In probably the most anticipated fights this 12 months, Devin Haney defended his light-weight undisputed championship with a unanimous resolution victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko in Las Vegas.
Haney (30-0, 15KOs), ESPN’s finest fighter beneath the age of 25 in 2022, gained by scorecards of 115-113 (Tim Cheatham), 115-113 (David Sutherland) and 116-112 (Dave Moretti). Moretti’s scorecard left followers, some media members and Lomachenko’s staff with some questions. Moretti was the one choose to present Haney the tenth spherical, a spherical the place Haney landed solely 5 punches and appeared to be dominated by Lomachenko. That, added to the truth that Lomachenko took management for big components of the battle, acquired a few of our panelists to maintain Haney in his spot and even transfer him down.
“I dropped Devin Haney from my pound-for-pound listing even in a win as a result of in my eyes — and within the eyes of many others — it felt like Vasiliy Lomachenko gained that battle,” Michael Rothstein mentioned. “It was a detailed sufficient battle the place Haney hardly ever appeared to have management and it does not really feel proper to maintain Haney in my prime 10 after a battle I imagine he misplaced.”
No matter what facet of the choice you might be on, Haney has a win over a prime fighter in Lomachenko, a former No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter and the present No. 2-ranked fighter at light-weight by ESPN.
ESPN Deportes’ Salvador Rodriguez moved Haney up one spot on his listing after what he mentioned was an “epic battle for the followers, that might have gone both approach.”
“A 115-113 for one or the opposite, or a 114-114 had been in vary in my view,” Rodriguez mentioned. “For me, the win cemented Haney his place as one of many prime 10 fighters on the planet. Beating a fighter of Lomachenko’s class would imply transferring up a number of spots, however even in victory, Haney did not do sufficient to impress me and put him into the highest 5 or larger, thus my vote at No. 9. However at 24 years previous and an unbeaten report, he is on observe to make it to the highest. I nonetheless assume Gervonta Davis is the very best present fighter at 135 kilos … and be careful for Shakur Stevenson, who’s coming to scrub all of them by the tip of this 12 months or subsequent.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Ben Child, Timothy Bradley Jr., Rothstein, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Andre Ward, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Michelle Pleasure Phelps, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Pilatti, Claudia Trejos, Charles Moynihan, Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro and Aladdin Freeman share their votes.
Extra rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN’s ladies’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Notice: Outcomes are by Might 24.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORD Earlier rating: 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
Earlier rating: 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
Earlier rating: 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.
Earlier rating: 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
Earlier rating: No. 5
RECORD: 59-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Tremendous middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) John Ryder, Might 6
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
6. DMITRY BIVOL
Earlier rating: No. 6
RECORD: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Mild heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, Nov. 5
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
7. TYSON FURY
Earlier rating: 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
Earlier rating: No. 8
RECORD: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Mild heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: Aug. 19 vs. Callum Smith
9. DEVIN HANEY
Earlier rating: No. 10
RECORD: 30-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Light-weight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Vasiliy Lomachenko, Might 20
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
10. SHAKUR STEVENSON
Earlier rating: No. 9
RECORD: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Light-weight
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Shuichiro Yoshino, April 8
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
The method
The rankings are based mostly on a descending factors system, with a first-place vote receiving 10 factors, a second-place vote receiving 9 factors, and so forth. A tie goes to the fighter with the best rating after which the one with essentially the most votes at that rating.
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
Child: 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 consultants’ ballot
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)
tenth place: Beterbiev (5), Davis (5), Haney (4), Stevenson (3), Spence (1), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Fury (1)