Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez has sat atop DAZN's men's pound-for-pound rankings for some time — and his 11th-round knockout of Caleb Plant to become the first four-belt undisputed champion at super-middleweight ensured that his position will remain untouchable for the time being.
Other top-10 listed fighters, such as Terence Crawford, Teofimo Lopez, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Gervonta 'Tank' Davis are set to fight again before the end of 2021, which could lead to movement up the list if they are particularly impressive.
For now, the only mover since the last published top 10 is WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, with his thrilling third war against Deontay Wilder enhancing the unbeaten giant's resume in the glamour division.
Before we get to the important stuff, a reminder of how we do things:
The DAZN pound-for-pound list: criteria
Here are some of the things considered by the team towards these rankings:
- Overall record: Wins and losses count, of course. There can be more to a record than numbers, but you've gotta be winning to push upwards.
- Quality of opposition: That said, going 30-0 against part-timers isn't going to impress many when you're being compared with every other fighter in every weight class. Beating your biggest rivals and fellow champions carries much more value.
- Quality of wins : Winning in style also works in a candidate's favour, and overcoming adversity to pull off a big result can be a good thing too.
- Activity : Fighters on the list who haven't competed in a while don't suddenly become unworthy boxers, but their ranking may be under bigger risk from those who have pulled off a big win recently.
With all that in mind, here is DAZN's 2021 men's P4P list in full, as of Nov. 8 2021.
1. Canelo Alvarez (no change from last rankings)
There is currently no denying Canelo's position right now, hot on the heels of his tremendous undisputed achievement. How well he can hold off other elite fighters in 2022 is set to hinge on exactly which opponents he selects now that his primary 168lbs mission is complete.
2. Oleksandr Usyk (no change)
The former undisputed cruiserweight king's heavyweight credentials were up for debate due to the nature of wins over Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora. However his performance to dethrone three-belt champ and former P4P-ranked Anthony Joshua has proven his greatness once and for all.
3. Naoya Inoue (nc)
'The Monster' makes the next defence of his unified bantamweight crown against Aran Dipaen on Dec. 14 in Tokyo. Other pound-for-pound ranked fighters will stand a chance of dislodging him from the top 3, with fans longing for bigger and better fights for Inoue.
4. Terence Crawford (nc)
The WBO welterweight champion, who was also undisputed at light-welter, faces one of his biggest tests to date on Nov. 20 against Shawn Porter in a bout that could push him back into the top three.
5. Errol Spence Jr. (nc)
Another welterweight king who looked set to climb the rankings with an August win over the legendary Manny Pacquiao, until fate intervened.
6. Josh Taylor (nc)
The undisputred 140lbs champion has had his mandatory defence vs. Jack Catterall pushed back to February 2022, but it's a dream fight against Teofimo Lopez Jr. that likely offers his best chance of breaking into the top 5 in the future.
7. Teofimo Lopez Jr. (nc)
The unified lightweight king will finally end his frustrating absence from the ring at the end of the month with his defence against unbeaten George Kambosos Jr., airing live on DAZN worldwide except China, as the Honduran-American looks set to show us how far he can climb these charts.
8. Tyson Fury (up from 9)
His trilogy fight against Deontay Wilder seemed like needless deja vu heading into the bout, but the thrilling nature of the slugfest served as decent compensation for a 20-month hiatus. Fury could even attack the top 3 in 2022, if he is able to secure a unification bout against the winner of Usyk-Joshua 2 and succeed.
9. Vasiliy Lomachenko (down from 8)
Defeat to Teofimo last October forced Lomachenko down the charts, but he bounced back in June and his December showdown with Richard Commey should lead to big fights in 2022.
10. Gervonta 'Tank' Davis (nc)
The undefeated three-weight world champion will likely need to take on better competition in any one of those three divisions if he is to push for top-five consideration in the future, after his Dec. 5 meeting with replacement opponent Isaac Cruz.