The pound-4-pound ratings have always caused fun debate, pitting fighters against each other that have zero chance of ever meeting in the ring. Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue sit atop most rankings, both have produced encapsulating performances against Stephen Fulton and Errol Spence Jr in the past weeks.
Inoue has burst through the weight classes to become a four weight world champion, one fight away from being undisputed in two weight classes. Crawford first became world champion at lightweight defeating Ricky Burns in Glasgow in 2014, he has since become undisputed at super lightweight and welterweight.
Current bantamweight world champion Jason Moloney shared The Bubble with Crawford during Top Rank’s Covid-era events and collided with Inoue for the bantamweight world championship in that same period.
“I think maybe Crawford, but it is hard.” Moloney answered as to who his pound-4-pound number 1 is. “After Inoue won that fight [against Fulton] everyone said that it doesn’t matter what happens in the Crawford-Spence fight, then Crawford comes out with one of the greatest performances you will ever see and probably takes that number 1 spot now. But yeah, probably 1, Crawford, then 2, Inoue. Then it is a big jump to 3, you would probably put [Oleksandr] Usyk in there. I think that 1 and 2 are just miles above everyone else at the minute.
“For both of them, the next move will be interesting. It will be interesting to see what Crawford foes next, whether it is an immediate rematch, which I hope doesn’t happen. Not much interest in a rematch when it is so one sided. I would love to see him go up to 154, fight [Jermell] Charlo and become undisputed champion in three weight classes. That would be incredible. Obviously we know Inoue fights [Marlon] Tapales next, and I think he wins that fight easy as well. Then he would become undisputed in two weights as well. It is exciting, it is great to see these great fighters winning all the belts with so many undisputed champions at the moment. It is great for boxing and certainly as a fan I’m enjoying watching these big fights happen.”
