The 10 scariest fighters in boxing today

It’s that season again. The season of creeps, ghouls, and demons. The season of blood and guts. The season of jump scares, shocks you didn’t see coming, and dark corners you would rather not explore. The season of trick or treat. The season of candy given out to open hands and grown men in masks playing dress-up to get invited in. The season where nothing is quite as it seems and nobody, whether friend or foe, can really be trusted. 

The season in focus here is for once not Riyadh Season, despite what you may have thought reading the above. It is instead spooky season, or Allhallowtide, and there can be no better of way to celebrate it than by taking a look at the 10 scariest fighters currently competing in boxing:

1) Naoya Inoue, 28-0 (25)

As boxing’s great jump scare, Inoue lulls you into a false sense of security before – bam! – he either makes you leap out of your skin or takes away your soul. In other words, his scares tend to come out of nowhere, they creep up on you. A super-bantamweight, the Japanese star is small, not big enough or frightening enough in appearance to make you cross the street. However, should you meet him in his domain – that is, the middle of the ring – you will soon realise that escape is often the only thing on a boxer’s mind. 

2) Artur Beterbiev, 21-0 (20)

Whereas Inoue delivers his scares from the places you don’t see, there is nothing subtle or unexpected about Russia’s Artur Beterbiev. On the contrary, this brooding light heavyweight fights exactly as you would expect him to fight based on how he looks and is every bit as capable of spooking you with a simple stare as he is with a three-punch combination. Like Inoue, he is a serious puncher, with 20 of his 21 pro wins ending inside schedule, and carries with him the seek-and-destroy mentality of somebody who knows there is a very good chance he is ending your night prematurely. 

3) Oleksandr Usyk, 22-0 (14)

If Beterbiev is the man with the thousand-yard stare, Usyk is someone with a stare of similar coldness only with a slight glint in his eye. He smiles more than Beterbiev, often exposing the gap between his front teeth, and he is also more likely to joke around, say something funny, or simply not take himself so seriously. In the ring, meanwhile, what makes Usyk a scary proposition for opponents is his ability to figure out seemingly every possible style. He won’t make you jump, no, nor run for your life, but few fighters are as adept at making you feel trapped as Oleksandr Usyk. 

4) Terence Crawford, 41-0 (31)

For years considered unassuming, shy, and almost forgettable, Crawford has, since beating Errol Spence in 2023, developed a swagger and confidence which serves only to make him even more feared. Now, you see, there is a darkness in his eyes and a gravity to every threat he makes. Now he truly believes he is stronger and more skilled than any man with whom he shares a ring. Now when he talks, or predicts the downfall of an opponent, you cannot help but listen and take him at his word.  

5) Jai Opetaia, 26-0 (20)

Although competing in an unglamorous division (cruiserweight), Opetaia has recently emerged as a fighter to watch. Easy on the eye, he fights in an entertaining fashion and is always looking to hurt his opponent and end the fight before the final bell. This mentality has helped him hold on to the IBF cruiserweight belt he snatched from Mairis Briedis for over two years now and it is also what has endeared him to fans, particularly those who like their boxers to be all about business. 

6) David Benavidez, 29-0 (24)

It is easy to say Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is running scared of David Benavidez and offer that and that alone as the reason for his appearance on a list like this. Yet there is so much more to Benavidez than a potential, money-spinning Canelo date and indeed he is more than just the stick with which some people like to beat Mexico’s most famous fighter. Away from Canelo, in fact, Benavidez has been doing plenty of good work as both a super middleweight and, more recently, a light heavyweight. He is big, he is strong, and he has the kind of finishing instincts most fans enjoy and most big-name fighters would rather see exhibited on somebody else. 

7) Jesse Rodriguez, 20-0 (13)

Much like Naoya Inoue, Jesse Rodriguez is small in terms of stature but big in terms of both talent and fear factor. Truth be told, he is just that good. Even bigger opponents, ones who would carry size and power in their favour, would likely think twice about sharing the ring with someone as well-rounded, balanced, and poised as “Bam” Rodriguez. He is spiteful with it, too. 

8) Daniel Dubois, 22-2 (21)

While, yes, it would have been a stretch to include Dubois on a list like this before he knocked out Anthony Joshua in September, it is just as true to say that what makes the British heavyweight a scary fighter today is what made him a scary fighter prior to icing Joshua with a right hand. In short, what makes him scary is the detached nature of Dubois’ approach – to press conferences, to interviews, and to fights. He is cold, without emotion, and he tends to now stalk his victim with a confidence he perhaps lacked in his early days. Now, as he stalks his victim, he does so with all the conviction of a masked man in a horror film. 

9) Bakhram Murtazaliev, 23-0 (17)

The newest addition to this list, Murtazaliev was hardly known, much less feared, a few weeks ago. Then the Russian knocked out Tim Tszyu in Orlando and suddenly everything changed. Suddenly now people are aware of him and of the damage he can do with his fists. Suddenly now it is easy to see why he may have been avoided or asked to step aside by so many fighters in the past. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say the left hook he landed on Tszyu to drop him in round three was one of the scariest punches thrown in a ring this calendar year. 

10) Martin Bakole, 21-1 (16)

Unexpected, yes, but not undeserved, Bakole’s appearance on this list owes a lot to both his recent form and the manner in which he has been beating opponents many people expected to beat him. Utterly at ease, Bakole always seems to find in the boxing ring only comfort and fun, while everyone else, especially those tasked with sharing it with him, experience only anxiety and fear. Round after round you will see the Congolese heavyweight walk them down, push out thudding punches, and do everything at his own pace. Then, like the very best boogeymen, Bakole will make the ring feel smaller and smaller until there is, for his opponent, nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. It is at that point they know the game is over and their time is up. It is at that point you can see Bakole smile, lick his lips.