Saturday Night Boxing: Pound-for-Pound Update 1-5-15

Monday, January 5, 2015

Pound-for-Pound Update 1-5-15

The new year has just started but there has already been a significant addition to the Saturday Night Boxing pound-for-pound list. Japan's Naoya Inoue debuts in the Rankings after knocking out Omar Narvaez, who entered their fight as the top junior bantamweight in the world. Earlier in the year, Inoue also stopped the number-one boxer at junior flyweight, Adrian Hernandez. 2014 was a fantastic year for Inoue. He enters the Rankings at #11.

2014 has turned into 2015 and yet no new fight has been announced for Andre Ward. I have been patient with the ranking of Ward, who hasn't fought in over a year, but enough is enough. He exits the pound-for-pound list and when he finally returns to the ring, his status will be reconsidered.

Going forward, I will use the following policy: After a year of inactivity, I will remove a boxer unless he has a fight scheduled. So for Ward, he goes. And later this month, Mikey Garcia, who hasn't fought since last January, will exit as well if there is no announcement of an upcoming bout.

On another note, Tim Bradley was not penalized in the Rankings for his draw with Diego Chaves. Almost all observers had Bradley winning and the official verdict does not reflect a decline in Bradley's skill level or his recent accomplishments in the ring.

Here is the updated Saturday Night Boxing pound-for-pound list: