Pound for pound: Has Juan Francisco Estrada replaced Canelo Alvarez as Mexico’s top boxer?

The question now might be: Who is the most active Mexican boxer?

The answer has been clear in recent years. Canelo Alvarez is both his country’s most successful boxer and arguably the face of the sport.

The current? Well, we’re not so clear.

Juan Francisco Estrada defeated all-time great Roman Gonzalez for the second time on Saturday, this time more convincingly than their second meeting last March.

He entered Saturday’s match in 8th place in the Boxing Junkie standings, one place behind Alvarez.

Meanwhile, Alvarez is experiencing the worst year of his career since he lost to Floyd Mayweather in a decisive blow in 2013. He lost a clear decider to Dmitry Bivol in May, causing he lost the number 1 spot on many pounds. list. And he put in a mediocre performance in a unanimous decision victory over 40-year-old rival Gennadiy Golovkin in September.

Obviously, the future Hall of Famer’s is not in its best form.

He attributes that in part to the fact that he got into a fight with his injured left wrist, which was surgically repaired in October and is healing. However, the reality is that he doesn’t look that good.

Critics of Estrada will point out that most observers think “Chocolatito” deserved the decision in last year’s fight. And Estrada looked flat on his unanimous decision win over Argi Cortes in September. Also, it’s fair to question whether Gonzalez is down – even a little – at the age of 35.

So where does that leave us?

The bottom line is that when Estrada faced an important challenge, he won. Alvarez is not. Alvarez is still the most successful boxer in the world but Estrada is arguably better at this point.

Thus, Estrada and Alvarez switched places, Estrada switched to 7th, Alvarez moved to 8th.

Of course, they can be repositioned again. Alvarez is expected to fight Bivol for a second time, perhaps in September. If he wins, it can be argued that he should get up again. And there have been rumors of the fourth Estrada-Gonzalez war.

So keep an eye on Mexico’s fight for supremacy.

That’s not all, as this is a busy time for those selling sterling. Our boxers 1 and 2 will be competing over the next few days, Terence Crawford against David Avanesyan on Saturday and Naoya Inoue against Paul Butler on Tuesday. No 10 Gervonta Davis will face Hector Garcia on January 7.

Here’s what the list looks like at the moment:

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POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Terence Crawford – Scheduled to defend the WBO welterweight belt against David Avanesyan on December 10 in Omaha, Nebraska.
2. Naoya Inoue – Scheduled to meet his counterpart Paul Butler for the undisputed bantamweight championship on December 13 in Tokyo.
3. Oleksandr Usyk – No wars scheduled.
4. Errol Spence Jr. – No scheduled wars.
5. Dmitry Bivol – No scheduled wars.
6. Tyson’s Rage – No scheduled wars.
7. Juan Francisco Estrada – No scheduled wars.
8. Canelo Alvarez– No scheduled wars.
9. Jermell Charlo – It is reported that an agreement has been reached to defend his undisputed middleweight championship against Tim Tszyu on January 28 but no official announcement has been made.
10. Gervonta Davis – Scheduled to play Hector Garcia on January 7 in Washington, DC
11. Vasiliy Lomachenko – Reportedly in talks to challenge undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney but no official announcement has been made yet.
12. Artur Betterbiev – Expected to defend the lightweight belt against Anthony Yarde on January 28 in London.
13. Shakur Stevenson – No scheduled wars.
14. Roman Gonzalez – There are no scheduled wars.
15. Devin Haney – Reportedly in talks to defend his undisputed lightweight championship against Vasiliy Lomachenko but no official announcement has been made..

honorable mention (alphabetically): David Benavidez (believed to have reached an agreement to fight Caleb Plant early next year but no official announcement yet); Jermall Charlo (no battle schedule); Stephen Fulton Jr. (no battle schedule); Kazuto Ioka (scheduled to face Joshua Franco in a junior bantamweight title match on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo); Josh Taylor (scheduled to defend his WBO bodyweight title in a rematch against Jack Catterall on February 4 in Glasgow, Scotland).