Pound-for-Pound Update 7-09-18

There have been a number of significant changes to the latest Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound List. Starting at the top, there's a new #1 as Vasiliy Lomachenko scored perhaps the biggest victory of his career by knocking out Jorge Linares to win a title in a third division. He rises from #3 to #1. At this point there is little to separate Lomachenko from Terence Crawford (who recently stopped Jeff Horn) atop the Rankings. I'll take Lomachenko’s relatively stronger level of opposition by a nose, but it's close. I certainly wouldn't argue against Crawford being on top. 

Also rising in the Top-10 is Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue, who destroyed secondary beltholder Jamie McDonnell in one round. McDonnell has been nothing if not durable throughout his career and for Inoue, moving up to his third division, to blitz through him in one round is quite impressive. Inoue moves up from #8 to #5. 

Anthony Joshua makes his debut in the Rankings. Winning comfortably over titlist Joseph Parker, Joshua has now beaten two of the top-five heavyweights in the world, and while his points victory wasn't as exciting as his unforgettable stoppage win over Wladimir Klitschko, it was still a clear win over one of the better talents in the division. Joshua enters the Rankings at #11. 

Jarrett Hurd has now picked up two belts in the junior middleweight division. In the spring he won a split decision victory in a rousing performance against Erislandy Lara. Hurd is a fighter who is peaking; he debuts in the Rankings at #13. 

Leo Santa Cruz moves up from #18 to #17 after his rematch victory over Abner Mares. Santa Cruz now has two wins over Mares and one against 20th-ranked Carl Frampton. 

Slipping out of the Rankings are Keith Thurman (due to inactivity) and Badou Jack, who had a draw with #16 Adonis Stevenson, but just couldn't get over the top.

Here is the complete Saturday Night Boxing Pound-for-Pound List:

1. Vasiliy Lomachenko
2. Terence Crawford
3. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
4. Gennady Golovkin
5. Naoya Inoue
6. Mikey Garcia
7. Saul Alvarez
8. Sergey Kovalev
9. Juan Estrada
10. Errol Spence
11. Anthony Joshua
12. Oleksandr Usyk
13. Jarrett Hurd
14. Donnie Nietes
15. Manny Pacquiao
16. Adonis Stevenson
17. Leo Santa Cruz
18. Roman Gonzalez
19. Guillermo Rigondeaux
20. Carl Frampton

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. 

He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 
Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

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