Questioning the P4P Rankings: Hearn Challenges The Ring’s Decision, Championing Usyk’s Career Achievements Over Crawford

Eddie Hearn says he still has Oleksandr Usyk as his #1 pound-for-pound, and he feels he’s more deserving of that honor rather than Terence Crawford.

This week, The Ring panel voted Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) into the #1 p4p spot following his 12-round unanimous decision win over Canelo Alvarez last Saturday night on September 13.

Hearn’s Usyk P4P Argument

Hearn feels that Crawford’s wins on his resume don’t match what Usyk has done in the last four years to become a two-division undisputed champion.

Usyk’s wins since 2021

• Daniel Dubois x 2
• Tyson Fury x 2
• Anthony Joshua x 2

“In terms of the actual victories for Terence Crawford, I think the pound-for-pound #1 should still be Oleksandr Usyk,” said Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn to The Stomping Ground. “But when you look at the actual achievements, five-division world champion, three-time undisputed. On paper, Terence is in with a great shout.”

Crawford winning five division world titles sounds great until you examine the fighters he beat to accomplish that. He beat a lot of flawed, old, and worn fighters to win those titles. Canelo was just the latest of the worn-out and old fighters that Terence beat.

Although the 37-year-old Crawford is older than Canelo by two years, he didn’t take the same punishment due to his weak resume. Terence didn’t fight guys like a prime Gennadiy Golovkin, Dmitry Bivol, Miguel Cotto, Erislandy Lara, or Callum Smith. Crawford fought guys like Ricky Burns.

Usyk’s Unmatched Achievements

“I feel that going in and beating all the champions at cruiserweight, then moving up and beating AJ twice, Fury twice, Dubois twice. I actually have Usyk edging out at the #1 spot. Just because Crawford beat Canelo, I don’t necessarily think that makes him pound-for-pound #1,” said Hearn.

Eddie makes a good point. Crawford’s win over Canelo isn’t enough of a significant victory to vault him to #1 pound-for-pound. When you factor in how wartorn Canelo has looked in the last three years since his loss to Dmitry Bivol on May 7, 2022, you realize that Crawford’s win isn’t that impressive.

Alvarez had looked poor in his last three fights against William Scull, Edgar Berlanga, and Jaime Munguia. Crawford was just an opportunist who took advantage of Canelo’s depleted state. Turki Alalshikh assisted Crawford by offering Canelo a lot of money to face him. If Crawford had to work his way to the title shot, he’d likely have been picked off by Christian Mbilli.

For Crawford to be considered as #1 pound-for-pound, I believe he needed to beat these types of fighters:

• Christian Mbilli
• Jaron Ennis
• David Benavidez
• Lester Martinez