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| Jaron Ennis, right, could be fighting top opponents now that he has the IBF welterweight world title. Patrick Smith/Getty Images |
Boxing's pound-for-pound best delivered some worthy performances in 2023.
Artur Beterbiev kicked off the campaign by keeping his perfect KO ratio intact with a thrilling TKO defeat of Anthony Yarde to retain three light heavyweight titles.
Three months later, a well-placed body shot by Gervonta Davis stopped Ryan Garcia in the year's biggest commercial fight. In July, Naoya Inoue dominated Stephen Fulton in his 122-pound debut and displayed his generational talent, before unifying titles to become undisputed champion in a second division with another impressive KO win over Marlon Tapales on Dec. 26.
And Devin Haney won every round and even dropped Regis Prograis to become a two-division champ on Dec. 9.
The best performance of all, of course, belonged to Terence Crawford, who dismantled Errol Spence Jr., in a tour de force victory to cement welterweight supremacy.
But what about all the fighters that sit just outside ESPN's pound-for-pound top 10? There are many boxers with a genuine opportunity to inch closer to that recognition in 2024.
Here are five such boxers we believe are appointment viewing in 2024 (in no particular order):
