Reality Check Time! Oleksandr Usyk is Still The P4P Number One Fighter On The Planet. This Is Why...

PrimoGT · Feb 3, 2026

Being heavyweight champion is far bigger achievement than the imaginary "p4p no. 1" rating.
I'm almost embarassed for the fans who talk about "pfp" bragging rights. It's total bull****.

theanatolian · Feb 3, 2026

MidniteProwler said: ↑

After seeing Scull, Berlanga and Munguia all get dealt with
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I don't think that's an argument you'd want to bring up in this discussion considering what Joshua and Fury have been up to in the last half a decade.

Besides, with Inoue/Nakatani on the horizon, Usyk won't hold the #1 spot for much long with or without Crawford unless he gets his **** together.

Looks like he doesn't have the hunger anymore (which is perfectly normal at the age 39). Then he should follow Crawford's footsteps and ride off into the sunset.

LiamInChains · Feb 3, 2026

Usyk is taking the **** now, lining up a kickboxer? Then no dount Wilder late 2026, drop the belts if you don't want the smoke that comes with being champion.

Lonsdale81 · Feb 3, 2026

LiamInChains said: ↑

Usyk is taking the **** now, lining up a kickboxer? Then no dount Wilder late 2026, drop the belts if you don't want the smoke that comes with being champion.
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I doubt those are happening.. if they are he should retire from boxing

PrimoGT said: ↑

Being heavyweight champion is far bigger achievement than the imaginary "p4p no. 1" rating.
I'm almost embarassed for the fans who talk about "pfp" bragging rights. It's total bull****.
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Said this for a long time. P4P is a fairytale. The reality is Usyk rules boxing.

DoctorJones · Feb 3, 2026

PrimoGT said: ↑

Being heavyweight champion is far bigger achievement than the imaginary "p4p no. 1" rating.
I'm almost embarassed for the fans who talk about "pfp" bragging rights. It's total bull****.
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No it's not
Andy Ruiz isn't Sugar Ray Leonard. One was heavyweight champion, the other wasn't

bjl12 · Feb 3, 2026

CST80 said: ↑

Alright, after 2 days straight of ridiculous amounts of praise lavishing, embellishing and guffawing over Bud Crawford's razor close win over the tired haggard looking, going through the motions, disinterested, barely walking cadaver of 20 year pro Canelo Alvarez. It's forced me to come out of article writing semi-retirement to drop some crater making MOAB sized truth bombs on the asses of you delusional mofos. In regards to who the true P4P number 1 fighter in this sport really is. Who without even a shadow of a doubt, is still the one and only Mr. Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk.

Duly noted, I was wrong in my prediction that Canelo would beat Crawford, fine, I can live with that. One doesn't get every prediction correct. I was basing that off the fact that Crawford looked a bit sluggish against Madrimov in his 154 debut, and that he seemed to lack power. So I had serious concerns as to whether the extra weight would slow him down even more, and diminish his already seemingly waning power. Also, while it seemed evident that Canelo has been shot since Bivol beat the fight out of him, I wasn't entirely sure if he was just phoning in his increasingly lackluster performances because he couldn't be arsed to train properly against his recent string of mediocre opponents, or if it was due to what seems to be the reality, that he was in fact shot. So that was a gamble and miscalculation that didn't pay off, in retrospect, I feel like a ****ing idiot. But even I stated that Crawford would probably box his ears off until the power shots and intense pace finally got to him. Well... clearly Canelo is nothing without his Subatomic Light Heavyweight leveling Clen-bombs, which has been more than obvious due to his lack of KO's recently. We also saw the return of the dreaded Gasnelo, he clearly lacks the stamina he brought to the table in the second match against Golovkin, Saunders, Smith, Kovalev and even Plant. Gee, I wonder why?

Yes, kudos go to Crawford for having the self belief to jump up two weight divisions to fight the divisional kingpin, and topple him. That took balls of steel, but... he also knew that Canelo for all of his defensive improvements, as we all saw in the Scull match, Canelo is still a bit flat footed, can't cut the ring off worth a damn and is there for the taking for any slicksters with excellent timing and defense, sharp counters and decent power to keep him apprehensive. He also knew he was catching Canelo at the right time. So how much credit does he really deserve? It's not like he was at some kind of size disadvantage here. He was the bigger man in the ring of all ****ing things. Which highlights just what a shamefully egregious weight bully Crawford's been for the vast majority of his career. Canelo is a natural Light Middleweight who's a bit chunky, who genuinely lucked out that the division he moved up to was in the most dire of dire straits. Which is highlighted by the fact that almost all of his opponents were either blown up Middleweights or blown up Light Middleweights. Munguia and Charlo both Light Middles, while GGG, Ryder, Saunders, and Berlanga all started out as Middleweights, the first three spending the majority of their careers campaigning there. Smith was a legit Super Middle, who was so tight at the weight he resembled a parched skeleton from the Pirates of the Caribbean more than an actual fighter. That's Smith fault, he didn't have to take the match, still it lessens the impactfulness of that win. You have Scull who was almost brutally KTFO by a jab from Shishkin, and Plant, who just got his ass handed to him by Resendiz, who's a natural Light Middleweight, and was dropped twice by that bum McCumby. Plant is garbage and always has been. I love Kovalev, but he was a month removed from taking a horrendous beating at the hands of Yarde that he barely escaped from, didn't have a full camp, and had a rehydration limit. The reason why he wasn't throwing with full power is because he was terrified he was going to gas out. Then add in Kovalev's fondness for the bottle, it was a perfectly staged mockery of the sport and debacle by Ginger Balls. So the last several years of Canelo's career was largely based on smoke and mirrors, trying to convince the casuals he was accomplishing far more than what he actually was.

So the question is, why should Bud Crawford be awarded the spot at the top of the P4P rankings for doing something that Mayweather and Bivol have already done officially, Lara, Trout and Golovkin times two, have done unofficially? This by all rights should be Canelo's 7th loss. This is a 35 year old version of a man who's been fighting since he was 15 years old, who hasn't looked good since 2020, that's 5 years. That's a pretty goddamn long decline if you ask me. The answer is, no... he doesn't deserve the spot for doing something less impressively than 6 other men that have come before. Regardless of how you scored the fight, Crawford was super cautious, most of the rounds up until the 11th were very tight affairs, that could've gone either way, and the ones that Crawford won, were anything but a domination. He was winning them by landing a few more jabs and frustrating Canelo. He wasn't winning by walking his ass down and using his head like a speedbag like Bivol, or keeping him hightailing it in reverse for 12 rounds like GGG, or standing toe to toe and slugging it out with him like GGG in the rematch. It wasn't a masterclass, it wasn't a schooling, Crawford fought a more skittish match than Mayweather for **** sake. People are overstating what an accomplishment it was, because they're amazed that Crawford pulled it off, because many of them thought 168 was a bridge too far as well. Nothing more. But the reality is, jumping from 154 to 168 is only 14 pounds, and this is a guy that regularly rehydrated up that high. When you repeatedly move up division after division and are consistently bigger than all of the guys in the division you're moving up to, what the **** does that say? Manny Pacquiao was never the bigger man, he was always a tiny little pune beating up much larger monsters. While Bud shows up looking like the jacked intimidating monster, and beats up little punes.

So **** all of this noise, time to bring some common sense and rationality to the discussion. Time to put their recent accomplishments into their proper perspective. To be both the voice of reason and the restorer of clarity. This is why both Usyk and Inoue, are solidly in front of Crawford in the P4P rankings and in no way, shape or form does Bud get to skip the line because of his recent exploit. Wow he moved up 14 pounds and beat up a stiff legged ginger codger nearing retirement! Usyk moved up and fought AJ who outweighed him by 20 pounds, and then fought Fury twice, who outweighed him by FIFTY POUNDS. Now that's ****ng impressive! Still, Usyk is a solid number 1, and Inoue is number 2, and I'll lay out why.
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During the immediate aftermath of Buds win I was in disbelief. As time has passed, Canelo was ripe for the picking. And Canelo was equal size, he wasnt no AJ or Fury comparatively.

Usyk is and has been #1 PFP for a good 5 years now. Bud and Inoue 2a/2b with Inoue taking #2 fully in Buds retirement

Cojimar 1946 · Feb 3, 2026

PrimoGT said: ↑

Being heavyweight champion is far bigger achievement than the imaginary "p4p no. 1" rating.
I'm almost embarassed for the fans who talk about "pfp" bragging rights. It's total bull****.
Click to expand...

No it isn't. You are embarrassing yourself here.

By that logic Leon Spinks would be greater than Sugar Ray Leonard

Most boxing champs probably wouldn't cut it in other sports anyway due to athletes being better. Imagine Usyk trying to compete in the NBA? Laughable right

Cojimar 1946 · Feb 3, 2026

Lonsdale81 said: ↑

I doubt those are happening.. if they are he should retire from boxing

Said this for a long time. P4P is a fairytale. The reality is Usyk rules boxing.
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Usyk fights once a year and has beaten 3 ranked opponents at heavyweight. That's not ruling anything

Since when is resume a fairytale? Is beating 3 ranked opponents in a division now comparable to 10, 15, 20

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Reality Check Time! Oleksandr Usyk is Still The P4P Number One Fighter On The Planet. This Is Why...

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