Since our last rankings two top fighters have won in their respective division, but while one of them got praised, the other lost some ground.
Unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev shined in a seventh-round TKO victory against Callum Smith in January, and while that wasn’t enough to move up in the rankings, he closed the gap between him and No. 6 Devin Haney. He also distanced himself from No. 8, Gervonta Davis, to solidify the No. 7 spot.
Teofimo Lopez Jr. was knocking on the top 10 door and had an opportunity to get in, but a poor performance in a disputed decision victory over Jamaine Ortiz to retain his WBO junior welterweight belt on Friday had our panel dropping him farther below.
“P4P fighters should be capable of handling any boxing style,” explained two-division champion, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and current ESPN TV boxing analyst Timothy Bradley Jr., who dropped Lopez from his top 10. “Lopez has shown a pattern of struggling against backfoot counterpunchers throughout his career. For this reason, I have removed him from my list.”
ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger agrees. He was one of the panelists who voted Lopez in the top 10 after his title fight win over Josh Taylor back in June. But his latest performance made Coppinger change his mind.
“His terrific performance against Josh Taylor was Lopez’s second strong showing in victory over the top guy in the division, when you consider Lopez also defeated Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2020,” Coppinger said. “But aside from those wins, Lopez has been inconsistent and arguably lost to both Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz, two slick southpaws. Lopez is undoubtedly one of the most talented boxers in the world, but that particular style has proven problematic.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Michelle Joy Phelps, Claudia Trejos, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro, Aladdin Freeman, Victor Lopez and Damian Delgado Averhoff, shares its votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are through Dec. 13.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORD Previous ranking: No. 1
RECORD: 40-0, 31 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO9) Errol Spence Jr., July 29
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
2. NAOYA INOUE 
Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 26-0, 23 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO10) Marlon Tapales, Dec. 26
NEXT FIGHT: May 6 vs. Luis Nery
3. OLEKSANDR USYK Previous ranking: No. 3
RECORD: 21-0, 14 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO9) Daniel Dubois, Aug. 26
NEXT FIGHT: May 18 vs. Tyson Fury
4. CANELO ALVAREZ Previous ranking: No. 4
RECORD: 60-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Jermell Charlo, Sept. 30
NEXT FIGHT: May 4 vs. TBA
5. DMITRY BIVOL Previous ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 22-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Lyndon Arthur, Dec. 23
NEXT FIGHT: June 1 vs. Artur Beterbiev
6. DEVIN HANEY Previous ranking: No. 6
RECORD: 31-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Junior welterweight
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Regis Prograis, Dec. 9
NEXT FIGHT: April 20 vs. Ryan Garcia
7. ARTUR BETERBIEV Previous ranking: No. 7
RECORD: 20-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO7) Callum Smith, Jan. 13
NEXT FIGHT: June 1 vs. Dmitry Bivol
8. GERVONTA DAVIS Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 29-0, 27 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (KO7) Ryan Garcia, April 22
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
9. SHAKUR STEVENSON Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 21-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight champion
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Edwin De Los Santos, Nov. 16
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
10. TYSON FURY Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 34-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD10) Francis Ngannou, Oct. 28
NEXT FIGHT: May 18 vs. Oleksandr Usyk
The formula
The rankings are based on a descending points system, with a first-place vote receiving 10 points, a second-place vote receiving nine points, and so on. A tie goes to the fighter with the highest ranking and then the one with the most votes at that ranking.
Others receiving votes: Jesse Rodriguez (15), Teofimo Lopez Jr. (13), David Benavidez (8), Vasiliy Lomachenko (4), Errol Spence Jr. (4), Emanuel Navarrete (2).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Davis, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Lomachenko, 9.Alvarez, 10. Fury
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Haney, 6. Bivol, 7. Alvarez, 8. Lopez, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Coppinger: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis, 9. Fury, 10. Benavidez
Tessitore: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Stevenson, 8. Alvarez, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Lopez
Parkinson: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Haney, 8. Davis, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Lopez
Raskin: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Stevenson, 7. Haney, 8. Benavidez, 9. Davis, 10. Beterbiev
Trejos: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Haney, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Alvarez, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, 10. Fury
Phelps: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Haney, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Fury, 9. Spence, 10. Lopez
Osuna: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Rodriguez, 9. Lopez, 10. Stevenson
Rodriguez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Davis, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Fury, 10. Rodriguez
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Haney, 5. Davis, 6. Fury, 7. Lopez, 8. Usyk, 9. Stevenson, 10. Spence
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Bivol, 8. Davis, 9. Fury, 10. Spence
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Haney, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Benavidez, 9. Navarrete, 10. Rodriguez
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Stevenson, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Bivol, 9. Lopez, 10. Benavidez
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Alvarez, 8. Rodriguez, 9. Lopez, 10. Stevenson
Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Haney, 6. Bivol, 7. Alvarez, 8. Stevenson, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Davis
Lopez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Fury, 9. Davis, 10. Stevenson
Delgado Averhof: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis, 9. Fury, 10. Rodriguez
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Crawford (14), Inoue (3)
Second place: Inoue (13), Crawford (3), Alvarez (1)
Third place: Usyk (9), Alvarez (4), Bivol (2), Inoue (1), Stevenson (1)
Fourth place: Bivol (6), Usyk (4), Beterbiev (3), Alvarez (2), Haney (2)
Fifth place: Haney (5), Alvarez (4), Bivol (3), Usyk (2), Beterbiev (2), Davis (1)
Sixth place: Haney (8), Beterbiev (3), Bivol (2), Usyk (1), Davis (1), Stevenson (1), Fury (1)
Seventh place: Beterbiev (6), Alvarez (3), Bivol (2), Haney (2), Davis (2), Stevenson (1), Lopez (1)
Eighth place: Davis (5), Fury (2), Rodriguez (2), Benavidez (2), Usyk (1), Bivol (1), Alvarez (1), Beterbiev (1), Stevenson (1), Lomachenko (1)
Ninth place: Fury (4), Lopez (3), Rodriguez (3), Davis (2), Stevenson (2), Alvarez (1), Spence (1), Navarrete (1)
10th place: Stevenson (3), Lopez (3), Rodriguez (3), Fury (2), Benavidez (2), Spence (2), Beterbiev (1), Lomachenko (1)
