Sports

Naoya Inoue Maintains Grip on the Second Spot in The Ring's Pound-for-Pound Rankings

By securing championship belts in a fourth weight class, super bantamweight Naoya Inoue reminded everyone of his status as a global boxing superstar.

Published

9 months ago

August 2, 2023

Ed Odeven

Naoya Inoue holds up a copy of Sankei Sports and displays other Japanese-language sports newspapers a day after defeating Stephen Fulton to become the WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion on July 26 at Ohashi Boxing Gym in Yokohama. (ⒸSANKEI)

Read the full story on SportsLook - Naoya Inoue Maintains Grip on the Second Spot in The Ring's Pound-for-Pound Rankings

Naoya Inoue is the new WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion ― and one of the most-talked about fighters on the planet. His powerful victory over Stephen Fulton on July 25 via an eighth-round technical knockout at Ariake Arena, didn't carry him to the top of The Ring's prestigious Pound-for-Pound rankings (for all weight classes), though.

Inoue (25-0, 22 knockouts) remains No 2 on the venerable magazine's list, which was released on Monday, July 31.

There's a new Pound-for-Pound king, according to The Ring.

His name?

Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs).

The American fighter dismantled Errol Spence Jr in a welterweight unification fight on Saturday, July 29 in Las Vegas. With a ninth-round TKO, Crawford claimed Spence's IBF, WBA and WBC championship belts. He already owned the WBO welterweight title. Spence slipped to 28-1 (22 KOs).

Crawford ascended from third to first on The Ring's rankings chart.

Ukrainian heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) dropped from first to third on the list. He hasn't fought yet this year.

Naoya Inoue, Others with Staying Power in the Rankings

Inoue, who won world titles at light flyweight and super flyweight before conquering the bantamweight division, has been listed among the magazine's top 10 for its Pound-for-Pound rankings for 310 consecutive weeks.

Which active boxers have been on the list for more than 300 weeks in a row?

Continue reading the full story on SportsLook.

Author: Ed Odeven

Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and Twitter ＠ed_odeven.