vargas (NR)
- Can Xu (9)
Dropped from the Rankings: James Dickens (10)
Rey Vargas enters the rankings at number nine, with James Dickens being the unfortunate fighter who is dropped because of Vargas’ entry.
- Stephen Fulton (5)
- Murodjon Akhmadaliev (2)
- Daniel Roman (3)
- Ronny Rios (4)
- Brandon Figueroa (6)
- Luis Nery (7)
- Ryosuke Iwasa (8)
- Carlos Castro (9)
- Angelo Leo (10)
- Azat Hovhannisyan (NR)
Removed from the Rankings: Rey Vargas (1)
Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa put on one hell of a fight, with Fulton walking out the winner via split decision. For Fulton, it was his 20th win of his professional career, and one in which he retained his WBC and WBO titles. Fulton jumps all the way up to the top of rankings. Rey Vargas has been removed. Vargas has not competed at 122 pounds since 2019, and is continuing his boxing career at featherweight. Azat Hovhannisyan enters the rankings at number 10.
- Naoya Inoue (1)
- Nonito Donaire (2)
- Emmanuel Rodriguez (3)
- Nordine Oubaali (4)
- Jason Maloney (5)
- John Riel Casimero (6)
- Guillermo Rigondeaux (7)
- Zolani Tete (8)
- Reymart Gaballo (9)
- Rau’shee Warren (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Juan Francisco Estrada (1)
- Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (2)
- Roman Gonzalez (3)
- Kazuto Ioka (4)
- Khalid Yafai (5)
- Jerwin Ancajas (6)
- Carlos Cuadras (7)
- Joshua Franco (8)
- Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (9)
- Andrew Maloney (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Julio Cesar Martinez Aguilar (1)
- Artem Dalakian (2)
- Sunny Edwards (3)
- Junto Nakatani (4)
- Moruti Mthalane (5)
- Cristofer Rosales (6)
- McWilliams Arroyo (7)
- Sho Kimura (8)
- Giemel Magramo (9)
- Angel Acosta (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Hiroto Kyoguchi (1)
- Masamichi Yabuki (2)
- Ken Shiro (3)
- Elwin Soto (4)
- Felix Alvarado (5)
- Edward Heno (6)
- Daniel Valladares (7)
- Tetsuya Hisada (8)
- Esteban Bermudez (9)
- Carlos Canizales (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Knockout CP Freshmart (1)
- Petchmanee Freshmart (2)
- Wanheng Menayothin (3)
- Byron Rojas (4)
- Jose Argumedo (5)
- Simphiwe Khonco (6)
- Nkosinathi Joyi (7)
- Joey Canoy (8)
- Melvin Jerusalem (9)
- Wilfredo Mendez (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the last month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (1)
- Naoya Inoue (2)
- Oleksandr Usyk (3)
- Terence Crawford (5)
- Errol Spence (4)
- Gennady Golovkin (7)
- Josh Taylor (NR)
- Juan Francisco Estrada (9)
- Tyson Fury (NR)
- Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (10)
Removed from the Rankings: Teofimo Lopez (6), Vasily Lomachenko (7)
Canelo’s run of dominance continued with his victory over Plant, and Crawford being the first fighter to finish Shawn Porter leads to him switching spots with Errol Spence. Another significant change happened in the rankings with both Teofimo Lopez and Lomachenko being removed. It’s hard to justify both staying, especially with Lopez’s loss to Kambosos. As for Kambosos, it was a huge win, but not enough to justify him being ranked as a pound-for-pound top-10 fighter. New entrants include Josh Taylor and Tyson Fury.