OLEKSANDR USYK remains the only heavyweight included on the Ring Magazines’s top ten pound-for-pound rankings.
With Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury yet to fight this year, neither have had the chance to climb into the mythical ratings list.
And with none of the top ten suffering a setback, it means the heavyweight champions are still looking on from the outside.
But with Joshua, 31, and Fury, 32, signed to fight this summer, it offers the perfect opportunity for one of them to break into the Ring’s top ten.
Currently, only Usyk, 34, represents the blue ribband division, due to his 18-0 record and prior reign as undisputed cruiserweight king.
The Ukrainian also has two heavyweight wins to his name, and stands as Joshua’s WBO mandatory challenger.
Canelo Alvarez, 30, sits atop of the pack, having cemented his legacy in December by winning unified super-middleweight belts.
He defended them against Avni Yildirim, 29, in February and now unifies against WBO champ Billy Joe Saunders, 31, in May.
The Mexican superstar already has eyes on Caleb Plant’s IBF strap and the chance to become undisputed for the first time.
Japan’s devastatingly powerful 20-0 bantamweight ruler Naoya Inoue, 27, currently trails Canelo.
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Terence Crawford, 33, a three-division and current WBO welterweight champion sits third.
Usyk is fourth and Crawford’s division rival Errol Spence Jr, 30, who has the WBC and IBF welterweight titles, comes in at fifth.
If the 147lb stars finally agree terms for a massive all-American headliner, a jump in the rankings is sure to follow for the winner.
Teofimo Lopez’s breakout win over Vasiliy Lomachenko, 33, in October saw the 23-year-old shoot to sixth.
In the only change in the current standings, Mexican Juan Estrada, 30, leaped above Loma to seventh, with the Ukrainian now eighth.
Josh Taylor, 30, in ninth is the only Brit on the list, with Inoue’s countryman Kazuto Ioka, 32, tenth.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
