Boxing pound-for-pound rankings: Has Devin Haney progressed after controversial win over Vasiliy Lomachenko?
In one of the most anticipated fights this year, Devin Haney defended his undisputed lightweight championship with a unanimous decision victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko in Las Vegas.
Haney (30-0, 15KOs), ESPN’s top fighter under 25 in 2022, won by scorecards of 115-113 (Tim Cheatham), 115-113 (David Sutherland) and 116-112 (Dave Moretti). Moretti’s scorecard left fans, some members of the media and Lomachenko’s team with a few questions. Moretti was the only judge to give Haney the 10th round, a round where Haney only landed five punches and looked dominated by Lomachenko. That, coupled with the fact that Lomachenko took control of much of the fight, caused some of our panelists to keep Haney in his place or even take him down.
“I took Devin Haney off my pound-for-pound list even in a win because in my eyes – and in the eyes of many others – it felt like Vasiliy Lomachenko won that fight,” Michael Rothstein said. . “It was a pretty close fight where Haney rarely seemed to be in control and it doesn’t seem fair to keep Haney in my top 10 after a fight that I believe he lost.”
No matter which side of the decision you’re on, Haney has a win over one of Lomachenko’s top fighters, a former No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter and the current No. 2 ranked fighter at lightweight by ESPN.
ESPN Deportes’ Salvador Rodriguez bumped Haney up one spot on his list after what he said was an “epic fight for the fans, which could have gone either way”.
“A 115-113 for either, or a 114-114 were in range in my opinion,” Rodriguez said. “For me the win cemented Haney his place among the top 10 fighters in the world. Beating a fighter of Lomachenko’s class would mean moving up a few spots, but even in the win Haney didn’t do enough to impress me and put him in the top 5 or higher hence my vote at #9 But at 24 years old and an undefeated record he is on his way to the top I still think Gervonta Davis is the better fighter current at 135 pounds…and watch out for Shakur Stevenson, who’s coming to clean them all up by the end of this year or next.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Ben Baby, Timothy Bradley Jr., Rothstein, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Andre Ward, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Michelle Joy Phelps, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Pilatti, Claudia Trejos, Charles Moynihan, Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro and Aladdin Freeman split their votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and pound-for-pound women’s rankings from ESPN.
Note: Results are valid until May 24.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORDPrevious ranking: N°1
REGISTER: 39-0, 30 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (Champion)
LAST STAND : W (TKO6) David Avanesyan, December 10
NEXT FIGHT: July 29 against Errol Spence Jr.
2. NAOYA INOUE
Previous ranking: n°2
REGISTER: 23-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Junior Featherweight
LAST STAND : W (TKO11) Paul Butler, Dec. 13
NEXT FIGHT: July 25 vs. Stephen Fulton
3. OLEKSANDR USYKPrevious ranking: n°3
REGISTER: 20-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST STAND : W (SD12) Anthony Joshua, August 20
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
4. ERROL SPENCE JR.Previous ranking: N°4
REGISTER: 28-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (unified champion)
LAST STAND : W (TKO10) Yordenis Ugas, April 16
NEXT FIGHT: July 29 vs. Terence Crawford
5. CANELO ALVAREZPrevious ranking: n°5
REGISTER: 59-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST STAND : W (UD12) John Ryder, May 6
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
6. DMITRY BIVOLPrevious ranking: n°6
REGISTER: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST STAND : W (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, November 5
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
7. TYSON FURYPrevious ranking: n°7
REGISTER: 33-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (Champion)
LAST STAND : W (TKO10) Derek Chisora, December 3
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
8. ARTUR BETERBIEVPrevious ranking: n°8
REGISTER: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST STAND : W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: August 19 vs. Callum Smith
9. DEVIN HANEY
Previous ranking: n°10
REGISTER: 30-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (undisputed champion)
LAST STAND : W (UD12) Vasiliy Lomachenko, May 20
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
10. SHAKUR STEVENSON
Previous ranking: n°9
REGISTER: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST STAND : W (TKO6) Shuichiro Yoshino, April 8
NEXT FIGHT: To be determined
The formula
The ranking is based on a descending point 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, then to the one with the most votes at that ranking.
Others receiving votes: Gervonta Davis (35), Vasiliy Lomachenko (3), Jermell Charlo (1).
How Our Writers Voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Bivol, 3. Inoue, 4. Usik, 5. spence, 6. Fury, 7. Davis, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Alvarez, ten. Beterbiev
Bradley: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usik, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. spence, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, ten. Davis
Copper : 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usik, 4. Fury, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. spence, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, ten. Beterbiev
Tessieur: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usik, 4. Beterbiev, 5. spence, 6. Stevenson, 7. Bivol, 8. Alvarez, 9. Fury, ten. Haney
Parkinson’s: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usik, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Davis, 8. Fury, 9. Haney, ten. Spence
Raskin: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. spence, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Usik, 8. Stevenson, 9. Davis, ten. Beterbiev
Room: 1. Crawford, 2. spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Usik, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Haney, 8. Stevenson, 9. Beterbiev, ten. Davis
Babe: 1. Inoue, 2. Usik, 3. Crawford, 4. spence, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Haney, 8. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, ten. Fury
Rothstein: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Usik, 7. spence, 8. Davis, 9. Stevenson, ten. Beterbiev
Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2. Crawford, 3. spence, 4. Usik, 5. Haney, 6. Fury 7. Inoue, 8. Bivol, 9. Beterbiev, ten. Davis
Osuna: 1. Usik, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Crawford, 6. spence, 7. Haney, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Charles, ten. stevenson
Rodríguez: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Fury, 4. Alvarez, 5. spence, 6. Usik, 7. Bivol, 8. Davis, 9. Haney, ten. Beterbiev
Sand: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usik, 4. spence, 5. Alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, ten. Haney
Trejos: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usik, 4. Bivol, 5. spence, 6. Fury, 7. Alvarez, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, ten. stevenson
Lumber yard: 1. Crawford, 2. Fury, 3. spence, 4. Alvarez, 5. Davis, 6. Haney, 7. Inoue, 8. Usik, 9. Stevenson, ten. bivol
Dansby: 1. Usik, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Crawford, 5. spence, 6. Fury, 7. Haney, 8. Bivol, 9. Stevenson, ten. Davis
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usik, 7. Bivol, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, ten. Davis
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Bivol, 3. Beterbiev, 4. Crawford, 5. spence, 6. Fury, 7. Usik, 8. Davis, 9. Haney, ten. stevenson
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usik, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Bivol, ten. Haney
Mascaro: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. spence, 4. Usik, 5. Stevenson, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Bivol, 8. Gervonta, 9. Haney, ten. Alvarez
Free man: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usik, 4. Bivol, 5. Stevenson, 6. spence, 7. Alvarez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Davis, ten. Haney
ESPN Expert Poll
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)
10th: Beterbiev (5), Davis (5), Haney (4), Stevenson (3), Spence (1), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Fury (1)
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