In one of the most anticipated fights this year, Devin Haney defended his undisputed lightweight championship with a unanimous decision win over Vasiliy Lomachenko in Las Vegas.
Haney (30-0, 15KOs), ESPN’s 2022 Best Under-25 Fighter, 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 in which Haney landed just five punches and appeared dominated by Lomachenko. That, coupled with the fact that Lomachenko took control for much of the fight, caused some of our panelists to keep Haney in his place or even lower him.
“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, I felt that Vasiliy Lomachenko won that fight,” Michael Rothstein said. “It was a close enough fight that Haney rarely seemed in control and it doesn’t feel good to keep Haney in my top 10 after a fight I think he lost.”
Regardless of which side of the decision he finds himself on, Haney has a win over a top-tier fighter in Lomachenko, a former pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter and the current No. 2 ranked fighter at ESPN lightweight.
Salvador Rodríguez of ESPN Deportes moved Haney up one spot on his roster after what he said was an “epic fight for the fans, one that could have gone either way.”
“A 115-113 for one or the other, or a 114-114 was within the range in my opinion,” Rodriguez said. “For me, the win cemented Haney’s place as one of the top 10 fighters in the world. Beating a fighter of Lomachenko’s class would mean moving up a few ranks, but even in victory, Haney didn’t do enough to impress me and putting him in the top 5 or higher, hence my vote at No. 9. But at 24 years old and an undefeated record, he’s on his way to the top.I still think Gervonta Davis is the best current fighter in 135 lbs. … and watch out for Shakur Stevenson, he’s coming to clean them all out later 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 share their votes.
More Rankings: Divisional Rankings and ESPN Women’s Pound-for-Pound Rankings.
Note: Results are through May 24.
1.TERENCE CRAWFORDPrevious Ranking: 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
Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 23-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: junior featherweight
LAST FIGHT: G (TKO11) Paul Butler, Dec. 13
NEXT FIGHT: July 25 vs. Stephen Fulton
3. OLEKSANDR USYKPrevious ranking: No. 3
RECORD: 20-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Anthony Joshua, Aug. 20
NEXT FIGHT: to be confirmed
4. ERROL SPENCE JR.Previous ranking: 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 ALVAREZPrevious ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 59-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) John Ryder, May 6
NEXT FIGHT: to be confirmed
6. DMITRY BIVOLPrevious ranking: No. 6
RECORD: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: G (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, November 5
NEXT FIGHT: to be confirmed
7. TYSON’S FURYPrevious ranking: No. 7
RECORD: 33-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: heavyweight champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Derek Chisora, Dec. 3
NEXT FIGHT: to be confirmed
8. ARTUR BETERBIEVPrevious ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: G (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: August 19 vs. Callum Smith
9. DEVIN HANEY
Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 30-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Vasiliy Lomachenko, May 20
NEXT FIGHT: to be confirmed
10. SHAKUR STEVENSON
Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Light
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Shuichiro Yoshino, April 8
NEXT FIGHT: to be confirmed
The formula
Rankings are 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 wrestler with the highest ranking and then the one with the most votes in 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. Usyk, 5. spent, 6. Rage, 7. Davis, 8. Lomachenko, 9. Alvarez, 10 Beterbiev
Bradley: 1. inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. spent, 7. Beterbiev, 8. haney, 9. stevenson, 10 Davis
Copper: 1. inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Rage, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. spent, 8. haney, 9. stevenson, 10 Beterbiev
Testimonial: 1. inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. spent, 6. stevenson, 7. Bivol, 8. Alvarez, 9. Rage, 10 haney
Parkinson’s: 1. inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. Davis, 8. Rage, 9. haney, 10 spent
Raskin: 1. inoue, 2. crawford, 3. spent, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Rage, 7. Usyk, 8. stevenson, 9. Davis, 10 Beterbiev
Pavilion: 1. crawford, 2. spent, 3. inoue, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Alvarez, 7. haney, 8. stevenson, 9. Beterbiev, 10 Davis
Baby: 1. inoue, 2. Usyk, 3. crawford, 4. spent, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. haney, 8. Bivol, 9. stevenson, 10 Rage
Rothstein: 1. inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Rage, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Usyk, 7. spent, 8. Davis, 9. stevenson, 10 Beterbiev
Phelps: 1. Alvarez, 2. crawford, 3. spent, 4. Usyk, 5. haney, 6. Rage 7. inoue, 8. Bivol, 9. Beterbiev, 10 Davis
Osuna: 1. Usyk, 2. inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. crawford, 6. spent, 7. haney, 8. Beterbiev, 9. chat, 10 Stevenson
Rodriguez: 1. inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Rage, 4. Alvarez, 5. spent, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. Davis, 9. haney, 10 Beterbiev
punch bowl: 1. crawford, 2. inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. spent, 5. Alvarez, 6. Rage, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. stevenson, 10 haney
Trejos: 1. crawford, 2. inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. spent, 6. Rage, 7. Alvarez, 8. haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10 Stevenson
Firewood: 1. crawford, 2. Rage, 3. spent, 4. Alvarez, 5. Davis, 6. haney, 7. inoue, 8. Usyk, 9. stevenson, 10 Bivol
Dansby: 1. Usyk, 2. inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. crawford, 5. spent, 6. Rage, 7. haney, 8. Bivol, 9. stevenson, 10 Davis
Moynihan: 1. crawford, 2. spent, 3. inoue, 4. Alvarez, 5. Rage, 6. Usyk, 7. Bivol, 8. haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10 Davis
Pilatti: 1. inoue, 2. Bivol, 3. Beterbiev, 4. crawford, 5. spent, 6. Rage, 7. Usyk, 8. Davis, 9. haney, 10 Stevenson
Zirolli: 1. crawford, 2. inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. spent, 5. Rage, 6. Usyk, 7. stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Bivol, 10 haney
More expensive: 1. inoue, 2. crawford, 3. spent, 4. Usyk, 5. stevenson, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Bivol, 8. gervonta, 9. haney, 10 alvarez
Free man: 1. crawford, 2. inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. stevenson, 6. spent, 7. Alvarez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Davis, 10 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), Álvarez (2), Davis (2), Beterbiev (1), Stevenson (1)
Eighth place: Beterbiev (4), Haney (4), Davis (4), Bivol (3), Stevenson (2), Usyk (1), Álvarez (1), Fury (1), Lomachenko (1)
9th place: Stevenson (7), Beterbiev (4), Haney (4), Davis (2), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Fury (1), Charlo (1)
10th place: Beterbiev (5), Davis (5), Haney (4), Stevenson (3), Spence (1), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Fury (1)