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Ring Magazine analyst names two fighters who he thinks will break into the pound-for-pound top five next year
With Terence Crawford defeating Canelo Alvarez this past weekend, the conversations for boxing purists quickly turned to pound-for-pound lists.
Crawford's win was enough to put him number one on DAZN News’ Christopher Walker’s list and the same thing happened when The Ring announced Crawford as their top fighter on the most recent episode of Inside the Ring .
The discussion did not just focus on the main spot as the entire list was brought into focus with numerous fascinating fights on the horizon that could impact the rankings in the coming months.
One area worth keeping an eye on is light-heavyweight with Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, fighters who have traded wins in the last year in two outstanding bouts.
David Benavidez has his focus on glory at 175lbs, and he faces Anthony Yarde on November 22 where victory will undoubtedly see him target a showdown with either Bivol or Beterbiev in 2026.
The Ring’s Mike Coppinger predicted that Benavidez could be in the pound-for-pound top five next year and that would require him to be the main man at light-heavyweight sometime in the next 12 months.
Another fighter tipped to be in the top half next year by Coppinger is super-bantamweight star, Junto Nakatani.
An all-Japan classic between Nakatani and Naoya Inoue awaits boxing fans next year and the former would need to pull off an incredible upset to get past his countryman and unseat him in the top three.
Coppinger’s predictions are bold, and it will be interesting to see how they play out before the end of 2026.
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