Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, in many ways, is the embodiment of a pound-for-pound star, with his accolades across four different weight classes proving as much to be true.
Since his back-to-back wars with Gennady Golovkin, his career has largely gone from strength to strength, with the Mexican icon still reigning supreme over the super middleweight division.
But, in truth, he has slowly slipped away from his number one spot on the Ring Magazine’s rankings, where Oleksandr Usyk has claimed the coveted prize instead.
And so, while Canelo Alvarez appears to have much more left in the tank, the 34-year-old must accept that he is no longer the bona fide king of boxing.
Artur Beterbiev moves to fourth place, with Dmitry Bivol following closely behind
Last Saturday, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol put on a thrilling spectacle in Saudi Arabia, where the undisputed light heavyweight championship was at stake for the first time since 1999.
Both combatants produced elite level performances, with Bivol sticking and moving behind his sharp jab while Beterbiev continuously piled on the pressure.
Whenever there is such a compelling clash of styles, though, it always seems that each round will suddenly become incredibly difficult to score.
And this level of subjectivity was certainly the case on Saturday, with a large percentage of fans up in arms about Beterbiev’s majority decision win.
But regardless of whether his victory was justified, the 39-year-old has nonetheless earned his fourth-place spot on the Ring’s pound-for-pound list, with Bivol deservedly taking fifth place.
Fans react to new Ring Magazine round-for-pound rankings
As expected with any discussion point in boxing, there has been a largely mixed reaction from fans on social media in response to the Ring’s new rankings.
One fan said: ‘[Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez] should be over Canelo. Canelo been cherry picking fights since the Bivol [defeat].’
Another added: ‘How does Bivol go over Canelo with a loss?’
And while there is a clear division on whether Canelo should be above Bivol, fans have also commented on several other fighters in the top ten.
One fan, for instance, said: ‘How is [Devin Haney] still on this list?’