Boxing Rankings: BoxRec’s P4P List Excludes Oleksandr Usyk, Sparks Outrage Among Fans

Boxing’s various pound-for-pound rankings have become so convoluted over the years that it’s rare for fans to completely agree with them. And that’s exactly the case with BoxRec’s updated ranking, which has proven to be universes apart from what the prevailing public opinion about such rankings is. Nevertheless, they seem to have messed up badly by excluding Oleksandr Usyk from it.

For reference, the Ukrainian heavyweight fast-tracked his way to the top in Ring Magazine’s rankings after defeating previously unbeaten Tyson Fury last month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which turned out to be the biggest fight in the last couple of decades. However, BoxRec seems to have missed the memo or the entire fight, as Usyk is invisible on their list. The outcome – disastrous!

Where is Oleksandr Usyk in other P4P rankings?

Late yesterday, IFL TV hopped on X to share BoxRec’s list, which now seems like a huge mistake! They wrote, “BoxRec’s latest P4P rankings”, and it looked as follows: Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue, Dmitry Bivol, Canelo Alvarez, Artur Beterbiev, Junto Nakatani, Shakur Stevenson, David Benavidez, Jaron Ennis, and Subriel Matias.

The sanctioning bodies, excluding WBC, have all ranked Usyk at the top while the Ukranian doesn’t even make the top ten in WBC’s top heavyweights. Regardless, the Ring Magazines have ranked the 37-year-old at the top of their overall pound-for-pound list. So, when IFL TV asked their fans “Do you agree with those” alongside BoxRec’s list, let’s just be nice about it and say they didn’t!

Fan brands BoxRec other worldly!

Since Oleksandr Usyk’s win last month, more importantly, after his performance last month, most of the boxing community have unanimously crowned the Ukrainian the best. So, there was bound to be outrage when BoxRec made this decision. One user outright called the rankings fictional, as he quipped BoxRec must see Usyk as a ring girl. In actuality, there is no one better deserving of being on that list than Usyk, who is now undisputed in two divisions without a single loss!

The next user seemed to have an issue with Shakur Stevenson and Canelo Alvarez’s presence being that high on the list. Stevenson is coming off an abysmal performance, while Alvarez has time and time again refused to fight best in the division. 

Another user didn’t agree with Subriel Matias’ presence on the list, suggesting, in that way, even Erroll Spence Jr. could make it on the list. Spence fell from grace after a devastating defeat at the hands of Crawford and hasn’t fought since.

Someone else brought up Usyk’s surprising absence from the list, suggesting he deserves the number one spot. Some may say people are hyped because of recency bias, but the undefeated boxer has fought all the elites in the sport to get to where he is and deserves the top spot.

One user refused to believe the legitimacy of the list, claiming excluding Usyk even from the top three is “insane.” The most prevailing opinion among fans is that the top three should be Usyk, Crawford, and Inoue.

Having said that, it’s clear as day that people aren’t willing to stand muddied boxing rankings, as evident from the responses. However, such rankings are often opinions from the people behind the said organizations, which often tend to be biased. What do you think? Do you agree with the rankings?