Canelo Alvarez Sixpeats As The BWAA’s Pound-For-Pound King
Canelo Alvarez continues his stranglehold as the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, ruling the boxing world for the sixth-straight time atop the Boxing Writers Association of America’s top-10 bimonthly pound-for-pound poll.
Alvarez, the BWAA’s 2019 Fighter of the Year, was on every ballot and received every first-place place vote but two. He has not relinquished the BWAA’s top spot since December 2019, when he snapped previous BWAA pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko’s seven-poll win streak by a point in the tightest BWAA poll yet.
The BWAA’s pound-for-pound polls are selected by BWAA members from respected news outlets and is broken down based on a descending points system, with a first-place vote receiving 10 points, a second-place vote receiving nine points and so on. Ties go to the fighter with the most votes.
The BWAA has been listing on a bimonthly basis its top-10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world. All BWAA members, full and auxiliary, can send their top-10 pound-for-pound votes in for each even month to JSantoliquitoBWAA@yahoo.com.
The next deadline will be Friday, August 27, 2021, with the results posted later that month.
First, the response has been consistent, though, was overwhelming this month. Since the last vote, Alvarez stopped Billy Joe Saunders in eight, back in May, retaining The Ring championship, along with the WBC and WBA belts while also wresting the WBO title away from Saunders.
There were some drastic changes among the top five, with “The Monster,” Naoya Inoue, vaulting from No. 3 to No. 2, switching places with Terence Crawford. The poll then followed script with Crawford followed by Errol Spence Jr. at No. 4, and lightweight world champion and BWAA 2020 Fighter of the Year Teofimo Lopez at No. 5.
The BWAA would like to welcome newcomer and junior welterweight world champion Josh Taylor to the BWAA top 10, debuting at No. 6. Taylor bumps down heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury to No. 7, Oleksandr Usyk to No. 8, Lomachenko to No. 9 and junior bantamweight champ Juan Francisco Estrada to No. 10.
Taylor’s inclusion bumps out Gennadiy Golovkin, previously ranked at No. 10.
1. Canelo Alvarez (198 points)
Super Middleweight
56-1-2 (38 KOs)
2. Naoya Inoue (174)
Bantamweight
21-0-0 (18 KOs)
3. Terence Crawford (164)
Welterweight
37-0-0 (28 KOs)
4. Errol Spence Jr. (136)
Welterweight
27-0-0 (21 KOs)
5. Teofimo Lopez (119)
Lightweight
16-0-0 (12 KOs)
6. Josh Taylor (102)
Junior Welterweight
18-0-0 (13 KOs)
7. Tyson Fury (99)
Heavyweight
30-0-1 (21 KOs)
8. Oleksandr Usyk (95)
Heavyweight
18-0-0 (13 KOs)
8. Vasiliy Lomachenko (93)
Lightweight
15-2-0 (11 KOs)
10. Juan Francisco Estrada (76)
Junior Bantamweight
42-3-0 (28 KOS)
Also receiving votes: Gennadiy Golovkin (42), Manny Pacquiao (42), Kazuto Ioka (16), Artur Beterbiev (14), Emanuel Navarrete (14), Jermell Charlo (12), Gervonta Davis (12), Jermall Charlo (10), Nonito Donaire (9), Emanuel Navarrete (3), Oscar Valdez (3).
