Both the No. 2 and No. 4 pound-for-pound fighters in ESPN’s rankings, Naoya Inoue and Canelo Alvarez, were in action two days apart, defending their undisputed championships. Alvarez defeated Jaime Munguia by unanimous decision Saturday to retain his undisputed super middleweight championship, and Inoue recovered from a knockdown in Round 1 to stop Luis Nery in the sixth round Monday to keep his undisputed junior featherweight championship.
Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) dominated Munguia in the second part of their fight to earn scorecards of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112. While he gained some votes, Alvarez stays at No. 4 ahead of Dmitry Bivol.
“I have a lot of experience,” Alvarez said after the fight. “Munguia is a great fighter. He’s strong and smart. But I have 12 rounds to win the fight, and I did. I did really good, and I’m proud of it. He’s strong, but he’s a little slow. I could see every punch. That’s why I’m the best.”
Tuesday in Tokyo (Monday morning in the U.S.), Inoue suffered the first knockdown of his career 1:40 into the first round of his fight against Nery, but recovered to score three knockdowns and a sixth-round KO win. Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) retained his championship and his No. 2 spot in ESPN’s rankings while closing in on No. 1 Terence Crawford. Only eight votes separate the two best fighter in boxing.
“Inoue is among the greatest fighters I’ve promoted, and he was sensational once again,” Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, Inoue’s promoter, said after the fight. “Nery came to win, but ‘The Monster’ was too much.”
And with Ryan Garcia testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug after his win over Devin Haney and ineligible to be ranked, some of the panelists moved their votes to Jesse Rodriguez, who leapfrogged Tyson Fury for the No. 9 spot.
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Michelle Joy Phelps, Claudia Trejos, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro, Aladdin Freeman, Victor Lopez and Damian Delgado Averhoff shares its votes.
More ESPN rankings: Divisional rankings and women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are through May 8.
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: Aug. 3 vs. Israil Madrimov
2. NAOYA INOUE 
Previous ranking: No. 2
Previous ranking: No. 2RECORD: 27-0, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (KO6) Luis Nery, May 6
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: May 18 vs. Tyson Fury
4. CANELO ALVAREZ Previous ranking: No. 4
RECORD: 61-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Jaime Munguia, May 4
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
5. DMITRY BIVOL Previous ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 22-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Lyndon Arthur, Dec. 23
NEXT FIGHT: June 1 vs. Malik Zinad
6. ARTUR BETERBIEV Previous ranking: No. 6
RECORD: 20-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO7) Callum Smith, Jan. 13
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
7. GERVONTA DAVIS Previous ranking: No. 7
RECORD: 29-0, 27 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (KO7) Ryan Garcia, April 22
NEXT FIGHT: June 15 vs. Frank Martin
8. SHAKUR STEVENSON Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 21-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight champion
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Edwin De Los Santos, Nov. 16
NEXT FIGHT: July 6 vs. Artem Harutyunyan
9. JESSE “BAM” RODRIGUEZ 
Previous ranking: No. 10
Previous ranking: No. 10RECORD: 19-0, 12 KOs
DIVISION: Flyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO9) Sunny Edwards, Dec. 16
NEXT FIGHT: June 29 vs. Juan Francisco Estrada
10. TYSON FURY Previous ranking: No. 9
Previous ranking: No. 9RECORD: 34-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD10) Francis Ngannou, Oct. 28
NEXT FIGHT: May 18 vs. Oleksandr Usyk
The formula
The rankings are based on a descending points system, with a first-place vote awarding 10 points, a second-place vote awarding nine points and so on. A tie goes to the fighter with the highest ranking, then the one with the most votes at that ranking.
Others receiving votes: Teofimo Lopez Jr. (20), David Benavidez (11), Vasiliy Lomachenko (4), Devin Haney (4), Emanuel Navarrete (3), Errol Spence Jr. (2).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Usyk, 5. Davis, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Alvarez, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Benavidez, 10. Haney
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3: Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Stevenson, 8. Davis, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Lopez Jr.
Coppinger: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Haney
Tessitore: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Stevenson, 7. Alvarez, 8. Rodriguez, 9. Lopez, 10. Davis
Parkinson: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Davis, 8. Rodriguez, 9. Nakatani, 10. Lopez
Raskin: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Stevenson, 7. Davis, 8. Benavidez, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Rodriguez
Trejos: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Stevenson, 9. Fury, 10. Rodriguez
Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Fury, 7. Usyk, 8. Lopez, 9. Davis, 10. Haney
Osuna: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Stevenson, 9. Lopez, 10. Davis
Rodriguez: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Davis, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Fury, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Stevenson
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Davis, 5. Fury, 6. Lopez, 7. Usyk, 8. Stevenson, 9. Bivol, 10. Beterbiev
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Spence, 10. Stevenson
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Davis, 7. Benavidez, 8. Navarrete, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Fury
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Stevenson, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Bivol, 8. Lopez, 9. Benavidez, 10. Rodriguez
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Rodriguez, 8. Lopez, 9. Stevenson, 10. Haney
Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Rodriguez, 9. Davis, 10. Lomachenko
Lopez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Stevenson
Delgado Averhof: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Rodriguez, 10. Stevenson
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Crawford (12), Inoue (5), Alvarez (1)
Second place: Inoue (12), Crawford (6)
Third place: Usyk (10), Alvarez (4), Bivol (2), Inoue (1), Stevenson (1)
Fourth place: Alvarez (5), Usyk (4), Bivol (4), Beterbiev (4), Davis (1)
Fifth place: Bivol (8), Alvarez (3), Beterbiev (3), Usyk (2), Davis (1), Fury (1)
Sixth place: Beterbiev (8), Alvarez (2), Bivol (2), Davis (2), Stevenson (2), Fury (1), Lopez (1)
Seventh place: Davis (7), Usyk (2), Alvarez (2), Stevenson (2), Rodriguez (2), Bivol (1), Beterbiev (1), Benavidez (1), Lomachenko (1)
Eighth place: Fury (5), Stevenson (3), Rodriguez (3), Lopez (3), Davis (1), Benavidez (1), Lomachenko (1), Navarrete (1)
Ninth place: Rodriguez (6), Davis (2), Lopez (2), Benavidez (2), Bivol (1), Beterbiev (1), Stevenson (1), Fury (1), Spence (1)
10th place: Stevenson (4), Haney (4), Rodriguez (3), Davis (2), Lopez (2), Beterbiev (1), Fury (1), Lomachenko (1)
