- Who are the world's best boxers?
- In boxing, pound-for-pound lists are made to demonstrate who the best fighters are using criteria consisting of quality of victories, achievements, and ability, regardless of weight class.
- In pound-for-pound lists, a flyweight can rank higher than a heavyweight even though the bigger man would swat the smaller man with ease in reality.
- Business Insider created this list by looking at the quality of a boxer's victories, achievements, and talent level.
- These lists always create arguments, and Business Insider's will be no different.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Heavyweights are often considered to be the world's best boxers, because a 6-foot-9 athlete who weighs 250 pounds would easily flatten someone 5-foot-8 and 140 pounds during a 12-round fist fight.
But this is why the term "pound-for-pound" was born, linked with "Sugar" Ray Leonard, a former welterweight and middleweight champion from the 1940s and 1950s who is regarded as the best boxer in history, despite the exploits of bigger-name heavyweights Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.
The term dates back even further as it was featured in the New York Sun two centuries ago. "The young men of today are the best the world has seen," the newspaper said in 1888.
"The old-time bruisers might be ransacked without finding one who, pound-for-pound, could hold his own with any of the entire school of present artists from Sullivan down through Mitchell, Dempsey, McAuliffe, or Weir."
Pound-for-pound lists rank fighters on one or more criteria which usually consists of quality of victories, achievements, and ability, regardless of weight class. Though a heavyweight could swat a flyweight with ease in reality, in pound-for-pound lists a flyweight could rank higher than the heavyweight.
Business Insider created this list by looking at three main criteria: the quality of a boxer's victories, achievements, and talent level.
These lists always create arguments, and Business Insider's will be no different.