Pound for pound update January 2020: a new name at the top
As a new decade begins, it feels right to release a new pound for pound list as of January 2020. It is close at the top, but there is a new No. 1 on our list of top 10 fighters, pound for pound.
It has been quite a while since Fansided released a boxing pound for pound list (our previous list can be found here). With the start of a new decade, what better time to release an updated list? There have been many great fights in the months following our previous rankings, and many fighters have raised their stock, while others have lowered theirs.
There are three new fighters on the list, which of course means three fighters have been dropped from the rankings. This list will focus on solely the top 10, and at the end there will be honorable mentions named in no particular order.
As always, it is worth noting that these rankings are subjective, and there is no set criteria for ranking fighters “pound for pound.”
For this list, fighters’ resumes will hold the most weight, followed by the “eye test” (or who looks like a top-10 fighter in the world), and if needed, the tiebreaker between two fighters will be who would be favored to win a fight between them if they were in the same weight class.
10. Wilder-Fury II Winner
Sure, this may be kind of cheating right off the bat having two men tied for an entry, but with the fight less than a month away, and it being as close to a pick ’em as you can get, the winner will unquestionably deserve to be on the list (so long as it is a clear win without controversy).
Whoever emerges victorious will be viewed by most fans as the best heavyweight in the world, and any list of the top 10 fighters in the sport surely will have to include the best big man.
Their first fight was incredible and gave us one of the best moments in recent sports history, when Fury was essentially knocked out in the 12th round, but somehow managed to rise off the canvas, and finish the fight.
The replay was shown everywhere and helped create even more buzz for the rematch.
While many (myself included) felt Fury did enough to squeeze out a decision victory in their first fight, it was far from a perfect performance considering he was dropped twice, one of which would have been ruled a knockout if any other ref were in the ring that night.
If Wilder were to KO Fury, or if Fury were to pitch a near shutout unanimous decision, a real argument could be made that the winner would have to be even higher than 10.
We will have to wait and see what the outcome is of their highly anticipated rematch on Feb. 22. You know it’s a big fight when PBC and Top Rank play nice and work together (now do this joint-PPV set up again for a Crawford-Spence fight, please and thank you).