Gennadiy Golovkin did more than enough in his knockout victory over Ryota Murata on Saturday to retain his spot on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list. Even at 40.
Triple-G, ranked No. 9 going into the middleweight title-unification bout in Japan, overcame some early challenges to break down and then stop Murata in the ninth round.
Is Golovkin (42-1-1, 37 KOs) good enough to beat Canelo Alvarez if they meet a third time in September? Who knows? What we do know, based on his performance against Murata, is that he remains a formidable fighter even if he’s a step slower than he was.
Thus, he remains at No. 9 on the list for the time being.
Of course, changes could be on tap as a number of pound-for-pounders are scheduled to see action in the coming weeks.
No. 5 Errol Spence Jr. and Honorable Mention Yordenis Ugas are set for a welterweight title-unification showdown this coming Saturday in Arlington, Texas.
And eight other ranked fighters have scheduled bouts the next two months: No. 2 Alvarez (Dmitry Bivol), No. 3 Naoya Inoue (HM Nonito Donaire), No. 6 Tyson Fury (Dillian Whyte), No. 10 Jermell Charlo (Brian Castano), No. 12 Gervonta Davis (Rolando Romero), No. 13 Jermall Charlo (Maciej Sulecki) and HM George Kambosos (Devin Haney).
Plus, a few others – including Oleksandr Usyk and Artur Beterbiev – are near deals to fight soon.
Here is what the list looks like at the moment:
BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND
- Terence Crawford – No fight scheduled.
- Canelo Alvarez– Scheduled to challenge WBA light heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol on May 7.
- Naoya Inoue – Scheduled to face Nonito Donaire in a bantamweight title-unification rematch on June 7 in Japan.
- Oleksandr Usyk – In talks to defend his heavyweight titles against Anthony Joshua in a rematch.
- Errol Spence Jr. – Scheduled to face Yordenis Ugas in a welterweight title-unification bout on April 16 in Arlington, Texas.
- Tyson Fury– Scheduled to defend his heavyweight title against Dillian Whyte on April 23 in London.
- Vasiliy Lomachenko – Career on hold because of the war in Ukraine.
- Juan Francisco Estrada – No fight scheduled.
- Gennadiy Golovkin – No fight scheduled but expected to face Canelo Alvarez a third time in September.
- Jermell Charlo – Scheduled to face Brian Castano for the undisputed junior middleweight championship on May 14 in Carson, California.
- Artur Beterbiev – In talks to face Joe Smith Jr. in a light heavyweight title-unification fight on June 18 in New York but no deal is in place.
- Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to face Rolando Romero on May 28 in Brookly, New York.
- Jermall Charlo – Scheduled to defend his middleweight title against Maciej Sulecki on June 18 in Houston.
- Kazuto Ioka – The WBO has ordered a rematch between Ioka and Donnie Nietes for Ioka’s junior bantamweight belt but no deal is in place.
- Josh Taylor – No fight scheduled.
Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Mairis Briedis (no fight scheduled); Nonito Donaire (scheduled to face Naoya Inoue on June 7); George Kambosos (scheduled to defend his lightweight titles against Devin Haney on June 5); Teofimo Lopez (no fight scheduled); and Yordenis Ugas (scheduled to face Errol Spence Jr. on April 16).