I would say its fair to think there are on average one or two elite fighters in each division at any time. If you are talking historically elite it is hard to say and such claims usually have to wait until near career end or even years after retirement.
Heavyweight : Usyk, Fury Cruiser : Breidis Light Heavy : Beterbiev, Bivol Super Middle : Canelo Alvarez Middle : Golovkin Junior Middle : - (Lara was once but not now, Charlo and Castano fall a bit short right now) Welter : Crawford, Spence - Ennis & Ortiz maybe soon? Junior Welter : Taylor, Prograis Lightweight : Lomachenko (not sold on Lopez, think he got a fluke) Junior Light : Shakur Stevenson Feather : - Junior Feather : - (Figueroa is trending but not sure) Bantam : Inoue, Donaire Junior Bantam : Estrada, Rungvisai, Chocolatito, Ioka (stacked!) Fly : - Junior Fly: - Straw : - I'll be honest that I'm not so au fair with Fly and below, so may well have missed some there.
What's your list? To me personally elite should be like 3-4 guys. Probably something like Taylor, Usyk, Inoue, and Canelo.
Canelo, Usyk, Fury, Inoue and Lomachenko. For instance, Crawford looks elite but his resume is completely sh*t. We don't know his potential. Porter fight will give me an idea.
It depends what you mean by "elite" I suppose. If you're the fifth best person in your weight class at doing something in the world, most people would see that as elite, but I sense this isn't what you mean.
Usky & Fury only Not only elite but once in a generation or better type fighters Everyone else is mundane and useless especially Canelo.
Elite... Usyk Fury Briedis Beterbiev Canelo Golovkin Crawford Spence Lomachenko Inoue Estrada Chocolatito
I like your list, I wouldn't have Bivol in mine and I probably would leave out Breidis, I have been fans of theirs but they wouldn't currently make my list. A guy like Gary Russell Jr probably could be if he ever fought, I feel like Tank Davis is elite but his opposition is so poor. Think Madrimov could be soon, Spence is not elite in my opinion, possibly could have been but isn't and won't be. Shakur had a good win recently but he wouldn't be making my list just yet. Stanionis or Butaev could be down the line. My list from there is the same as yours.
