Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: Naoya Inoue, Dmitry Bivol and Jesse Rodriguez pick up votes،
Naoya Inoue made another statement with a hard-fought but dominant victory over Marlon Tapales to become only the second male fighter to win an undisputed championship in a second division in the four-belt era (Terence Crawford defeated Errol Spence Jr. for becoming the first to do so earlier this year).
Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs), No. 2 in ESPN's pound-for-pound rankings, stopped Tapales in the 10th round to add the IBF and WBA belts to his WBC and WBO junior featherweight titles.
“It was probably one of the most intense fights I've had before, but my corner lifted my morale and kept me focused throughout the fight,” Inoue said after the fight .
Inoue, a four-division champion, has already won titles at junior flyweight, junior bantamweight and bantamweight, picked up a few first-place votes, but not enough to unseat Crawford at No. 1 — yet . He plans to stay at junior featherweight for the foreseeable future and defends his belts, before moving up in weight.
“I think [junior featherweight] is my weight class for now, so in 2024 I would like to show myself at [122 pounds] in an even stronger form,” Inoue added.
WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol moved up one spot after a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Lyndon Arthur. Bivol overtakes Canelo Alvarez to take 4th place.
Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who beat Sunny Edwards on Dec. 16 to unify two flyweight world titles, got a few votes, but not enough to break into the top 10.
Our panel composed of Mike Coppinger, Ben Baby, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro, Aladdin Freeman , Damian Delgado Averhof and Victor Lopez share his votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and women's pound-for-pound rankings from ESPN.
Note: Results are available until December 28.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORDPrevious ranking: No. 1
SAVE: 40-0, 31 KO
DIVISION: Welterweight (undisputed champion)
LAST STAND : W (TKO9) Errol Spence Jr., July 29
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
2. NAOYA INOUE
Previous ranking: No. 2
Previous ranking: No. 2SAVE: 26-0, 23 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight (undisputed champion)
LAST STAND : W (KO10) Marlon Tapales, December 26
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
3. OLEKSANDRE USYKPrevious ranking: No. 3
SAVE: 21-0, 14 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST STAND : W (TKO9) Daniel Dubois, August 26
NEXT FIGHT: February 17 against Tyson Fury
4. DMITRI BIVOL
Previous ranking: No. 5
Previous ranking: No. 5SAVE: 22-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST STAND : F (UD12) Lyndon Arthur, December 23
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
5. CANELO ALVAREZPrevious ranking: No. 4
Previous ranking: No. 4SAVE: 60-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST STAND : F (UD12) Jermell Charlo, September 30
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
6. DEVIN HANEYPrevious ranking: No. 6
SAVE: 31-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Junior welterweight
LAST STAND : F (UD12) Régis Prograis, December 9
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
7. ARTUR BETERBIEVPrevious ranking: No. 7
SAVE: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST STAND : W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, January 28
NEXT FIGHT: January 13 against Callum Smith
8. GERVONTA DAVISPrevious ranking: No. 8
SAVE: 29-0, 27 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST STAND : W (KO7) Ryan Garcia, April 22
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
9. SHAKUR STEVENSONPrevious ranking: No. 9
SAVE: 21-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight Champion
LAST STAND : F (UD12) Edwin De Los Santos, November 16
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
10. TYSON FURYPrevious ranking: No. 10
SAVE: 34-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST STAND : W (SD10) Francis Ngannou, October 28
NEXT FIGHT: February 17 against Oleksandr Usyk
The formula
Ranking is 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, then the one with the most votes in that ranking.
Others receiving votes: Teofimo Lopez Jr. (19), Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (12), David Benavidez (7), Vasiliy Lomachenko (4), Errol Spence Jr. (2), Emanuel Navarrete (2).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Bivol, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Davis, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Beterbiev, 9.Alvarez, ten. Fury
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Haney, 6. Bivol, 7. Alvarez, 8. Stevenson, 9. Lopez, ten. Davis
Copper : 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis, 9. Lopez, ten. Fury
Tester: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Stevenson, 8. Alvarez, 9. Lopez, ten. Rodriguez
Parkinson: 1. Inoué, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Haney, 8. Davis, 9. Rodriguez, ten. Lopez
Raskin: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Stevenson, 7. Haney, 8. Benavidez, 9. Davis, ten. Beterbiev
Baby: 1. Inoué, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Bivol, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Stevenson, 9. Fury, ten. Rodriguez
Rodriguez: 1. Inoué, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Beterbiev, ten. Rodriguez
Lumber yard: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Alvarez, 4. Haney, 5. Davis, 6. Fury, 7. Lopez, 8. Usyk, 9. Stevenson, ten. Spence
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Bivol, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis, 9. Fury, ten. Spence
Pilatti: 1. Inoué, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Haney, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Benavidez, 9. Navarrete, ten. Rodriguez
Zirollo: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Stevenson, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Bivol, 9. Lopez, ten. Benavidez
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Haney, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Stevenson, 8. Alvarez, 9. Lopez, ten. Rodriguez
Free man: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Haney, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Rodriguez, ten. Davis
Lopez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Fury, 8. Davis, 9. Beterbiev, ten. Stevenson
Delgado Averhof: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis 9. Fury, ten. Rodriguez
Osuna: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoué, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Lopez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Rodriguez, ten. Stevenson
ESPN Expert Poll
First place: Crawford (13), Inoué (4)
Second place: Inoué (13), Crawford (4)
Third place: Usyk (9), Alvarez (5), Bivol (2), Stevenson (1)
Fourth place: Bivol (6), Usyk (5), Alvarez (3), Beterbiev (2), Haney (1)
Fifth place: Haney (7), Bivol (3), Alvarez (3), Usyk (2), Beterbiev (1), Davis (1)
Sixth place: Haney (7), Bivol (4), Beterbiev (2), Alvarez (1), Davis (1), Stevenson (1), Fury (1)
Seventh place: Beterbiev (5), Stevenson (3), Haney (2), Davis (2), Lopez (2), Alvarez (1), Fury (1), Lomachenko (1)
Eighth place: Davis (5), Beterbiev (3), Alvarez (2), Stevenson (2), Benavidez (2), Usyk (1), Bivol (1), Fury (1)
Ninth place: Lopez (5), Fury (3), Rodriguez (3), Beterbiev (2), Alvarez (1), Alvarez (1), Stevenson (1), Navarrete (1)
10th place: Rodriguez (6), Davis (2), Stevenson (2), Fury (2), Spence (2), Beterbiev (1), Lopez (1), Benavidez (1)
