Eddie Hearn names his pound-for-pound No 1... and it’s not Terence Crawford

Crawford comfortably outboxed Canelo Alvarez in September to become the first three-weight undisputed champion of this era

Eddie Hearn believes Terence Crawford’s win over Canelo Alvarez was not enough to cement his place as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Crawford jumped up two divisions to beat the Mexican great last month as he claimed world titles in a fifth different weight class.

The victory moved Crawford to the No 1 spot in The Ring’s pound-for-pound rankings, but Hearn feels undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk still deserves to be top of the pile due to beating more fighters in their prime.

“Who has Crawford beat from the pound-for-pound list?” Hearn asked during a recent interview with iFL TV. “The answer is Canelo Alvarez, and maybe Errol Spence at the time who was somewhere near the back end of the top 10 at the time, but when he fought Shawn Porter, when he fought Kell Brook, when he fought Amir Khan, when he fought Gamboa, it’s important that you get what I’m saying.

“I think he’s the most skilled fighter on the planet. It’s not his fault, he could have beaten those real elite guys in his prime, but he never got to fight them.

“And then I look at Usyk and I go Fury, who I believe was in his prime, right at the top of his game, AJ, two or three years ago, Dubois who is a young man and particular the second victory against Dubois when he was firing on all cylinders, but even when I go back to cruiserweight, he was beating those guys in their back yard. He pips it, but it’s very close.”

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Eddie Hearn has Oleksandr Usyk above Terence Crawford as the best pound-for-pound fighter (Bradley Collyer/PA) (PA Wire)

Usyk currently holds all the belts at heavyweight after winning his rematch with Daniel Dubois in July, while he previously cleaned out the cruiserweight division by winning the World Boxing Super Series in 2018.

The new super middleweight king Crawford has been the undisputed champion in three divisions, having also completely unified the super lightweight and welterweight divisions in the past.

Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue is the only other man to be an undisputed champion in multiple weight categories.

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All three men have a legitimate claim to being the best fighter on the planet right now, and Inoue will get the chance to improve his case next when he defends his super bantamweight titles against David Picasso in December, live on DAZN.

Crawford and Usyk are both taking breaks from the ring and are not expected to fight again until next year.

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