Pound for pound: Did Devin Haney move up amid a controversial decision?
In one of the most anticipated fights this year, Devin Haney defended his lightweight undisputed championship with a unanimous decision victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko in Las Vegas.
Haney (30-0, 15KOs), ESPN’s best fighter under the age of 25 in 2022, won by scorecards of 115-113 (Tim Cheatham), 115-113 (David Sutherland) and 116-112 (Dave Moretti). Moretti’s scorecard left fans, some media members and Lomachenko’s team with some questions. Moretti was the only judge to give Haney the 10th round, a round where Haney landed only five punches and seemed to be dominated by Lomachenko. That, added to the fact that Lomachenko took control for large parts of the fight, got some of our panelists to keep Haney in his spot or even move him down.
“I dropped Devin Haney from my pound-for-pound list even in a win because in my eyes — and in the eyes of many others — it felt like Vasiliy Lomachenko won that fight,” Michael Rothstein said. “It was a close enough fight where Haney rarely seemed to have control and it doesn’t feel right to keep Haney in my top 10 after a fight I believe he lost.”
Regardless of what side of the decision you are on, Haney has a win over a top fighter in Lomachenko, a former No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter and the current No. 2-ranked fighter at lightweight by ESPN.
ESPN Deportes’ Salvador Rodriguez moved Haney up one spot on his list after what he said was an “epic fight for the fans, that could have gone either way.”
“A 115-113 for one or the other, or a 114-114 were in range in my opinion,” Rodriguez said. “For me, the win cemented Haney his place as one of the top 10 fighters in the world. Beating a fighter of Lomachenko’s class would mean moving up a few spots, but even in victory, Haney didn’t do enough to impress me and put him into the top 5 or higher, thus my vote at No. 9. But at 24 years old and an unbeaten record, he’s on track to make it to the top. I still think Gervonta Davis is the best current fighter at 135 pounds … and watch out for Shakur Stevenson, who is coming to clean them all by the end of this year or next.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Ben Baby, Timothy Bradley Jr., Rothstein, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Andre Ward, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Michelle Joy Phelps, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Pilatti, Claudia Trejos, Charles Moynihan, Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro and Aladdin Freeman share their votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are through May 24.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORD 
Previous ranking: No. 1
RECORD: 39-0, 30 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) David Avanesyan, Dec. 10
NEXT FIGHT: July 29 vs. Errol Spence Jr.
2. NAOYA INOUE Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 23-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO11) Paul Butler, Dec. 13
NEXT FIGHT: July 25 vs. Stephen Fulton
3. OLEKSANDR USYK Previous ranking: No. 3
RECORD: 20-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
4. ERROL SPENCE JR. Previous ranking: No. 4
RECORD: 28-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Yordenis Ugas, April 16
NEXT FIGHT: July 29 vs. Terence Crawford
5. CANELO ALVAREZ Previous ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 59-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) John Ryder, May 6
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
6. DMITRY BIVOL Previous ranking: No. 6
RECORD: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, Nov. 5
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
7. TYSON FURY Previous ranking: No. 7
RECORD: 33-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Derek Chisora, Dec. 3
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
8. ARTUR BETERBIEV Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
9. DEVIN HANEY 
Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 30-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Vasiliy Lomachenko, May 20
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
10. SHAKUR STEVENSON 
Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Shuichiro Yoshino, April 8
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
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: Gervonta Davis (35), Vasiliy Lomachenko (3), Jermell Charlo (1).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Bivol, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Davis, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Alvarez, 10. Beterbiev
Bradley: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Spence, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Coppinger: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Fury, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Spence, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Beterbiev
Tessitore: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Spence, 6. Stevenson, 7. Bivol, 8. Alvarez, 9. Fury, 10. Haney
Parkinson: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Haney, 10. Spence
Raskin: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Usyk, 8. Stevenson, 9. Davis, 10. Beterbiev
Ward: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Haney, 8. Stevenson, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Davis
Baby: 1. Inoue, 2. Usyk, 3. Crawford, 4. Spence, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Haney, 8. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, 10. Fury
Rothstein: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Usyk, 7. Spence, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, 10. Beterbiev
Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Fury 7. Inoue, 8. Bivol, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Davis
Osuna: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Crawford, 6. Spence, 7. Haney, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Charlo, 10. Stevenson
Rodriguez: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Alvarez, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Davis, 9. Haney, 10. Beterbiev
Poncher: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Spence, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Haney
Trejos: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Alvarez, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Stevenson
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Fury, 3. Spence, 4. Alvarez, 5. Davis, 6. Haney, 7. Inoue, 8. Usyk, 9. Stevenson, 10. Bivol
Dansby: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Crawford, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Haney, 8. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Davis
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Bivol, 3. Beterbiev, 4. Crawford, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Usyk, 8. Davis, 9. Haney, 10. Stevenson
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Bivol, 10. Haney
Mascaro: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Stevenson, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Bivol, 8. Gervonta, 9. Haney, 10. Alvarez
Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Stevenson, 6. Spence, 7. Alvarez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Davis, 10. Haney
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Inoue (10), Crawford (8), Usyk (2), Alvarez (1)
Second place: Crawford (9), Inoue (6), Spence (2), Bivol (2), Usyk (1), Fury (1)
Third place: Usyk (7), Spence (4), Inoue (3), Alvarez (2), Fury (2), Crawford (1), Bivol (1), Beterbiev (1)
Fourth place: Bivol (5), Usyk (4), Alvarez (4), Spence (3), Crawford (2), Beterbiev (2), Fury (1)
Fifth place: Spence (6), Alvarez (5), Bivol (3), Fury (2), Stevenson (2), Crawford (1), Haney (1), Davis (1)
Sixth place: Fury (7), Usyk (4), Spence (3), Alvarez (3), Beterbiev (2), Haney (1), Stevenson (1)
Seventh place: Bivol (5), Haney (4), Inoue (2), Usyk (2), Spence (2), Alvarez (2), Davis (2), Beterbiev (1), Stevenson (1)
Eighth place: Beterbiev (4), Haney (4), Davis (4), Bivol (3), Stevenson (2), Usyk (1), Alvarez (1), Fury (1), Lomachenko (1)
Ninth place: Stevenson (7), Beterbiev (4), Haney (4), Davis (2), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Fury (1), Charlo (1)
10th place: Beterbiev (5), Davis (5), Haney (4), Stevenson (3), Spence (1), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Fury (1)
