If we're going by boxing's true definition of pound-for-pound, David Benavidez is No. 1

David Benavidez dominated Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez in stunning fashion Saturday in Las Vegas.

(Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy via Getty Images)

Nakatani, considered No. 6, just lost his pound-for-pound test to Inoue. How far he slips from that spot is largely irrelevant to this exercise, considering Benavidez just rose to cruiserweight and took out its unified champion, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, in brutal fashion, bloodying him and beating him so badly that one of Ramirez’s eyes sealed shut by the time of the sixth-round stoppage.

Benavidez is above Nakatani.

He's also above Dmitry Bivol, who has two marquee victories over “Canelo” and Artur Beterbiev but is largely inactive and hasn't fought for more than a year. Bye, bye, Bivol. Benavidez leapfrogs you, too.

The debate gets more interesting around Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Shakur Stevenson. But “Bam” oscillates between 112 and 118 pounds. These are the basement divisions of boxing where the talent pools are among the thinnest and mainstream recognition is lowest, even if his wins are technically impressive.

Stevenson is a tough one. He’s a four-weight champion and doing everything impressively, especially of late. He defeated William Zepeda. He toyed with Teofimo Lopez. This guy rules, and he dominates in decision wins.

But therein lies the difference.

While Stevenson outboxes you, Benavidez batters you into a painful submission. Stevenson’s opponents wake up the next day feeling dejected. Benavidez sends his opponents to the hospital to treat possibly broken bones.

So Benavidez goes higher.

And now we come to Usyk — one of the last two remaining media darlings on these lists.

The 2012 Olympic gold medal winner went on a historic cruiserweight run, claimed the World Boxing Super Series trophy, and cleared out the cruiserweight division to elevate him as that division's GOAT. He then lapped the competition at heavyweight, beating Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois twice apiece. That he did so as a 6-foot-3 former 200-pound king, taking on comparative giants at 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds or more, has been a sight to behold.

However, there is fresh blood at heavyweight.

Agit Kabayel is overdue a shot at a world title. And Moses Itauma’s rise cannot be denied for long either. But, despite that, Usyk is instead fighting a novelty shot against Verhoeven that is one step removed from retirement. I don’t begrudge those kinds of matches. Give me your legitimate fights, give me your freak shows — I’ll consume them both. But I’m not sentimentally going to cling on to Usyk’s status above Benavidez’s, because the three-weight champion nudges Oleksandr out the way now, too.

Which leads us to this.

The fight we’ve all been waiting for: Benavidez vs. Inoue.

Naoya Inoue was brilliant in his victory over Junto Nakatani this past Saturday.

(YUICHI YAMAZAKI via Getty Images)

And if you’ve read this far without getting annoyed enough yet, then, well … brace yourself.

Inoue won his first championship belt at light flyweight (108 pounds) and has succeeded all the way to super bantamweight (122) — that's a weight gain of 13% in relation to his body. Benavidez, by contrast, won his first world title at super middleweight (168) and, on Saturday, trounced one of the best cruiserweights (200) in the world — that's 32 pounds of gain, or 19% of his body.

Here’s the other thing.

Inoue vs. Gervonta “Tank” Davis would have been a far greater spectacle on Cinco de Mayo weekend last year, and more attractive at the gate and on box office, than the opponent Inoue actually took on, Ramon Cardenas. But Inoue stans poo-poo the idea, other media shut it down, and Naoya’s own handlers, at a press huddle Uncrowned has been witness to, demanded the “Tank” question not even be asked.

Benavidez, by contrast, is willing to go all the way to heavyweight.

He told Uncrowned ahead of the Ramirez fight it’s where he’ll end up, but just not right now — he has unfinished business back down at 175 pounds, as he wants to apply the pressure on Bivol and Beterbiev.

Inoue's handlers don’t want the “Tank” question asked because it likely undermines the narrative that he's the world's best boxer. He can't be if there is someone out there who could smoke him. And “Tank,” at his best, could do just that.

Benavidez, by contrast, is happy to go all the way.

Name a fighter right now who beats him? Benavidez finishes “Canelo,” and even Alvarez seems to know that, as it’s a fight he’s appeared to avoid for three years.

Bivol or Beterbiev? I can't see either beating him. Not right now. Jai Opetaia? Now we're talking, but Benavidez out-guns him also after everything we’ve seen of late.

You have to pick out the heavyweights to make your case — the one division that pure, pound-for-pound defenders tend to omit from their lists.

The pound-for-pound premise is supposed to strip away size and weight, and ask, "Who is the best boxer regardless of division?" The whole point is to compare skill, dominance and achievement. And that's the contradiction the Inoue vs. ”Tank” question exposes.

If pound-for-pound ignores weight, Inoue should theoretically be able to fight him. Their ranking implies they're comparable.

Inoue appears happy to be linked with Jesse Rodriguez, which, for “Bam,” represents a 6.1% body-weight gap. This is viable. Everyone’s talking about it as if it could be next, while also treating a “Tank” match — a 10.7% gap, or 7.1% once Inoue moves to 126 pounds, which he’s hinted at — as unthinkable.

If one is viable, the other deserves an honest conversation rather than handlers telling the press to quit asking.

If pound-for-pound is about who does the most across weight, risk and opposition — not just who looks most flawless — then we have a new No. 1.

Benavidez, after all, doesn’t avoid any question, or any opponent.

He is, for me, the question.

And no fighter, right now, has an answer for him.