Frampton, Fury, Joshua - who is the UK's best P4P boxer?

Nick Parkinson

Great Britain has 14 world champion boxers and experts say there has never been a better time for the sport in the country.

But only a few of those world champions can claim to be No.1 in their weight division and to be household names in the UK, where boxing is nearly exclusively shown on subscription television channels.

So who are Britain’s best boxers and which of the world champions — and big names — miss out on ESPN’s latest British pound-for-pound ratings?

1. Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs), WBA world featherweight champion
Carl Frampton is WBA world featherweight champion. Edward Diller/DiBella Entertainment
After two career-defining victories, the Belfast boxer has risen from No.5 in our last P4P rankings to top spot after he became Northern Ireland’s first two-weight world champion last month. It has been a great 2016 for Frampton, who dominated in a points win over British rival Scott Quigg in February to unify the world super-bantamweight titles.

But rather defend his WBA and IBF super-bantamweight belts, Frampton stepped up a division to win a majority decision over Mexican Leo Santa Cruz in New York in July. Frampton was brilliant in spells against Santa Cruz, picking off the three-weight world champion with his fast flurries of punches. Frampton staggered Santa Cruz in the second round, withstood moments of the fight when it turned into a slugfest and his tactics were spot on in the best performance of his career.

Frampton is a huge star in Northern Ireland but is also one of Britain’s best-known boxers now to the wider public. ESPN ranks Frampton the No.1 featherweight in the world and we rank him Great Britain’s P4P king.

2. Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs), WBA-WBO world heavyweight champion
Tyson Fury would be top – but for inactivity. Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Manchester’s lineal world heavyweight champion has lost his top spot in our British P4P rankings due to inactivity and Frampton’s heroics. Fury injured an ankle while preparing for a July 9 rematch against Wladimir Klitschko, who he out-pointed for three versions of the world title in November. A new date for the rematch — possibly in Manchester Oct. 29 — has yet to be confirmed but Fury will have to do more than beat Klitschko to dislodge Frampton. Fury — ranked the world No.1 heavyweight by ESPN — also faces a hearing over doping allegations made by the UK Anti-Doping organisation.

3. James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs), IBF world super-middleweight champion
James DeGale is ESPN UK’s No.1 super-middleweight. Patrick Smith/Getty Images
The London super-middleweight is No.1 in his division after two IBF title wins in North America over Lucian Bute and Rogelio Medina. There was talk of a world title unification fight with WBC champion Badou Jack in London in September, but it looks likely DeGale will now defend his title for a second time in the States in his next bout. Jack could only draw with Bute in his last fight and DeGale deserves to be considered the super-middleweight No.1. But despite DeGale’s progress, his profile in the UK has not improved while he has been world champion since November 2015. Victory over Jack later this year could see DeGale rise nearer to the UK’s P4P top while a clash with domestic rival Callum Smith would boost his public profile back home.

4. Kell Brook (36-0, 25 KOs), IBF world welterweight champion
Kell Brook faces Gennady Golovkin next. Getty Images
The Sheffield welterweight will become Britain’s pound-for-pound king if he can produce an upset against Gennady Golovkin on Sept. 10. Brook is stepping up two weight divisions to challenge GGG — ESPN’s No.2 ranked pound-for-pound boxer — for his middleweight titles in London. Brook has been craving a big name opponent and has certainly got it. Brook claims many of his rival world welterweight champions have avoided him but after three low-key, dominant defences of his IBF welterweight belt, superstardom awaits him if he can beat Golovkin. Brook is No.2 in the ESPN world welterweight rankings.

5. Anthony Crolla (31-4-3, 13 KOs), WBA world lightweight champion & Terry Flanagan (31-0, 12 KOs), WBO world lightweight champion
Anthony Crolla is WBA world lightweight champion. Alex Livesey/Getty Images
It is hard to separate these two world lightweight champions, who live a short left hook away from each other in Manchester. Both have made big improvements while fighting for world title belts over the course of the last year. A world title unification fight seems a natural fight, but both have difficult fights looming. Both are regarded in their division’s top three and Crolla will gain a higher ranking if he beats former WBC champion Jorge Linares on Sept. 24, with Flanagan being lined up to defend his WBO belt against WBC title-holder Dejan Zlaticanin next.

6. Lee Selby (23-1, 8 KOs), IBF world featherweight champion
Will Lee Selby and Carl Frampton meet later in 2016? Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
The Welshman is a rival world featherweight champion to fellow Briton Carl Frampton and there is a strong likelihood the pair will meet later this year. Selby’s stock will rise if he can pull off an upset against Frampton after he had to get off the canvas in his second IBF title defence against Eric Hunter in April. Selby’s slick boxing ensured he dominated Hunter after an early scare to win unanimously on points. But harder fights await Selby if he wants to dominate the featherweight division.

7. Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs), IBF world heavyweight champion
Anthony Joshua has KO’d all 17 of his opponents. Ben Hoskins/Getty Images
There are bigger tests ahead for Joshua but it is hard to fault him in a career that has seen him KO all 17 professional opponents since he won a 2012 Olympic gold medal. After winning the IBF world heavyweight title from Charles Martin in just two rounds in April, Joshua claimed he was suffering from an illness in the build-up to a seventh round win against another American Dominic Breazeale in June. North London-based Joshua still looked destructive and he has yet to be seriously troubled. A second defence is scheduled for Nov. 26 and next year promises tougher tests, starting with New Zealand’s Joseph Parker and possibly then fellow Briton David Haye.

8. Tony Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KOs), WBC world cruiserweight champion
Tony Bellew is WBC cruiserweight world champion. Alex Livesey/Getty Images
The Scouser won the vacant WBC cruiserweight title by defusing the explosive Ilunga Makabu with a stunning knockout win in May and is now one of the leading men in his division. Bellew has even been calling on former world cruiserweight champion David Haye — now on the comeback trail up at heavyweight — to meet him in a catchweight fight. More likely is a clash with a rival world champion next year that would give Bellew the chance to climb our P4P rankings. He is due to fight next against Haye’s friend BJ Flores in Liverpool on Oct. 15.

9. Jamie McDonnell (28-2-1, 13 KOs), WBA world bantamweight champion
Jamie McDonnell is reigning WBA world bantamweight champion. Scott Heavey/Getty Images
Under-rated and less known than others below him on this list, the Doncaster bantamweight is a reigning world champion who is No.3 in ESPN’s world bantamweight rankings. A fight against American Rau’shee Warren later this year will raise his profile and if he victorious, his ranking in the bantamweight division. McDonnell stopped Fernando Vargas in the ninth round in London in June for his sixth victory in world title fights since 2013. Two of those wins have been in the US and he is unbeaten since losing on points to Lee Haskins in 2008. McDonnel has won IBF and WBA world titles and he only missed out on the WBO belt because Tomoki Kameda was forced to vacate it before losing twice to the Yorkshireman.

10. Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs), welterweight contender
Despite defeat to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Amir Khan is still a big name in UK boxing. David Becker/Getty Images

The Bolton welterweight has not held a world title since 2011 but he is still more well known in the UK than most of the country’s current world champions. Khan jumped up two weight divisions to challenge Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez for his WBC middleweight title in boxing’s biggest fight so far this year in May and was doing well early on before he got knocked out in the sixth round. Khan, who missed out on megafights against Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, showed against Canelo he still has speed and movement. His wins over good opponents (Luis Collazo, Devon Alexander and Chris Algieri) before losing to Canelo means he retains his top ten place in our rankings. Khan says he will return to action at welterweight, where Kell Brook is ranked higher.

The rest:

11. Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs), WBO world middleweight champion

12. Scott Quigg (31-1-2, 23 KOs), super-bantamweight contender

13. Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs, WBO world super-welterweight champion

14. Ricky Burns (40-5-1, 14 KOs), WBA world super-lightweight champion

15. Chris Eubank Jr (23-1, 18 KOs), middleweight contender

16. Lee Haskins (33-3, 14 KOs), IBF world bantamweight champion

17. David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs), heavyweight contender

18. George Groves (24-3, 18 KOs), super-middleweight contender

19. Callum Smith (20-0, 15 KOs), super-middleweight contender

20. Nathan Cleverly (29-3, 15 KOs), light-heavyweight contender