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.
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: 19-0, 9 KOs DIVISION: Junior lightweight (unified champion) LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Robson Conceicao, Sept. 23 NEXT FIGHT: TBA
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
