Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: Crawford or Inoue? And what about Spence?
In the most anticipated fight this year, Terence Crawford dominated Errol Spence Jr. in a battle between the two current best welterweights in boxing. And it wasn’t close, as Crawford knocked down Spence three times en route to a ninth-round TKO win at a packed T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) became the first men’s undisputed welterweight champion in the four-belt era. He’s the only men’s fighter in boxing to be undisputed (four belts) in two different divisions. Crawford won all the titles at junior welterweight in 2017 before moving up to welterweight. Claressa Shields is a two-division undisputed champion in women’s boxing having captured all four belts at junior middleweight and middleweight.
Crawford’s victory was so dominant that Spence (28-1, 22 KOs), the former No. 4 pound-for-pound, falls out of the top 10.
But Crawford wasn’t the only top fighter to shine this past week. Naoya Inoue, No. 2 P4P, produced and impressive as dominant performance against Stephen Fulton to win two junior featherweight world titles. Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs), is a former undisputed bantamweight champion who moved up in weight looking for bigger and better challenges. His performance on July 25 in Japan was good enough to make a claim for the No. 1 spot, but then Crawford had a fight to remember.
“After broadcasting Tuesday’s Naoya Inoue masterpiece TKO win against Stephen Fulton, I, as well as many in the boxing media, publicly stated it would take a truly definitive result by Crawford, and that he needed an all-time phenomenal performance that would be forever remembered in order to jump ‘The Monster’ at No. 1 in my list,” ESPN boxing commentator Joe Tessitore said. “Well, Terence Crawford did just that. His demolition of Errol Spence Jr. was more impressive in stamping his place than Mike Tyson’s 90-second dismissal of Michael Spinks in 1988.
“Crawford put forth the finest start-to-finish display of skill and savagery at the highest level I can recall over the course of the past few generations. Inoue and Crawford are clearly the two best fighters in the world, by a wide margin. They are passing the eye test, they are acquiring historical records, and they are doing it against world-class competition while cleaning up entire divisions. Inoue is an all-time great, but Bud Crawford is different in ways that are easy to describe and hard to deny. He is my new No. 1 with a slight edge over Inoue, a fighter so exceptional that I’m ashamed to even place a No. 2 next to his name. But TBC may just be the real TBE.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Ben Baby, Timothy Bradley Jr., Michael Rothstein, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Michelle Joy Phelps, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Pilatti, Claudia Trejos, Charles Moynihan, Salvador 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 Aug. 2.
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: 25-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Stephen Fulton, July 25
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
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: Aug. 26 vs. Daniel Dubois
4. 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: Sept. 30 vs. Jermell Charlo
5. 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
6. 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: Oct. 28 vs. Francis Ngannou
7. 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
8. DEVIN HANEY Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 30-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Vasiliy Lomachenko, May 20
NEXT FIGHT: Oct. 28 vs. Regis Prograis
9. SHAKUR STEVENSON Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Shuichiro Yoshino, April 8
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
10. GERVONTA DAVIS Previous ranking: N/R
RECORD: 29-0, 27 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (KO7) Ryan Garcia, April 22
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: Errol Spence Jr. (22), Teofimo Lopez (18), Vasiliy Lomachenko (10), Jermell Charlo (7), Jaron Ennis (3).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Davis, 5. Fury, 6. Lomachenko, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Alvarez, 9. Haney, 10. Ennis
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Haney, 8. Stevenson, 9. Lopez, 10. Charlo
Coppinger: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Haney, 8. Stevenson, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Davis
Tessitore: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Stevenson, 7. Alvarez, 8. Haney, 9. Lopez, 10. Fury
Parkinson: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Haney, 10. Stevenson
Raskin: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Stevenson, 8. Davis, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Lopez
Baby: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Spence, 7. Haney, 8. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, 10. Fury
Rothstein: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Fury, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Usyk, 7. Davis, 8. Stevenson, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Haney
Phelps: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Spence, 5. Haney, 6. Usyk, 7. Fury, 8. Bivol, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Lopez
Osuna: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Lopez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Charlo, 10. Stevenson
Rodriguez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Fury, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Bivol, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Charlo
Poncher: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Haney, 8. Stevenson, 9. Charlo, 10. Spence
Trejos: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Fury, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Spence
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Fury, 4. Alvarez, 5. Davis, 6. Haney, 7. Lopez, 8. Usyk, 9. Stevenson, 10. Spence
Dansby: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Haney, 7. Lopez, 8. Spence, 9. Bivol, 10. Stevenson
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Fury, 5. Usyk, 6. Bivol, 7. Haney, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Davis, 10. Spence
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Bivol, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Spence
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Stevenson, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Bivol, 9. Haney, 10. Spence
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Stevenson, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Alvarez, 10. Charlo
Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Stevenson, 6. Alvarez, 7. Haney, 8. Davis, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Spence
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Crawford (19), Inoue (1)
Second place: Inoue (18), Crawford (1), Alvarez (1)
Third place: Usyk (12), Fury (3), Alvarez (2), Bivol (2), Inoue (1)
Fourth place: Bivol (7), Alvarez (6), Beterbiev (3), Fury (1), Stevenson (1), Davis (1), Spence (1)
Fifth place: Alvarez (5), Fury (5), Bivol (3), Usyk (2), Stevenson (2), Beterbiev (1), Haney (1), Davis (1)
Sixth place: Usyk (5), Beterbiev (4), Haney (3), Alvarez (2), Bivol (2), Fury (1), Stevenson (1), Spence (1), Lomachenko (1)
Seventh place: Haney (6), Davis (5), Lopez (3), Fury (2), Beterbiev (2), Alvarez (1), Stevenson (1)
Eighth place: Haney (5), Stevenson (4), Bivol (3), Beterbiev (2), Davis (2), Usyk (1), Alvarez (1), Fury (1), Spence (1)
Ninth place: Beterbiev (6), Stevenson (4), Haney (3), Charlo (2), Lopez (2), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Davis (1)
10th place: Spence (7), Stevenson (3), Charlo (3), Fury (2), Lopez (2), Haney (1), Davis (1), Ennis (1)
