Pound-for-pound: Errol Spence Jr. moves up a notch

Errol Spence Jr. has moved up a notch on the Boxing Junkie pound-for-pound list after his victory over Danny Garcia.

Errol Spence Jr. is back and on the rise.

Spence, who only 14 months earlier could’ve lost his life in a horrific car accident, defeated former two-division titleholder Danny Garcia by a clear decision — 117-111, 116-112 and 116-12 — to retain his welterweight belts on Dec. 5 in Arlington, Texas.

That victory, combined with what many believe was a so-so performance by Oleksandr Usyk against Derek Chisora on Oct. 31, resulted in a change here.

Spence, ranked No. 5 on the most-recent Boxing Junkie pound-for-pound list, and Usyk, No. 4 last time, switch places. Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) is now ranked behind only Nos. 1-3 Terence Crawford, Canelo Alvarez and Naoya Inoue.

Two more fighters on the list — No. 9 Gennadiy Golovkin and Alvarez — are back in action on Dec. 18 and 19, respectively.

Golovkin will defend his middleweight title against Kamil Szeremeta in Hollywood, Fla., and Alvarez is scheduled to challenge super middleweight champion Callum Smith in San Antonio.

Here is where the pound-for-pounders stand.

BOXING JUNKIE
POUND-FOR-POUND

  1. Terence Crawford — No fight scheduled.
  2. Canelo Alvarez — Scheduled to challenge 168-pound titleholder Callum Smith on Dec. 19.
  3. Naoya Inoue — No fight scheduled.
  4. Errol Spence Jr. — No fight scheduled.
  5. Oleksandr Usyk — No fight scheduled.
  6. Teofimo Lopez — No fight scheduled.
  7. Vasiliy Lomachenko — No fight scheduled.
  8. Tyson Fury — No fight scheduled.
  9. Gennadiy Golovkin — Scheduled to defend his 160-pound title against Kamil Szeremeta on Dec. 18.
  10. Juan Francisco Estrada — No fight scheduled.
  11. Mikey Garcia — No fight scheduled.
  12. Artur Beterbiev — Scheduled to defend his 175-pound titles against Adam Deines on Jan. 30.
  13. Manny Pacquiao — No fight scheduled
  14. Jermell Charlo — No fight scheduled.
  15. Gervonta Davis — No fight scheduled.

Honorable mention (alphabetical order): Miguel Berchelt (no fight scheduled), Mairis Briedis (no fight scheduled), Jermall Charlo (no fight scheduled), Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (no fight scheduled) and Josh Taylor (no fight scheduled).

[lawrence-related id=16160,16128]