Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: Is Inoue closing in on Crawford for No. 1?
Naoya Inoue became the undisputed bantamweight champion after earning an 11th-round KO victory on Dec. 13 in Tokyo. The win also earned him eight first-place votes from our ESPN’s pound-for pound 21-member panel, moving him closer to Terence Crawford at No. 1.
In his other fight this year, Inoue scored a second-round TKO victory over Nonito Donaire in June, a rematch of their 2019 ESPN fight of the year.
“I moved Inoue to the top spot because he’s been the most dominant fighter of the past year — in part because he’s actually taken on big fights, followed through and stopped his opponents,” ESPN writer Michael Rotshtein said about putting Inoue at No. 1 on his list over Crawford. “He’s knocked out his last five opponents and has been consistent along the way, too. In a year where too many of the top fighters ducked their biggest challenges, Inoue annihilated the best his division has to offer.”
On the other hand, Errol Spence Jr. has lost some support due to the fact that he’s not active enough. A fight against Crawford to unify all four welterweight world titles was very close of happening in 2022, but it went sideways at the last minute.
“Spence is a three-belt unified welterweight champion and has been a champion for five years. His dominating win over Ugas was impressive, and his record in his last 11 fights is 11 wins, seven by way of knockout. And while he has wins over Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, Ugas, Kell Brook, and Chris Algieri, his inactivity forces me to drop him on my list,” said ESPN boxing analyst Timothy Bradley Jr., a former two-division champion who was recently inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Our panel of Bradley, Rothstein, Mike Coppinger, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Andre Ward, Ben Baby, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Michelle Joy Phelps, Eric Woodyard, Claudia Trejos, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Osuna, 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 Dec. 21.
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:
2. NAOYA INOUE Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 23-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Bantamweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO11) Paul Butler, Dec. 13
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
3. OLEKSANDR USYK 
Previous ranking: No. 4
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. 3
RECORD: 28-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Yordenis Ugas, April 16
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
5. CANELO ALVAREZ Previous ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 57-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gennadiy Golovkin, Sept. 17
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: TBA
7. DMITRY BIVOL Previous ranking: No. 7
RECORD: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, Nov. 5
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
8. ARTUR BETERBIEV Previous ranking: 9
RECORD: 18-0, 18 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO2) Joe Smith Jr., June 18
NEXT FIGHT: Jan. 28 vs. Anthony Yarde
9. DEVIN HANEY Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 29-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) George Kambosos Jr., Oct. 16
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
10. SHAKUR STEVENSON Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 19-0, 9 KOs
DIVISION: Junior lightweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Robson Conceicao, Sept. 23
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: Jermell Charlo (8), Gervonta Davis (8), Vasiliy Lomachenko (7), Juan Francisco Estrada (6), Stephen Fulton (1).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Bivol, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Alvarez, 9. Davis, 10. Haney
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Spence, 7. Fury, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Haney
Coppinger: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Fury, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Spence, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Stevenson
Tessitore: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Spence, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Bivol, 9. Fury, 10. Haney
Parkinson: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Spence, 5. Alvarez, 6. Bivol, 7. Fury, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Estrada, 10. Haney
Raskin: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Usyk, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Ward: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Estrada
Baby: 1. Inoue, 2. Usyk, 3. Crawford, 4. Alvarez, 5. Haney, 6. Spence, 7. Fury, 8. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, 10. Fulton
Rothstein: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Usyk, 7. Spence, 8. Haney, 9. Davis, 10. Stevenson
Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Haney, 6. Inoue, 7. Fury, 8. Charlo, 9. Bivol, 10. Stevenson
Rodriguez: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Alvarez, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Estrada, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Haney
Poncher: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Haney
Osuna: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Crawford, 5. Spence, 6. Alvarez, 7. Haney, 8. Charlo, 9. Fury, 10. Beterbiev
Trejos: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Bivol, 5. Fury, 6. Alvarez, 7. Spence, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Haney
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Fury, 3. Spence, 4. Alvarez, 5. Haney, 6. Inoue, 7. Usyk, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, 10. Bivol
Dansby: 1. Usyk, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Crawford, 5. Fury, 6. Haney, 7. Spence, 8. Bivol, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Charlo
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Lomachenko
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Bivol, 3. Crawford, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Charlo
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Bivol, 10. Haney
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Spence, 4. Fury, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Alvarez, 7. Usyk, 8. Stevenson, 9. Lomachenko, 10. Haney
Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Spence, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Haney, 9. Bivol, 10. Fury
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Crawford (9), Inoue (8), Usyk (3), Alvarez (1)
Second place: Crawford (8), Inoue (7), Spence (2), Bivol (2), Fury (1), Usyk (1)
Third place: Usyk (6), Inoue (4), Spence (4), Crawford (2), Alvarez (2), Fury (2), Bivol (1)
Fourth place: Alvarez (5), Spence (4), Bivol (4), Usyk (3), Crawford (2), Fury (2), Beterbiev (1)
Fifth place: Spence (5), Fury (5), Alvarez (4), Haney (3), Bivol (2), Beterbiev (2)
Sixth place: Alvarez (7), Usyk (5), Fury (3), Inoue (2), Spence (2), Bivol (1), Haney (1)
Seventh place: Spence (4), Fury (4), Stevenson (4), Usyk (3), Bivol (3), Beterbiev (1), Haney (1), Lomachenko (1)
Eighth place: Beterbiev (8), Haney (4), Bivol (3), Charlo (2), Alvarez (1), Stevenson (1), Davis (1), Estrada (1)
Ninth place: Stevenson (7), Bivol (3), Beterbiev (3), Fury (2), Haney (2), Davis (2), Lomachenko (1), Estrada (1)
10th place: Haney (9), Stevenson (3), Charlo (2), Fury (1), Bivol (1), Beterbiev (1), Davis (1), Lomachenko (1), Estrada (1), Fulton (1)
