Boxing pound-for-pound rankings (Sept. 2026): Oleksandr Usyk ousted as a new No. 1 is crowned
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There’s a new king of the mountain in the sweet science.
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Oleksandr Usyk lost his aura of invincibility when he escaped with a controversial victory over Rico Verhoeven this past spring beneath the stunning Pyramids of Giza. Usyk had proven too much for the best cruiserweights and heavyweights of the past decade, but after he struggled through 10 rounds with a one-fight novice, beating the Ukranian seemed less like solving a jigsaw and more like completing a two-piece puzzle.
Boxing is an unforgiving sport. That performance alone cost Usyk his place at the top of Uncrowned's latest pound-for-pound rankings, and thus a new No. 1 has been crowned.
August is usually a quiet month in the boxing world. This year, however, it has been chaotic in the sweet science — particularly on the women's side of the game, where Dina Thorslund and Chantelle Cameron enjoyed significant boosts after their respective wins.
Uncrowned's panel of experts — Kel Dansby, Alan Dawson, Darshan Desai, Joseph Santoliquito, Lewis Watson and Elliot Worsell — have ranked the men's and women's pound-for-pound best, one through 10, using a weighted points system to determine the final rankings. (Being voted No. 1 equals 10 points, No. 2 equals nine points, down to No. 10 equaling one point.)
Without further ado, here are our pound-for-pound rankings for September 2026!
MEN'S POUND-FOR-POUND RANKINGS
The new king of the mountain.YUICHI YAMAZAKI via Getty Images1. Naoya Inoue — Undisputed super bantamweight champion (Prev: 2)
Naoya Inoue scored one of the top wins of his career in May when he outclassed Junto Nakatani in the biggest Japanese boxing match in history. Inoue built up an early lead against Nakatani, and although his foe rallied in the second half, a strong finish meant that Inoue left the Tokyo Dome with his four belts intact.
Inoue will take the rest of 2026 off, but when he returns in 2027, he could be headed for another mega-fight with Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez. Should Inoue vs. "Bam" not materialize, a move to featherweight in a quest to become a five-division champion likely awaits the Japanese “Monster.”
Inoue is one of just three fighters to become undisputed in two weight classes in men's boxing. Without a doubt, he will be remembered as a flagship fighter of this era.
2. Oleksandr Usyk — Former undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion (Prev: 1)
Oleksandr Usyk is one of the greatest fighters of this generation.
Undisputed at cruiserweight, undisputed at heavyweight, and a star-studded résumé to go with it — it’s hard not to be an Usyk fan.
But in 2026, his legacy is set, and Usyk is clearly no longer interested in being a champion or proving that he is still the best. The Ukrainian vacated his WBO title last November rather than fight his mandatory, Fabio Wardley. In June, his other three belts went up in the air so he could pursue a fight with Deontay Wilder — whose best days are long past him — instead of facing Agit Kabayel, who was without a doubt the most proven new contender at heavyweight in recent years.
Usyk is in the final stage of his career, and thus he no longer sees the need to do what he has done for the last decade: fight the top guys. And really, who can blame him? Usyk has accomplished everything he could have ever dreamed of in the sport.
3. David Benavidez — WBA & WBO unified cruiserweight champion, WBC light heavyweight champion (Prev: 3)
Benavidez jumped up four spots on Uncrowned's previous pound-for-pound list after his tremendous display against Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez in May.
He epitomized the meaning of pound-for-pound by going up 25 pounds and still producing what can only be described as the destruction of a top world champion. The mix of hand speed, combination punching and power was simplyfrightening.
After capturing the WBA and WBO titles against Ramirez, Benavidez is now searching for a third belt at cruiserweight. The American is set to return on Dec. 12 in Arizona against WBC interim champion Michal Cieslak, likely for the full title. A win there would put him just one belt short of undisputed — that title being the vacant IBF championship set to be contested by Viddal Riley and David Nyika in the coming months.
Benavidez has won world titles in three weight classes and defeated some of the top fighters from super middleweight to cruiserweight. He has one of the top résumés in boxing, and what's scary is that the performances are still getting better.
4T. Shakur Stevenson — WBO super lightweight champion (Prev: 4)
Shakur Stevenson's ascent into the top five on Uncrowned's pound-for-pound list came after his tremendous display against Teofimo Lopez in January.
Stevenson completely nullified Lopez's game, winning a near shutout over the man who was considered the best at 140 pounds. It was a performance that not only elevated him into the upper echelon of this list, but foreshadows a potential pound-for-pound No. 1 spot for Stevenson at some point in the near future.
The four-division world champion produced the most exciting performance of his career in the fight prior, when he outclassed William Zepeda in July. Not only was it compelling television, but it also showcased the different facets of Stevenson's game. Stevenson isn't just a mover, but he can hold his feet and land the harder punches. The versatility the American has shown in his past two bouts is exactly why he is an elite-level fighter.
Zepeda and Lopez have something in common: after losing to Lopez, both went on to win world titles in their next fights, allowing Stevenson's résumé to age like a fine wine.
After signing with Zuffa Boxing in July, Stevenson is expected to return in the final quarter of 2026, although who that will be against is still unknown.
One thing is for sure, though: with talent like Stevenson's, it is very difficult to imagine anyone leaving the ring against him with their hand raised.
4T. Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez — WBA bantamweight champion (Prev: 5)
Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez became a three-division world champion in June, months after signing a lucrative three-year extension with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom.
Rodriguez knocked out Antonio Vargas to capture the WBA bantamweight title — and move one step closer to a dream showdown with Uncrowned's new pound-for-pound No. 1, Inoue.
As one of the most decorated and highest-paid fighters in boxing's lower weight classes, "Bam" has developed into a genuine star. A future meeting with Inoue would not only be a rare clash between two pound-for-pound top-five fighters, but also a genuine superfight if it does happen in early 2027.
Before that does take place, though, Rodriguez looks set to unify in a third successive weight class against Christian "Chispo" Medina later this year. The pair faced off over the weekend in Mexico.
6. Dmitry Bivol — WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight champion (Prev: 6)
Bivol held the WBA light heavyweight crown for seven years until falling short to Artur Beterbiev in their 2024 undisputed title fight. During his reign, Bivol made 12 successful defenses, which included an upset win over Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in 2022.
He managed to avenge his defeat to Beterbiev in 2025 and ascend as only the 11th man to become undisputed champion of the four-belt era.
2026 is a year of mandatory defenses for Bivol. He recovered from injury and returned in May, defeating Michael Eifert comfortably, and is now headed for a showdown with Callum Smith in December. The boxing world hopes 2027 will deliver a fight between Benavidez and Bivol for all of the belts — one of the top matchups the sport could make.
Regardless of what happens in Bivol's career from here, he already has two of the most significant and meaningful wins out of any fighter on this list, his victories over both "Canelo" and Beterbiev. His ticket to the Hall of Fame in Canastota has been punched.
Devin Haney (R) has rebuilt himself after a Ryan Garcia saga he'd likely rather forget.Richard Pelham via Getty Images7. Devin Haney — WBO welterweight champion (Prev: 7)
Haney is a three-division world champion and the former undisputed lightweight king. He cemented himself as the No. 1 fighter at lightweight in 2023 after earning a decision win over Vasiliy Lomachenko. He's also won titles at super lightweight and welterweight in his respective debuts in the weight classes.
When Haney dominated Regis Prograis to capture the WBC super lightweight crown in late 2023, many saw him as having the strongest case to be the division's No. 1, despite having just one fight at the weight class. The feeling was similar after Haney's impressive victory over Brian Norman Jr. in November to win the WBO welterweight title.
Haney has spent 2026 targeting a unification at 147 pounds, but it has failed to materialize. With Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez as newly-crowned fellow champions, some mouthwatering fights surely await him in the next 12 months.
8. Jaron "Boots" Ennis — WBA/WBO super welterweight champion (Prev: 8T)
Jaron "Boots" Ennis has long been considered one of the most talented fighters to come out of the U.S. in many years. For a while, he struggled to garner the opposition to prove that to the general public, going almost 30 fights without a notable name on his record. However, after picking up his first world title and teaming up with Hearn's Matchroom in 2024, the activity and legacy fights have started to come for the talented American.
Ennis cemented his position as the No. 1 welterweight in the world with a dominant and impressive stoppage win over Eimantas Stanionis in April 2025. He became a two-division unified champion in June, stopping Xander Zayas in a six-round thriller at Barclays Center to pick up the WBA and WBO belts.
Now, Ennis is finalizing a fight with IBF champion Josh Kelly to add a third title to his collection at super welterweight. And with talks ongoing to face Sebastian Fundora in 2027, undisputed seems a real possibility for the American in the coming months.
The only disappointment will be that Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr. have left another division without giving boxing fans the fight they desperately want.
9. Jai Opetaia — Former IBF cruiserweight champion (Prev: 10T)
Jai Opetaia has had a mixed 2026 thus far. The Australian secured a big-money deal with Dana White's Zuffa Boxing in January and became the inaugural Zuffa cruiserweight champion in March with a win over Brandon Glanton. After his debut on U.S. soil, he also landed a debut on Uncrowned's pound-for-pound list.
But it's a case of three steps forward for Opetaia and four steps backward — those four steps being the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF titles. Opetaia has made it known that his dream is to hold all four sanctioning body belts, yet his promoter Zuffa Boxing initially claimed it would not work with the alphabet bodies. Thus, Opetaia was stripped of his IBF cruiserweight championship before his Zuffa Boxing debut after the organization declined to sanction his defense against Glanton because it believed the Zuffa cruiserweight title — an unregulated belt — would also be on the line.
Opetaia now returns on Sept. 12 against WBC champion Noel Mikaelian, but it appears that Mikaelian's championship will not be on the line. Opetaia and Mikaelian faced off earlier this year when both were champions; now, when they do eventually clash, there may not be any major world titles on the line. It wouldn't be far-fetched to say that Opetaia is further away than ever from his dream of becoming an undisputed champion.
Regardless, two wins over Mairis Briedis and his highlight-reel stoppages over cruiserweight contenders have sealed his position as one of the best fighters in boxing.
10T. Junto Nakatani — Former WBC & IBF bantamweight champion (Prev: Unranked)
Junto Nakatani may have fallen short in his bid to become a four-weight world champion and capture all of the belts at super bantamweight, but there is no doubt that he gave our new pound-for-pound No, 1, Inoue, the hardest fight of his professional career.
After 10 rounds between Inoue and Nakatani, it was a struggle to split the pair. A strong finish from Inoue, however, meant that his hand was ultimately raised that night.
It was not to be for Nakatani to emerge as pound-for-pound king that day, but being just 28 years old, such a time may still arrive in his not-so-distant future. When the belts fragment at 122 pounds, Nakatani is perfectly aligned to try and pick them up and continue his rise on this list.
(Others receiving votes: Artur Beterbiev, Emanuel Navarrete, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, Sebastian Fundora, Vergil Ortiz Jr.)
(Hassan Ahmad, Yahoo Sports)WOMEN'S POUND-FOR-POUND
Claressa Shields remains the queen of the ring.Kevin C. Cox via Getty Images1. Claressa Shields — Unified middleweight champion (Prev: 1)
Claressa Shields retains her No. 1 spot on Uncrowned's latest pound-for-pound list.
After enjoying a spell in the higher weight classes, Shields returned to 160 pounds in August — closer to her physical peak and closer to the big fights in women's boxing.
Whether it's newly-crowned 154-pound champion Chantelle Cameron, fellow middleweight titlist Tamm Thibeault or unified welterweight champion Lauren Price, finally there are worthy dance partners for Shields to display her talents against.
Shields has won world titles in five weight classes and undisputed championships in three of them. The belts, however, have been easy to come by for the American and not given her the credit she deserves. After campaigning at heavyweight for a couple of years and allowing divisions to progress, it seems those fighters have finally shined through, and now the ball is in Shields' court to do what she does best: dominate.
2. Katie Taylor — WBA/WBO/IBF super lightweight champion (Prev: 2)
This is almost certainly the final time we’ll see Katie Taylor appear on this list.
Taylor — a pioneer in the women's game — will have her swan song in front of 80,000 adoring Irish fans at Croke Park this Saturday. She could've fought anybody, but Taylor will bow out of the sport doing what she does best: making history.
The Irishwoman will try to become a two-time undisputed super lightweight champion as she looks to add the WBC belt to her unified WBA, WBO and IBF titles against Flora Pili.
Taylor's legacy extends outside of just the boxing sphere. She won't only go down as one of the greatest female fighters of all time — she will go down as one of the most celebrated Irish athletes in history.
3. Gabriela Fundora — Undisputed flyweight champion (Prev: 3)
Fundora stopped Gabriela Alaniz in impressive fashion to unify the flyweight division in late 2024 in Las Vegas. After that, 2025 was a more straightforward year for Fundora, who scored back-to-back seventh-round knockouts in title defenses against Marilyn Badillo Amaya in April and Alexas Kubicki in September to earn her second straight Women's Fighter of the Year award for Uncrowned.
Fundora began 2026 by extending her knockout streak to four straight with a sixth-round finish of Viviana Ruiz. Many believe the time has now come for Fundora to test a different weight class and a new set of challenges.
At just 24 years old, she is the youngest undisputed champion of the four-belt era — and she could very well be the face of women's boxing in the years to come.
4. Chantelle Cameron — WBA, WBC and WBO unified super welterweight champion (Prev: 5)
Chantelle Cameron may have finally gotten the credit she’s been searching for after dethroning Mikaela Mayer as unified super welterweight champion this past Saturday in Birmingham.
Cameron formerly held the undisputed super lightweight crown and upset Katie Taylor in 2023 — handing the Irishwoman her only career defeat. But six months later, Taylor inflicted revenge, and that first fight was almost forgotten.
The Brit struggled to land another meaningful matchup after the Taylor defeat. She picked up four wins and moved up to 154 pounds earlier this year after coming to terms with the fact that a Taylor trilogy would be left as another of boxing's what-if stories.
And so Cameron took the first big fight she could find: Mayer. She was a +200 underdog going in, but those odds were not worth the paper they were printed on.
If the boxing world had forgotten about Cameron's ability, they were reminded exactly why she has the single best win in women's boxing history.
5T. Amanda Serrano — WBA/WBO featherweight champion (Prev: 4)
"Thank God I'm almost out of the game."
That is what Amanda Serrano said after her brutal 12-round fight with Lucrecia Manzur earlier this month.
Serrano has lost just three times in the past 14 years, and all of them have come at the hands of the masterful Taylor. But after 36 minutes in a ring with the unheralded Manzur, many felt another loss was headed Serrano's way.
Serrano has been a professional for 17 years and has had 55 fights. She’s held world titles in seven divisions and been in countless Fight of the Year contenders. It’s no doubt been a taxing journey for the Puerto Rican, and so her decline is sad but not surprising.
"The Real Deal" is expected to step into the ring once more before calling time on a legendary career. Her hand may never have been raised against Taylor, but she’ll be remembered for that trilogy, which single-handedly took women's boxing to a new level.
5T. Dina Thorslund — Undisputed bantamweight champion (Prev: Unranked)
Dina Thorslund is a two-division world champion. She held titles at bantamweight and super bantamweight before taking a hiatus from the sport in 2024 to attempt becoming a mother.
During that time, Cherneka Johnson unified all four titles at bantamweight and became a pound-for-pound fighter in her own right. When Thorslund returned this past month, she had a major fight to return to with Johnson.
It was considered 50-50 — but only going into the fight. In reality, Johnson failed to win a single round. That night, Thorslund showed the boxing world the difference between a very good world champion and a generational talent.
7. Alycia Baumgardner — WBA/WBO/IBF super featherweight champion (Prev: 6)
Baumgardner announced herself to the pugilist community when she knocked out Terri Harper on her feet to win the WBC super featherweight title in late 2021.
She eventually became the undisputed champion at 130 pounds, beating Mikaela Mayer in the process, but her career was halted for some time after failing an anti-doping test in the lead-up to her title defense against Christina Linardatou. Baumgardner fought to a no-contest against Delfine Persoon in her 2024 return fight.
The American has since made big moves in the women's game, signing with Jake Paul and Nikisa Bidarian's Most Valuable Promotions. Most recently, Baumgardner retained her unified WBA, WBO and IBF super featherweight titles with a win over Bo Mi Re Shin this past April.
She’ll now look to become a two-division champion when she challenges Elif Nur-Turhan for her IBF lightweight title in November. Turhan enjoyed a stellar 2025 campaign and enters the contest with real momentum.
Alycia Baumgardner (L) and Caroline Dubois could be the next great rivalry in women's boxing.Matthew Lewis via Getty Images8. Ellie Scotney — Former undisputed super bantamweight champion (Prev: 7)
Ellie Scotney became the 14th fighter in women's boxing history to become an undisputed champion in the four-belt era after she outclassed Mayelli Flores in April to add the remaining piece — the WBA belt — to her WBC, IBF and WBO championships.
Scotney may not have a single stoppage win to her name, but her skills are clear for all to see. She’s one of the best technical fighters in the women's side of the sport and it has made her a fan favorite among the purists.
Scotney will jump up to featherweight in November in a bid to dethrone the WBC champion, Tiara Brown. With more of the featherweight titles expected to be free soon due to Serrano's impending retirement, the path is clear for Scotney to repeat her achievements at 126 pounds.
9. Mikaela Mayer — WBO welterweight champion (Prev: 8)
Mayer has been on the wrong end of two disputed decisions. In 2022, she was considered unlucky not to get her hand raised after 10 brilliant rounds with Baumgardner, and in 2024, she came away second-best again in the eyes of the judges against Natasha Jonas.
Both of those fights took place on British soil. Mayer returned to the UK this past Saturday for a third time — and for a third time, she was left beaten on the scorecards. Except this time, there wasn't much controversy. Cameron was simply too strong and too forceful over the 10-round distance.
Despite the loss, Mayer still holds the WBO title at the weight below, welterweight. A showdown with Lauren Price for undisputed would represent another big fight for Mayer, but it may force her to return to British soil. Could the fourth time be the charm?
10. Caroline Dubois — WBC & WBO unified lightweight champion (Prev. 9T)
Caroline Dubois claimed a hard-fought majority decision over Terri Harper in their all-British lightweight unification battle in April to launch MVP in the UK and launch herself onto the pound-for-pound list.
Dubois is the third British fighter to be included in the sport's ultimate top 10, and at just 25 years old, she hopes to remain here for the next decade and go head-to-head with Fundora for the No. 1 spot in the years to come.
The Brit continues to push for a transatlantic showdown with Alycia Baumgardner to materialize as one of the biggest fights in the women's code, and now that Baumgardner has officially arrived at 135 pounds, the matchup is edging closer to becoming reality.
It's a fight that could crown either as one of the next faces in women's boxing. And with the imminent departures of Taylor and Serrano from the sport — and this list — it's a fight that women's boxing desperately needs.
(Others receiving votes: Elif Nur-Turhan, Lauren Price, Cherneka Johnson, Mizuki Hiruta.)
Boxing pound-for-pound rankings (Hassan Ahmad, Yahoo Sports)Here is how Uncrowned's boxing team voted:
Kel Dansby
MEN
Oleksandr Usyk
Naoya Inoue
David Benavidez
Shakur Stevenson
Jesse Rodriguez
Dmitry Bivol
Devin Haney
Jaron Ennis
Jai Opetaia
Saul Alvarez
WOMEN
Claressa Shields
Gabriela Fundora
Chantelle Cameron
Katie Taylor
Alycia Baumgardner
Caroline Dubois
Dina Thorslund
Amanda Serrano
Mikaela Mayer
Ellie Scotney
Alan Dawson
MEN
David Benavidez
Naoya Inoue
Shakur Stevenson
Jesse Rodriguez
Oleksandr Usyk
Dmitry Bivol
Devin Haney
Sebastian Fundora
Emanuel Navarrete
Jaron Ennis
WOMEN
Claressa Shields
Chantelle Cameron
Gabriela Fundora
Dina Thorslund
Katie Taylor
Alycia Baumgardner
Caroline Dubois
Ellie Scotney
Lauren Price
Elif Nur Turhan
Darshan Desai
MEN
Naoya Inoue
Jesse Rodriguez
Dmitry Bivol
Shakur Stevenson
David Benavidez
Oleksandr Usyk
Devin Haney
Jaron Ennis
Junto Nakatani
Emanuel Navarrete
WOMEN
Katie Taylor
Claressa Shields
Gabriela Fundora
Chantelle Cameron
Alycia Baumgardner
Amanda Serrano
Ellie Scotney
Dina Thorslund
Lauren Price
Mikaela Mayer
Joseph Santoliquito
MEN
Naoya Inoue
Oleksandr Usyk
Jesse Rodriguez
David Benavidez
Shakur Stevenson
Dmitry Bivol
Junto Nakatani
Devin Haney
Jai Opetaia
Jaron Ennis
WOMEN
Claressa Shields
Chantelle Cameron
Katie Taylor
Gabriela Fundora
Mikaela Mayer
Amanda Serrano
Dina Thorslund
Elif Nur-Turhan
Ellie Scotney
Caroline Dubois
Lewis Watson
MEN
Naoya Inoue
Oleksandr Usyk
Shakur Stevenson
Jesse Rodriguez
David Benavidez
Jaron Ennis
Dmitry Bivol
Devin Haney
Jai Opetaia
Artur Beterbiev
WOMEN
Claressa Shields
Katie Taylor
Gabriela Fundora
Chantelle Cameron
Amanda Serrano
Elif Nur-Turhan
Mikaela Mayer
Ellie Scotney
Alycia Baumgardner
Caroline Dubois
Elliot Worsell
MEN
Oleksandr Usyk
Naoya Inoue
David Benavidez
Dmitry Bivol
Shakur Stevenson
Jesse Rodriguez
Artur Beterbiev
Jaron Ennis
Saul Alvarez
Devin Haney
WOMEN
Claressa Shields
Katie Taylor
Gabriela Fundora
Chantelle Cameron
Dina Thorslund
Amanda Serrano
Lauren Price
Ellie Scotney
Alycia Baumgardner
Caroline Dubois