With the conclusion of 2025, many in the boxing community have begun to debate who the most impressive athlete in the sport was over the calendar year.
Many feel that the top three pound-for-pound stars of the year are all in contention for the title. This includes Oleksandr Usyk, Terence Crawford, and Naoya Inoue.
There have also been mentions of fellow undefeated fighter Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez, who defeated Phumelela Cafu and Fernando Martinez in 2025.
Boxing legend Teddy Atlas has now weighed in on the debate, giving a clear answer for the award.
Teddy Atlas names Terence Crawford as his 2025 Fighter of the Year
Speaking on his YouTube channel, The Fight with Teddy Atlas, the legendary boxing coach recapped the boxing year, giving awards to several fighters in the sport.
Notable moments of acknowledgement from Atlas included Chris Eubank vs Conor Benn winning fight of the year, and Fabio Wardley’s stoppage over Justis Huni winning knockout of the year.
When the moment came for Atlas to pick his fighter of the year, he admitted that any of Usyk, Crawford, or Inoue could be considered for the title.
However, his ultimate winner was Crawford, whose one outing of 2025 saw him defeat Canelo Alvarez via unanimous decision to become the undisputed super middleweight champion.
“Crawford! He gets it for doing what the great fighters of the 20s, 30s, and 40s did. Jumping up several weight classes, taking on not only a bigger fighter, but one considered a pound-for-pound great.”
Teddy Atlas
Speaking on the fight between Crawford and Alvarez, Atlas said, “He beat him in every way. He beat him every way to Sunday. I mean, inside, outside, to show he is one of the all-time greats, in any era.”
When it came to comparing Crawford and Inoue, who went 4-0 in the calendar year, Atlas said that he chose ‘Bud’ based on the quality of his win. “There wasn’t one of those four fights [that Inoue won] that had the magnitude of Canelo vs Crawford. That’s all I’m saying.”
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Inoue’s four wins came against Ye Joon Jim (21-2-2), Ramon Cardenas (26-1), Murodjon Akhmadaliev (14-1), and Alan Picasso (32-0-1), between January and December.
As for Usyk, he also had just one outing in 2025 as the Ukrainian once again became an undisputed heavyweight champion by defeating Daniel Dubois in July. The finishing blow came in the fifth-round of their heavyweight bout.
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