April P4P Top 10: Usyk claims No. 1 spot because of reasons

It’s a new month and a new pound-for-pound list! It’s very slightly different but not really!

Wait a minute — hold the phone! Katie, bar the door! We’ve got a new number one! Did anything really happen? No! But something didn’t happen — it’ll make sense when you get down there and read some more.

Well, the sense it makes will be explained to you by someone.

Anyway, here’s the April list:

The voters: Scott Christ, Wil Esco, John Hansen, Patrick Stumberg, and Lewis Watson.

Also Receiving Votes: Regis Prograis 5, Shakur Stevenson 5, Kenshiro Teraji 5, Stephen Fulton Jr 1

Scott Christ

• (1) Oleksandr Usyk, (2) Naoya Inoue, (3) Terence Crawford, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Errol Spence Jr, (6) Artur Beterbiev, (7) Canelo Alvarez, (8) Jermell Charlo, (9) Devin Haney, (10) Regis Prograis

Same as before for me. But there could be a change in the back-end next month on my list, with my eyes on Tank Davis, Shakur Stevenson, Robeisy Ramirez, and Bam Rodriguez, in particular.

Wil Esco

(1) Oleksandr Usyk, (2) Naoya Inoue, (3) Artur Beterbiev, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Canelo Alvarez, (6) Errol Spence Jr, (7) Terence Crawford, (8) Jermell Charlo, (9) Devin Haney, (10) Shakur Stevenson

Boy, do I love me some Oleksandr Usyk. Not only is he an exceptional fighter, but he’s a man’s man. Too bad Greedy Belly seems intent on skirting an undisputed heavyweight unification, so let’s give the man some deserved spotlight. And, no, I will not be taking any questions this month.

John Hansen

• (1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Oleksandr Usyk, (3) Dmitry Bivol, (4) Artur Beterbiev, (5) Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, (6) Errol Spence Jr, (7) Regis Prograis, (8) Vasiliy Lomachenko, (9) Kenshiro Teraji, (10) Stephen Fulton Jr

Another month with no activity at the top, and no outside results to justify a shakeup. Still no mandatory or viable elective fight from Terence Crawford. Still nothing at all from Errol Spence, who will also be dropped from my rankings if that doesn’t change by the end of the month.

So, in the absence of new developments to describe and rank, let’s do a breakdown and P4P ranking of everyone else’s P4P rankings! First, a quick rundown of everyone’s list from last month:

SCOTT:

• PRO: Only other person with the wisdom and courage to include Regis Prograis. Has the authority to fire me. Unrelated – Genius rivaled only by his own raw masculine charisma.
• CON: Including Devin Haney makes me sleepy and sad. I want to alternate poking him repeatedly with my left hand, and forcing lots of unwanted hugs on him.

WIL:

• PRO: The audaciousness! The hubris! The fearlessness to keep putting Boots Ennis at #1 based on the eye test. I wish I had that same bravery on behalf of David Morrell.
• CON: It’s a thin line between courage and madness.

PATRICK:

• PRO: Fundamentally sound. Inoue at the top, which is correct.
• CON: Must have been devastating for him to choose a Final Four bracket option with Kentucky, Duke, and Michigan State all in the same region this year.

LEWIS:

• PRO: Stumburg-ianly solid. Teraji at #9, as is appropriate.
• CON: Accidentally mixed up Usyk and Inoue at the top. Sloppy!

Obviously, humility precludes me from including myself. So, when I say that they’re all tied for dead last because they all listed Haney or Shakur Stevenson, in flagrant contempt of the Rigondeaux Rule (and the viewing enjoyment of our readership)? That’s technically a four-way tie for No. 4 that you can go ahead and visualize as No. 5 instead.

Hopefully, none of them are depraved enough to rank Lawrence Okolie this month.

Patrick Stumberg

• (1) Naoya Inoue, (2) Oleksandr Usyk, (3) Errol Spence Jr, (4) Terence Crawford, (5) Canelo Alvarez, (6) Dmitry Bivol, (7) Shakur Stevenson, (8) Vasiliy Lomachenko, (9) Artur Beterbiev, (10) Kenshiro Teraji

God, I was so excited to finally shake this list up. Then Usyk-Fury collapsed, Inoue-Fulton got delayed, and Teraji-Gonzalez went kaput. As of right now, the only potentially pivotal fight on the horizon is Haney vs Lomachenko on May 20th; until then, I think the lineup stays intact.

Lewis Watson

• (1) Oleksandr Usyk, (2) Naoya Inoue, (3) Terence Crawford, (4) Dmitry Bivol, (5) Canelo Alvarez, (6) Artur Beterbiev, (7) Errol Spence Jr, (8) Devin Haney, (9) Kenshiro Teraji, (10) Jermell Charlo

It’s another month of sticking rather than twisting. Usyk’s unwillingness to be kicked into a corner by Tyson Fury and his flip-flopping demands, if anything, extends his place at the top of the standings, with Inoue still hot on his heels despite injury delays to his return.

David Benavidez’s win over Caleb Plant saw me ask a few questions of a top 10 splash for the unbeaten super-middleweight, but I turned right to my dog and his disappointed eyes made me realise I would only be acting on boredom.