Canelo Alvarez closed out one of the biggest boxing rivalries of this generation with a unanimous decision victory over Gennadiy Golovkin in their trilogy fight to retain his super middleweight undisputed championship.
But the victory wasn’t enough for Alvarez to move up in ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings. Most of our panelists decided to keep Alvarez at the same spot, while others moved him down the list, arguing he didn’t look good enough against a much older and slower opponent.
“I kept Canelo at No. 5 on my list because while he did clearly defeat GGG, he faded down the stretch and it was far from an impressive performance,” ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger said. “Alvarez said he needs surgery to repair his left wrist, the hand he throws his signature left hook with. That could help explain the outing, and he’ll have another chance to reclaim the top spot next year if he lands a rematch with Dmitry Bivol or fights David Benavidez.”
Boxing analyst Bernardo Pilatti, a well-known critic of Alvarez, dropped Canelo from his top 10 altogether.
“I already had Canelo No. 7 on my list before the fight, and after what I think was a bad performance against Golovkin, I decided not to include him in my top 10, regardless of the result,” Pilatti said. “Plus, Canelo had a responsibility to win with authority being the champion and the younger fighter, put on a show and, as he promised he would do, knock out and retire GGG. And he didn’t do any of that.”
Our panel of Coppinger, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Michael Rothstein, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Andre Ward, Ben Baby, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Carlos Irusta, Jim Zirolli and Aladdin Freeman share their votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are through Sept. 21.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORD 
Previous ranking: No. 1
RECORD: 38-0, 29 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Shawn Porter, Nov. 20
NEXT FIGHT: TBA vs. Errol Spence Jr.
2. NAOYA INOUE Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 23-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Bantamweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO2) Nonito Donaire, June 7
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
3. 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 vs. Terence Crawford
4. 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
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: 32-0-1, 23 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Dillian Whyte, April 23
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
7. ARTUR BETERBIEV Previous ranking: 7
RECORD: 18-0, 18 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO2) Joe Smith Jr., June 18
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
8. DMITRY BIVOL Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 20-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Canelo Alvarez, May 7
NEXT FIGHT: Nov. 5 vs. Gilberto Ramirez
9. SHAKUR STEVENSON 
Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 18-0, 9 KOs
DIVISION: Junior lightweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Oscar Valdez, April 30
NEXT FIGHT: Sept. 23 vs. Robson Conceicao
10. VASILIY LOMACHENKO 
Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 16-2, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Richard Commey, Dec. 11
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 29 vs. Jamaine Ortiz
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: Devin Haney (24), Jermell Charlo (18), Gervonta Davis (13), Juan Francisco Estrada (4), Josh Taylor (4), Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (3), Stephen Fulton (1).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Bivol, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Alvarez, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Fury, 9. Davis, 10. Beterbiev
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Spence, 4. Alvarez, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Fury, 7. Usyk, 8. Stevenson, 9. Charlo, 10. Haney
Coppinger: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Fury, 5. Alvarez, 6. Spence, 7. Bivol, 8. Gonzalez, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Haney
Tessitore: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Spence, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Fury, 9. Bivol, 10. Haney
Parkinson: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Lomachenko
Raskin: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Fury, 5. Usyk, 6. Bivol, 7. Alvarez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Lomachenko
Ward: 1. Crawford, 2. Spence, 3. Inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Haney, 10. Davis
Baby: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Usyk, 4. Inoue, 5. Spence, 6. Lomachenko, 7. Fury, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Fulton
Rothstein: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Fury, 4. Alvarez, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Bivol, 9. Davis, 10. Stevenson
Osuna: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Spence, 5. Alvarez, 6. Bivol, 7. Charlo, 8. Stevenson, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Haney
Rodriguez: 1. Inoue, 2. Fury, 3. Alvarez, 4. Crawford, 5. Spence, 6. Usyk, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Bivol, 9. Lomachenko, 10. Charlo
Poncher: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Stevenson, 9. Charlo, 10. Haney
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Fury, 3. Spence, 4. Alvarez, 5. Inoue, 6. Usyk, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Taylor
Dansby: 1. Usyk, 2. Crawford, 3. Alvarez, 4. Inoue, 5. Spence, 6. Fury, 7. Haney, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Charlo, 10. Stevenson
Moynihan: 1. Spence, 2. Crawford, 3. Inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Lomachenko, 8. Bivol, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Haney
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Fury, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Charlo, 9. Lomachenko, 10. Stevenson
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Spence, 5. Fury, 6. Usyk, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Lomachenko, 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. Spence, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Alvarez, 7. Fury, 8. Stevenson, 9. Haney, 10. Lomachenko
Irusta: 1. Usyk, 2. Fury, 3. Inoue, 4. Spence, 5. Crawford, 6. Bivol, 7. Charlo, 8. Taylor, 9. Alvarez, 10. Lomachenko
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Crawford (10), Inoue (6), Usyk (3), Spence (1)
Second place: Crawford (8), Inoue (6), Fury (3), Spence (1), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1)
Third place: Spence (6), Inoue (5), Alvarez (5), Usyk (3), Fury (1)
Fourth place: Alvarez (5), Spence (4), Usyk (4), Fury (3), Inoue (2), Crawford (1), Beterbiev (1)
Fifth place: Spence (7), Fury (4), Beterbiev (3), Alvarez (2), Usyk (2), Crawford (1), Inoue (1)
Sixth place: Usyk (6), Alvarez (4), Bivol (4), Fury (3), Beterbiev (1), Spence (1), Lomachenko (1)
Seventh place: Stevenson (3), Lomachenko (3), Fury (2), Usyk (2), Bivol (2), Beterbiev (2), Charlo (2), Davis (2), Alvarez (1), Haney (1)
Eighth place: Beterbiev (5), Stevenson (5), Bivol (3), Haney (2), Fury (2), Charlo (1), Taylor (1), Gonzalez (1)
Ninth place: Lomachenko (5), Beterbiev (3), Stevenson (3), Haney (3), Charlo (3), Davis (2), Bivol (1)
10th place: Haney (7), Stevenson (4), Lomachenko (4), Davis (1), Taylor (1), Charlo (1), Beterbiev (1), Fulton (1)