Canelo Alvarez Pound for Pound Number One?

Canelo Alvarez further pushed himself into the picture as the current pound for pound number one in boxing. This is following his knockout stoppage of Russian, Kovalev. This victory meant Canelo picked up the WBO light heavyweight title, following stepping up two weight classes. He also became just the fourth fighter to capture world titles at both 154 and 175 pounds, joining Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike McCallum and Thomas Hearns. A truly historic achievement.

Canelo Alvarez stops Sergey Kovalev to become a four-weight world champion pic.twitter.com/EqX3wBlTLs

— Boxing on BT Sport (@BTSportBoxing) November 3, 2019

The recent victory now means the Mexican has a professional record of 53 wins, one loss and two draws. His only loss coming against Floyd Mayweather Jr back in 2013 in the majority decision defeat. Since then he has continued to improve and post a number of impressive performances. This includes Canelo winning 11 fights and drawing one, with the draw coming in the first fight between himself and Gennardy Golovkin. A fight he then won on the rematch, with fans now calling for a trilogy between the pair. The draftkings sportsbook wv also now has him as the favourite were this third fight to happen in the next 12 months, following him starting as the underdog in both previous contests.

With these credentials it is clear the Mexican must sit amongst the top pound for pound fighters in this sport at present, but should he be number one? Following this victory, Ringtv have now pushed Canelo Alvarez into the number one spot. This puts him ahead of the likes of Vasiliy Lomachenko, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

For many it is the Ukrainian Vasily Lomachenko who is the current number one pound for pound star in the sport. He has a professional record of 14 wins and one loss and currently holds the WBO Super and world lightweight titles. However, he had the greatest amateur career of any fighter, that saw him win Gold in the featherweight division at the 2008 games in Beijing. Lomachenko then followed up four years later in London, as he picked up the lightweight title. The 31 year old’s main aim is now to unify the lightweight division, with big things expected.

The American Terence Crawford is the current WBO welterweight champion and for many is the current pound for pound number one in the sport. He has a professional record of 35 wins and no losses and had previously unified the light welterweight division between 2015 and 2017. If he can now go on and do the same in the welterweight division, then there will be little doubt he must sit at the top of the pound for pound rankings, with a number of hugely anticipated fights upcoming.

Finally, Errol Spence Jr recently picked up a victory over Shawn Porter to extend his professional record to 26 wins and no losses. This also means he now holds the WBC and IBF world welterweight titles. He has long been one of the most avoided fighters in the sport and was a strong favourite to go on and unify the division. However, he has recently been involved in a car crash, so it is unsure what is the next for the American and the severity of his injuries.