Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: Did Canelo do enough to rise?
Canelo Alvarez delivered another one-sided victory to retain his super middleweight undisputed championship Saturday night in Las Vegas. However, he failed to score a KO victory over a smaller Jermell Charlo — who was moving up two divisions for the challenge — to make a claim for a higher spot in the top 10.
Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) dominated the fight from the start and dropped Charlo in Round 7 with a powerful overhand right. Alvarez won by scorecards of 118-109, 118-109 and 119-108, but he hasn’t scored a stoppage win in almost two years — an 11th-round TKO against Caleb Plant in November 2021.
With the three fighters in front of him in ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings — Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk — scoring incredible KO victories in their most recent fights, Alvarez wasn’t able to convince our panelists to move him up the ladder.
Furthermore, two-division champion and current ESPN boxing analyst and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Timothy Bradley Jr., dropped Alvarez one spot on his list.
“While I understand that personal preferences, expectations and entertainment play a role in the P4P it’s important to acknowledge and evaluate the reality of each fighter’s performances,” Bradley told ESPN. “In this case of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the world, it’s reasonable to expect dominant performances against opponents who are significantly lighter. Their skills and abilities are widely recognized, and it’s natural to assume that they would overpower and knockout opponents outside their weight class.
“Regarding Canelo’s recent performance, he fought a junior middleweight as a super middleweight 168-pounder and had a subpar performance, in my eyes. So for him to maintain his position at No. 5 on my list he needed a knockout. The other top fighters, Crawford, Inoue, Usyk, or Dmitry Bivol, I assure you, all would have KOs against smaller opposition.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Ben Baby, Timothy Bradley Jr., Michael Rothstein, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Michelle Joy Phelps, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Pilatti, 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 Oct. 4.
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: 21-0, 14 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO9) Daniel Dubois, Aug. 26
NEXT FIGHT: TBA 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: TBA
5. DMITRY BIVOL Previous ranking: No. 5
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. 6
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. 7
RECORD: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: Jan. 13 vs. Callum Smith
8. DEVIN HANEY Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 30-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Vasiliy Lomachenko, May 20
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 9 vs. Regis Prograis
9. SHAKUR STEVENSON Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Shuichiro Yoshino, April 8
NEXT FIGHT: Nov. 16 vs. Edwin De Los Santos
10. GERVONTA DAVIS Previous ranking: No. 10
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: Teofimo Lopez Jr. (20), Errol Spence Jr. (10), Vasiliy Lomachenko (5), Jaron Ennis (1).
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. Beterbiev, 6. Alvarez, 7. Haney, 8. Stevenson, 9. Lopez, 10. Davis
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. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 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. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Haney, 7. Spence, 8. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, 10. Fury
Rothstein: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Stevenson, 8. Davis, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Haney
Phelps: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Haney, 5. Usayk, 6. Fury, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Spence, 10. Lopez
Osuna: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Lopez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Rodriguez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Fury, 6. Bivol, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Stevenson
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Fury, 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. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, 10. Spence
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Fury, 6. Bivol, 7. Haney, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Davis, 10. Spence
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Fury, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Navarrete
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Stevenson, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Haney, 9. Bivol, 10. Lopez
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Stevenson, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Alvarez, 10. Lopez
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 (17), Inoue (1)
Second place: Inoue (11), Alvarez (2), Crawford (1)
Third place: Usyk (9), Alvarez (4), Inoue (2), Bivol (2), Stevenson (1)
Fourth place: Bivol (6), Usyk (4), Alvarez (4), Fury (1), Beterbiev (1), Haney (1), Davis (1)
Fifth place: Fury (7), Beterbiev (4), Alvarez (2), Stevenson (2), Usyk (1), Bivol (1), Davis (1)
Sixth place: Haney (4), Usyk (3), Bivol (3), Fury (3), Alvarez (2), Beterbiev (1), Stevenson (1), Lomachenko (1)
Seventh place: Haney (4), Davis (4), Lopez (3), Beterbiev (2), Stevenson (2), Bivol (1), Alvarez (1), Spence (1)
Eighth place: Haney (5), Beterbiev (3), David (3), Bivol (2), Stevenson (2), Usyk (1), Alvarez (1), Fury (1)
Ninth place: Beterbiev (5), Stevenson (5), Haney (2), Lopez (2), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Davis (1), Spence (1)
10th place: Lopez (4), Spence (4), Davis (3), Fury (2), Stevenson (2), Haney (1), Ennis (1), Navarrete (1)
