Tyson Fury did enough on the scorecards to defeat Francis Ngannou by split decision, but his disappointing performance, which included being knocked down in Round 3, forced our panelists to drop him four spots to No. 10 in the latest ESPN pound-for-pound rankings.
Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) fought Ngannou (0-1 in boxing) in a 10-round boxing match on Oct. 28 in Saudi Arabia, but his WBC world title wasn’t on the line. Fury’s scheduled fight against Oleksandr Usyk on Dec. 23, to unify all four major heavyweight titles, has since been pushed to February, due to small cuts suffered by Fury on his forehead and outside the left eye.
“Tyson Fury looked the worst he has looked in this recent championship run against a big strong novice in Francis Ngannou,” ESPN boxing commentator Joe Tessitore said about dropping Fury from his top-10 list. “I can not justify this version of Fury in the P4P list.”
Boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas agreed, saying that Fury’s lack of preparation and not being ready has to count, dropping him three spots to No. 8 on his list.
“Although I chalk it up partly to Fury not being mentally prepared or aware of what he was facing, Ngannou being much better than he or anyone expected and an overall bad night for him, there were still technical flaws that were exposed through it all,” Atlas said. “And if I’m going to be fair and consistent in standing by a process to judge what we judge here then the performance has to matter and he has to at least drop some spots.”
Our panel of Mike Coppinger, Ben Baby, Timothy Bradley Jr., Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Eric Raskin, Michelle Joy Phelps, Claudia Trejos, Bernardo Osuna, Eric Woodyard, Crystina Poncher, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro, Aladdin Freeman, Victor Lopez and Damian Delgado Averhof, shares its votes.
More rankings: Divisional rankings and ESPN’s women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Note: Results are through Nov. 8.
1. TERENCE CRAWFORD 
Previous ranking: No. 1
Previous ranking: No. 1RECORD: 40-0, 31 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO9) Errol Spence Jr., July 29
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
2. NAOYA INOUE Previous ranking: No. 2
RECORD: 25-0, 22 KOs
DIVISION: Junior featherweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Stephen Fulton, July 25
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 26 vs. Marlon Tapales
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: TBA vs. Tyson Fury
4. CANELO ALVAREZ Previous ranking: No. 4
RECORD: 60-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super middleweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Jermell Charlo, Sept. 30
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
5. DMITRY BIVOL Previous ranking: No. 5
RECORD: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, Nov. 5
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
6. ARTUR BETERBIEV Previous ranking: No. 7
Previous ranking: No. 7RECORD: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light heavyweight (unified champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: Jan. 13 vs. Callum Smith
7. DEVIN HANEY Previous ranking: No. 8
RECORD: 30-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight (undisputed champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Vasiliy Lomachenko, May 20
NEXT FIGHT: Dec. 9 vs. Regis Prograis
8. SHAKUR STEVENSON Previous ranking: No. 9
RECORD: 20-0, 10 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) Shuichiro Yoshino, April 8
NEXT FIGHT: Nov. 16 vs. Edwin De Los Santos
9. GERVONTA DAVIS Previous ranking: No. 10
RECORD: 29-0, 27 KOs
DIVISION: Lightweight
LAST FIGHT: W (KO7) Ryan Garcia, April 22
NEXT FIGHT: TBA
10. TYSON FURY Previous ranking: No. 6
Previous ranking: No. 6RECORD: 34-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD10) Francis Ngannou, Oct. 28
NEXT FIGHT: TBA vs. Oleksandr Usyk
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: Teofimo Lopez Jr. (18), Vasiliy Lomachenko (6), Errol Spence Jr. (5), Emanuel Navarrete (2), Jaron Ennis (1), David Benavidez (1).
How our writers voted
Atlas: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Davis, 5. Lomachenko, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Alvarez, 8. Fury, 9. Haney, 10. Ennis
Bradley: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Alvarez, 7. Haney, 8. Stevenson, 9. Lopez, 10. Davis
Coppinger: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Stevenson, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Fury, 10. Davis
Tessitore: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Beterbiev, 5. Bivol, 6. Stevenson, 7. Alvarez, 8. Haney, 9. Lopez, 10. Davis
Parkinson: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Bivol, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Fury, 10. Stevenson
Raskin: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Bivol, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Stevenson, 7. Davis, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Lopez, 10. Benavidez
Baby: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Haney, 7. Bivol, 8. Stevenson, 9. Fury, 10. Spence
Phelps: 1. Crawford, 2. Alvarez, 3. Inoue, 4. Haney, 5. Usyk, 6. Fury, 7. Bivol, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Spence, 10. Lopez
Trejos: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Fury, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Osuna: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Alvarez, 6. Haney, 7. Lopez, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
Rodriguez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Fury, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Stevenson
Woodyard: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Fury, 5. Davis, 6. Haney, 7. Lopez, 8. Usyk, 9. Stevenson, 10. Spence
Moynihan: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Alvarez, 4. Usyk, 5. Bivol, 6. Haney, 7. Beterbiev, 8. Davis, 9. Fury, 10. Spence
Poncher: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Haney, 8. Stevenson, 9. Davis, 10. Lopez
Pilatti: 1. Inoue, 2. Crawford, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Beterbiev, 6. Davis, 7. Fury, 8. Haney, 9. Stevenson, 10. Navarrete
Zirolli: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Stevenson, 4. Alvarez, 5. Usyk, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Haney, 8. Fury, 9. Bivol, 10. Lopez
Mascaro: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Stevenson, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Davis, 8. Haney, 9. Alvarez, 10. Lopez
Freeman: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Bivol, 5. Stevenson, 6. Alvarez, 7. Haney, 8. Beterbiev, 9. Davis, 10. Navarrete
Lopez: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Fury, 7. Davis, 8. Stevenson, 9. Beterbiev, 10. Haney
Delgado Averhof: 1. Crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usyk, 4. Alvarez, 5. Bivol, 6. Beterbiev, 7. Haney, 8. Fury, 9. Stevenson, 10. Davis
ESPN experts’ poll
First place: Crawford (19), Inoue (1)
Second place: Inoue (18), Crawford (1), Alvarez (1)
Third place: Usyk (12), Alvarez (5), Inoue (1), Bivol (1), Stevenson (1)
Fourth place: Bivol (7), Alvarez (5), Usyk (4), Beterbiev (1), Haney (1), Davis (1), Fury (1)
Fifth place: Bivol (6), Beterbiev (4), Usyk (3), Alvarez (3), Stevenson (2), Davis (1), Lomachenko (1)
Sixth place: Beterbiev (6), Haney (5), Fury (3), Alvarez (2), Stevenson (2), Bivol (1), Davis (1)
Seventh place: Haney (5), Davis (5), Alvarez (2), Bivol (2), Fury (2), Lopez (2), Beterbiev (1), Stevenson (1)
Eighth place: Haney (6), Beterbiev (5), Stevenson (4), Fury (3), Usyk (1), Davis (1)
Ninth place: Stevenson (5), Fury (4), Lopez (3), Beterbiev (2), Davis (2), Alvarez (1), Bivol (1), Haney (1), Spence (1)
10th place: Davis (6), Lopez (4), Spence (3), Stevenson (2), Navarrete (2), Haney (1), Ennis (1), Benavidez (1)