However, there are pound-for-pound lists that tell which boxers are in their top form, regardless of their weight class.   

Top Boxers in the World

Below you can find a list of the top boxers in the world currently competing in the ring. It is a pound-for-pound list that will give you a clear picture of the current best fighters in the boxing world.    

Canelo Alvarez

Canelo Alvarez has not just fought but won championships in multiple weight classes, including light middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight. Currently, he fights under the super middleweight division. 

Alvarez has been in 57 fights with 54 wins with only one loss against Floyd Mayweather. 36 of his victories are through knockouts and others via decision. 

Canelo has defeated Daniel Jacobs, Gennady Golovokin, Miguel Cotto, and many other big names in the boxing world. His championships include word titles in the light heavyweight as well as the junior middleweight division. 

Terence Crawford 

Terrence Crawford is known as the undisputed king of the light welterweight division and has held championships in three weight classes. 

Terrence has fought in 37 matches without losing a single one in his boxing career. With 28 knockout wins, he is one of the best switch-hitters in the boxing industry. His extraordinary speed, counter-attacks, and defensive skills are unmatchable. 

Naoya Inoue

Naoya Inoue is a Japanese boxer who has fought under multiple weight divisions, including Light Flyweight, Junior Bantamweight, and Bantamweight. He holds the Bantamweight championship since 2018, and the IBF, WBA (Super), and the Ring Magazine title since the past 2019. 

Naoya became popular after the 2018-19 Bantamweight edition of the World Boxing Super Series. With an 85% knockout-to-win ratio, Inoue has been unbeatable since his first fight. BoxRec even ranked him as the world’s best active boxer of his weight class.

Inoue is famous for his brutal attacks and powerful punches that have won him 17 knockout victories out of his 20 boxing matches. 

Errol Spence Jr.

Errol Spencer Jr. made his professional debut in 2012, gaining the upper hand against Jonathan Garcia. It is since then that the boxer has never seen failure in his long-reigning boxing career. 

In his 27 fights, 21 were knockouts, and the rest were by decision wins. Not only in his professional career, but he was on top of his game during amateur days. Errol holds a record of 135 wins against 12 losses before he became a professional boxer. 

Spence fights in the welterweight division and has defeated some of the best fighters, including Kell Brook, Shawn Porter, and Mikey Garcia. He is holding the IBF welterweight world title for the past four years. Moreover, Spence is also the WBC welterweight world title since 2019. 

Oleksandr Usyk

Oleksandr Usyk turned pro after seven years of his amateur career in 2013. He was a dominant force in his younger days with a remarkable record of 335 wins against 15 losses. As of yet, he has only fought 18 opponents without a loss. 

Usyk became the undisputed cruiserweight world champion in the 2017-18 World Boxing Super Series. But he vacated all four titles after moving up in the heavyweight division. 

Murat Gassiev, Marco Huck, Mairis Briedis, and Michael Hunter are a few of the many fighters Oleksandr has defeated. 

However, his heavyweight run is moving at a dull pace as his fights keep getting delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. He defeated Derek Chisora in their latest match in October 2020. 

Tyson Fury

Tyson Fury is a two-time world heavyweight champion and ranks on top of ESPN’s list of the world’s best active heavyweight fighters. 

Apart from Muhammad Ali and Floyd Patterson, Tyson is the only boxer to hold the Ring magazine title two times. Furthermore, he is the only boxer in his division to win the WBC, WBA (Super), IBF, The Ring magazine, and WBO titles. 

Fury’s road to fame began after he defeated the former champion, Vladimir Klitschko, in 2015. As of 2021, his professional career stands at 30 wins against zero losses and one draw. 

Teofima Lopez

Without a doubt, Teofima Lopez is among the finest boxers in the lightweight division. After 11 consecutive victories, he finally gained popularity after defeating Mason Menard. The victory made the list of sport’s biggest wins in the modern era. The result even impressed Mike Tyson, who tweeted in praise of Lopez, calling him the Man to Beat.   

Teofima defeated the WBA, WBC, and the WBO champion, Vasiliy Lomachenko, and retained his unified lightweight championship. It was his 16th fight where he remained undefeated. 

Juan Francisco Estrada

Juan Estrada started his career in the light flyweight division and is currently fighting in Super flyweight. He has won titles in all three divisions and was named the world’s best active super flyweight by the TBRB and the ring magazine. 

Out of the 44 matches in the last 12 years, he triumphed in 41 and lost the remaining via decision. Over the years, he came across boxers, like Giovani Segura, Srisaket Rungvisai, and Brian Viloria, and prevailed as the winner against them. 

He holds the WBC super fly title since 2018, two years after coming into the division. Before that, he was the world flyweight champion for two years. 

So who is the best of all?

These rankings can change in a single day as the boxers belong to different weight divisions. So, it is nearly impossible to tell who the best boxer is in the world. As you read above, these fighters keep changing their classes as time passes by. Even that can affect the individual pound-for-pound ranks given by ESPN, BoxRec, TBRB, and the Ring magazine. 

The post Best Boxers In The World appeared first on CruBoxing.

If you have a query about how to jump rope like a boxer, you also need to know about the exercise’s benefits. The guide focuses on the different benefits that jump rope provides and how you can choose the perfect jump rope. It also contains a few basic jump techniques that most boxers follow, and you could incorporate them into your daily workout routine.

Advantages of Jumping Rope

Jump ropes help in building your athletic skills and fitness with different jumping techniques. There are many different jumping rope benefits, making it one of the most highly recommended exercises for boxers.

• Jump rope is perfect for a whole-body workout since it works on all your muscles.
• The aerobic and anaerobic systems of your body are worked, which burns calories.
• Jumping rope helps in enhancing quickness and speed.
• Jump rope exercises also help in intensifying explosiveness and power in your body.
• The exercises make you more aware and in control of your body.
• Jump ropes help in increasing your hand-eye coordination.
• Jumping ropes makes you more light-footed and agile.

Things to Consider When Buying a Jump Rope

Before you start your jump rope exercises, you need to ensure that you choose the right jump rope. Jump ropes come in a variety of price ranges, quality, and type. However, there are two major considerations that you need to focus on when you buy a jump rope that is the type and length.

Remember that you will not be buying the jump rope for regular exercises but your training as a boxer. Follow the considerations below to get the perfect jump rope for your training and ensure that you can go about your workout routine.

Type

The type of jump rope is the first thing that you need to choose. Two of the major types of jump ropes are heavy ropes and speed ropes. Heavy ropes have weighted ropes as well as handles. They help make your upper body stronger and slowly turn the ropes, making you put more pressure on your upper portion.

On the other hand, speed ropes are not as heavy and turn very fast. These ropes are specifically designed to make you more agile and increase your speed. It is better to opt for speed ropes since boxers need to increase their explosiveness, quickness, and agility.

Quality

The next thing you need to focus on is the material and quality of the jump rope you would buy. Choosing plastic ropes is the best option since they are more durable and reduce air resistance with an increase in speed.

If you buy leather or cotton ropes, it would be hard for you to comfortably use them. Moreover, these materials tend to wear out very quickly, which means you will have to invest in a new jump rope after a very short time. Choosing plastic jump ropes is a much more budget-friendly option since they will not wear out quickly.

Length

There are varying jump ropes’ lengths, and the one you choose would depend on your jumping ability and height. If your jump rope is very long, then it will tangle easily and will be less aerodynamic. On the other hand, using too short a jump rope may make your trip very often.

For the right-sized jump rope, you need to keep one of your feet on the rope’s middle and ensure that the handles are equally pulled up on your body’s side. If you are a beginner, then the rope will be shoulder level. For more advanced people, the rope can be only till your upper chest or underarm.

How to Start Your Training?

To start your training, there two things that you need to focus on initially, which have been mentioned below.

Choose Your Location

Many people avoid jumping ropes since they think it will have a hard impact on their bodies. However, this impact can be reduced by choosing the right location or jumping surface. You need to look for a surface that would properly rebound when you jump and absorb force when you are landing.

You can choose some of the surfaces from artificial turf, level dirt, wooden floors, short grass, and rubberized mats and floors. You also need to ensure that the area around which you are jumping rope is completely clear and there are no objects that can hinder your free movement.

Perfect the Body Posture

Maintaining the right body posture is very important to ensure that you do not receive any injury and perform efficiently. You should check the movements of your arms and ensure that they are correct. Many beginners tend to move their arms very much, which is not right since you need to use your wrists to move the jump rope.

The next thing is that you do not have to jump too high. The maximum height you need to jump off the ground is between 1/2″ and ¾”, not more than that. If you jump too high, your body will be impacted unnecessarily, which does not do good for your training and increases injury risk.

Jump Types to Include In Your Workout Routine

Some of the common jump types that you could include in your workout routine are as follows:

• Bounce Step
• Alternate-Foot Step
• Boxer’s Skip
• Boxer’s Heel Toe Step
• Front Straddle
• Skier Jump
• Foot Cross
• Arm Criss-Cross
• Bell Jump
• Backward Jump
• Arm Side Swing
• High Knees
• Side Straddle

Wrapping Up

To become a capable boxer you need to enhance your training techniques and incorporate different workout routines. Do not get stuck with just one routine and keep changing your workouts every other day. 

It is better to include jump rope workouts in your everyday routine since they help make you stronger and agile. Try out alternate jump rope types in your workouts according to the focus areas. 

Make sure that you make your jumping techniques tougher as you become more advanced. This makes the workout more challenging and also helps you understand your capability.

The post How to Jump Rope like A Boxer? appeared first on CruBoxing.

The long, slender cloth that seems to tie only one way can seem like an unsolvable puzzle. You start to wonder how it can be possible to impressively wrap your hands using a mere length of cloth. But it is possible, and not at all as complicated, and it might seem initially. Learning how to wrap boxing wraps just requires a little patience and practice.

What to Begin With?

Before you get on with wrapping your hands to begin your practice, it is important to know why it is important to wrap.

As you sit there before practice, frustrated with how long it is taking to wrap your hands, you might want to just give up and go bare-knuckled.

Wrapping your hands using boxing wraps is an absolute must. There is no reason for you not to wrap your hands and protect your knuckles. It is risky and reckless.

If you impatiently don’t wrap your hands, you will regret it later at night when the pain will set in.

Aside from the necessity of using wraps, it is almost important to choose the material of your wrap well. There are several variations available in the market, but it is best to go with cotton or semi-elastic ones. The semi-elastic boxing wraps are also known as Mexican wraps. Gel wraps may seem like an easier option but aren’t as secure, so it is better to opt-out of them.

How to Wrap Boxing Wraps

Deciding upon the length of the wrap is pivotal. It is best to go for longer ones because you can always wrap it around for extra padding. But if you get stuck with a shorter one, then it can cause more harm than do good.

Generally, 180 inches the regular and most commonly used and preferred length. Getting a wrap shorter than 180 inches, even if your hands are on the petite side, is better than getting any shorter than that. Even if you have excess material left after you have wrapped it, you could always use it as extra padding for the knuckles or the wrist.

The more padding, the better!

Extra padding only serves to make it easier and safer for you to use that heavy bag and box. So, there is no reason to get a wrap shorter than 180 inches.

Unless you’re a kid. Then, it is better to go for the 120 inches ones rather than 180.

How to securely and correctly wrap your boxing wraps?

Here are the basic steps:

Loop Around The Thumb And Wrap Behind

It is important to decide how tight and snug or loosely and comfortable you want the wrap to be. Begin by sliding your thumb into the elastic loop at the front of your wrap and taking it behind your hands. This should get the elastic loop around the thumb and wrap behind the hand.

It is important to know to wrap it inwards as that can loosen the wrap later on. You must loop it backward and then loop around the wrists thrice. Tighten your hands as you do that, so you have a snug fit.

You can loop it over more than three times if you have smaller hands. Wrapping is mostly to protect your wrists and knuckles and give them padding, so most of your loops will be over them as well.

Over Your Hands

Next, you have to take the wrap over your hands three or more times. At this point, you should have your fingers spread wide. If your fingers are closer with little space, then that may make the wrap uncomfortable for you later on. Just imagine palming an imaginary volleyball in your hand and keep them spread that way.

The three times of wrap over your hand should cover your palm and knuckles. For extra padding, wrap it around 6-7 times. The number of wraps differs according to the size of your hand.

Through Your Fingers

After you cover your palms, it is time to protect your fingers and knuckles thoroughly. 

Bring the wrap over to the back of your thumb and then slip it between your pinky and ring finger. Make sure to avoid wrinkling the fabric and keep it smooth and snug.

Then repeat this and take the boxing wraps over between your other fingers as well. Wrap it similarly between your ring and middle finger, then between your middle and index finger.

These wraps through your fingers should be in the formation of an X.

Wrap Your Thumb

After you have taken the wrap around your palms and between your fingers, you should now wrap the thumb.

Bring the boxing wrap to the back of your thumb again and bring over your thumb once. Then flip over your hand, with your palm facing up instead of the back of your hand.

Now wrap the thumb halfway but don’t take it to the back of your hand. Instead, bring it down your palm and at the front.

This locks your thumb safely and prevents injury.

Over Your Knuckles

Now flip your hand again and this time, bring the wrap up around your knuckles. Wrap it three times. That should bring you to the end of your wraps if you have big hands. But if you have small hands, then use the extra length and wrap over your knuckles and wrist a few times over for extra padding.

Wraps Over Your Wrist

Bring the extra wraps over your wrists and loop them around your wrists. Wrap it around snugly but comfortably. You have to make sure that you don’t wrap too tight. It could cut off circulation and hurt your hand during practice.

Finish Off with the Velcro

As you reach the end of your wrap, end with a loop around the wrist till you get to the velcro and then fit it snugly over your wrist. Finish your wrap with the velcro tied fit.

Summing up

It may seem complicated in the beginning, but with practice, you will learn to do it in less time. It is a crucial and unskippable part of practice, so even if you have to spend extra minutes wrapping, do it for your hands.

Over time, you’ll be able to do it within a minute. Or even less. But safety is always first.

The post How to Wrap Boxing Wraps: Step By Step Directions appeared first on CruBoxing.