Artur Beterbiev wins but doesn’t impress; where does he land?

Unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev defended his three world titles with an eighth round TKO victory over Anthony Yarde on January 28 in London. It was Beterbiev’s 19th injury win in 19 pro fights. He is the only current champion with 100% KO accuracy.

For many of our panelists, however, the win wasn’t impressive enough to push it up the pound-for-pound list. Beterbiev was hit many times, and Yarde was up in two of the three scorecards when the fight ended.

“It was another impressive win for Beterbiev, but not enough to overtake Errol Spence Jr., who defeated better competition,” ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger said of keeping Beterbiev at No. 8 on his list. “Beterbiev has to face himself [Dmitry] Bivol if he wants to climb the ranks.”

Others, like ESPN writer Ben Baby, have placed Beterbiev at the top of the list because despite being hit, Beterbiev still dominates.

“Sure, Beterbiev didn’t stand a chance before finally stopping Yarde, but he’s been the best light heavyweight in the world for a long time, and even in the middle of a challenge he showed he might not have his peers in the 175-pound division. It’s hard to argue that anyone within their division is as dominant as Beterbiev. honey said.

Our panel consists of Timothy Bradley Jr., Michael Rothstein, Coppinger, Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas, Nick Parkinson, Andre Ward, Baby, Eric Raskin, Crystina Poncher, Michelle Joy Phelps, Eric Woodyard, Kel Dansby, Bernardo Osuna, Bernardo Pilatti, Charles Moynihan, Salvador Rodriguez, Jim Zirolli, Michael Mascaro and Aladdin Freeman share their voices.

Other Rankings: Divisional Rankings and ESPN Women’s Pound-for-Pound Rankings.

Note: The results are valid until February 2nd.

1.TERENCE CRAWFORDPrevious ranking: No. 1

RECORD: 39-0, 30 KOs
DIVISION: Welterweight (Champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO6) David Avanesyan, 10 Dec
NEXT FIGHT:

2.NAOYA INOUEPrevious ranking: No. 2

RECORD: 23-0, 20 KOs
DIVISION: Bantamweight (Unified Champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO11) Paul Butler, December 13
NEXT FIGHT: TBA against Stephen Fulton

3.OLEKSANDR USYKPrevious ranking: No. 3

RECORD: 20-0, 13 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (Unified Champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (SD12) Anthony Joshua, August 20
NEXT FIGHT: TBA

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: TBA against Keith Thurman

5. CANELO ALVAREZPrevious ranking: No. 5

RECORD: 57-2-2, 39 KOs
DIVISION: Super Middleweight (Undisputed Champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gennady Golovkin, September 17
NEXT FIGHT: TBA

6.DMITRY BIVOLPrevious ranking: No. 7

RECORD: 21-0, 11 KOs
DIVISION: Light Heavyweight (Champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Gilberto Ramirez, Nov. 5
NEXT FIGHT: TBA

7. TYSON FURYPrevious ranking: No. 6

RECORD: 33-0-1, 24 KOs
DIVISION: Heavyweight (Champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO10) Derek Chisora, December 3
NEXT FIGHT: TBA

8. ARTUR BETERBIEVPrevious ranking: No. 8

RECORD: 19-0, 19 KOs
DIVISION: Light Heavyweight (Unified Champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (TKO8) Anthony Yarde, Jan. 28
NEXT FIGHT: TBA

9. DEVIN HANEYPrevious ranking: No. 9

RECORD: 29-0, 15 KOs
DIVISION: Light
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) George Kambosos Jr. 16 Oct
NEXT FIGHT: TBA

10. SHAKUR STEVENSONPrevious ranking: No. 10

RECORD: 19-0, 9 KOs
DIVISION: Junior Lightweight (Unified Champion)
LAST FIGHT: W (UD12) Robson Conceicao, 23 September
NEXT FIGHT: April 8 against Shuichiro Yoshino

The formula

The ranking is 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 rank and then to the one with the most votes in that rank.

Others receiving votes: Gervonta Davis (8), Vasiliy Lomachenko (6), Jermell Charlo (4), Juan Francisco Estrada (3).

This is how our authors voted

Atlas: 1. crawford, 2. bivol, 3. Inoue, 4. Usik, 5. Spence 6. Fury, 7. Lomachenko, 8th. alvarez, 9. Davis, 10 praying

Bradley: 1. Inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Usik, 4. bivol, 5. alvarez, 6. Spence 7. Fury, 8th. beterbiew, 9. stevenson, 10 Haney

Copper: 1. Inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Usik, 4. Fury, 5. bivol, 6. alvarez, 7. Spence 8th. beterbiew, 9. haney, 10 Stevenson

Tester: 1. Inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Usik, 4. beterbiew, 5. Spence 6. alvarez, 7. stevenson, 8th. bivol, 9. Fury, 10 Haney

Parkinson’s: 1. Inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Usik, 4. beterbiew, 5. bivol, 6. alvarez, 7. Fury, 8th. Spence 9. Estrada 10 Haney

Raskin: 1. Inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Spence 4. bivol, 5. alvarez, 6. Fury, 7. Usik, 8th. beterbiew, 9. stevenson, 10 Davis

Station: 1. crawford, 2. Spence 3. Inoue, 4. Usik, 5. bivol, 6. alvarez, 7. stevenson, 8th. beterbiew, 9. haney, 10 Estrada

Infant: 1. Inoue, 2. Usik, 3. crawford, 4. Spence 5. alvarez, 6. beterbiew, 7. Fury, 8th. bivol, 9. haney, 10 Stevenson

Rothstein: 1. Inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Fury, 4. bivol, 5. alvarez, 6. Usik, 7. Spence 8th. haney, 9. stevenson, 10 Davis

Phelps: 1. alvarez, 2. crawford, 3. Spence 4. Usik, 5. haney, 6. Fury 7. Inoue, 8th. bivol, 9. beterbiew, 10 charlo

Rodriguez: 1. Inoue, 2. crawford, 3. Fury, 4. alvarez, 5. Spence 6. Usik, 7. bivol, 8th. beterbiew, 9. stevenson, 10 Davis

Poncher: 1. crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usik, 4. alvarez, 5. Spence 6. Fury, 7. bivol, 8th. beterbiew, 9. stevenson, 10 Haney

Osuna: 1. Usik, 2. Inoue, 3. bivol, 4. crawford, 5. Spence 6. alvarez, 7. haney, 8th. Fury, 9. beterbiew, 10 charlo

lumber yard: 1. crawford, 2. Fury, 3. Spence 4. alvarez, 5. haney, 6. Inoue, 7. Usik, 8th. Davis, 9. stevenson, 10 bivol

Dansby: 1. Usik, 2. Inoue, 3. alvarez, 4. crawford, 5. Fury, 6. haney, 7. Spence 8th. bivol, 9. beterbiew, 10 charlo

Moynihan: 1. crawford, 2. Spence 3. Inoue, 4. alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usik, 7. bivol, 8th. haney, 9. beterbiew, 10 Lomachenko

Pilati: 1. Inoue, 2. bivol, 3. crawford, 4. Spence 5. Fury, 6. Usik, 7. beterbiew, 8th. haney, 9. stevenson, 10 charlo

Ziroli: 1. crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. alvarez, 4. Spence 5. Fury, 6. Usik, 7. stevenson, 8th. beterbiew, 9. bivol, 10 Haney

Mascara: 1. crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Spence 4. alvarez, 5. Fury, 6. Usik, 7. beterbiew, 8th. bivol, 9. stevenson, 10 Lomachenko

baron: 1. crawford, 2. Inoue, 3. Usik, 4. bivol, 5. alvarez, 6. beterbiew, 7. Spence 8th. stevenson, 9. haney, 10 Fury

ESPN Expert Poll

First place: Inoue (9), Crawford (8), Usyk (2), Alvarez (1)

Second place: Crawford (8), Inoue (6), Spence (2), Bivol (2), Usyk (1), Fury (1)

Third place: Usyk (6), Spence (4), Inoue (3), Alvarez (2), Fury (2), Crawford (1), Bivol (1), Beterbiev (1)

Fourth place: Alvarez (5), Bivol (4), Crawford (3), Usyk (3), Spence (2), Beterbiev (2), Fury (1)

Fifth place: Spence (6), Fury (4), Alvarez (5), Haney (2), Bivol (3)

Sixth place: Usyk (5), Alvarez (5), Fury (5), Beterbiev (2), Inoue (1), Spence (1), Haney (1)

Seventh place: Spence (4), Usyk (3), Bivol (3), Fury (3), Stevenson (3), Inoue (1), Beterbiev (1), Haney (1), Lomachenko (1)

Eighth place: Beterbiev (7), Bivol (5), Haney (3), Spence (1), Alvarez (1), Fury (1), Stevenson (1), Davis (1)

Ninth place: Stevenson (8), Beterbiev (4), Haney (4), Bivol (1), Fury (1), Davis (1), Estrada (1)

10th place: Haney (5), Charlo (4), Davis (3), Stevenson (2), Lomachenko (2), Bivol (1), Fury (1), Beterbiev (1), Estrada (1)