Pound for pound: Waiting for boxing’s best to seal deals

Pound for pound: Many of boxing’s best fighters have been unable to finalize agreements that would get them back into the ring.

Three fighters on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list have bouts in place.

However, the majority of them have yet to finalize agreements — which serves to tease loyal, but frustrated boxing fans clamoring for important matchups — and some have nothing in the works, including those who fought recently

These are the fighters who have announced fights:

  • No. 10 Gervonta Davis (Ryan Garcia), No. 13 Shakur Stevenson (Shuichiro Yoshino) and Honorable Mention David Benavidez (Caleb Plant).

These are the fighters who are in talks with specific potential opponents but have not made official announcements:

  • No. 1 Terence Crawford (Aleix Rocha), No. 2 Naoya Inoue (Stephen Fulton Jr.), No. 3 Oleksander Usyk (Tyson Fury), No. 4 Errol Spence Jr. (Keith Thurman), No. 5 Dmitry Bivol (Artur Beterbiev), No. 6 Fury (Usyk), No. 8 Canelo Alvarez (John Ryder), No. 11 Vasiliy Lomachenko (Devin Haney), No. 12 Beterbiev (Bivol), No. 15 Haney (Lomachenko), HM Fulton (Inoue), HM Kazuto Ioka (Joshua Franco) and HM Josh Taylor (Teofimo Lopez).

Next pound-for-pounder up: The Benavidez-Plant fight on March 25 in Las Vegas.

Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:

BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND

  1. Terence Crawford – Ordered by the WBO to defend his 147-pound title against Alexis Rocha but no agreement is in place
  2. Naoya Inoue – In talks to challenge 122-pound titleholder and Honorable Mention Stephen Fulton Jr. this spring in Japan.
  3. Oleksandr Usyk – In talks to face No. 6 Tyson Fury in a heavyweight title-unification bout but no agreement is in place.
  4. Errol Spence Jr. – Unified 147-pound titleholder reportedly set to face Keith Thurman at 154 pounds in April but no official announcement has been made.
  5. Dmitry Bivol – Reportedly in talks to face No. 12 Artur Beterbiev in a 175-pound title-unification fight as early as June but no agreement is in place.
  6. Tyson Fury – In talks to face No. 3 Oleksandr Usyk in a heavyweight title-unification bout but no agreement is in place.
  7. Juan Francisco Estrada – No fight scheduled.
  8. Canelo Alvarez– Reportedly has agreed to defend his undisputed 168-pound championship against John Ryder on May 6 in Mexico but no announcement has been made.
  9. Jermell Charlo – No fight scheduled.
  10. Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to face Ryan Garcia in a 136-pound bout on April 15 in Las Vegas.
  11. Vasiliy Lomachenko – Reportedly in talks to challenge undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney but no official announcement has been made.
  12. Artur Beterbiev – Reportedly in talks to face No. 5 Dmitry Bivol in a 175-pound title-unification fight as early as June but no agreement is in place.
  13. Shakur Stevenson – Scheduled to face Shuichiro Yoshino in a 135-pound bout on April 8 in Newark, New Jersey.
  14. Roman Gonzalez – No fight scheduled.
  15. Devin Haney – Reportedly has agreed to defend his undisputed lightweight championship against Vasiliy Lomachenko on May 20 but no official announcement has been made..

Honorable mention (alphabetical order): David Benavidez (scheduled to fight Caleb Plant on March 25); Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled); Stephen Fulton Jr. (in talks to defend his 122-pound title against No. 2 Naoya Inoue this spring); Kazuto Ioka (reportedly scheduled to challenge 115-pound titleholder Joshua Franco in June in Japan but no announcement has been made); Josh Taylor (reportedly will defend his WBO 140-pound title against Teofimo Lopez on June 10 in New York but no announcement has been made).