What’s up guys! Dan here and today I will be covering my Rankings for the Top 10 Pound for Pound Boxers of 2024. I had already done my Top 10 Heavyweight Boxers of 2024 so now it’s time for the P4P Rankings. I would have gotten to it sooner, but I wanted to wait for the winner of the Ioka vs Martinez 2 fight. Unfortunately, I just found out the fight got cancelled due to Martinez having influenza. Since we won’t get that fight to cap off the year, I can start my Rankings list for the end of 2024.

DISCLAIMER: This is solely my opinion based on the matches I've seen this year and I do my best to be impartial giving every boxer here a fair shake. I look at many things including Activity, Wins/Loses in the year, quality of the wins, quality of opponents they faced and overall record in their careers. P4P criteria requires them to have been a world champion at least once as well as compete and win in multiple weight classes. With all that said, let us begin.

10. Emanuel Navarrete 39-2-1 (32 KO)

Now I’m sure there's plenty of argument to be had about number ten as there were a lot of changes in number ten this year with other guys like Jaime Munguia, Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez, and Junto Nakatani in that spot. But I ultimately went with Navarrete at the number ten spot. Interestingly enough, I had him ranked at number six in my P4P rankings in 2023. Navarrete had a better year in 2023 where he was active fighting three times and winning twice while getting a draw where arguably he should have won. 2024 however has been a somewhat lackluster year for Vaquero as he only fought twice this year and only won once in those two fights. He lost back in May when he fought Deny’s Berinchyk for the vacant WBO lightweight title by split decision. Earlier this month  he won his rematch against Oscar Valdez to retain his WBO super featherweight title by sixth round TKO. Now Navarrete is a great fighter and an entertaining one to watch, but his recent fights are a mixed bag where he lost to a guy he was projected to beat and fought his former foe where he had a more dominant performance as opposed to last year. I still enjoy watching him fight but I would like to see him fight other top fighters in or near his division just like he did when he was a champion at super bantamweight and featherweight. There are a lot of other boxers this year who are either more active or facing a higher level of opposition than Navarrete which is why he just makes number ten here. 

9. David Benavidez 29-0-0 (24 KO) 

This will likely be another one I’ll catch flack for because of how low Benavidez is on the list where some would have him higher. I only recently added Benavidez to the list this year after his win against Oleksandr Gvozdyk who was a former champion at light heavyweight. Benavidez defeated Gvozdyk by unanimous decision to become the mandatory for the WBC at light heavyweight. Trust me when I say I wanted to put him higher in my rankings especially since we're both Arizona natives of Mexican heritage, but I have to stay true to my criteria and rank him at nine due to only having one fight this year and for it not being a real title fight but rather an interim title fight. I still thought it was a great performance at 175 since Benavidez is a former two time WBC champion at 168. I enjoy watching his fights as they’re exciting and he fights the best opposition he can. There is no better proof of that than his February fight against fellow contender David Morrell who is also undefeated and from 168 like Benavidez. That will be an exciting fight to watch and the winner of that fight will realistically be the mandatory for both the WBC and WBA at light heavyweight, the winner might even earn a title shot. For now, Benavidez is number nine but I know he’ll move higher in the rankings next year. 

8. Vasiliy Lomachenko 18-3-0 (12 KO)

Coming in at number eight we have the three division, former unified and current IBF lightweight champion, Vasiliy Lomachenko. Loma is by far one of  the more unique pro boxing careers as he had a decorated amaetur career then went pro in 2013 where he competed for a title in his second pro fight and became a champion in his third pro fight. He was such a dominant P4P fighter during the 2010’s and was considered one of if not the best P4P fighters in the boxing world. But since the 2020’s started, Loma has been on a bit of a decline as he would go one to lose to the next generation in Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney by close decisions. Loma is thirty six, going to be thirty seven in a couple months so the decline in his physical skills is inevitable. Although, that’s not to say he’s done yet as he was able to beat guys that would give Teofimo Lopez a hard time such as Richard Commey and Jamaine Ortiz in clear decision wins. But his recent win over George Kambosas jr. (the only fighter to beat Teofimo Lopez to date) shows that he’s still a major player in boxing. He beat Kambosas with an eleventh round TKO to become IBF lightweight champion. I would have had Loma higher in the rankings, but he chose to take a break for the rest of 2024. There were supposed to be plans for him to fight guys like Tank Davis, Shakur Stevenson or William Zepeda but he chose to take time for himself. I don’t have an issue with fighters wanting to take time for themselves and spend it with their families, but this could also show Loma might be starting to wind down. We may see him fight a couple more times in 2025, maybe even 2026, but I feel he’s winding down to the end of his boxing career and will be on his way out in the next couple years. That’s not a certainty but we’ll just have to wait and see. 

7. Gilberto Ramirez 47-1-0 (30 KO)

I’ll be honest, I was very skeptical putting Zurdo in my rankings let alone putting him at number seven above guys like Loma, Benavidez and even Navarrete. However, looking at his record along with his achievements and recent victories, I was impressed and felt he deserved to be included. I was skeptical at first since he was promoted by Top Rank and is currently promoted by Golden Boy and those two promoters have a history of padding their fighters records to ridiculous levels. Though taking a closer look, he proved to be legit. He was the WBO super middleweight champion and defended that title five times before moving up to light heavyweight where he was decent. His best fight at 175 was a unanimous decision loss to Dmitry Bivol and that was due to weight draining himself. He recently moved up to cruiserweight where he has had far more success. He won three in a row where he won the WBA title back in March and won a unification fight against Chris Billiam Smith last month in November to become the unified WBA/WBO champion where two of the top three guys in the division faced each other. Zurdo may have a lot of mileage on him, but he’s still in his early thirties and can still make noise in the boxing world. I would love to see him in a unification fight against the IBF/Lineal champion Jai Opetaia for dominance in the cruiserweight class. He might even make the jump to heavyweight and the heavyweight division is hot right now with plenty of fights to be made. I’m excited for what Zurdo does next and I’m glad to have been wrong about him, he is the real deal. 

6. Gervonta Davis (Abdul Wahid) 30-0-0 (28 KO)

Tank is a special type of boxer, much like Mayweather jr, Canelo, or Pacquio, he can sell a fight whether a belt is on the line or not. He lives up to the Tank moniker as this little guy will blast out nearly every boxer you put in front of him. He started out at super featherweight and was considered a bit small for the weight and just destroyed everyone in front of him. Honestly, Tank could be considered top five P4P, hell I had him at five earlier this year and only dropped down because of inactivity and the next guy outdoing him in my rankings. Like I mentioned, Tank can sell out a fight regardless if there's a championship and there was no better example of that than the fight against Ryan Garcia which was a catchweight bout at 136. Currently, Tank is the WBA lightweight champion but everyone avoids him like the plague. I mentioned Loma not wanting to fight Tank and the same could be said about Shakur who runs his mouth online but as soon as Tank is available, suddenly he goes quiet. Zepeda might want to but his promoter Oscar may not want him to. Even though Tank doesn’t have too many high profile wins, his resume is stacked with victories over champions like Jose Pedraza and Leo Santa Cruz as well as fighters who would go on to become champions after Tank beat them like Mario Barrios, Rolly Romero, Hector Garcia and Isaac Cruz. Tank has a fight coming up against another champion in Lamont Roach jr and I’m willing to bet Tank knocks him out too. Hopefully, we’ll see Tank go up against another high level fighter that will add to his legacy. 

5. Jesse Rodriguez 21-0-0 (14 KO)

This is by far the youngest P4P boxer on this list, has the same amount of fights as Loma but is undefeated and has fought the best his weight classes has to offer. BAM is a special fighter and he is the future of boxing. People criticize BAM for fighting guys past their prime and I can’t argue that. However, those same past their prime fighters were all champions or former champions when BAM beat them and you can only fight the best opponent available to you during your time. BAM had his best win to date when he knocked out Juan Francisco Estrada back in June with a crippling body shot in round seven and defended that title in a mandatory fight last month where he knocked out Pedro Guevera in round three. Estrada was the best super flyweight champion and had beaten every opponent he’s ever faced and BAM destroyed him to take the WBC and Lineal championship. He started out as light flyweight, then jumped up two weight classes to win the WBC super flyweight title, went down a weight class to win the WBO and IBF unified flyweight championship, and went back up to win the WBC and Lineal super flyweight championship. Keep in mind he is only twenty four and hasn’t even gotten his man strength yet. He said he wants to become undisputed at super fly but we’ll see where he goes whether it's a fight with Roman Gonzalez, Junto Nakatani or even Naoya Inoue. Either way I’m excited for the future with BAM as a potential P4P king. 

4. Saul Alvarez 62-2-2 (39 KO)

Now we're getting into elite of the elite territory with Canelo coming in at number four. I will probably get criticized for putting Canelo this high in the list over other boxers with better recent wins, but this is still Canelo, the face of boxing. When I mention boxing or who’s a boxing champion to the average person who doesn’t care about boxing, one of the first to come to mind is Canelo. Canelo has had such an impact on boxing especially when Mayweather retired. Canelo is a worldwide superstar and there’s not many who can claim they have the same star power as Canelo does. It’s for that reason why everyone wants to fight Canelo because he’s a mega money fight, the literal definition of prize fighting. We’ve all been critical of Canelo’s recent moves as a boxer and how he is cherry picking his opponent’s now. But he still has a big resume against high competition such as Triple G, Mayweather, Bivol, Plant, Jacobs, Khan, the Smiths and so many others. I don’t think Canelo can be dropped from a P4P list so long as he remains active which he does as he fights twice a year making him more consistent than most boxers. Even though I don’t consider him the best P4P boxer like he was a few years back or even top three, he’s still in the top five elite in my rankings. He is a four division champion winning titles at 154, 160, 175, and becoming undisputed at 168. There are Boxers we want him to fight like Benavidez, but as I said he’s a legend of the sport and he can do as he wishes at this point so let’s just kick back and enjoy the show. I don’t see him going any higher than four anytime soon, but he is still one of the elite and we will all miss him when he retires.

3. Terence Crawford 41-0-0 (31 KO)

Top three here we come and this top three is a special bunch becoming undisputed not once, but twice and leading that charge is Terence Crawford at number three. Honestly you can arrange the top three however you want, but this is how I see the top three at this current point in time. Crawford is a special fighter and has the mindset of a warrior winning titles at 135, 154, becoming undisputed at 140 and doing it again becoming undisputed at 147. He was the first Boxer in the four belt era to become undisputed twice and has beaten great opponents along the way like Brooks, Khan, Horn, Porter and Spence jr. Crawford also has a problem in activity where he only fights once a year and his recent fight back in August when he beat Israil Madrimov shows that ring rust and age is a bad combination. Bud did win a unanimous decision though some thought it was a bit controversial but I felt he did enough to earn the win and WBA title at junior middleweight. My thing with Crawford is that he wants to achieve greatness yet only goes for the big money fights which is why he’s been hounding Canelo for a fight which I honestly don’t think is a good idea for Crawford. I just wish he was more upfront and honest about what he wanted to do but outside of that I think he’s a generational boxer and one of the best of his generation. If he was more active and fighting high levels of competition I would have him higher. But he is a top three guy and amongst the best.

2. Naoya Inoue 28-0-0 (25 KO)

Here he is, the Monster! Inoue is such a force to be reckoned with, he can literally break you down until there is nothing left of you. He started out at light flyweight where he won the WBC in his sixth professional fight, jumped up two weight classes to win the WBO super flyweight belt, jumped up an became undisputed at bantamweight and jumped up again becoming undisputed at super bantamweight where he currently defends that undisputed claim. He has faced some stiff competition to get where he’s at including victories over Donaire (twice), Fulton, Tapales, and Nery. He stays consistent as he fought Luis Nery back in May getting knocked down in the first round then getting back up to beat him down in round six. He had another fight back in September where he beat T.J. Doheny in a bizarre fight where I guess Doheny threw out his back and the fight stopped in round seven. He had a fight scheduled for this month but it was postponed due to Sam Goodman having an injury so we’ll get that fight in 2025. Honestly Inoue is a true monster and I would have had him in my number one spot had it not been for the emergence of a new P4P king and this is a name I mentioned in my Heavyweight rankings. 

1. Oleksandr Usyk 23-0-0 (14 KO)

Here he is again at number one, Oleksandr Usyk. This year has been a career best for Usyk and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. I mentioned his cruiserweight work briefly in my Heavyweight rankings so I’ll expand on them more here. He became a champion in his tenth professional fight at cruiserweight and would go on to defend that title and earn the other belts by beating Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev in the World Boxing Super Series. He would go one to defend his undisputed cruiserweight championship against former champion Tony Bellew and right after that made the jump to heavyweight. Usyk has only had seven heavyweight fights and was one of the smaller heavyweights competing and he went in there and defeated all the champions and contenders becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four belt era and becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis back in 1999. I hope we see Usyk fight other heavyweights like Joseph Parker, Zhilei Zhang, Agit Kabayel or even a rematch with Daniel Dubios would be welcomed. There’s also rumors that Usyk wants to go back down and fight at Cruiserweight again which would be interesting especially if he can fight guys like Jai Opetaia or Zurdo Ramirez but those fights could be made at heavyweight as well so who knows. Maybe if Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol goes up to cruiserweight Usyk has more reason to go down in weight to fight them. A fight between Usyk and Beterbiev at cruiserweight would especially be interesting since they fought in their amaetur days. Usyk might be up there in age but he has no plans of slowing down anytime soon and that’s exciting.

Hope you guys like my list, I know there are other boxers to consider for this list and maybe 2025 I can put guys like Beterbiev, Spence jr, Opetaia, Ortiz jr or even Ennis if they decide to compete in other weight classes and go for titles in those weight classes or face monsters in those classes. We’ll just have to wait and see, see you guys and as Tyson Fury said “Happy New Years!”.